You want to make money and that is why you started your business. Obviously, without any advertising you will not make any sales. (As much as we would like to say, “Build it and they will come” business is nothing like the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams).

It is, however, important to remember that you don’t have to get all your advertising investments back immediately. You could make a one off purchase for lifetime advertising or you could continue to be paid monthly commissions from one sale, such as with membership programs.

Let’s assume you’re selling a $30/month service and you earn $15/month for each sale.  If you spent $50 on advertising and you only got one sale, would you consider that a success?  Most people would not think so.

But entrepreneurs think differently to most, looking beyond the first sale and multiply out months into the future. This is how you build your business.  Think long term, as advertising in your business is an investment and investments can take time.

If you’re making $15 per sale and the advertising cost you $50, it would take 4 months for you to be in profit if you only make one sale every month. We simply multiply the $15 times the 4 months which equals $60.  Since you spent $50 on the ad, you have now made a profit of $10.

What do you do with that $10 profit?  If you’re focused on the long term success of your business, you’ll invest it back into your business in the form of more advertising.  You know you can make money with this type of advertising, so you can tweak the ad and see if you can get that one sale increased to 2 or 3 sales.  This is all part of advertising testing and every successful company does this.  Some do it on a grander scale, but testing your advertising is one of the most important things you can do.

Also before you ever do any advertising, make absolutely sure you are using an ad tracker so you know what ads are working and which ads are not.  You can then focus more attention on the ads that work and toss out the ads that don’t work.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Internet Marketing. The IM lifestyle has allowed me to keep my adult brain stimulated when surrounded by nappies and toys whilst on maternity leave. To work part time around my disabilities and my children’s needs as they got older and started school.

But there is a dark side of internet marketing I am not so happy to be associated with in any way. It saddens me greatly that ponzi schemes and matrix gifting programs still exist. The life sucking vampires and snake oil salesmen who are after the quick cash grab by dangling shiny sparkly gimmicks and useless gadgets. The utterly crap products targeting hope, desperation and even greed. The hidden forced up-sells and continuity required for you to be able to use the system after purchasing the $47 solution based product.

I am frustrated with the state of the IM niche which should be about teaching others how to sell and market online. The basis of the internet was built on sharing and collaboration. Not this shifty deceitful element happy to sell get-rich-quick dreams to the unsuspecting.

So listen up. Stop buying into this weeks latest fad. There are no get-rich-quick schemes which make those buying into it a fortune. There are not secret loopholes, and magic bullets don’t exist.

IM is not quite the same as offline and many supportive brick and mortar business people are being burned by some the scammers. Making bad business decisions out of desperation and fear. There are however, some great educational products available and there are some supportive training programs to help people learn the ropes of IM.

You can make wise choices about what info products and marketing tools you purchase. It is called due diligence.

Stop bouncing from program to program trying to find the magic button which makes you instant money. There is no such thing. IM takes work. It takes time to learn the steps to take just like any job.

If you are looking for an ethical solid program to teach you step by step how to build one income stream…get into profit…then expand into up to 10 other income streams…in a supportive environment…use this as your launching pad to online success.

In difficult economic times, it is extremely critical for business owners to have more direct access to their customers and to be able to drum-up more business when needed. Using “mobile” as a marketing tool, businesses can immediately launch mobile advertising, sales campaigns and market to their customers — easily, quickly, and with great accuracy – 2mobile2go.

The key factors here are “speed” and “accuracy”. We live in a time when email alone won’t do the job. If an advertiser needs to reach his customers – right now, right away – email is NOT the way to go! But with mobile text, an advertiser can deliver his message direct to the customer’s hands in minutes. Consumers don’t have to wait until they are in front of a computer and go on the Internet to read their email. Mobile is fast and direct. Broadcast your message with 2mobile2go mobile broadcast platform.

Want more reasons to broadcast your marketing via mobile:

The following indicators offer enough clues on the health and the overall growth of mobile and text messaging in the U.S. These tidbits reveal what mobile advertising, mobile marketing, mobile broadcasting, mobile marketing coupons, and mobile promotions can do for your business.

• More Americans Have Cell Phones

Do you know someone who doesn’t have one? There are now 298 Million cell phones issued in the U.S. alone (July 2008 est.), with an estimated 46 new cell phones being activated every minute in the U.S

• Text Messaging Has Increased 10-Fold

The number of text messages being sent monthly in the U.S. reportedly has soared to more than 75 billion, a 10-fold increase in just three years. The research firm, Interlinked Media predicts there’ll be more than 600 billion text messages sent in the United States this year by sending promo alerts, sales alerts and send ads to mobile phones.

• Texting Has Overtaken Voice In Mobile Phone Usage

At the end of 2007, text messaging had just overtaken voice calls 218 to 213. But by the end of the second quarter of this year, an average mobile phone user placed or received 204 calls, compared with sending or receiving 357 text messages. With texting now getting close to outpacing voice calls two to one, it can’t be long until phone users adapt to more text-based mobile advertising and mobile marketing techniques as well.

• Texting Has Overtaken Voice In Mobile Phone Usage

At the end of 2007, text messaging had just overtaken voice calls 218 to 213. But by the end of the second quarter of this year, an average mobile phone user placed or received 204 calls, compared with sending or receiving 357 text messages. mobile marketing – With texting now getting close to outpacing voice calls two to one, it can’t be long until phone users adapt to more text-based advertising and marketing techniques as well with mobile text broadcasting.

For more information please visit our website: http://www.2mobile2go.com and http://www.2gomobile2.com – Mark Watt is president of M&B Media Group located in Raleigh NC and has 10 years of experience in the Telecom industry. Mark can also be reached via mobile @ 919-328-0133.

I wanted to let you know today about a Self Improvement site that will allow you to download 100’s of self help gifts. And the best part is that it is absolutely FREE!

If you’ve had enough of plodding along year after year and you want to improve yourself to make 2011 your BEST ever year, then you need to go here: http://blog.xclr8marketing.com/go/self-improvement-gifts-5

Self Improvement 5 will be open only for a VERY LIMITED TIME from January 6th to January 27th 2011. When you go there you’ll find a multitude of products – all FREE – provided by Self Improvement and Marketing experts from all over the world. Here is just a small sample of what you will find:

• * How to Become an Advanced Early Riser – Steven Aitchison
• * Turn Your Passsion into a book… – Warren Whitlock
• * Total Wellness Guide – Craig Raphael
• * COACHES: Create a 6-Figure Practice, Here’s How! – Barb Wade
• * Living the Rich Life – Julia Busch
• * Achieve Your Dreams – Brenton Lindo
• * I Have Value Meditation – Estra Roell
• * Creative Visualization Mastey – Bruno Auger
• * Wealthy You 2011 Vision Sheet – Nachhi Randhawa
• * Find the Best Self Improvement Niches and More – Tuks Engineer
• * Self Hypnosis Sessions At Home – Paul Mihai Pavel
• * Wake Up to the Dream -  Eva Gregory
• * And TONS (OVER 400+) MORE!

Get all of these and 100’s more here. The organizers of the event are Stephanie Mulac, Carolyn Hansen and Dr. Joe Rubino.

Just briefly, this is Stephanie’s 4th Self Improvement Giveaway. Stephanie started this style of event in 2006. It’s in the form of a “Giveaway” which is sort of like a giant electronic trade fair where 100’s of experts offer their products free to the public.

Because it has become so popular, this year Stephanie has enlisted the services of Carolyn Hansen, renowned fitness professional, and Self Exteem Expert, Dr. Joe Rubino.

You only have to walk into any book store in any country to see how popular the subjects of self improvement, self awareness and personal development are. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry churning out hundreds of new books, audios, CD’s and other paraphernalia every year.

These can be very expensive but at this giveaway event you can pick this information up completely FREE.

With 2011 upon us, what better time is there than right NOW to set yourself and your business up for future success? This event is a life-changing experience for those who take it. Come and join Stephanie, Carolyn, Joe and me and see for yourself.

If you want to grab the largest collection of self improvement and internet marketing products you’ll find ANYWHERE – all FREE – then go to http://blog.xclr8marketing.com/go/self-improvement-gifts-5 NOW and claim your bounty!

Suzy Molloy

P.S. I am launching my new XCLR8 Marketing WordPress Themes Templates Volume 4 at this event. If you are interested in building your list with giveaway events check out the list I keep of all I am currently participating in. http://landmines.xclr8marketing.com/giveaways.html

I was watching a US made documentary when I heard one of my neighbouring Australian suburbs described as an impoverished ghetto. But having travelled through some American ghettos in the late 1980s I would never have dreamed of describing our neighbourhood in such a way.

My husband and I made a conscious choice to downsize our family several years ago – from the flashier and more expensive suburbs to the cheaper housing options of Adelaide. We were both hungry to pursue our dreams of financial independence from running our own business.

We needed to cut our expenses and live more simply so we could find the extra money to pursue our dreams. These dreams have detoured and been altered along the way as we overcome the challenges and work around obstacles that life puts in our way (such as my disabilities). Whilst we have not yet reached our ultimate success pinnacle this hunger has not died.

Since moving we have had the benefit of reducing our living expenses and experiencing less neighbourhood crime. Our neighbours are friendlier with a stronger community spirit. I also think our street has larger and better maintained gardens.

Even the most obvious disadvantage of being further away from our state capital has not been the inconvenience we expected. There are so many convneient local community facilities that we recently gave up our second family car. We hadn’t used it for about 2 years anyway mostly because my trip to work my business only takes a 12 second commute to my home office.

Suzy Molloy

I would like to offer your own Ulitmate Licence for online success. You’ll get free lifetime access to one of the largest resource libraries on the Internet that is full of download products, e-books, software, training videos and more.

Originally published January 5, 2011, at 9:46 PM UTC. on http://xclr8.qondio.com/

There has been too much stress on the great advantages of running an Internet business, for which reason the electronic market has really become a crowded place. Presently, all sorts of users share the electronic market, and competition is very tough in all domains of activity. Regardless if we are talking things at the small or large scale, business owners have realized that the online development of a business usually means a financial advantage to the evolution of the company. Therefore, all we have to do to understand the extent of the Internet market explosion is to consider the proliferation of the agencies that provide all sorts of consultancy and online marketing services.

The growth of the Internet business starts with the design of the web page and then continues with an ever more demanding website support and monitoring in order to maintain an ascending evolution path for the company. Web masters, teams of marketing experts and advertisers rely on each other to cope with the necessities of a large corporation conducted online. The number of transactions run on the Internet is often just as large as that registered on the real market, and this reveals more on the growth of the Internet in general. The issue that becomes nevertheless every day more controversial is the dark side of Internet marketing.

For many people, fake investments, SPAM, scams, data theft, computer infections with spyware and viruses and so on, create a different perspective on Internet business that every body fears to fall victim too. Currently, lots of warnings put people on guard about the money loss they will be subject to if they give course to secretive business invitations or purchase services they know nothing of. On the other side, the healthy alternative for developing an Internet business is product promotion, advertising, service offer, affiliate marketing and anything that brings a regular earnest revenue.

A close comparison of the good bits and bad bits of an Internet business put together as relevant for the specifics of the activity should create a clear picture over whether it is right or wrong to invest in the Internet business market. However, the problem is professional marketing consultancy, eguides, books, online articles and informative websites will give you only a somehow superficial perspective of what an Internet business involves concerning the failure and the success chances. Always look ahead and plan in advance in order to place your money well and earn something from the investment. Internet Marketing can be easy, here’s one good Internet Marketing Singapore

If you plan on learning how to make money working from home and have recently begun your search for the right opportunity then be aware that it can be a minefield which has claim a large number of victims.

Now we’re not trying to sound drastic and in no way are we suggesting the work from home environment should not be pursued, in fact, it should but more that if you fall for the hype and outlandish claims made by many selling the dream then you will be forever chasing your tail.

The term selling the dream is common in home business circles and just the term seems to touch more than one hot button in an opportunity seeker. But while there’s nothing wrong with showing someone the dream that can be achieved, you need to start distinguishing between when you stop chasing it and when you start putting into practice activities to make it happen.

Many opportunity seekers online have been chasing the dream for many years with nothing to show for it and they seem caught in a state of hypnosis they can’t break free from. These people can be categorized as consumers of information and will have spent thousands of dollars on information and the truth is, much of it will never have seen the light of day.

Stop Chasing The Dream

You need to distinguish between those opportunities which just sell the dream and those which sell both the dream and the how to. Think about this for a moment. If you are drawn into a home based business opportunity because you were taken with what it can give you that’s great. But one of the first things you want to check before signing on is will there be a blueprint or how to for you to follow which will show you how to achieve your dream.

If you sign on and have a ton of information shoved at you and are then left to figure it out for yourself then look for something else. It’s one of the big problems with those selling information for profit online today. Many believe the majority know how to sell a dream but fall down badly when it comes to showing people how to get there.

There’s even a suggestion that this suits information sellers because it gives them the opportunity to sell another piece of the puzzle a little later down the track and then again and again and again. In an inter network marketing business you want to be making sure that you have a system to plug into and this should include lots of training on how to both build web properties and market them.

Building your opt-in list starts with having a website that will win over visitors to spend some time there. By doing that they will be more apt to sign up to your newsletter or offer.

Here are 8 steps that will help complete this.

1. Use your own material. If they see that you are displaying the same content as similar sites. They aren’t going to stay around for very long.

2. Open with a headline and introduction that captures their attention. Let them know what is going to be found on your website. It doesn’t take long for today’s surfers to decide if this page is going to be worth further attention.

3. Make sure your visitors know just what they will find on your website. They are looking for information on a certain subject and they need to know that you have their possible answers. Therefore be sure to use the keywords that best fit your web page because when your visitor clicks on a keyword with his browser he wants to find the matching content.

4. Be sure you have several cross links to various pages on your site so the visitor can browse through it. If he finds it helpful and pertinent he will be more inclined to bookmark your site and come back again. Be sure your links are well designed to catch the reader’s eye.

5. Devise your site so your pages can load quickly. Don’t load it up with too many pictures and long blocks of text. Leave enough “white space” so one’s eyes can be drawn down the page. Articles should be broken up into short paragraphs and adjust your text so it is easy to read–not too small nor too light. Difficult in reading the content will discourage a visitor from continuing.

6. Proofread your pages so you don’t make grammatical and spelling errors. You need to appear a professional. If you are not sure of the effect the page is presenting let someone else take a look. Forums are a good area to ask members to view your site or actual page. (You will probably receive all kinds of opinions!) But you should definitely get some valuable help.

7. Provide your visitors freebies–ebooks, software, articles etc. that they can download from your site. Ask them if they would fill out a survey which could help you find out for what type of information they are looking, or ask if they would like to sign up for your newsletter. If a visitor does nothing else than to become one of your subscribers and be put on your opt-in email list you have won the first battle.

8. Pop ups have been so abused they are ignored by most people nowadays and are considered evasive. There is a new unique script which uses an image fixed to a corner of the screen linked to your sign up form. This stays in the visitors view permanently and although it is un-obtrusive it is compelling enough to invite them to click it.

Now that you have a means to add to your opt-in list by way of your website, you also need to build your list in other ways, especially if you don’t yet have too many hits on your site. That takes time but by building your list you will increase them.

Here are 5 more possibilities outside your website.

1. Promote a free ebook. You can have it downloaded from your site as mentioned before or you could have the visitor send you an email and you could attach the ebook to an answering one. This ebook doesn’t have to be more than 7-10 pages.

Promote your newsletter and send people who reply to your list via your auto-responder, which will take care of the opting in, and startup of your emails. Be sure any email, whether yours or your auto responders has an opt-out feature.

Use email signatures, which you can add to the bottom of your emails. In 3-6 lines you put your name, short description and appropriate link to your site or offer.

4. Send an email to an particular email address and ask the recipient if they would like to sign-up for your mailing list or offer the option to decline from any future mailings. Be careful here because anyone receiving your email could consider it to be spam. To me this is the least desirable method.

5. If you have a newsletter in which you have just about run out of your material and want to start another newsletter on a different area you could send a broadcast and invite anyone nearing the end of your letters to change to the new newsletter. You may be able to keep some of those who are ready to make a change. You won’t gain any new subscribers really but you may be able to keep some of those you might otherwise lose. Let them know that you are proficient in different areas.

As you can see building your opt-in list need not be difficult. Use your imagination and I am sure that you can find many other means to get results.

Just add this new email marketing concept to your site….and your sales your optins will ROCKET -  No Muss, No Fuss. A simple little twist can change your sales overnight. Find out how to “squeeze” search engines for more website traffic in your niche.

Use Giveaway Events to Build your list.

Today I saw the xkcd.com cartoon -

The Smithsonian Museum of Dad-Trolling had me wondering if Patrick and Daniel, had influenced guest comic Zach Weiner when he created this piece.

The Australian marketing campaign for Telstra BigPond broadband services, promotes education, with memorable conversations between the famous father-and-son duo, Patrick and Daniel from the long-running  ‘rabbits’ campaign.

Ever since the overall Bigpond Education Television Commercial Advertising campaign began in 2005, it has become a social icon. The campaign TV episodes included Too many rabbits, discover big things, bagpipe playing neighbour, & My Dad played for Collingwood.  The overall campaign, which have included print advertising and a significant online component.

Before the ad launched, Telstra BigPond’s broadband market share was in decline. So it is significant to realise the shift in Telstra’s branding as Patrick O’Meara is now easily recognised even though he was an unknown postie before the ads. Telstra needed a branding shift to distract the public from their poor customer service history and the disillusioned mum and dad shareholders’ watching their shares only devalue after purchase.

So what is it that makes this marketing work so well? Is it the humour, an iconic Aussie with the combi van, the idea of deceiving children for amusement or a combination? What ever it was they were awarded Finalist in 2009 Effie award for the results from their Great Wall of China Ad.

Either way, make sure that you click through on the image above – you will be able to see the exhibits pop up function on the original site. My fave was the Misunderstood science exhibit;

DNA only has four letters because the alphabet was smaller back then.

Suzy

In this day and time your small business marketing plan needs to include the typical things of print advertising, TV commercials (this is possible as long as the budget is not exceeded) as well as internet marketing. The internet offers some great ways to increase your business sales.

It begins with getting a website for your business. This small business website is made to advertise your company and draw visitors in. Your website should be full of useful, quality content that people will want to read.

If you want to sell products directly from your website, then you should develop an e-commerce website. The following things will be required in your layout: payment methods, shopping cards and ordering.

It’s important to get your site Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a Chicago printing company that will help you with printing the posters maybe a hard tasks, if you’re unsure of where to start. If you don’t know what you’re doing you may end up with a Chicago printing company that overcharges for the services being offered.

If you have to overpay for a printing job Read the rest of this entry »

I love being creative and designing things. It gives me a personal sense of accomplishment to create a vision from my mind. I know that not all of my creations will be loved by everyone. But there are still those who do love them enough that they pay for products which feature my designs.

I don’t remember who said “do what you love and the money will follow” but that quote forgets that you also need to stick to a plan.

I love crafting the marketing materials such as websites, postcards and business cards but I confess that there are times I hate the actual doing of sales and marketing.

Being aware that doing the actual marketing is not my most loved area of home business, I’ve been trying to Read the rest of this entry »

The Internet has truly made a huge impact in our lives that most must have already made it a part of their regular routines or their future plans  (especially those who are in business). Internet marketing is huge, but it is a plethora of so many things. It is a lot like conventional or traditional marketing, but it is also not like it. Internet marketing is different because it Read the rest of this entry »

I just came across some scary information for all marketers using the email medium.

Did you know that Google now blocks all emails which contain URL links in gmail with capitals in them?

For your email marketing messages to be delivered you need to include the www and all lowercase. this will have serious implications on the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns if you are not aware of this.

Watch this 2 minute video and discover how to Read the rest of this entry »