Marketing

Are you a speaker looking for more speaking opportunities?

A professional DVD of your presentation will open those doors for you, whether with a meeting planner, speakers committee, or speakers bureau!

A quality video will:

• *Get you past the "gatekeepers" to the decision makers
• *Show your unique style and how the audience responds to you
• *Entice potential clients, grab their interest and make a great impression
• *Reach thousands of potential clients by streaming your demo on your website
• Increase the caliber of your bookings.
• *Get you hired and increase your income

Join us Saturday, March 1st for a day of DVD Speaker Presentations. If you want a DVD of your presentation to show to potential speaker bureaus or meeting planners, this day is for you!

Innovative Video Solutions will be on hand to record your presentation, in front of an audience, then create a video you can stream from your website, or share on a DVD. Click here for the event details.

Here are some speaker demos I saw when I searched "speaker demo videos" at YouTube.

Thayer Willis Speaker Demo

Geoff Bond International Speaker – Demo video

Joel Block – Speaker Demo Reel for 2007

1. Allow people to provide your free online service to their web site, visitors, or e-zine subscribers. They could be free e-mail, e-mail consulting, search engine submissions, etc.
2. Allow people to give away your free software. Just include your business advertisement inside the software program.
3. Allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts, templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people to link directly to your web site.
4. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free ebook if, in exchange, they give away the ebook to their web visitors or e-zine subscribers.
5. Allow people to give away your free ebook to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the internet.

1. Allow people to reprint your articles on their web site, in their e-zine, newsletter, magazine or ebooks. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.
2. Allow people to use any of your freebies as free bonuses for products or services they sell. Include your ad on all your freebies.
3. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own web site. Some people don’t have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board.
4. Allow people to sign up for a free web site on your server. Since you are giving away the space, require them to include your banner ad at the top of the site.
5. Allow people to add their link to your free web site directory. Just require that they return a link back to your web site, advertising your directory.

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.

One reason entrepreneurs ignore promoting their online business with press releases is because they don’t know what’s newsworthy.

Here are 10 online business press release ideas:

1. your opening of a new web site
2. new products or services you’re offering on your web site.
3. the results of an online survey or poll you’ve completed
4. an online award your business or web site has won
5. a free e-mail newsletter you’re publishing
6. a new book or e-book you wrote
7. a fundraising event you’re doing at your web site
8. a new contest or sweepstakes you’re having at your site
9. major sponsorships you’re doing online
10. a famous person that’s endorsing your business

You can get other press release writing tips and ideas by reading other businesses press releases, reading how to publications, talking to experts and visiting other media web sites. A Goggle search for online press release directories will yield you plenty of site to submit your press release. Good luck!

If you have even a passing interest in the topic of niche, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of the latest news on the subject of niche.

There are two different ways of ideas about niches. One takes the target audience into consideration first, which is the product centric model, while the other takes the product into consideration first, the audience centric model.

Actually, both of these ideas are identical but one of them will allow you to have more advantage. So which one is that? The product centric based idea.

The product centric model carries a time-tested rule of marketing: if you want to get into profit quickly, sell what people are already buying! There is plenty of information about things that sells well. Niche marketing is just a job to identify the gaps in the market which haven’t got dug yet, and build a business around it.

If you realize, books account for a huge portion of online revenue. Nevertheless, how do you grab a slice for yourself without competing against the huge companies like Amazon.com?

The answer is simple, you specialize. No matter how huge Amazon is, sometimes you still wouldn’t be able to find books that you want. What types of books are people searching for that they can’t find through the mainstream booksellers?

Could you become the authority and number one resource for books on a particular hobby? How about underground titles like “The Anarchist’s Cookbook?” That’s what the owners of http://www.loompanics.com have, controversial and “hard to find” title books.

Another way you can build a niche around hot-selling products is to add some spice by customizing or personalizing them. In summary, the product-centric model is based on giving a twist to existing markets and trends.

On the other side, an audience centric model takes a subject matter, special interests or information more importantly first. Basically, you start off with no idea on what to sell. You don’t have a product in mind. You only know your target-audience.

The great thing about the audience-centric approach is that you can create whole new markets out of thin air. This is the model preferred by most e-book authors and information marketers.

So where do we start? You need to assess your own interests and strengths before you begin, especially if this is your first time starting a business. What are you already interested in? Do you have any background or expertise on a particular subject? Start with what you know, you’ll have more advantage because your prior knowledge will allow you to narrow down your niche quickly. In other words, you already have a good idea of how the topic breaks down.

If your passion is music, for example, you know there is an almost endless supply of potential products and potential buyers in areas as diverse as:

• Instruments/instrument sales/instrument repair/vintage instruments
• Techniques and lessons on how to play a certain instrument
• Memorabilia – shirts, hats, tickets, stickers, posters, autographs
• Audio production, recording, CD labeling, booking, promotion etc

If you find yourself confused by what you’ve read to this point, don’t despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

You also know that any or all of those can be tailored towards: solo artists, bands, fans, managers, engineers, agents and the list go on.

Now that’s a great thing for you, but what if that’s not you’re interested? What if you are just not into creating a business out of your hobby, or you don’t feel any passion for your current expertise?

The good news is: It’s Fine! You don’t need to give up hope or bang your head against the wall for ideas. You will however need to do some extra work. This brings us to the second reason I suggest taking stock of your strengths.

Here’s a secret about most internet marketers. Ready to know? Here it is: Most of the famous niche marketers you’ve heard of create products for niches they know absolutely nothing about.

How do they do that? Easy, they either hire the research and writing to someone else, or hunt down an expert for an interview, just a combination of outsourcing and “branding”. Also, this type of marketer has his or her own set of “reasons why” for motivation.

They include:

• Money
• Pride of ownership
• Love of the creative process
• Need for variety and breadth, rather than depth

It doesn’t matter as much to this type whether the market personally interests them. His or her goal and passion is to hunt down as many overlooked niches as possible, dive into them quickly and start profiting.

So, if this sounds like you, you’re in good company! Once you learn the basics of niche research, you’ll have your pick of dozens of potential business ideas.

As your knowledge about niche continues to grow, you will begin to see how niche fits into the overall scheme of things. Knowing how something relates to the rest of the world is important too.

Additional Resources: Niche Marketing Predictions for 2006

So what are domains really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about domains–info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.

When a website is created, it is necessary to create a domain name to establish an online presence. It does’t matter if it is for business or another venture. A domain name will establish you or your business and that is where you will be contacted.

Choosing an appropriate domain name is essential to your business. You want a name that will reflect your business, something that is professional, yet catchy enough to grab the attention of search engine visitors. The name that you choose will directly impact the success of your business.

There are companies on the Internet that will create a website, and find the perfect domain name for your business. However, the cost of these services is usually quite high, and even then, it is not guaranteed business.

If you find yourself confused by what you’ve read to this point, don’t despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

Some of the major search engines such as Yahoo and Google offer a step by step guide to building a website. They offer several different packages at different rates. The main differences in these packages are the sizes. If you’re just starting out, the smaller package would be the best choice. The payments are smaller, but so is the space on the site that you create. It is always an option to upgrade at a later time.

If you are an established business, and already have clients, then it is probably a good idea to purchase a larger package. Although the larger packages do cost more it is not too much more. The advantages are that you get more space for your website, and also more email addresses.

There are several choices of extensions. There is yourname@yourbusiness.com, org, .net, .biz.

Some experts believe that by using the extension .com it give a website more credibility. However, more and more you are seeing websites with other extensions.

There are thousands of companies that you can purchase a domain name from at very inexpensive rates. The experts also believe that by purchasing your domain name from the company you are web hosting from is a mistake. It creates enormous problems if you decide to switch web-hosting companies. Very often companies will choose a web hosting company that offers a better rate and better services. Personally, I like purchasing domain names from GoDaddy.com

When choosing a domain name, keep it short and use keyword that describe your business services. If the company name does not describe your services, do not use it as your domain name. It tends to confuse and frustrate the potential client and they will find another site. Also, Google offers a page rank system, which ranks the website for content and by name. If you use the company name as your domain name, and the content does not have anything to with the domain name, then your website will receive a very low ranking.

Try to win the love of a girl with flowers alone, and you’re in for a major heartbreak.

In the same light, try to win a customer with a description of the product by itself, and you’re in for a period of bleak earnings.

The painful fact is this: products don’t sell themselves. They need that human touch to convince the prospective buyer that he needs to purchase the said products, least he misses out on an advantageous opportunity. Sadly, persuading the potential buyer is made more difficult if the business is being carried out online. It seems that the anonymity involved in online transactions make people more hesitant about parting with their hard earned money.

How does an Internet marketer go about in selling his products then?

It’s no secret that sales copies have become a must in this day and age. They have even become the landing page of many websites. The power of a good sales copy should not be underappreciated. Sales copies can convert an undecided visitor into a successful sale. After all, a sales copy is what the visitor would read to get more information about the product.

The nature of sales copies is quite sensitive. One word can win or lose a client. This is why many Internet marketers pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for a killer sales letter. Most of the time, they hire a ghostwriter to the job for them. The problem here is that the ghostwriter can only know so much about the product, hence, he could only write just as less.

But guess what?

YOU can write your own sales copy! Yes! You could!

Below is a step-by-step procedure, a formula if you will, on how to churn out those superbly effective sale copies that would increase your conversion rate.

STEP 1: Write an attention grabbing HEADLINE. Please bear in mind that a headline is composed of three parts:

A. A line that would set up the main headline.
B. Your main headline that should be in the biggest font size you’ll use in the entire copy. Preferably, it should be in a startlingly different color and in bold.
C. A line that would elaborate on your main headline.
Here is an illustration of a headline using this method:
Do you want to gain substantial earnings even while you’re sleeping?
“AN AUTOMATED BUSINESS SOLUTION IS THE DIGITAL EQUIVALENT OF A 24/7 SECRETARY OR YOUR ONLINE VENTURE!!!”
Take And Deliver Orders Without Even Having To Log On To Your Website!

STEP 2: Write an INTRODUCTION that your readers can relate to. You could do this by sharing a problem that should be familiar with them.

STEP 3: Tell them who you are and share a list of your relevant accomplishments. This would help establish your IDENTITY and your CREDIBILITY. Many of your potential clients are wary about doing business online. By doing away with the unwanted anonymity and by assuring them of your reliability, you’ll be able to make their fears go away.

STEP 4: Offer your PRODUCT. Yup! You have to do it here instead of earlier. The reason is that Internet users generally hate sales pitches. If your headline is about the product itself, they might just switch to another site.

STEP 5: Assure your readers that the PRODUCT IS EFFECTIVE. This can be done in two ways:
A. Offer confirmable statistics that would support your product’s needed usage.
B. Present testimonials from people who have actually used your product.

STEP 6: Enumerate the SPECIFICS OF YOUR PRODUCT. But make sure that this part is not riddled with technical jargons. Explain your product’s details in a colloquial way that anyone would be able to understand.

STEP 7: Tell your reader the reasons why your PRODUCT SHALL BE BENEFICIAL to them. This step is crucial, as it is the point where you could transform the potential client’s interest into a perceived need.

STEP 8: For that killer blow that would make them feel that yours is the best deal in the planet, bundle your product with BONUSES, and inform your readers of the corresponding VALUE for each freebie.

Remember that a sales copy is that very integral component that bridges a page hit to a sale. By following the steps we have outlined above, there is no doubt that your conversion rate would dramatically increase!

Recommended Reading: Web Sales Letter Supreme

Niche marketing is a manifestation of how much internet marketing has evolved in recent years. Niche marketing is based on a real world model, that is, it is a business strategy that is focused on real people with real needs and with real money to spend.

Niche marketing is a technique that seeks to conquer small and usually unattended markets that are fueled by a strong passion for a particular interest. The benefits of cornering these markets are enormous. First, you will encounter little competition. Second, the market is driven by enthusiasm and they will continuously support a product that they like.

To illustrate, five years ago, internet marketing strategies focused on general markets. “I want to make money online,” one would have said, “so I’m going to sell products for dog enthusiasts.” But dog enthusiasts comprise a pretty broad market. A lot of online businesses are already catering to their needs.

But today, internet marketing strategies are focusing on specific markets. Instead of targeting dog enthusiasts, they target Sharpei owners. This is niche marketing in a nutshell.

Succeeding in niche marketing isn’t as difficult as you might think. Here are five simple steps that would guarantee your conquest of the niche you would choose.

1. Know what people are searching for online. You need two important ingredients for this step: instinct and Overture. You think you have them? Let’s proceed then. Point your browser to: http://www.inventory.overture.com

   This is Overture’s super powerful and useful keyword selector tool. Type in any word and the system will tell you how many searches were made for it in a particular month.

   Now you will need your instinct, as the process is all trial-and-error. Think of a field that not many people know about. For the purpose of this discussion, let’s choose the word “widget.”

   By typing in the said word, Overture will tell us that 2136 people searched for “widget” in the month of April. This would be a perfect niche market. It’s not a popular subject, and you have 2136 people, less a few repeated searches, that are potential clients.

2. Determine the profitability of the niche. Overture would have given you a list of keywords pertaining to your targeted niche. Now it’s time to see if we could make money out of them. Log on to Google Adwords and check out the pricing of the keywords. The higher a keyword’s price is, the more profitable it can be.

   But you don’t have to rely on Googles Adwords alone. You could conduct your own research by reading books and newspapers. Be on the lookout for particularized markets you could exploit.

3. Evaluate the potential market. You could do this manually by running your own search and checking out the websites that cater to your chosen niche. Scout the competition! This could take some time though, so a better option would be to invest in some useful tools. One good software you could use is Word Tracker, which would provide for you a supply vs. demand. Word Tracker would survey multiple search engines and pinpoint competing websites.
4. Create your own product. You do have to sell something, so you have to create an item that the members of the niche would want to buy. Since you’re operating an online business, information would be the most ideal product that you could offer. By packaging information in the form of electronic books, membership sites, software, subscriptions to newsletter or even streaming media, you’d have an offering that the target market would always have a need for.
5. Content is king. You would want the members of the niche to visit your site, and the way to do this is by offering good, quality content that they can never find anywhere else. As we’ve mentioned earlier, the members of a niche are fueled by passion, hence they will always be searching for information on their particular interest. If you provide this in your content, they will come to you, and you could expose your products to them.

Niche marketing is not difficult indeed, but you can’t be successful with it lying down. Some effort is still required, as is the case with all viable businesses. With steps outlined above, you will be able to corner the niche of your choice. May it be very profitable for you!

Niche Market Reading: How To Niche, The Niche Report, and Resale Rights Report (Resale Rights Report for Windows only, sorry Macs)