My Dog Ate My Website

Writen by John Thomas

I am really fascinated by the world of on-line marketing. I spend more and more of my time on the net, make more of my purchases from on-line suppliers, but I seem to find out about new about new products on TV, radio, or even mail.

You probably have me pegged... I am an information junkie. I can't seem to get enough.

I started exploring the world of on-line marketing at the beginning of the year to help some of my clients grow their business. Over the past few months I have been drinking out of a fire hose. Event though internet marketing is much smaller that the other media channels it is a really interesting, sophisticated and serious business.

I suppose my experience with Fortune 1000 eCommerce consulting and participation in several DOTCOM era start-ups made a little arrogant. I felt like I knew what was going on the internet. Yeah, right.

My foray into internet marketing now reminds me of the last time I decided to buy a dog.

My quest for the perfect dog led me to a library and the internet to research dog breeds. Then I had a couple of discussions with my wife and kids to figure out what size, personality, etc. that we were looking for.

While we were thinking of making a purchase, we noticed a sign for a dog show. Have you ever been to a dog show? Do you have any idea about the time and money that this country spends on keeping dog genes sorted, categorized, primped, poofed, and pimped. It's huge! And world of dog breeding is a lot like the world of termites. If you don't go looking for it, you don't know it's there.

At the dog show we saw lots of great breed, met breeders and made appointments to check out puppies. By the time we were done we were experts and we picked a great dog, a Brittany Spaniel and named him McKenna. We knew he was going to be perfect and he was.

He was a perfect nightmare; tons of energy and an amazing athlete. He drove us nuts and destroyed our place. We found that we really should have had a demo before we bought. But we hung in there and eventually we found a solution.

Internet marketing is not hiding but you really have to look hard to find out how it works and who is making money. It's responsible for $10 to $25 billion annually, but nobody is really measuring.

This young industry is made up of a wild mix of players: Marketing Guru's, Affiliate Marketers, Product Sourcing Directories, Drop Shippers, SEO Experts, Link Managers, and on-and-on. The whole thing is still very much in the hands of cowboys, and not controlled by big corporations. I really like that.

So I recently inked my first agreement to market a product. I launched a modest web site, waited, and watched. To my surprise, nothing happened. Nobody came - no search engines crawled - hmmm….

Is it time to take the dog back? I don't think so.

I find most things I need on the internet without too much trouble. If marketers are winning my attention then I'm sure that "mercenary" marketers are willing to share their secrets.

I just need to get the right mix of tools and information to take care of my current challenge. The great thing about the net is that you can often demo and test before you commit to a lifelong relationship.

John Thomas is a business consultant who works exclusively with entrepreneurs and owners of small and mid-size businesses. Track his foray into online marketing at http://trafficisthekey.com and soon at http://inet-marketing-101.com

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Internet Marketing And Public Speaking The Murder Board Practice

Writen by Larry Tracy

I recently posted an article titled "Internet Marketing and Public Speaking: Ten Tips for When the Twain Shall Meet." One of the tips concerned a means to practice your sales presentation with a "Murder Board." I received several emails requesting a fuller explanation of this practice method.

I decided to write two explanatory articles, so vital is this method to improve one's public speaking, specifically in preparing a presentation aimed at selling off-line your on-line product. In this article, I'll provide an in-depth explanation of this practice method; in the second, I'll cover the seven steps need for a successful Murder Board.

Simply stated, the Murder Board is a realistic simulation of the actual presentation to be made. Colleagues role-play the audience, asking the type of questions they believe this specific group is likely to ask. It is intended to be more difficult than the actual presentation.

If you want to become an effective and persuasive presenter to boost your on-line marketing, this realistic practice session is the most effective shortcut to speaking excellence. It allows you to make your mistakes when they don't count, increasing the odds that you will shine when the actual presentation is made.

The Origin of the Murder Board

The term Murder Board has its origins within the U.S. military, specifically within the extensive training system of the U.S. Army. When a person has been selected to be an instructor at an Army school, he or she must go through a demanding instructor training program.

Graduation and designation as an instructor is dependent not on a written test, but successful delivery of a 50 minute class from the curriculum of the school.

The audience for this crucible can be instructors who have gone through their own Murder Board, and are determined that this would-be instructor will experience the same frustration and humiliation they did. They ask tough, realistic, questions, the type of questions their students are asking.

At the end of the 50 minute class, the aspiring instructor gets a a thumbs up—meaning he or she can now join this band of brothers and sisters as an instructor, or a thumbs-down, meaning another "opportunity" to go through a Murder Board.

Lessons from the Pentagon

This realistic simulation has permeated the military culture. As an example, when I ran the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) briefing team, we had three Murder Boards before the daily briefing to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The first one was at 5:30 AM, the second at 6:30 AM, the third in front of two General officers and all the analysists, one hour later. By the time my briefer or I was standing in front of the Chairman, those intense sessions had provided the right answers to virtually any conceivable question the Chairman was likely to ask.

Why have a Murder Board?

This painstaking practice session has two overriding objectives:

1. Hone delivery skills

2. Anticipate probable questions and objections so succinct, accurate answers can be developed.

Many presenters, while accepting the need to sharpen delivery skills, reject the idea of a Murder Board, confident they can anticipate the difficult questions likely to be asked, and need not practice in front of others, especially their peers. These people may actually be displaying a false bravado to mask their discomfort at speaking in front of a group, perhaps exposing their lack of skill in the presentation art, and/or their apprehension at giving a less than sterling performance in front of their colleaqgues.

They are also very mistaken. I have given more than 3000 presentations, and always find it beneficial to conduct a Murder Board before an important talk. No matter how hard we try to think of tough questions that may be asked, a little censor in our mind generally provides only questions to which we already have answers. In my executive training workshops, I always emphasize the importance of a Murder Board, and the practice presentations made by my clients are set up as Murder Boards to get them accustomed to this simulation.

I am in good company in believing that we need other minds to assist us in preparing for a sales or other presentation.. The man who possessed perhaps the greatest mind of the 20th Century, Albert Einstein, realized that even he needed help. He once said:

"What a person does on his own, without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of others, is even in the best cases rather paltry and monotonous."

The Murder Board is the presenter's version of the actor's dress rehearsal, what lawyers do in preparing a witness to face cross-examination in a trial, what the flight simulator is to the pilot.

Just as with the actor, the witness, and the pilot, this simulation permits the presenter to learn from his/her mistakes, so that the actual presentation is (1) more responsive to the informational needs of the audience, (2) answers are developed for likely questions to be asked, and (3) overall speaking confidence and competence enhanced.

The Murder Board enables you to visualize the presentation in advance. Not only is proficiency in speaking increased by such a meticulous practice, so too is self-confidence. Public speaking ranks high in the pantheon of phobias because, in large measure, of the apprehension that one is going to be embarrassed by not being able to answer questions from the audience.

If you have been able to anticipate questions, then you can develop answers ahead of time. Think back to when you were in college or graduate school. Your GPA would probably have been higher if you could have seen the questions before the final exams. The Murder Board permits the presenter a look at the audience's probable "exam questions."

The only obstacle to developing a question-anticipating simulated presentation is your imagination and willingness to take hard hits in practice so you can be more effective in the actual presentation.

Copyright 2005 Larry Tracy

This article is excerpted from Larry Tracy's book, The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations. Larry, a retired Army colonel, has been cited in numerous publications as one of the top presentation skills trainers in the US. His website is at top of Google for "persuasive presentations. Visit it for FREE tips and additional articles: http://www.tracy-presentation.com

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Sell Your Product Online

Writen by Marsh Uele

In today's business world, if you're not selling your product online, you're losing sales. If you have a product, make money online by selling online. There are simple ways to make money online.

Make sure your site is professional and easily navigable if you want to make money online. If you have a lot of product, a search feature is a necessity in order for you to make money online. If you have only one or two products, you can use a payment method such as PayPal to make money online. However, if you showcase more product in order to make money online, you'll want to open a merchant account to handle credit card payments. Some merchant accounts will also offer free features, all helping you to make money online. To keep from violating credit card rules, make sure that for Internet sales, you have an Internet account.

Consider paying affiliates to help you make money online. Affiliates are online "word of mouth" referrals and can increase the amount of money you make online. They link to your site from theirs, and all of their traffic becomes your traffic, increasing the likelihood of making money online. When it comes to making money online, affiliate marketing is a no-lose for the merchant, because commission is paid only on sales.

Consider making money online by selling your product through an eBay storefront. Bidding on items has become a hot way to make money online. Having your own storefront ensures that buyers can find you easily because your product is in one place. Through your storefront, you can make reports, track traffic and sales, and receive advertising through eBay. You can try a storefront for 30 days free, making it an attractive offer to make money online.

Copyright 2005 Marsh Uele

Marsh Uele is the editor of http://www.homebizsucces.com. Everything you need to make money online from home including opportunities, tips, ideas and resources visit http://www.homebizsucces.com

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Web Marketing A Look Into The Crystal Ball

Writen by Halstatt Pires

It may be hard to believe, but the Internet as we know it is just over 10 years old. So, what does the crystal ball show us about the coming evolution of web marketing?

Web Marketing – A Look Into The Crystal Ball

E-commerce has grown by leaps and bounds and continues to set new marks every year. As comfortable as you and I might be using the Internet, it is really only in its infancy. As huge as Google is, it was only created in 1998. Think about that for minute. Google is less than 10 years old. My, how far we have come!

As the Internet continues to grow, how web marketing will evolve is a much discussed subject. There is little doubt the future is bright. As more people join up with the Internet revolution, e-commerce continues to grow. Still, one can't help but acknowledge Internet users are becoming more sophisticated, particularly as a younger generation moves into adulthood and gets issued credit cards.

Web marketing is currently a bit of a mess. Remnants of the old, such as banner ads and email marketing, are arguably one their way out. Banner ads produce horrific click through rates because people are wary of getting stuck on a site they can't get away from. Email marketing is tainted by problems such as spam, phishing scams and identity theft concerns. Personally, I delete all email that isn't from a person I know. It is just too risky.

The dominant web marketing models now are pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. Search engine optimization will be around as long as people use search engines. The promise of free traffic is simply too glorious to ignore. Since it is fairly difficult to commit fraud in search engine optimization, it is difficult to see any future legal issues threatening it. That being said, people will always find ways to bend the rules.

Pay-per-click advertising ["ppc"] has a less clear future. The primary problem is click fraud. Click fraud occurs when a ppc ad is artificially clicked. The only intention of the clicker is to cost the advertiser money. Some estimate the percentage of fraudulent clicks on ppc platforms runs as high as forty percent. If true, this theoretically means you could take forty percent of your advertising budget, use it as toilet paper and get the same sales results. Pretty scary, eh?

So, what do the next 10 years hold in store for marketing on the web? In my personal view, search engine optimization will remain the dominant online marketing method. PPC will also continue, but will be modified into something used to conquer click fraud. I also think information publishing in the form of free copyright articles will become more and more dominant.

Combined, these three platforms represent the future of web marketing. Of course, nobody could have foreseen the explosion of EBay ten years ago, so we may all be surprised by where things stand in five or ten years. Considering Google is less than 10 years old, nobody can really say what might pop up tomorrow.

Halstatt Pires is with MarketingTitan.com - providing internet marketing services.

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How To Get Higher Rankings In The Search Engines And Flood Your Web Site With Traffic For Free

Writen by Laura Hite

Having a high ranking in Yahoo, Google and MSN is definitely going to get you more traffic to your web site.

One of the best free ways to get higher rankings in the search engines is to write articles and submit them to article directories.

Webmasters looking for content for their websites and e-zine publishers looking for content for their e-zines can now go to these article directories to find articles they can use for free.

When they use your article they must keep the resource box in the article. The resource box contains a little information about you, including a link to your web site. If 100 people pick-up your article and use it on their website or e-zine, you now have 100 links back to your web site.

Back links to your web site will naturally increase your ranking in the search engines. A high ranking in the search engine will increase traffic to your web site.

The problem most people have with this technique is the actual writing of the article. This should not stop you. Below are some tips.

An article contains three parts: Title, Body and Resource Box. It should contain useful content and be between 400-800 words.

The title must be attention grabbing and let the reader know what the article's about. 10% of effort is put into writing the story and 90% is put into the title.

Assume the reader knows nothing about the topic. The body of the article must answer questions a reader would have about the topic.

The resource box is at the end of the article. It should be short, 3-5 lines max. It should contain some information about you -- name, what you do, and a link to your website. You can separate the resource box from the article by a single row of a character such as the asterisk (*********).

If you still don't want to write the articles yourself, you can hire someone to write them for you. You can get writers to bid on your job at www.Elance.com or www.RentACoder.com. It will cost you around $8-$12 for professionally written articles that you can publish as your own.

Before you submit your articles to any directories you must do some basic formatting. Different directories will have preferences on formatting so check with them individually for that. You can download a free text formatter from www.TextPad.com.

You should submit at least two articles a week and submit to many directories. Some article directories to submit to are:

www.GoArticles.com

www.ArticleCity.com

www.EzineArticles.com

www.ArticleCentral.com

www.IdeaMarketers.com

www.Articlez.com

You can do a search on www.google.com for "article directories" to find more.

Submitting articles to article directories is one of the best ways to get back links to your website. Back links will increase your search engine rankings and bring more traffic to your web site. The best part, it's FREE.

Start writing!

Laura Hite helps you increase your search engine rankings and flood your website with traffic. She works with Safety Technology, a wholesaler of self defense and security products. Get more success tips by visiting http://www.safetytechnology.com

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