10 Persuasive Triggers To Plug Into Your Ad

1. Most people want to win over others. Tell your prospects how their family or friends will admire them if they buy your product.

2. Most people want to associate with others that have the same interests. Give your prospects a free membership in a private chat room just for them.

3. Most people want a clean environment. Tell your prospects that you'll donate a percentage of your profits to help clean the environment.

4. Most people want to eat good food. Give your customers free coupons to a nice restaurant when they purchase your product.

5. Most people need or want new information to absorb. Give your customers a free ebook or tip sheet when they purchase your product.

6. Most people want to avoid or end pain. Tell your prospects how much pain and problems they will avoid or end if they buy your product.

7. Most people want to gain pleasure. Tell your prospects how much pleasure or the benefits they will gain, if they purchase your product.

8. Most people don't want to miss out on a major opportunity that they could regret in the future. Tell your prospects you'll be raising the price shortly.

9. Most people want to have good health and live longer. Give your prospects free coupons to a fitness club when they buy your product.

10. Most people want to belong to something or a select group. Give your prospects a free membership into your club when they buy your product.

10 Psychological Desires To Insert Into Your Ad

1. Most people like surprises because it's a change of pace from their routine. Tell your prospects that they'll get a surprise free bonus for ordering.

2. Most people want life to be easier. Give your prospects easy ordering instructions, easy product instructions, etc.

3. Most people want to feel secure and safe. Tell your prospects that you have secure ordering and a privacy policy.

4. Most people want to receive compliments for their achievements. Give your prospects plenty of compliments for them considering your product.

5. Most people are curious about things that could affect their current lifestyle. You could use words like "Secret" or "Confidential" in your ad.

6. Most people want to invest in their future. Tell your prospects to "invest in your product" instead of "buy our product".

7. Most people want the latest and newest things in life. Use words and phrases in your ad copy like "New", "Just Released", etc.

8. Most people want to solve their problems. Tell your prospects what problems they have and how your product can solve them.

9. Most people want to make the people around them happy. Tell your prospects how happy their friends or family will be if they buy your product.

10. Most people want to get over obstacles so they can achieve their goals. Tell your prospects which goals they'll achieve by ordering your product.

10 Lightning Fast Ways To Escalate Your Sales

1. Sell an inexpensive product to sell an expensive product. If people like your inexpensive product, they'll be persuaded to buy your expensive one.

2. Allow your visitors to decided how much they want to pay for your product. I only recommend it for products that don't sell or ones that hardly sell.

3. Create an extra revenue stream with your web site's articles or content. Publish the first paragraph of each article and charge people to read the rest.

4. E-mail targeted e-zines and ask them to do a joint venture with you. Ask them to run your ad and in exchange they get a percentage of the profits.

5. Find a tiny niche for your new free e-zine. There are thousands of free e-zines; your e-zine needs to be extra specialized to attract new subscribers.

6. Test your ads by using autoresponders. You can have people e-mail your autoresponders to get more information and you just check your traffic reports.

7. Create credibility and trust with your visitors by telling them something they already know. They'll know for sure you're not lying to them.

8. Make residual income from your customers by selling back end products. If you don't have any, you could sign up to related affiliate programs.

9. Use a redirect page to boost your sales. People think the long affiliate URLs look unprofessional in e-mail so you could redirect them to a web link.

10. Create an extra income from your web site by charging for consulting. The consulting should be related to your web site's theme.

20 Possible Reasons An Online Business Fails

1. You don't offer free original content.

2. You don't use a signature file on your e-mails.

3. You don't offer free software.

4. You don't have your own domain name.

5. You don't offer a free contest or sweepstakes.

6. You don't test and improve your ad copy.

7. You don't offer a free web site directory.

8. You don't give people any urgency to buy now.

9. You don't offer a free e-zine.

10. You don't attract the target audience that would buy your product or service.

11. You don't offer a free community.

12 You don't let people read your ad before they get your freebie.

13. You don't offer a free affiliate program.

14. You don't make your web site look professional.

15. You don't offer a free online service.

16. You don't give people as many ordering options as possible.

17. You don't offer free current information.

18. You don't let people know anything about your business.

19. You don't offer free samples of your product or service.

20. You don't make people feel safe and secure when they order.

10 Ways To Gain An Avalanche Of Sales

1. Utilize holidays to increase your visitors or sales. You could give away free electronic greeting cards, hold discounts, send customers holiday cards, etc.

2. Become well known by speaking or chatting at seminars. The seminars could be held offline, in a chat room, by telephone or via e-mail.

3. Start a free ebook club on your web site. People could sign up to receive a free ebook from you each month. Just include your product ad in the ebooks.

4. Give away your products or expertise to internet business newbies. Just ask them in return to place your link on their web site.

5. Trigger your visitors to buy your products by using colors. You should totally relax and think about which
colors would compel prospects to order.

6. Let your past offline customers know about your web site. When they visit and sign up to your e-zine it will remind them to shop at your online store.

7. Create a long term relationship with your entire customer base. You can stay in touch with them through an e-zine, with greeting cards, etc.

8. Repeat the 3 most powerful or appealing benefits throughout your ad copy. Repetition can brand your product's benefits quicker in your prospects mind.

9. Give your new customers surprise free gifts. This will increase their loyalty and give you more word of mouth advertising.

10. Make your long ad copy interesting enough so people click through to the next web page. If it's not, they won't take the time to click and read more.

10 Ways To Improve Your Customer Service

1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

2. Create a customer focus group. Invite ten to twenty of your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They will give you ideas and input on how to improve your customer service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner or give them free products.

3. Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your web site. Have a "FAQ" page on your Web site to explain anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill out an electronic survey to find out how make your web site more customer friendly.

4. Resolve your customers complaints quickly and successfully. Answer all e-mail and phone calls within an hour. If possible, you the owner of the business, personally take care of the problem. This will show your customers you really care about them.

5. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers to contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for phone and fax contacts.

6. Make sure employees know and use your customer service policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice excellent customer service. Tell employees to be flexible with each individual customer, each one has different concerns, needs and wants.

7. Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses to your customers who make a big purchase.

8. Always be polite to your customers. Use the words your welcome, please, and thank you. Be polite to your customers even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.

9. Reward customers a point for every one dollar they spend. Let's say customers can get a free computer for 300 points. That means customers will spend $300 dollars on your products and services to get enough points to get the free computer.

10. Build strong relationships with your customers. Invite them to company meetings, luncheons, workshops or seminars. Create special events for your customers like parties, barbecue's, dances etc. This will make them feel important when you include them in regular business operations and special events.

8 Ways To Increase The Perceived Value Of Your Freebies

Almost everyone is giving away a freebie so they can attract people to their web site. They are giving away free e-zines, ebooks, services, etc. What's happening to all this free stuff? It's loosing it's perceived value. Every time you surf the internet or check your e-mail you see at least 20 to 50 freebies offers.

Don't get me wrong freebies do increase traffic, but not like they did when the internet was new. The key is to increase the perceived value of your freebies so they will be more attractive to your audience. How do you do this? Well, here are eight ways:

1. You could tell them what the freebie is worth with a dollar amount. For example, "Subscribe to my free e-zine! A $199 value!"

2. You could add other freebies to your freebie that will increase the value. For example, "Subscribe to my free e-zine and get free access to our "subscribers only" private web site!"

3. You could tell them the freebie is only available for a limited time. For example, " Download our free ebook, this free offer will only be available until May 30, 2000."

4. You could tell them the freebie is only available to a limited number of people. For example, " Our free software will only be available for the next 100 people that download it.

5. You could give more details about the freebie. List the benefits, features, what problems the freebie will solve, etc.

6. You could describe your freebie to sound more attractive. For example, instead of "free report" you could say "free never released top secret document"

7. You could list testimonials for your freebie. Most businesses don't give testimonials for their freebies. This would defiantly increase your freebies value.

8. You could tell people how many people have already receive your freebie. For example, "15,000 people have already subscribed to my free e-zine! Can they all be wrong?

These are only a few ways you can add value to your freebies. You could be creative and think up some other ways to increase the perceived value of your freebies. Also test each idea to see which one draws the most traffic to your web site.

8 Benefits Of Helping An Online Business Newbie

Do your remember when you first ventured out in the online business world? You probably had questions and problems along the way. Wouldn't it have been easier if you had help? When a newbie asks for your advice, educate them; answer their questions and help them solve their online business problems. If you do not have the knowledge to help them out, point them in the right direction.

You'll get many benefits from helping online business newbies. Below are eight possible benefits you could receive:

1. You will feel good knowing that you had a part in helping them build their business. You can sit back and say "I had a part in their success."

2. They may become one of your best friends. Most people can use new friends, even business owners. You may even become business partners and create a totally new business together.

3. You could end up being strategic business allies in the future. You could regularly do joint venture and cross promotion deals with each other.

4. They may help you out with your business. Maybe they will give you some testimonials or endorsements for your products or services.

5. You might gain some valuable referrals from them. They may also join your affiliate program and make sales for your business.

6. They might offer you some free advertising space on their web site or in their e-zine for your help. You could also exchange advertising with them.

7. You both could end up developing a new product or service together. The product or service could be a combination of your current ones.

8. They might purchase the products you sell and become one of your best customers. You could sell them many back end products or services in the future.

There are probably many other benefits you could get from helping a new online business owner. Always remember to help them out because it's the nice thing to do and not just to benefit your own business.

5 New And Lesser-Known Online Business Ideas

1. Ask people to find a hidden link in your ad copy. If they find the hidden link tell them they will get a prize or freebie by clicking on it. This will increase the chance that they will buy your product or service because they will read your whole ad copy.

2. Start a members only web site. Tell visitors what's in your members only site and what it costs to get access. Offer them a free membership, if, in exchange they link to your web site, post your banner on their home page or agree to advertise your web site in their e-zine for a set period of time. Usually they will agree to the free advertising to save money. This is a powerful way to get free advertising.

3. Want a popular discussion board? This technique is based on the number of postings made by any one person. You could give away a free product or service to any person that posts ten or more messages on your discussion in a month. It could be a free e-book, report, e-mail consulting etc. Just keep track of everyone's postings each month. This could also work for e-mail discussion lists.

4. Give your visitors an instant article directory. Tell your visitors they can instantly add a free article directory to their web site by linking to yours. Just place your ad or banner ad on top of the article directory for your main product or service. All those links can add up to a large amount of traffic for your web site.

5. There a millions of web sites on the internet. Instead of marketing your web site as a web site. Market it as a free web book. Design your web site with a title page, table of contents, chapters, etc. Just place your ad or banner for your product or service on the top of each web page.

5 Innovative Ways To Advertise Your Web Site

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.

4 Alternative Ways To Gain Lifetime Customers

You will always have more people that turn down your offer than actually buy. They might not have bought because of your price, payment options, or any other possible reason. You will just end up loosing all these potential lifetime customers. However, there are many ways you can minimize the loss of these prospects.

One way is to accept barter offers for your product. Maybe the person can't afford to buy your product. They may have something you could use in your business or personal life. If the barter deal isn't fair enough, either of you could add in some cash. You may not make money but, they might buy other products you offer.

Another way is to include a negotiation offer at the end of your ad copy. Tell your reader if there is something they don't like about your offer, they could contact you and negotiate a different buying offer. They may not like your price, guarantee, shipping methods, payment options, etc. You can gain a potential lifetime customer by being flexible with your offer and negotiating instead of loosing them.

A simple way to attract lifetime customers would be to give people a freebie. The freebie should be related to the other products or services you sell. You may not be getting paid for the freebie, but you will get a lot more people using one of your products because it is free. If they are impressed by your free product there is a high chance they'll buy your other products in the future.

The last way is to sell your product at the price it costs you to produce or buy it. You will usually sell more products at a lower price than your competition which equals more potential lifetime customers. You will break even in cost but you'll make your profit from the upsell and backend products your sell your lifetime customers.

10 Ways Writing Articles Can Improve Your Business

1. Submit them to e-zines and web sites for publishing. Include your resource box at the end of the article to get free advertising.

2. Combine your articles into a free e-book. You can place your business ad in the e-book. Give it away to visitors and allow them to do the same to multiply your advertising.

3. Create an article directory on your web site. People will visit your web site to get the free information.

4. Submit your articles to print publications that pay for submissions. You can make extra income getting paid as a freelance writer.

5. Combine a few of your articles together into a free report. Give away the free report as a bonus for buying your main product or service.

6. Publish a book with all your articles. Make extra money selling the book from your web site.

7. Give people an instant article directory. Tell visitors they can instantly add a free article directory to their web site by linking to yours. All those links can add up to a large amount of traffic to your web site.

8. Post your articles in related online communities. This can give you free advertising in newsgroups, forums and e-mail discussion lists.

9. Allow people to include your articles in their free e-books. Your article could end up being in 20 to 30 e-books in no time. You won't even have to promote the e-books.

10. Let people access your articles by autoresponder. Include your full page e-mail ad with the article.

20 Ways To Increase Your Traffic And Sales With eBooks

1. People love to get free stuff. A free eBook is perfect. They will visit your web site to get the free valuable information.

2. Give away the full version of your eBook in exchange for testimonials. You can use these customer statements to improve your ads' effectiveness.

3. When you write and give away a free eBook you will become known as an expert. This will gain people's trust and they will buy your main product or service quicker.

4. Publish your web site in eBook format. Put the eBook on a disk or CD-ROM then include it with your direct mail packages. This can increase the number of people that buy your product or service.

5. Offer your eBook as a free bonus for buying one of your main products or services. People will buy the product or service more often when you offer a free bonus.

6. Allow people to download your eBook for free, if they give the e-mail addresses of 3 to 5 friends or associates that would be interested in your eBook. This will quickly build your e-mail list.

7. Create a directory of web sites in eBook form. List peoples web sites in the directory that will agree to advertise the eBook on their web site or e-zine. This will give them an incentive to give away or advertise your eBook.

8. Allow other people to give away your free eBook. This will increase the number of people that will see your ad in the eBook. You could also include a mini catalog of all your product or services that you offer in the eBook.

9. Gain new leads by having people sign up and give you their contact information before they can download your eBook. This is a very effective way to conduct market research.

10. Make money selling advertising space in your eBook. You could charge for full page color ads, classified ads or banners ads. You could also trade advertising space in your eBook for other forms of advertising.

11. Give away the eBook as a gift to your current customers as a way of letting them know you appreciate their business. Place an ad in the eBook for a new back end product you're offering.

12. Get free advertising by submitting your eBook to freebie and freeware/shareware web sites. This will increase the number of people that will download your eBook and see your ad.

13. Make money by selling the reprint rights to those that would like to sell the eBook. You could also make even more money by selling the master rights. This would allow other people to sell the reprint rights.

14. Hold a contest on your web site so people can win your eBook. You'll get free advertising by submitting your contest ad to free contest or sweepstakes directories.

15. You will gain valuable referrals from people telling others about your eBook. Word of mouth advertising can be very effective.

16. Make money cross promoting your eBook with other people's products or services. This technique will double your marketing effort without spending more time and money on your part.

17. Increase your e-zine subscribers by giving away your eBook to people that subscribe to your e-zine. This will give people an incentive to subscribe. Allow your e-zine subscribers to also give it away to multiply your subscribers.

18. Give away the eBook to people that join your affiliate program. This will increase the number of people that sign-up You could also create an eBook for them to use that will help them promote your product or service.

19. Give away the eBook in exchange for people leaving their contact information This will help you follow-up with the prospects who buy your main product or service.

20. Offer a free eBook that contains a couple of sample chapters. If they like it, give them the option of ordering the full version. It would work just like a software demo or shareware.

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

20 Ways To Convert Visitors Into Subscribers

1. You could offer your visitors a discount on all the products you sell if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

2. You could offer your visitors a free ebook if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

3. You could offer your visitors a free subscription to your private web site if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

4. You could offer your visitors a free advertisement in your free e-zine if they subscribe.

5. You could offer your visitors a free tangible gift if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

6. You could offer a free automatic entry into your contest or sweepstakes if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

7. You could tell your visitors that you offer original content in your free e-zine.

8. You could tell your visitors to read a sample issue of your free e-zine on your web site.

9. You could offer your visitor's free software if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

10. You could offer your visitors a free sign up to your affiliate program if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

11. You could offer your visitors a free web service, like free e-mail, if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

12. You could publish some of your current e-zine subscriber's testimonials on your web site.

13. You could publish any positive reviews you have received about your free e-zine on your web site.

14. You could tell your visitors what's going to be published in your next e-zine issue.

15. You could tell your visitors that they have the right to republish your e-zines content on their own web site if they subscribe to your free e-zine.

16. You could publish a list of well-known famous, or respected people that have subscribed to your free e-zine.

17. You could tell your visitors what a subscription to your free e-zine is worth in dollars.

18. You could tell your visitors all the major benefits of subscribing to your e-zine.

19. You could tell your visitors how many people have already subscribed to your e-zine.

20. You could tell your visitors that a subscription to your free e-zine is only available for a limited time.

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

20 Sure-Fire Ways To Get People To Link To Your Web Site

1. Offer other web sites free content to post on their web site. Include your link on all of your content. The content should related to your web site because it will be in front of your target audience.

2. When you visit a web site you've enjoyed a lot, write a review for the site. Write about the benefits you gain from the web site. Tell them they can publish it on their web site if they link to your web site.

3. Allow other people to publish your e-zine on their web site. Include your web site's ad and link in each issue you publish. This may also help you increase the number of people that subscribe to your e-zine.

4. Market your web site as a free web book. Design your web site with a title page, table of contents, chapters, etc. Just allow other people to give away the web book by linking to your web site.

5. Give your visitors an instant article directory. Tell your visitors they can instantly add a free article directory to their web site by linking to yours. Just place your ad or banner ad on top of the article directory for your main web site.

6. Allow other web sites to use your discussion board for their web site visitors. Just have them link directly to the discussion board. Include your web sites ad or banner ad at the top of the discussion board.

7. Start a members only web site. Tell visitors what's in your members only site and what it costs to gain access. Offer them a free membership if, in exchange, they link to your web site.

8. Offer your visitors a free sign up to your affiliate program. Pay them commission to sell your products or services. Just give them an affiliate link to track their sales. People will link to your web site to make extra money.

9. Create your own award site for other web sites. Give the winners a graphic or text link to place on their web site when they win. This will link your web site to theirs and draw more traffic to your web site.

10. Are you an expert on a particular subject? Offer people free consulting via e-mail if, in exchange, they either link to your site. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive.

11. When you purchase a product and it exceeds your expectations e-mail the business a testimonial. Make sure your statement is detailed. Give them permission to publish it on their web site if they link to your site.

12. 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 ad at the top of the directory's home page.

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

14. Allow people to download software at no charge from your web site, if they link to your web site. The software could be freeware, shareware or demos.

15. Trade other forms of advertising to people that link to your web site. You could trade e-zine ads, print ads, autoresponder ads, classified ads, ebook ads, etc.

16. Give away web space to people for free. Since you are giving it away for free, request they link to your site by placing your ad or banner to the site.

17. Join or create a web ring. A web ring is a group of web sites on a similar subject agreeing to link together. To find a web ring to join type keywords "web rings" into your search engine of choice.

18. Create an online club or association. Tell your visitors what's included in the membership and what it costs to join. Offer them a free membership if, in exchange, they link to your web site.

19. Allow people to use an online service or utilities from your web site if, in exchange, they link to your web site. The online service could be an e-mail account, search engine submission, web page design, copywriting, proofreading, etc.

20. Offer a free e-book to your web site visitors. The ebook should be related to your target audience. Allow them to give the e-book to their own web site visitors by linking directly to your web site.

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

16 Things To Check Before Joining Someone Else's "Pay Per Sale" Affiliate Program

1. Does the affiliate program offer you a free way to join without buying the product or service?

2. Contact other affiliates already in the program to see if they have had any problems.

3. Is the product or service related to your target audience?

4. Can they notify you by e-mail when a sale is made?

5. Do they offer backend products so you can get repeat sales from the same person?

6. How often will you receive a commission check?

7. Do you get credited for a sale if people come back in month and then make a purchase.

8. Can you get around-the-clock help online or offline?

9. Do you get a large percentage of each sale as commission?

10. Do they provide you with proven sales material? (links, banners, classified ads, sales letters etc)

11. Will they give you the leeway to create promotional ads.

12. Do they offer you access to an online sales stats page?

13. Do they use a reputable system to track your sales?

14. Does the affiliate program pay commission for sales of people who sign up under you?

15. Can they offer customers a lot of different ordering options, so in return you won't lose sales.

16. Will they keep in contact with you on a regular basis by e-mail?

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

14 Ways To Persuade Your Web Site Visitors To Give You Their Email Address

1. Ask visitors to subscribe to your e-zine. It's a good idea to also give them a freebie when they subscribe.

2. Have them sign-up to get access to download a free ebook. The subject of the ebook should be related to your target audience.

3. Give your visitors a free membership inside your member's only web site. Have them sign-up to receive a user name and password.

4. Hold a free contest or sweepstakes at your web site. Ask them to give you their contact information to enter.

5. Offer your visitors free consulting via e-mail. Have them fill out a web form to e-mail you with their questions.

6. Hold an interactive poll on your web site. Ask your visitors to e-mail you their vote or opinion.

7. Ask your visitors to sign-up for a chance to get a web site award. Have them e-mail you their contact and web site information.

8. Have visitors fill out a survey on your web site. Give them a free gift as an incentive to complete the form.

9. Offer a free online service from your web site. Have visitors fill out their contact information to sign-up to the free service.

10. Ask visitors to sign your guest book. Tell them they will get a free gift in return.

11. Offer a free affiliate program for your visitors. They will have to sign-up in order to receive marketing materials and commissions.

12. Allow visitors to submit a free classified ad on your web site. Require them to give a valid e-mail address in order to post an ad.

13. Give people who visit your web site a free course sent via autoresponder. Just ask them to fill out their contact information to receive the free course.

14. Offer your visitors free software to download. Have them sign-up to get an access code to unlock the software.

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's
Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

10 Ways Web Site Text Can Impact Your Reader's Buying Decision

The appearance of your web site text can actually increase or decrease your sales. The size, font, style and color of your text can easily affect your reader's
buying decision. Below are ten points to consider when typing text on your web site.

1. Easy To Read- You want to make it easy for your visitors to read your text. You don't want to use a light colored text like yellow on a white background and
you don't want to use dark blue text on a black back-ground.

2. Create A Mood- You want to use the color of your text to create a mood for the reader. If you want to create excitement, use some red text. If you want to create greed, use a some green text. Use colors that would put you in a mood to buy your product.

3. Grab Their Attention- You can grab your readers attention by using headlines. Make the headline more noticeable by using a different colored headline than your ad copy. This offsets the headline and pulls the reader into the rest of your ad copy.

4. Highlight Keywords- You can emphasize phrases and keywords that are important to your readers. For instance, use super, deluxe, fast, low price, free, new, etc. You could use bolding, underlining, italics, color changing, etc.

5. Sizing It Up- You don't want to use text that is too small or to large. You want to use larger text for your headlines and subheadings. You want to use smaller
text for your ad copy. If your grandparents can't read it, it's too small.

6. Don't Use All CAPS!- You don't want to use all capital letters in your ad copy. It looks unprofessional and is hard to read. You may want to use all CAPS
in your headlines to offset it.

7. Font Properly- You want to use a text font that relates to the product or services your selling. You don't want to use a comic type font when your selling
business books.

8. Spacing Out- It's important to use spaces properly when typing your text. You should indent and bullet key benefits your product or service will give the reader. Your headlines, subheadings, sentences and paragraphs should be consistently spaced throughout your web site.

9. I Need Sunglasses- Don't use all bright text colors and backgrounds on your web site. It will make your text hard to read and actually bother your readers'
eyes to the point they just decide to leave your site.

10. Check The Readability- It's important to check your spelling and grammar before you upload your web page. When writing an ad copy you're allowed to
break some of those grammar rules to get your point across.

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's
Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

10 Ways To Suck Up Orders Quicker Than A Super Vacuum

1. Increase the number of visitors that revisit your web site by publishing a free course right on your site. Just release a new lesson once a week.

2. Make sure your graphics load correctly on your web site. Broken graphics will make your business look very unprofessional.

3. Avoid using scrolling marquees on your web site. They take the attention away from your ad copy and make your web page load slower.

4. Make your web site writing exciting to read. You can use emotional words, descriptive adjectives, highlight keywords with color, etc.

5. Remember to reach out and touch your visitors offline. When your visitors give you offline contact information use it to send them some direct mail.

6. Use guest books to improve your web site. Your visitors will leave good and bad comments. Review the comments and use them to improve your site.

7. Regularly check and resubmit your web site's search engine rankings. They can drop very quickly because of all the competition.

8. Divide your price over a period of time to make it sound less. Offer a payment plan or show the per day price. For example, "Only 33 cents per day!"

9. Promote your products within the content of your web site. If you write and offer free articles tie in a mention of the product or service you're selling.

10. Update the content on your web site regularly. You'll want to add new content and update the old content.

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's
Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23746

Canada and eCommerce

Canada and eCommerce

Canadian eCommerce growth was recently flat but still has an attractive upside...

Recent studies found that Canadian retail e-commerce growth was flat year over year (2003-2004). After further examination however, approximately 60% of the 100 largest non-travel sites succeeded in growing their sales over 20%.

Also interesting is the trending of Canadians from buying at non-Canadian sites to domestic sites (63% domestic, 37% foreign). This "domestic shift" clearly benefits the launching of a new eCommerce business in Canada.

The sales opportunity lies with the "early adopters", individuals primarily the 18-34 year old age range. This segment is more technologically savvy and more likely to purchase online. In a 2003 to 2004 sampling comparison, this segment's overall e-commerce spending increased 44%. The 35 to 54 age group increased only 5% and 55+ increased 18% (includes online travel).

Overall Internet Adoption rates still trail the U.S. and come in at approximately 52%. However, with the development of new Internet infrastructures and the maturation of Canadian ISP's, this number will likely rise in the next 3-5 years. The following quote from the Canadian government re-enforces this theme.

"To reach our new national goal (relating to e-commerce) Canadians will need to develop strategies that build an intelligent infrastructure to serve as the backbone of the e-economy- by encouraging investment, strengthening research, enhancing commercialization and ensuring that all Canadians have access to this infrastructure and know how to use it." (September, 2004)

Shifting demographics & lack of online competition equal a substantial opportunity...

Forrester Research reports that 48% of Canadian web shoppers are now female compared to 39% in 2003. 74% of web buyers are married and likely are home shoppers, compared to 68% in 2003.

With the gender gap closing, online home retailers have a great opportunity to target their core customer segment: the 30-40yr old female who owns or maintains a residence.

Within this sector, it is rare for U.S. based retailers to have online Canadian stores. Many brands will ship to Canada, for very high costs (customs duty & shipping) but this likely leads to an unpleasant experience for the Canadian consumer. These high costs, compiled with a lack of domestic Canadian retailers providing an e-commerce offering, are driving the stagnant growth of the online sales channel.

By being a "first-mover" in establishing a presence in the online marketplace within Canada, online retailers will facilitate sales from consumers that want to get products shipped from their native homeland after being paid for in Canadian currency.

Similar to the U.S., consumers are exhibiting multi-channel tendencies and embracing the emergence of broadband connectivity...

Canada is the only country in the world in which broadband overtook dial-up access in 2003. Currently 48% of all Canadian consumers have broadband access and they are 67% more likely to have high speed web-access than American consumers.

This impressive penetration may prove to be a strong driver for online circulars and new online merchandising tactics, as product differentiation are established outside of price.

Canadian shoppers are also parallel to U.S. consumers in their multi-channel behavior. 58% of Canadian shoppers have researched a product online and purchased offline, spending an average of $440. An online Canadian strategy must focus on integrating the online and physical store with store locator functionality and other tools to promote cross-channel behavior.

In conclusion, multi-national retailers should closely examine the Canadian eCommerce opportunity. Attractive consumer demographics, an established broadband infrastructure, and a shift in overall shopping tendencies make the Canada a high-growth and un-saturated area for multi-channel retail.

Ecommerce Turnkey Sites

Ecommerce Turnkey Sites

Turnkey host sites normally offer the complete package, which normally includes hosting as well as products. Turnkey means an already stocked business, depending on the store it might be stocked with from 10 products to thousands.

These hosts usually charge a setup fee to create your store. A domain name may or may not be included in the price and there is usually a monthly fee for maintaining your store.

Some stores provide you with products at a base price and allow you to add your own markup. Others charge a fee for each product sold while others simply pay you a commission off each item sold. You choose what best suits you, but you will make the largest profit from those that you can markup yourself.

Do not be lured buy quick promises of up to 50% commission. Often times months down the line you are still waiting on your first cheque as you have not sold anything. Sometime these products are very expensive or of such a quality that your customers will not buy.

Another thing some hosts fail to tell is that you have to promote the store yourself. So get ready, in addition to paying a monthly fee, you will have to start driving traffic to your website. This can prove costly but there are ways around it, such as through site optimization and site submissions.

One of the greatest things about these turnkey hosting packages however is that you do not need to hold inventory. All your products are pre-stocked and for some hosts, you do not even need to worry about accepting payment. Everything is taken care of, these services are usually all included in the monthly fee. This does seem to make your transition into the world of ecommerce a little easier but does not guarantee you the best monetary remuneration.

So the choice of E-Commerce Turnkey host is yours, only you and your business idea will determine the best host for you.

Ecommerce Store Owners : Want Visitors? Here’s How. . .

Ecommerce Store Owners : Want Visitors? Here’s How. . .

Have you recently opened an online store, and waiting for those customers to drop by and start shopping?

In cyberworld - unlike the real world - you just can’t pick a good location and rely on passing trade. You’ve got to work hard to get visitors to your virtual store.

Let’s take a look at how we can drum up a small stampede...

Are You Optimised?

To stand any chance of being ranked well in the free search engines, your site must be optimised for the keyword phrases you are targeting.

Research and develop a list of keywords related to your product line, using the free downloadable software at www.goodkeywords.com . From this list, you can find two or three well targeted phrases, with decent visitor traffic, and make sure your website is optimised for them. Include the phrases in the title, and meta tags, in the body text (several times) and “alt” mage tags.

Make sure your product listings are optimised too. The term “horse saddle” is searched for over 1900 times a month on one search engine alone, so make sure your product titles and descriptions include the relevant search term, rather than just the plain old product number, such as “Acme A35284”.

Are You Link Building?

Search engines are placing more and more importance on incoming links to your website – in a way, ty consider them to be votes for your site.

First, make sure you submit your site to the large list of directories that are crawled and indexed by popular search engine spiders. You can get the SEO friendly directory list free at www.info.vibesilencer.com

Next, pursue an ongoing campaign of getting links from other websites. Try to make sure the sites are on a related theme. You can find sites that are linking to your competitors by typing “link:www.yourcompetitorswebsite.com “ into Google, and then approach them to request a link to your website.

One useful piece of software for researching and keeping track of link requests is available at www.seoelite.com . (If nothing else, the free search engine optimisation course is one of the best free courses I have ever come across)

Are You Using Pay Per Click Advertising?

There’s nothing like Pay Per click (PPC) for a quick shot in the arm! You can often have traffic within an hour of setting up a campaign with Google Adwords (http://www.google.com/ads). Overture is Google’s main Ppc competitor (www.overture.com) and can take a few days to get up an running with, but they are now part of Yahoo! – and therefore mustn’t be overlooked.

Ppc search engines can provide you with extremely well targeted traffic that you can turn on and off like a tap. However, you must get your strategy right or you will haemorrhage cash ; develop a large list of targeted keywords, write a catchy text advert and don’t get drawn into bidding wars.

Are You Overlooking Your Existing Customers?

Once your online store starts getting customers, make sure you keep them. Develop a newsletter to keep in contact with them – and regularly send them details of special offers and new products. Repeat business is often overlooked – but it is a vital part of some of the webs most successful ecommerce operations.

And if you already have a “bricks and mortar” store, don’t forget to publicise your new online shop – include it in all your stationery and marketing materials.

The marketing and promotion of an online store is an ongoing project. The most successful store owners know how important it is to set aside time each week to attend to marketing - whether it’s link building, writing a newsletter or keeping abreast of the latest online marketing developments – success comes to those who consistently put the work in.

Ecatalog - a Key Component of Your eCommerce Initiative

Ecatalog - a Key Component of Your eCommerce Initiative

In recent years, Internet virtually has become major driving force of economic and technological growth in many industries. It is fundamentally changing the way companies operate, do their trade and interact with each other and it is giving birth to new processes and business models that were previously unimaginable.

First type of the Internet business models that created a different business method was Business to Consumer (B2C) eCommerce. Business to Business eProcurement systems and web-based storefronts were two other models that emerged next. The eProcurement systems became widely popular instantly due to the factor that Internet-based automated buying solutions are capable of considerable reducing Maintenance, Repair and Operating expenses, which, in turn, makes direct impact on the bottom line of a company. Web-based storefront, on the other hand, provides a low-cost channel for the global marketing and sales of goods and services.

The next business model that changed the perception of doing business online was eMarketplaces. An eMarketplace is an online venue which brings together multiple buyers and sellers and makes it easier for them to communicate, collaborate and trade as members of a large community.

The fourth online business model has combined key aspects of all the above mentioned business methods and is known as Enterprise B2B Portal or Private B2B Exchange. The business world sees enormous changes across industries due to the emergence of this unique solution. Enterprise B2B Portal with supply chain management features is capable of streamlining procurement and sales processes, cutting overhead costs, increasing efficiency, while maximizing profit and helping bottom line savings for companies.

No doubt that B2B eCommerce presents enormous new business opportunities. But to realize these massive opportunities businesses must overcome some significant technical impediments. The most extreme and critical of these challenges involve creating, managing and distributing product content. All four of the above mentioned online business models face this crucial problem.
Product Content and eCatalog

Accurate and complete product content improves quality and speed of purchasing decisions by giving buyers the vital information needed. For sellers content differentiates their products and enables them to participate in multiple eMarketplaces, eProcurement systems and in their very own B2B Portal. The eMarketplaces and eProcurement systems must deliver content, with value added information such as ratings, reviews, regulatory compliances and service information to attract new users, retain the old ones and fulfill the needs of their diverse buyer and supplier communities.

Creating high quality product content is difficult because different suppliers use different descriptions, attributes and parameters to describe the same item. Managing product information becomes even more complex with the addition of value-added content such as editorial articles, service information and third party reviews.

Moreover, Buyers and Sellers have totally different approach and require different functions from a product content management solution. Buyers need a comprehensive content management system which allows them to take conclusive buying decision with minimum of effort and cost. Suppliers want a system that enables them to manage their brand, control their product descriptions, pricing, and discount policies.

The need for an advanced eCatalog

Despite its critical nature, product information management has been grossly underestimated by most of early eCommerce projects, which tend to focus on more high profile technologies, such as transaction engines and user interfaces. However, few of these B2B projects put required emphasize on the management of product content. As a result, many of them are beginning to realize that they have condoned the challenge of managing product information and that such oversights are hindering the overall effectiveness and scalability of their eCommerce initiatives. Actually, very few of eCommerce initiatives today have the right resources to support the activities required for aggregating, maintaining, and delivering high quality product content. In order to overcome this major hurdle eCommerce initiatives have to improve their ability to acquire, manage and update product content with the help of an advanced eCatalog system.

What is an eCatalog?

An eCatalog is an Online product content management solution with powerful user interface which provides efficient navigation, searching and integration capabilities to organize and publish product information and enable real-time handling of business processes related to buying and selling.

An eCatalog stores product content in a single database and organizes product information under a certain categorized hierarchy. An eCatalog also have sophisticated searching opportunities so that buyers can locate products easily.
Classifying products

Usually product information is acquired from different sources and is often classified under different taxonomies. This makes product indexing difficult and in many cases products end up being listed under several categories. International Harmonized Codes, a taxonomy used by many countries for customs tariff purposes, is one of the example of such systems. Because of this problem, HC and similar taxonomies are not really suitable for eCommerce.

That's why, most advanced eCatalog systems use classification system like The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®), which provides an open, global multi-industry standard for well-organized and precise classification of products and services.

In e-catalogs the product content also has to undergo a normalization procedure to comply with a uniform product naming system. This uniformed nomenclature makes it easier for buyers to compare products and prices, and ensures exact match for relevant product searches. Depending on the quality of product information available, the eCatalog also requires rationalizing abbreviations and acronyms, synchronizing terminologies, converting unit of measurements, etc.
How businesses are loosing opportunities

Early eCatalog adopters made a crucial mistake by assuming that catalog integration is a fairly easy task in comparison to the other parts of eCommerce development. This misapprehension of reality occurred mainly due to lack of practical knowledge in this field and is based on the false assumption that one method fits for describing all similar products and it is possible to constrain product content with finite number of attributes and values. Observation shows that in many cases buyers are unable to take key procurement decisions due to poor content of the product, which results in lost business opportunities for eCommerce companies.

Benefits of using right eCatalog

An advanced eCatalog system similar to Rusbiz.com delivers a compelling value proposition. Using this type of solutions companies can integrate eCatalog capabilities into their business processes rapidly and manage sourcing, classifying, syndicating and publishing product content data effectively.

The return on investment from these solutions is also significant! Companies can expect increased revenue, better customer satisfaction, and shorter sales cycle.

Diversify With Ecommerce

Diversify With Ecommerce

Since 1972 Amsoil Inc. has progressively expanded its line of products. It began with one that proved to be the first of its catagory, an engine oil that had not been seen in the market place. Not too many years later, more need for superior synthetic automotive lubricants came into Amsoil Inc. awareness. Examples are the Food Grade Grease, racing applications and racing applications.

By the mid eighties Amsoil Inc. had more products available. These products where not the property of other contracted companies but Amsoil Inc. was the marketing and manufacturing origin of a widening divesification of product lines.

Opportunity to take advantage of these products in a variety of environments also proved successful. All types of automotive and commercial retailers where taking advantage of the technical support and leadership available. Racing has grown in atleast three areanas, no pun intended. Motorcross, Marine and Snomobile have made huge strides in the field of spectator sports as well as participants. Dealers have the opportunity to sponsor a rider or team in the field of their choice. This environment is an excellent fit for promoting Amsoil.

This an exciting business to be in because of its diversity of opportunites. The passion that keeps the engine of productivity moving is easy to refuel from a company that has the integrity at its foundation. The confidence that it will continue comes from the experience of the history and people behind Amsoil Inc.

Comparing Ecommerce Software Programs - 5 Tips

Comparing Ecommerce Software Programs - 5 Tips

If you've ever been interested in selling products online, this is certainly a great time to go into business. With more and more online users everyday, and people becoming more comfortable spending and making purchases over the internet, there is a lot of opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to tap into this market.

Once you've selected your market and the types of products you wish to sell, you'll need to choose an ecommerce software program that suits your needs though. Here are a few tips to help the process along.

What type of product are you selling? If you are going to taking orders for physical products that you package and ship to your customers, the ecommerce software you need will be very different than if you are selling digital products that are delivered directly over the internet. Make certain the software allows you to offer pictures, descriptions, and choices of sizes, colors, etc… if that is what you need.

Compatibility - Be certain your server or webhost's server is compatible with the ecommerce program you choose. Most online store's will want to have a secure connection, so make sure your webhost provides this option too.
Payment Processor - Make certain the ecommerce software you choose can integrate with your current payment processor or the one you are planning to use.

Most of the better programs allow integration with all of the popular merchant account gateways so you an quickly and easily accept and process payments via credit cards.

Support - Although there are several open source ecommerce programs that work very well for small to medium size online shops, keep in mind that paid versions will usually offer full technical support. This is an important consideration if you are serious about starting and growing your online business.

Search Engine Friendly - Many newer ecommerce software programs are search engine friendly. That means they create addresses and ecommerce websites that search engines like google and yahoo can easily 'read' to see what's in your store. This will increase your chances of your store getting listed in the search engines, possibly providing you with free traffic and more potential customers.

We hope these tips will help make your choice of ecommerce software and bit easier.

Good luck with your new online venture!

7 Tips To Increase Sales With Your Ecommerce Web Site

7 Tips To Increase Sales With Your Ecommerce Web Site

Ecommerce is just exploding right now on the Net. More and more people are doing their shopping online. Some Internet retailers are even beating out their offline counterparts. So what does this mean to you? It’s important that you are taking full advantage of your web site to get your share of the billions of dollars spent online every year. In this article we are going to cover 7 tips that you can put into practice immediately to increase your sales and revenue with your ecommerce web site.

1: Introduction
Make sure to have a brief introduction on the homepage of your web site. Your introduction should be concise and clearly identify the benefits of your visitors shopping at your site.

2: Navigation
Make sure that your site has clear and easy navigation, such as a visible search box on the top part of your web site, clear categories to browse through, a FAQ page that clearly explains your shipping and return policy, and etc.

3: Gift Certificates
People love getting gifts at certain times of the year, so make sure that you have gift certificates that your visitors can purchase right on your web site.

4: Customer Loyalty
Instead of just focusing on getting new customers why not take advantage of repeat business? Why not give your customers an incentive to come back and do business with you again? You can easily do this by offering coupons and special discounts to ones who have already purchased something from you. This is a lot easier than acquiring new customers since they already know you and feel comfortable shopping at your site. You can also add more value to your customers by adding live customer support to your site.

5: Special Offers
Make sure to have a section on the top part of your home page devoted to featuring your current special offers and sales items. In fact if you happen to have a lot of special offers you can just feature the most popular ones and then make a separate web page that shows all of your sales items.

6: Shopping Carts
People want the checkout process to go as quickly and smoothly as possible, so make sure that your visitors are always just one click away to checkout. Try to reduce the checkout process to as few steps as possible. Make sure to offer multiple payment options such as credit cards, Paypal, online checks, mail orders, and such. When you no longer have a product in stock make sure to either remove it from your site or clearly mark it as “out of stock”. There is nothing more irritating for a customer to go through the whole checkout process only to find out that you no longer carry the item they ordered.

7: Affiliate Program
Do you have your own affiliate program? The most successful web sites have one and you should too. By starting your own affiliate program you will develop an increasing online sales force where you only pay them when a sale is made. There is really no risk and it is one of the best low cost effective advertising methods that you can use.

If you put these tips into practice you will notice a drastic increase in your sales and web site revenue.

Blocking and Tackling | A quick look at some eCommerce fundamentals

Blocking and Tackling | A quick look at some eCommerce fundamentals

eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations.

eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations.

On the flip side however, site fundamentals still play a very large role in converting visitors into customers. Many retailers surprisingly lose sight of these site basics and leave significant sales on the table. This brief examines 4 quick “fundamentals” every eCommerce manager cannot afford to lose sight of.

Think Fast
Speed has become less of a problem due to the penetration of broadband, but don’t forget that a significant number of people still shop by a dialup connection. When creating a site framework, designers and e-commerce teams should ensure that the site is developed with pages loading in less than 9 seconds (over a dial-up connection).

Our recommended page size is within 60-70k in bytes. At that amount, sites will likely load within the maximum wait time of 9 seconds. Online retailers should avoid flash at all costs within their transactional site. Flash’s artistic aspects may help you establish a brand presence – but it will likely lose potential customers before they have even searched within your store.

Image is important
Images are a very important aspect of selling online and are often neglected. All product images should be of the highest resolution possible, be much larger than the product page original, and have multiple views. Dynamic imaging capabilities can improve the user experience to an even higher level by increasing interactivity (zoom & rotate). At a minimum – retailers should have at least two additional views outside of the product page image to help build emotion.

Be my guest
Shoppers do not like being forced to do anything, especially when they are ready to open their wallets. Forcing a shopper to register on your site before purchasing is a sure way to drive a portion of your traffic to your competitors. Too often , shoppers do not have the time or the inclination to fill out a lengthy form explaining what types of information they desire.

Always offer the ability to checkout as a guest. You will see less customer leakage within the checkout process and can still offer the option to register when the sale is completed.

Make sure it’s “above the fold”
Your homepage is the most important page within your eCommerce store. It sets the initial tone for the shopping experience and offers your best promotions and products to your visitors. Users typically visually scan a web page from top to bottom and then from left to right. All critical content and navigation options should be obvious to the shopper without having to scroll down. If you have your best promotions “below the fold” – you can bet that a large percentage of browsers are not scrolling down to see it.

Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS - How will these technologies affect eCommerce

Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS - How will these technologies affect eCommerce

At this moment in time, Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS are not going to fundamentally change any aspect of your online business, but rather, offer your company new ways to speak to your customer segments..

Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS Overview

You probably have heard all these terms an awful lot lately. You wonder about what these technologies do? What value to they provide? If you aren't up to speed on these new applications and how they are impacting online interactions then read this brief further.

Will these technologies impact you? To be honest, it's too early to tell - but awareness will drive innovation and maybe your team will develop an idea/application that utilizes these technologies to enhance a portion of your eCommerce business.

Here's the rundown:

Blogs

What they are:

Probably the most well known of the three, blogs allow everyday people to quickly develop a website presence and distribute any type of content that they desire. Look at the metrics relating to blog penetration.

• 7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary. That represents more than 8 million people.

• 27% of internet users say they read blogs.

• Only 38% of all internet users know what a blog is. The rest are not sure what the term “blog” means.

What a “blog” actually means is weblog. In basic terminology, it’s the ability for someone to update web content directly though the Internet, using a web browser as the publishing mechanism. This makes the creation of content easy and many people are using blogs to establish authority sites within unique business and hobby/interest niches.

Where blogs impact online retail most is within these targeted online communities. Certain blog authors develop a large base of specific visitors, hence the site becomes a potential target market for viral marketing efforts. Many web entrepreneurs us this functionality to develop affiliate hubs within niche markets, and use search popularity to beat out larger retailers within corresponding natural search results.

By integrating your brand image within the site experience at that SPECIFIC blog, you as an online marketer are able to segment your marketing PRIOR to converting someone as a customer. It is a place to communicate with current and potential customers about current offerings/promos while boosting the credibility of the brand.

Should you care:

If you have a very unique value proposition, or sell to a very specific or high-value customer segment, blogs can be a great way to increase overall brand awareness. You can better connect with your customers and provide detail into the current happening within the business (ex. Current sales on XBOX 360). Potentially, one person within your organization should own the monitoring of blogs within your vertical and look to post new content to meet the needs within the unique blog community.

Podcasting

What it is:

Pocasting should be just called mobile video broadcasting. However, Apple's marketing/development team did a great job with branding their device to a type of emerging media – hence the term podcasting! Similar to traditional radio and television, mobile video broadcasting delivers branded content in either a paid/free environment, on someone's mobile media player (Apple only does video currently, but that will change shortly). Retailers can potentially use this communication channel to deliver targeted content to their customer base, while integrating advertising within the video content.

Should you care:

Not really. Until video podcasting penetration increases, it's still a limited channel for advertising. The best application available right now would be an online audio content segment that is digitally delivered to an opt-in list. As technology advances, you can potentially do this from your current opt-in page on your website and not from Apple's iTunes platform.

RSS

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is a method for electronic content distribution. RSS is transmitted via the internet, but what makes it unique is that no downloading efforts are needed by the end receiver of the content. The content streams instateneously within a webpage.
Advanced consumers have RSS news readers on their computers, either integrated into an email client, or utilize an aggregated web application such as News Gator. This essentially saves them time in aggregating all new and updated content that meets their interests.

Already gaining steam in the travel industry and within comparison shopping engines, RSS seems to be a valuable way to push news and time sensitive offers to customers. Travel companies are able to provide a streaming supply of last minute airfare offers to their customer segments, without that customer having to open an email or visit a webpage.

Should you care:

It completely depends on the nature of your business. Do you consistently offer new prices? Do you obtain new products to your assortment consistently? Do you have a customer base that is extremely loyal that you want to reach out to with messaging? If so , RSS may another channel to help build your brand.