PUBLISHER: Willie Crawford willie@williecrawford.com
P.O. Box 636, Valparaiso, FL 32580
Phone 850-651-3527/3594
Fax 850-651-3527
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In This Issue:
We ran the first part of a 2-part article last week on
building your business. This week we offer another imporant
article and we will give you part 2 last week's article
next week. Don't miss this article called:
I Question Your Integrity!
© 2002 by Willie Crawford
How to get thousands of dollars worth of advertising
for
pennies! by Marc Goldman
Our Exciting Spot The Doubles Contest
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Presenting..........
Our *Incredible * Spot The Doubles Contest!!!
One of the ads in today's issue appears twice. Find that ad
and email it to us at <mailto:doubles@williecrawford.com>
We
will pick a winner every week from all correct entries received.
The winner gets his 50 word or less ad run free in an issue of
LIMITLESS MARKETING EZINE (a $40 value). We also post the website
url of the winner here, so be sure to include your url with your
entry.
This weeks winner ... Maureen McClements
Maureen, please send in your ad as soon as pracical and we
will start sending orders your way.
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I Question Your Integrity!
© 2002 by Willie Crawford
I seriously question your integrity! I don't believe a word of
your advertising or any of your promises! You'd be shocked if
one of your customers said this to you, wouldn't you. You'd want
a detailed explanation of why they feel this way. You'd
acknowledge that YOU needed to correct whatever it was that
caused this feeling in customers - IMMEDIATELY. Yet, many of
your potential customers do feel this way. They just don't tell
you.
Your prospects have seen so much hype and so many scams that they
don't know who to trust. They've seen the truth "stretched" so
much that they don't know what to believe. Your product or
service sounds so wonderful. It sounds like the perfect solution
to their problem. It sound like the perfect way for them
to
finally start building that on-line business they hope will
someday provide a full-time income. They want to believe you,
but instinct teaches them to be very cautious... and that's good.
What makes your potential customers feel distrust though. Well,
I saw the perfect example, in an on-line discussion forum
recently. In a post on this forum, it was stated that marketers
routinely use contrived testimonials. It was suggested that most
of those giving testimonials for some products have never even
TRIED the product. It was suggested that many big name
marketers merely trade testimonials. This has not been my
observation but "revelations" such as this are certainly a cause
for concern. That type of behavior is NOT the standard.
Most
on-line business people that I deal with have a lot of integrity
and honesty. If you deal with people who adhere to a different
set of standard, then you need to change your business
associates.
Sometimes it does appear to be a "dog-eat-dog" world. People do
often espouse using questionable tactics to get ahead. It often
looks like you have to "pull out all of the stops" in order to
really grow you business. It sometimes looks like the secret
is
to do whatever is necessary to make the sale. Buy into that
philosophy and your online business will not survive long. Word
spread very fast online!
In most jurisdictions it is illegal to make false claims both
on-line and off-line. People have their businesses shut down
for
misleading the consumer in the U.S. and many other countries.
People go to jail for tricking people out of their money.
Even if certain behaviors are not illegal, if something inside
you tells you that it doesn't feel right, don't do it. It's
that intuition and your conscience talking to you. They are
both very good guides of what will lead to true long-term
business success. What are some of the common behaviors many
consider "questionable?"
- Stating that an offer will end on a given date and then
extending the offer repeatedly. Your prospect notice this and
they DO respond (by not buying and by giving you negative press).
- Using a guarantee full of loopholes because you don't
believe in the product. Offer a strong guarantee and if you
don't believe in a product enough to do this, find another
product.
- Misstating how long you have been in business. People do tend
to feel more secure in dealing with someone who have been around
long enough to demonstrate they will likely be around next year.
However, in many niches, people also know when someone entered
it. They know when they first started seeing your name.
They
can also check on-line sources such as "Whois" to see when a
website was established.
- Misstating your subscriber numbers. It take time to build a
list although you can accelerate this considerably by using a
list-building service. You can also buy subscribers from many
sources. However, if you've only been on-line for six month
it's hard to believe you've built a list of 10,000.
I am sure you see, and could list, dozens of other questionable
practices. They are not the way to build a successful business.
When you consider using a questionable practice, ask yourself
how many on-line millionaires use them. I don't think you will
find many because most of them simply wouldn't take the risk.
Aside from taking the time to build relationships with your
potential customers and letting them get to know you, what can
you do to establish your credibility? How can you show that you
operate your business with strict ethics and integrity? The
best way that I have discovered is to associate with
organizations that require it's members to meet and ADHERE to a
code of conduct. I'll tell you about 2 in this article.
The first organization I'll mention is called the International
Council Of Online Professionals (i-Cop). In order to become a
member you have to promise not to engage in questionable business
practices. You also have to agree to respond to any complaints
that the organization receives. These complaints are followed-up
on until they are satisfactorily resolved. Records of unresolved
complaints are made available to members/subscribers.
Prospective members must pass a screening to include a website
review. Those who don't yet have websites may join but must
also meet "standards."
I am a member of the International Council of Online
Professionals and encourage you to become a member too. Members
are given an emblem to display on their website identifying them.
This banner links back to a page confirming you really are a
member. Anyone seeing the i-Cop emblem on a website know that
this is a person they should be able to trust. They know that
if
this person behaves in an unethical manner he will be quickly
discredited (once concrete proof is presented). To learn all
about i-Cop visit: http://williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/tk.cgi?icop
I-Cop publishes a "Rap Sheet" reporting disreputable business
that is well worth subscribing to.
The second organization I am a member of, and will recommend to
eligible businesses, is the Better Business Bureau (BBB). BBB
memberships are not available in most countries. That's why I
mentioned i-Cop first.
What's the BBB all about? Well... if I am thinking of getting
car repairs done here in Florida and am uncertain of how
reputable or dependable the business is I would check their
record with the local BBB. If they are not a member I wouldn't
do business with them because most reputable U.S. off-line
businesses are members (in my area). They proudly display
their membership plaque because it reassure their customers
that they adhere to a very strict code of conduct. Problems
with members are reported to the BBB and become a matter of
record that any consumer has access to.
The BBB has a fairly stiff screening process and many
pre-requisites. They actually sent someone out to interview
me and investigate my place of business. They wanted to
know all about my products/services and wanted to fully
understand my business. Not all types of businesses are
accepted into the BBB. They also required that a business
be established for a minimum of 1 year.
BBB membership allows you to advertise your membership locally.
For online businesses, there is a BBB Online. You must first
qualify for a basic BBB membership before you are considered
eligible for a BB Online membership. It requires a separate
application process. The BBB inspects your website as well
as your regular membership history prior to considering you
for BBB Online. If you qualify for BBB Online, you are
given a hyperlinked image to place on your approved website(s).
Clicking this emblem takes the potential customer to the BBB
Online site where they can investigate your business history.
The basic BBB membership fee is based upon your business size
but starts at $225 per year locally. The BBB Online membership
is an additional $100 per year. I consider these basic
business expenses and well worth the cost. If you are just
starting out you may think this isn't something you can afford.
Only you can decide if a membership is merited.
I've given you just two methods of enhancing your credibility
and professional business image. There are other organizations
you can join which may also serve the same purpose. Industry-
specific organizations are an example. Regardless of what you
do to dispel natural online consumer mistrust, you must be
aware that it does exist. You have to demonstrate that you
are trustworthy. Establish your credibility and your sales
increase exponentially.
---------------------------
Drop by our discussion board today to discuss this article.
It's THE place to discuss growing your business:
<a href="http://williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi">
http://williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
</a>
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How to get thousands of dollars worth of advertising
for
pennies! by Marc Goldman
Fact: If you want to grow your business you need to
advertise.
So why doesn't everyone do it? You may have heard the old
saying: in order to make money you have to spend money.
Well, therein lies the problem. Most people don't want to
spend a single dollar on advertising. Then they wonder why
their business makes no money at all.
Now, advertising can take many shapes and forms but the
methods that cost little or none are usually the choice for
the guerilla marketer on a shoestring budget. As a matter of
fact, many smart, multimillion dollar direct marketers
leveraged free and low cost advertising techniques to get
them where they are today (and keep their feet firmly planted
there).
There are many advertising techniques that cost little or no
money: per inquiry advertising (paying for ads only when a
lead or order results); joint venture marketing (leveraging
off other peoples resources - i.e. sending an endorsed
mailing to their customer list recommending your product or
service); writing articles positioning yourself as an
expert; or participating in an advertising co-op.
Many people have no idea about advertising co-ops but they
are one of the best ways out there to buy advertising at
reduced prices (almost pennies on the dollar) by SHARING
the costs with others.
For instance, you could purchase a postcard in a card deck
(one of my favorite forms of advertising) for $1,700.00 or
...you could get a group of people to split the cost of the
card and divide up the card into sections of ads.
OR...
You could purchase a full page ad in a magazine such as Home
Business or Entrepreneur or Investors Business Daily
(depending on your target market), share in the costs with
others and divide up the page real estate so that you all
benefit.
Now...an ad in some magazines costs thousands (sometimes
tens of thousands of dollars) but by using the group buying
power of a co-op you can now get your ad in front of
thousands of eyeballs for a fraction of the cost.
Interested?
It gets better.
Lots of people know about these offline advertising ideas
but have no idea how to put them into action online.
Here is a simple way you can leverage off the power of
advertising co-op's in your online marketing efforts:
Put together a co-op of advertisers selling similar but
non-competitive products to yours. Determine the amount of
money the group is willing to spend.
Find advertising media that can send a LOT of targeted
traffic to you in the shortest amount of time. Some examples
that come to mind right away are pay per click search engines
such as overture.com or google ad words; guaranteed traffic
services; banner advertising on HIGH TRAFFIC sites; buying
impressions on exit exchanges; and even highly targeted ezine
advertising.
Set up a rotator tool that sends an EQUAL amount of traffic
to each participant. There are also ways to WEIGHT each
participant in the rotator so that if someone pays more than
the other participants he/she can receive more traffic than
the others. However, I feel that in order to operate co-op
advertising fairly each person should pay the same amount
and receive the same amount of traffic.
The only rotator tool we recommend is The Ultimate Rotator
available in The Ultimate Marketers Resource. It is easy to
setup: all you do is enter the URL's of the participants
(maximum 20 different urls), then click the update button
and the software will create one URL for you to send traffic
to. Each hit to that one URL will cause the next url in the
rotation to be displayed.
Craft an ad that is generic (remember, the participants in
the co-op are all selling SIMILAR but non-competitive
products) but full of benefits and speaks to the WANTS of
your target market. It is extremely important that you have
a skilled copywriter on board to insure the best results for
your ad. If one of the participants in the co-op is good at
writing ads or creating banners, popups etc. you can even
offer to cover their ad costs in exchange for them doing the
creative work.
Purchase the ad and send the traffic to the one rotator URL.
Sit back and benefit from the traffic you will be receiving
for pennies on the dollar. Will this guarantee you a
thunderous roar of leads and sales? No, of course not... you
have to have good copy on your site, and a system that
converts visitors into prospects and prospects into sales
but you will never get that if you don't start by getting the
traffic.
Co-op advertising is the best way I know of to get thousands
of visitors to your website for little or no cost.
POWER TIP
Now if you are the person who controls the rotator tool you
can organize the co-op, charge others to participate and get
your ad for free.
It's all about leveraging what you don't have (lots of money)
to get what you want (lots of advertising). And it's a
simple process to follow. Now, you can be the person who
gets thousands of dollars worth of exposure for your business
for next to nothing (or even better - nothing)!
---------------
Article by Marc Goldman, Goldbar Enterprises. For more
incredible business-building content you must subscribe to
The Marketers Resource Weekly. The MRW is dedicated to
helping you start, run and promote your online business
successfully. Discover hardcore Marketing strategies you
can apply to your business so you achieve success at a
faster pace. To subscribe send a blank email to
mrwsub@goldbar.net or visit
http://www.goldbar.net
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"I Had Been Overweight For 14 Years, So... My Friends Could
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Isn't it time you improved your health and got back in shape?
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2/4
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Tired Of Trying To Sell "Marketing" Products?
With the right website or list you should easily be able
to earn several thousand dollars selling our "Soul Food
Cookbook!" It's a brisk seller with lots of great recipes.
Sign up now: http://chitterlings.com/affiliate.html
1/4
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DISCLAIMER: We cannot investigate every advertiser who places
an ad in our ezine. We urge you to exercise due diligence in
responding to any advertisement or article. We do not give
business or professional advice in this ezine and therefore
cannot be held responsible for results you get from responding
to ads or articles in this ezine. We urge you to exercise due
diligence in all of your online dealings.
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