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Success online follows a simple formula...

"Ask and you shall _______."

Most people fill in the blank with "receive". Not only is it
a well-known phrase from the Bible, but it's also a very
powerful online marketing principle.

If you operate a business and want to sell massively more
products and services quickly, the fastest way to do it is
by simply asking your customers and prospects what they
want... and then give it to them.

In the past, gathering critical research information through
customer surveys represented a very time-consuming,
expensive and labor-intensive process available only to
large organizations.

However, with inexpensive online tools, even a one-person
business can now quickly and easily conduct powerful surveys
to discover exactly what customers want - and then give it
to them.

Virtually any business can benefit from conducting a survey
because the information you get is priceless for your
planning purposes.

Do you know what your customers plan to purchase next?
(If you did, you could be the one to sell it to them!)

Do you know why they've purchased from you in the past?
(If they've bought once, they'll buy again for the same
reason!)

Do you know what other products and services they have
purchased from your competitors and why?
(So you can be the one they buy from next...)

Knowing the answers to those three questions could literally
transform your whole business plan (and wallet) overnight!

The sad fact is most business owners just *guess* what their
customers want. Sure, they might make an educated guess
based on past experience, but it's still just that -- a
guess.

By conducting a survey you don't guess what people want -
you *know* what people want!

When conducting a survey (online or offline) it's critical
to remember these three points:

1. Keep your survey short and sweet.

People don't want to spend more than a couple of minutes
answering your questions.

I personally try never to ask more than 6 questions and they
are always "yes/no", multiple-choice questions that don't
take much time.

Short questions also allow you to get instant "gut-level"
reactions from people, which is helpful in figuring out what
people will buy. People purchase on emotion, so a fast
response will show you their true feelings on a subject
since they don't have time to think about it.

2. Give people a "bribe" for taking the survey.

You will increase response rates by 1,500% (15 times) or
more by offering people a reward in exchange for 2 minutes
of their time to take your survey. With so many time
constraints, giving people a "perk" for giving you some of
their valuable time will make the difference between getting
a dozen responses and getting several hundred.

3. Use simple, easy-to-understand questions.

When first surveying any group, you simply want to know what
they like/dislike, will/won't buy in the future,
have/haven't bought in the past.

As you get to know a group better, you can ask more detailed
questions, but also make sure you offer better bribes if you
expect people to take even more time answering your
questions.

When choosing an online survey tool to help you administer
your survey, make sure it meets the following criteria:

· It should require no programming on your part. You want to
just plug in your questions and have it generate all the
code, etc. so you can copy and paste it into a web page and
send it out.

· It should automatically calculate all survey results for
you in 'real-time' so you don't have to manually calculate
responses. Do not get stuck doing "number crunching" because
your survey tool doesn't automatically calculate results.

· It should send a "thank you" letter to people taking your
survey so you can send them a "gift" for participating.

Thanking people for participating goes a long way toward
leaving them with a favorable impression of you, as well as
setting the stage for both your next survey and your next
sale.

For a free report on how to quickly and easily conduct your
own simple surveys to increase business profits, go to
http://www.ebookfire.com/survey.html. Though the report is
aimed at a specific online audience (ebook publishers), the
principles will help any business succeed using surveys.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

"What makes a great web page?"

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter
difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

Every serious website operator wants to know how to create
and maintain the best possible website that makes them the
most money and builds the largest subscriber base!

The following "commandments" represent the ideals towards
which every new or existing website should strive.

1. Thou shalt have a Purpose

Clearly define the site's purpose and ensure all content
(pages, graphics and text) tightly focus on that purpose.
Discard all extraneous material... only give people exactly
what they came for!

2. Thou shalt be Lightweight

Use only small, fast loading graphics. If you must use large
graphics use thumbnails and image slicing to diminish the
size of every file to less than 12-15kb. Use standard
optimized gif's and jpg's and avoid anything that requires
the user to download a "plug-in" to view your content.

3. Thou shalt Load Fast

Each and every page on your site should weigh in under
30-60KB total, including graphics and navigation.

If your pages must be larger, such as the case with long,
1-page sales letters, make sure the top part of the page
loads fast so surfers can read your headline and
introduction while the rest of your sales letter loads
further down and out of site.

4. Thou shalt not use False Code

Use only html. Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of
code that require a surfer to keep their browser set up
"correctly" to accommodate your page. This is especially
true when using "cloaked" pages that require the use of
javascript in order to work correctly.

5. Thou shalt respect the Search Engines

If you want search engine traffic, use whole web pages that
don't incorporate frames. Search engines get confused trying
to read content from most frames pages because the designers
don't set them up with the proper information in the
correct frame.

6. Love thy Surfers and Visitors

Design for "last year's" technology so surfers using 56K
modems can download and use the site quickly and easily. If
you design only for people with high-speed Internet
connections (DSL and cable) you have eliminated 85%+ of your
potential market.

7. Thou shalt not Annoy

Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements. No
Scrolling text, marquees, or animations of any kind,
including rollover buttons.

This "eye candy" steals valuable bandwidth and adds little
to a site's main purpose, especially for returning visitors
who just want information, not a carnival sideshow.

8. Thou shalt Not Scroll Left or Right

Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll
left or right, no matter what the resolution settings on
their monitor. Sites that read "best viewed at 800 x 600"
really say "look at it my way because I don't care about
your preferences or limitations."

9. Thou shalt stay Consistent

Include a standard navigational structure on every page.
Though it may mean a serious challenge for the designer,
users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site.

Also, this includes using standard link colors in all text
links. Blue: hyperlink; Purple: visited hyperlink; Red:
active hyperlink.

10. Thou shalt Know Thy Traffic

Use a site-wide statistics program that enables you to
determine what brings someone to the site, where they go
once they arrive, and when and where they leave.

This critical information helps with marketing efforts as
well as identifying parts of the site that need tweaking or
adjustment to help you increase sales. If everybody bails
from your site at the same page, knowing this can help you
change the page so people go from "bail mode" to "buy mode"!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards, author of numerous best-selling ebooks, earns
thousands in affiliate commissions every month! Jim has
developed "Affiliate Link Cloaker," the easy, FAST, safe way
to STOP affiliate link "hijackers"... Dead in their tracks!
Click Here => http://www.affiliatelinkcloaker.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Not a week goes by that half a dozen people don't ask me
what separates a great, money-making website from a bad one.
In response, I surveyed of a number of different websites,
large and small, to find what they share in common to make
them so successful. With few exceptions, every
extraordinarily great website contained the following
elements.

** Testimonials **

Every great website has testimonials from satisfied
customers. These testimonials help set the potential
customer's mind at ease that the products or services sold
online will perform as promised.

Truly great testimonials not only endorse the product, but
clearly state how the product increased sales, saved money,
or benefited previous buyers in very specific and tangible
ways. Testimonials should present real benefits others can
readily identify with, understand and, more importantly,
want those same results for themselves!

** Headlines **

Headlines capture visitors' attention and get them involved
in the website. How do you read the newspaper? If you read
like most people the headlines first catch your attention
and determine whether you'll actually read a story.
Similarly headlines on a website determine whether visitors
get involved in the information or surf away never to
return.

My own experience has shown that the proper headlines can
easily and quickly double, triple, or even quadruple a
website's sales almost overnight.

** Bullets **

Bullets communicate various and subtle bits of information
about a product or service without making readers plow
through paragraphs of information to get to the meat of a
website's offering. Bullets arouse interest, build
excitement, and convey a lot of information very quickly to
time-starved web surfers.

** Bonuses **

Every great website offers bonuses to people who buy, apply
or fill out a form. Nothing induces someone to do business
with you online like offering them something extra for
taking the action you want. Offering a bonus report, tape,
extended membership, extra quantities of product at a deep
discount, coupons, or just about anything makes people more
willing to go ahead with the purchase decision.

** Guarantees **

Everyone takes a risk whenever they buy anything from
anyone. The risk centers on whether or not the product or
service will perform as promised. In a retail store most
people feel pretty confident the store will still exist if
they need to make a return or exchange in a few days. On the
web, however, that risk in making a purchase seems much
higher than in the "offline" world.

Every great website makes a point of specifically telling
customers about their return policy and truly exceptional
sites offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantees.
People rarely take advantage of such guarantees and I have
personally seen a website's sales increase by 45% just by
extending the guarantee period an additional 30 days.

** Phone numbers **

Every great website has a phone number with a real live
human being on the other end who can answer questions and
provide product support.

So there you have it! With few exceptions this represents
the formula for creating or identifying a truly great
website.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Just for fun, evaluate the following statement:

"Most people want to write a book and get it published, but
that's simply impossible 99% of the time."

Is the above statement true?

Not exactly. What's true is that most people THINK they
can't write a book and get it published. And while that's a
widely-held belief, just the opposite is true.

In fact, it's easier to write and get published today than
ever before - especially thanks to the ebook "revolution."
The field of ebooks is literally wide open for all who are
interested - including, perhaps, you!

What does it take to write and publish your own ebook?

Three things:

1) A TOPIC you are interested in that others would also like
to know more about.

2) The DESIRE to get the ebook written (note - you can write
it yourself, but you don't have to. There are other proven
and simple ways to get your ebook written and published for
you.)

3) A simple, one-page, "sales letter" WEB SITE to sell the
ebook.

Does it take a lot of money or any special aptitudes? Oddly
enough, not really. You have to be willing to take action,
certainly, and learn as you go, but there are no special
educational, financial or talent requirements to become a
successful ebook author.

The truth is, it costs very little to get started. You can
get a domain registered and online for as little as $9 to
start and $6 a month for website hosting.

In fact, there are actually six ways you can create an ebook
without ever writing a word of it - so you don't need to be
a skilled writer. We'll tell you about one of them,
in-depth, right now.

Think of a topic you know something about that you'd like to
write an ebook on.

Once you have that topic in mind, then all you need to do is
write a list of questions other people would pay to get the
answers to... give that list to a friend... have the friend
call you on the phone and ask you those questions... record
the call... have the recording transcribed... and edit the
transcription!

Presto - you've just created a "meaty" ebook fast! (Yes, it
really is that simple!)

By the way, if you don't want to transcribe or edit the
ebook yourself, you can get both of those things done for
you for surprisingly little money... as little as a few
hundred dollars, total, in many cases.

That's how we wrote our most recent ebook.

As authors ourselves, we came up with a list of questions,
got on the phone, recorded the answers, and had the entire
4 1/2 hour conversation transcribed. Using this phone call -
transcription - edit route we created an ebook in about a
week. It cost us a total of $163 to produce it. (We hired
out the transcription, and did the editing ourselves.)

So far we've spent *zero* money on advertising and, as we
write this article today, we've sold over $49,683 worth of
that ebook in less than six months!

We're not unique in that way. We know many others who have
successfully published ebooks - including another small
publisher who has used this exact same method to create
dozens of ebooks.

If you can clearly understand a specific problem, want, need
or desire of a large enough target audience and then create
a publication that helps them get what they want, you stand
to make a lot of money and help a great number of people at
the same time.

If there ever was a "golden age" of publishing, NOW is the
time. The truth of the matter is, today anyone can become a
published author with an ebook in less than a couple of
weeks. Between us, we have 11 ebooks online and we're
making money every day, even as you read this.

You can do the same. Opportunity awaits you right now.
It's never been easier to seize the day and go for your
dream - become a published author!

--

Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel are co-authors of "eBook
Secrets Exposed," the authoritative resource for making a
lot of money quickly writing and publishing your own ebook.
Guerrilla Marketing series author Jay Conrad Levinson says,
"If ever there was a 'must-read' for this century, it's this
book." For more information...
Click here => http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

As the Internet continues to populate with websites trying
to turn a buck, two drastically different schools of thought
have developed on how to advertise online - "Push" and
"Pull."

"Push" advertising involves the use of "in-your-face"
advertising tactics such as pop-up windows and direct email.
"Pull" advertising entails using search engines and posting
articles that literally "pull" interested consumers to a
website on their own terms.

As web surfers revolt against pushy advertising, site owners
who understand how to pull consumers to their sites will
come out the long-term winners.

"Push" advertising tactics worked in the past because they
had not reached a saturation point. Since not everyone used
pop-up windows, a site owner could use them without fear of
backlash. Now it seems pop-up windows hit consumers from
every angle and even multiple times from the same sites.

The cycle of events with online advertising always unfolds
the same way. Someone finds something new that works and
people immediately jump on the bandwagon. As a technique
saturates the 'Net and loses effectiveness, instead of
finding an alternative, site owners just do it more!

Result: instead of pop-up windows going away, many site
owners just run more pop-up's - more often!

Well, if recent developments indicate anything, they show
that consumers have said "enough" to pushy advertising.

AOL, infamous for their pop-up ads, has agreed to cut down
on the intrusions even though their earnings could use a
boost right now.

Major ISP (Internet Service Provider) Earthlink even offers
a "pop-up killer" feature on their new service.

Almost all email programs come with filters to fight
unsolicited email and many email add-on services have sprung
up to help consumers eliminate the unsolicited offers for
pornography, business opportunities, and promises of instant
riches.

This "anti-spam" sentiment has also caused an unintended
consequence for legitimate marketers. Many major newsletters
have found their emails blocked by spam filters intended to
stop unsolicited email. Through no fault of their own,
legitimate email marketers have found themselves casualties
of the war on spam.

The future of the Internet lies in "Pull" advertising driven
by consumer wants and needs.

The successful Internet companies of the future will invest
in search engine promotion and in providing valuable, on-
demand information consumers receive only when they ask for
it and want it. When a web surfer goes to their favorite
search engine and enters the keyword phrase "MP3 Player" or
"tax advice" that means they are receptive to information on
those subjects.

If they read an article about using vitamins to improve
health and click a link for more information, only then they
will they be truly receptive to a marketing message about
vitamins.

Consumers have taken back control of Internet!

Not with laws or more regulations, but simply by flexing the
muscles of their wallets. By pulling money away from
advertisers who annoy them and putting it with those who
meet their needs, the average web surfer has brought the
Internet powers to their knees and will continue to reshape
the Internet into an effective, consumer-driven
communications vehicle.

Any site owner who wants to have a thriving online business
and survive the next year had better take this fact to
heart!

--- Jim Edwards is the co-author of a step-by-step, "paint
by numbers" guide that guarantees to teach you how to go
from zero to making real money online in about a month!

"33 Days to Online Profits"

=============================================
"Finally -- a Simple, Video-Based Training System on CD-ROM
that Teaches You Step-By-Step How to Make Real Money Online-
100% Guaranteed!" You can start with a few bucks and a good
idea to make lots of money online! I did, and I'll teach you
how no matter what product or service you sell...
Click Here => http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/video/10/
=============================================

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Let's face the facts!

Almost everyone online today is looking to make or save a
buck any way they can. In the past, most of the people who
clicked on your affiliate links used to purchase without a
second thought... but, as times get tougher online, it seems
a growing number won't!

As money gets tighter and product prices rise, people who
know how to manipulate the system will sometimes replace
your affiliate ID with theirs and "hijack" your commissions.

Here's an example:

Let's say your affiliate link is
www.ebookaboutcats.com/?live-well.

Say the highjacker uses the affiliate ID of captain-hook.
What he would do is replace your ID with his, and buy from
the URL www.ebookaboutcats.com/?captain-hook.

The bottom line: the hijacker puts your money in his pocket.

In other cases, they can't stand the thought of you "making
money off them" so they bypass you by simply chopping off
the end of your affiliate link that contains your ID.

Instead of buying from www.ebookaboutcats.com/?live-well,
the bypasser will simply "chop off" the affiliate ID at the
end and simply buy from the plain URL www.ebookaboutcats.com
--without your affiliate ID attached!

Either way, you get cheated out of your rightful commission.

To help you fight these affiliate link hijackers I offer a
couple of my best (proven and battle tested) tips, which
will at least confuse these "hijackers" and, in many cases,
often defeat and disarm them completely.

Side Note: If someone really, really wants to steal your
affiliate commission, they will find a way; however, most
hijackers are just opportunists who will only act if they
see an easy buck.

The first and cheapest way to hide your affiliate links is
using a javascript redirect page. This is where you hide
your affiliate link in a page on your site using a simple
javascript that redirects people to your affiliate link.

It works great not to expose your "naked" affiliate link in
your actual email messages and ezine ads, but, once people
get redirected to the true affiliate link, many affiliate
programs expose the affiliate link along with your ID in the
browser address bar.

Here's an example of a redirect script in action.
Click => http://www.ebookfire.com/esejs.html

Notice how the link takes you to a page where you can see my
affiliate ID, ebookfire, in your web browser's address bar.

Like it or not, someone can replace my ID with theirs and
"hijack" the commission... but at least the redirect script
keeps them from immediately seeing my "naked" affiliate link
(http://hop.clickbank.net/?ebookfire/ebksecrets) when I
publish it in my newsletter, email, or on my website.

You can get free redirect scripts just about anywhere you
find free javascripts. Here is the script I use
http://www.ebookfire.com/jrs.shtml.

A better way to hide your affiliate links is using a zero-
frame or "invisible" frame that masks the affiliate link by
making it appear you are sending people to a page on your
website. In reality, you are actually sending them to your
affiliate link.

This is the technique used by those "sub-domain" redirect
services that provide you with urls like
http://ese.ebookfire.net.

While giving someone a link like that is much better than
using a "naked" affiliate link such as
http://hop.clickbank.net/?ebookfire/ebksecrets, there is a
problem. As soon as someone does a "view >> source" in their
web browser they'll see your naked affiliate link plain as
day... which instantly blows your cover!

Currently the best way to protect your affiliate commissions
from ruthless hijackers is to use a combination of a zero-
frame page along with URL encryption. This involves sending
someone to URL that looks like a page on your site, but
actually pulls in your affiliate link like those "sub-
domain" services. However, there's one critical
difference...

If someone does a "view >> source" in their browser, you
have added protection in that all they will see is a jumble
of computer code instead of your naked affiliate link.

Check out this example of a zero-frame with URL encryption
in action.
Click => http://www.ebookfire.com/ese.html

Side Note: Beware of cloaking scripts that use javascript to
mask your affiliate link because they could malfunction in
some web browsers.

Here's the bottom line: if you are going to sell through
other people's affiliate programs, never send a "naked"
affiliate link... you're just asking for people to hijack or
bypass you if you do.

If you want to get paid more often through your affiliate
links, make sure it's not obvious you're referring people to
an affiliate link. If they can't easily see how to hijack or
bypass your link, a lot more people who would have taken the
money out of your pocket will just go ahead and buy through
your link - which is, after all, the whole point! :-)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards, author of numerous best-selling ebooks, earns
thousands in affiliate commissions every month! Jim has
developed "Affiliate Link Cloaker," the easy, FAST, safe way
to STOP affiliate link "hijackers"... Dead in their tracks!
Click Here => http://www.affiliatelinkcloaker.com

** Attn Ezine editors / Site owners **
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety
in your ezine or on your site so long as you leave
all links in place, do not modify the content and
include our resource box as listed above.

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn up to 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

If you are looking for an immediate increase in your website
traffic, and you don't want to shell out a lot of money for
pay-per-click search engines, I'll let you in on a secret
that has helped me make many sales and build large lists
very quickly with zero cash up-front: it's called "OPT"
(Other People's Traffic).

Other website operators have the targeted website visitors
you need right now - you just have to convince them to
funnel some of it your way. Your mission is to find people
who can refer you their traffic either for a percentage of
the sale, a flat fee, a trade for services, or on a per-
click basis.

NOTE: I prefer to pay people a big percentage of the sale -
as much as 50% - because it has the lowest risk for me as
the merchant. I only pay when a sale is made and, therefore,
I make it well worth someone's while to work with me. That's
the whole idea behind a successful affiliate program.

The quickest way to find people who can refer you traffic is
to take inventory of whom you know. Who operates a site
drawing the type of visitors you need?

For example, if you have a website that sells fishing lures,
then you want to find ezines, websites, and discussion
groups dealing with fishing rods, tackle boxes, fish hooks,
fishing trips, fishing supplies, etc.

Get the picture?

Once you have exhausted the list of people you know, go to
the search engines and do a search for the keywords that
would bring targeted traffic to your site. Make a list of
the websites that rank well in those searches and approach
those individuals with related, but non-competing sites
about a traffic deal.

To continue the above example, that means go to the search
engines and do searches for "fishing rods", "fishing trips"
and related keywords to your site to find others who already
have the traffic you need, but who don't directly compete
with you.

Try to work all your agreements on a traffic trade or per-
sale basis first so you won't have to pay any cash out of
pocket until after a sale is made.

If you don't have any traffic to trade, or they don't want
to get paid by the sale only, then you should negotiate a
per-click or per-signup deal.

Paying by the click or by the signup means you only pay when
a visitor comes to your site or signs up to receive your
newsletter or other information. With this structure you
only pay for performance and don't waste any money on
advertising that doesn't directly result in bringing
visitors to your site.

You have 3 main choices for funneling another site's traffic
to yours: endorsed mailings, pop-up windows, and link
trades.

1. Endorsed Mailings

Endorsed mailings are by far the best way to funnel traffic
from another site. A well-written endorsement letter by a
website operator who already has a relationship with people
who can buy from you is often worth its weight in gold. An
effective endorsed mailing can result in traffic, sales, and
money in your pocket within just a few hours of sending it.

2. Pop-Up Windows

Focused "pop-up" windows represent the next fastest way to
funnel traffic to your site. When used incorrectly, pop-up
windows create an annoying distraction for web surfers. Make
sure your pop-up windows are relevant to exactly what
visitors came to your site for in the first place!

My experiments have shown that a "pop-under" works best.
This is where your website pops behind the other person's
page. Go to http://www.7dayebook.com for an example. You'll
see my other ebook, "eBook Secrets Exposed," pop *under* the
7 Day eBook site.

When the visitor is finished viewing the main page and
closes it... your page is right there!

TIP: For maximum sales, make sure that your page is closely
related to the page that is referring traffic to you.

3. Link Trades

The next way to funnel traffic from other sites is using
"Reciprocal Links" - which is a fancy way of saying trading
links with someone. Make sure you negotiate a high profile
spot for your link on the other person's site.

Creativity is key when negotiating with other websites to
steer some or all of their traffic your way. Show them how
sending you traffic will make them money through affiliate
commissions, how their readers will appreciate being
introduced to new and valuable products (yours), or how you
can open a new stream of income for them by paying them a
few cents for every unique visitor they refer to you.

They win by making extra money and making their customers
happy. You win by attracting traffic to your site that is
focused and highly targeted to your offers.

Creating win-win scenarios like these will cause people to
jump at the chance to work with you and send you all the
"OPT" you can handle.

===============================================
Jim Edwards & David Garfinkel are co-authors of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Success online follows a simple formula...

"Ask and you shall _______."

Most people fill in the blank with "receive". Not only is it
a well-known phrase from the Bible, but it's also a very
powerful online marketing principle.

If you operate a business and want to sell massively more
products and services quickly, the fastest way to do it is
by simply asking your customers and prospects what they
want... and then give it to them.

In the past, gathering critical research information through
customer surveys represented a very time-consuming,
expensive and labor-intensive process available only to
large organizations.

However, with inexpensive online tools, even a one-person
business can now quickly and easily conduct powerful surveys
to discover exactly what customers want - and then give it
to them.

Virtually any business can benefit from conducting a survey
because the information you get is priceless for your
planning purposes.

Do you know what your customers plan to purchase next?
(If you did, you could be the one to sell it to them!)

Do you know why they've purchased from you in the past?
(If they've bought once, they'll buy again for the same
reason!)

Do you know what other products and services they have
purchased from your competitors and why?
(So you can be the one they buy from next...)

Knowing the answers to those three questions could literally
transform your whole business plan (and wallet) overnight!

The sad fact is most business owners just *guess* what their
customers want. Sure, they might make an educated guess
based on past experience, but it's still just that -- a
guess.

By conducting a survey you don't guess what people want -
you *know* what people want!

When conducting a survey (online or offline) it's critical
to remember these three points:

1. Keep your survey short and sweet.

People don't want to spend more than a couple of minutes
answering your questions.

I personally try never to ask more than 6 questions and they
are always "yes/no", multiple-choice questions that don't
take much time.

Short questions also allow you to get instant "gut-level"
reactions from people, which is helpful in figuring out what
people will buy. People purchase on emotion, so a fast
response will show you their true feelings on a subject
since they don't have time to think about it.

2. Give people a "bribe" for taking the survey.

You will increase response rates by 1,500% (15 times) or
more by offering people a reward in exchange for 2 minutes
of their time to take your survey. With so many time
constraints, giving people a "perk" for giving you some of
their valuable time will make the difference between getting
a dozen responses and getting several hundred.

3. Use simple, easy-to-understand questions.

When first surveying any group, you simply want to know what
they like/dislike, will/won't buy in the future,
have/haven't bought in the past.

As you get to know a group better, you can ask more detailed
questions, but also make sure you offer better bribes if you
expect people to take even more time answering your
questions.

When choosing an online survey tool to help you administer
your survey, make sure it meets the following criteria:

· It should require no programming on your part. You want to
just plug in your questions and have it generate all the
code, etc. so you can copy and paste it into a web page and
send it out.

· It should automatically calculate all survey results for
you in 'real-time' so you don't have to manually calculate
responses. Do not get stuck doing "number crunching" because
your survey tool doesn't automatically calculate results.

· It should send a "thank you" letter to people taking your
survey so you can send them a "gift" for participating.

Thanking people for participating goes a long way toward
leaving them with a favorable impression of you, as well as
setting the stage for both your next survey and your next
sale.

For a free report on how to quickly and easily conduct your
own simple surveys to increase business profits, go to
http://www.ebookfire.com/survey.html. Though the report is
aimed at a specific online audience (ebook publishers), the
principles will help any business succeed using surveys.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

"What makes a great web page?"

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter
difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

Every serious website operator wants to know how to create
and maintain the best possible website that makes them the
most money and builds the largest subscriber base!

The following "commandments" represent the ideals towards
which every new or existing website should strive.

1. Thou shalt have a Purpose

Clearly define the site's purpose and ensure all content
(pages, graphics and text) tightly focus on that purpose.
Discard all extraneous material... only give people exactly
what they came for!

2. Thou shalt be Lightweight

Use only small, fast loading graphics. If you must use large
graphics use thumbnails and image slicing to diminish the
size of every file to less than 12-15kb. Use standard
optimized gif's and jpg's and avoid anything that requires
the user to download a "plug-in" to view your content.

3. Thou shalt Load Fast

Each and every page on your site should weigh in under
30-60KB total, including graphics and navigation.

If your pages must be larger, such as the case with long,
1-page sales letters, make sure the top part of the page
loads fast so surfers can read your headline and
introduction while the rest of your sales letter loads
further down and out of site.

4. Thou shalt not use False Code

Use only html. Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of
code that require a surfer to keep their browser set up
"correctly" to accommodate your page. This is especially
true when using "cloaked" pages that require the use of
javascript in order to work correctly.

5. Thou shalt respect the Search Engines

If you want search engine traffic, use whole web pages that
don't incorporate frames. Search engines get confused trying
to read content from most frames pages because the designers
don't set them up with the proper information in the
correct frame.

6. Love thy Surfers and Visitors

Design for "last year's" technology so surfers using 56K
modems can download and use the site quickly and easily. If
you design only for people with high-speed Internet
connections (DSL and cable) you have eliminated 85%+ of your
potential market.

7. Thou shalt not Annoy

Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements. No
Scrolling text, marquees, or animations of any kind,
including rollover buttons.

This "eye candy" steals valuable bandwidth and adds little
to a site's main purpose, especially for returning visitors
who just want information, not a carnival sideshow.

8. Thou shalt Not Scroll Left or Right

Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll
left or right, no matter what the resolution settings on
their monitor. Sites that read "best viewed at 800 x 600"
really say "look at it my way because I don't care about
your preferences or limitations."

9. Thou shalt stay Consistent

Include a standard navigational structure on every page.
Though it may mean a serious challenge for the designer,
users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site.

Also, this includes using standard link colors in all text
links. Blue: hyperlink; Purple: visited hyperlink; Red:
active hyperlink.

10. Thou shalt Know Thy Traffic

Use a site-wide statistics program that enables you to
determine what brings someone to the site, where they go
once they arrive, and when and where they leave.

This critical information helps with marketing efforts as
well as identifying parts of the site that need tweaking or
adjustment to help you increase sales. If everybody bails
from your site at the same page, knowing this can help you
change the page so people go from "bail mode" to "buy mode"!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards, author of numerous best-selling ebooks, earns
thousands in affiliate commissions every month! Jim has
developed "Affiliate Link Cloaker," the easy, FAST, safe way
to STOP affiliate link "hijackers"... Dead in their tracks!
Click Here => http://www.affiliatelinkcloaker.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Not a week goes by that half a dozen people don't ask me
what separates a great, money-making website from a bad one.
In response, I surveyed of a number of different websites,
large and small, to find what they share in common to make
them so successful. With few exceptions, every
extraordinarily great website contained the following
elements.

** Testimonials **

Every great website has testimonials from satisfied
customers. These testimonials help set the potential
customer's mind at ease that the products or services sold
online will perform as promised.

Truly great testimonials not only endorse the product, but
clearly state how the product increased sales, saved money,
or benefited previous buyers in very specific and tangible
ways. Testimonials should present real benefits others can
readily identify with, understand and, more importantly,
want those same results for themselves!

** Headlines **

Headlines capture visitors' attention and get them involved
in the website. How do you read the newspaper? If you read
like most people the headlines first catch your attention
and determine whether you'll actually read a story.
Similarly headlines on a website determine whether visitors
get involved in the information or surf away never to
return.

My own experience has shown that the proper headlines can
easily and quickly double, triple, or even quadruple a
website's sales almost overnight.

** Bullets **

Bullets communicate various and subtle bits of information
about a product or service without making readers plow
through paragraphs of information to get to the meat of a
website's offering. Bullets arouse interest, build
excitement, and convey a lot of information very quickly to
time-starved web surfers.

** Bonuses **

Every great website offers bonuses to people who buy, apply
or fill out a form. Nothing induces someone to do business
with you online like offering them something extra for
taking the action you want. Offering a bonus report, tape,
extended membership, extra quantities of product at a deep
discount, coupons, or just about anything makes people more
willing to go ahead with the purchase decision.

** Guarantees **

Everyone takes a risk whenever they buy anything from
anyone. The risk centers on whether or not the product or
service will perform as promised. In a retail store most
people feel pretty confident the store will still exist if
they need to make a return or exchange in a few days. On the
web, however, that risk in making a purchase seems much
higher than in the "offline" world.

Every great website makes a point of specifically telling
customers about their return policy and truly exceptional
sites offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantees.
People rarely take advantage of such guarantees and I have
personally seen a website's sales increase by 45% just by
extending the guarantee period an additional 30 days.

** Phone numbers **

Every great website has a phone number with a real live
human being on the other end who can answer questions and
provide product support.

So there you have it! With few exceptions this represents
the formula for creating or identifying a truly great
website.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Just for fun, evaluate the following statement:

"Most people want to write a book and get it published, but
that's simply impossible 99% of the time."

Is the above statement true?

Not exactly. What's true is that most people THINK they
can't write a book and get it published. And while that's a
widely-held belief, just the opposite is true.

In fact, it's easier to write and get published today than
ever before - especially thanks to the ebook "revolution."
The field of ebooks is literally wide open for all who are
interested - including, perhaps, you!

What does it take to write and publish your own ebook?

Three things:

1) A TOPIC you are interested in that others would also like
to know more about.

2) The DESIRE to get the ebook written (note - you can write
it yourself, but you don't have to. There are other proven
and simple ways to get your ebook written and published for
you.)

3) A simple, one-page, "sales letter" WEB SITE to sell the
ebook.

Does it take a lot of money or any special aptitudes? Oddly
enough, not really. You have to be willing to take action,
certainly, and learn as you go, but there are no special
educational, financial or talent requirements to become a
successful ebook author.

The truth is, it costs very little to get started. You can
get a domain registered and online for as little as $9 to
start and $6 a month for website hosting.

In fact, there are actually six ways you can create an ebook
without ever writing a word of it - so you don't need to be
a skilled writer. We'll tell you about one of them,
in-depth, right now.

Think of a topic you know something about that you'd like to
write an ebook on.

Once you have that topic in mind, then all you need to do is
write a list of questions other people would pay to get the
answers to... give that list to a friend... have the friend
call you on the phone and ask you those questions... record
the call... have the recording transcribed... and edit the
transcription!

Presto - you've just created a "meaty" ebook fast! (Yes, it
really is that simple!)

By the way, if you don't want to transcribe or edit the
ebook yourself, you can get both of those things done for
you for surprisingly little money... as little as a few
hundred dollars, total, in many cases.

That's how we wrote our most recent ebook.

As authors ourselves, we came up with a list of questions,
got on the phone, recorded the answers, and had the entire
4 1/2 hour conversation transcribed. Using this phone call -
transcription - edit route we created an ebook in about a
week. It cost us a total of $163 to produce it. (We hired
out the transcription, and did the editing ourselves.)

So far we've spent *zero* money on advertising and, as we
write this article today, we've sold over $49,683 worth of
that ebook in less than six months!

We're not unique in that way. We know many others who have
successfully published ebooks - including another small
publisher who has used this exact same method to create
dozens of ebooks.

If you can clearly understand a specific problem, want, need
or desire of a large enough target audience and then create
a publication that helps them get what they want, you stand
to make a lot of money and help a great number of people at
the same time.

If there ever was a "golden age" of publishing, NOW is the
time. The truth of the matter is, today anyone can become a
published author with an ebook in less than a couple of
weeks. Between us, we have 11 ebooks online and we're
making money every day, even as you read this.

You can do the same. Opportunity awaits you right now.
It's never been easier to seize the day and go for your
dream - become a published author!

--

Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel are co-authors of "eBook
Secrets Exposed," the authoritative resource for making a
lot of money quickly writing and publishing your own ebook.
Guerrilla Marketing series author Jay Conrad Levinson says,
"If ever there was a 'must-read' for this century, it's this
book." For more information...
Click here => http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

As the Internet continues to populate with websites trying
to turn a buck, two drastically different schools of thought
have developed on how to advertise online - "Push" and
"Pull."

"Push" advertising involves the use of "in-your-face"
advertising tactics such as pop-up windows and direct email.
"Pull" advertising entails using search engines and posting
articles that literally "pull" interested consumers to a
website on their own terms.

As web surfers revolt against pushy advertising, site owners
who understand how to pull consumers to their sites will
come out the long-term winners.

"Push" advertising tactics worked in the past because they
had not reached a saturation point. Since not everyone used
pop-up windows, a site owner could use them without fear of
backlash. Now it seems pop-up windows hit consumers from
every angle and even multiple times from the same sites.

The cycle of events with online advertising always unfolds
the same way. Someone finds something new that works and
people immediately jump on the bandwagon. As a technique
saturates the 'Net and loses effectiveness, instead of
finding an alternative, site owners just do it more!

Result: instead of pop-up windows going away, many site
owners just run more pop-up's - more often!

Well, if recent developments indicate anything, they show
that consumers have said "enough" to pushy advertising.

AOL, infamous for their pop-up ads, has agreed to cut down
on the intrusions even though their earnings could use a
boost right now.

Major ISP (Internet Service Provider) Earthlink even offers
a "pop-up killer" feature on their new service.

Almost all email programs come with filters to fight
unsolicited email and many email add-on services have sprung
up to help consumers eliminate the unsolicited offers for
pornography, business opportunities, and promises of instant
riches.

This "anti-spam" sentiment has also caused an unintended
consequence for legitimate marketers. Many major newsletters
have found their emails blocked by spam filters intended to
stop unsolicited email. Through no fault of their own,
legitimate email marketers have found themselves casualties
of the war on spam.

The future of the Internet lies in "Pull" advertising driven
by consumer wants and needs.

The successful Internet companies of the future will invest
in search engine promotion and in providing valuable, on-
demand information consumers receive only when they ask for
it and want it. When a web surfer goes to their favorite
search engine and enters the keyword phrase "MP3 Player" or
"tax advice" that means they are receptive to information on
those subjects.

If they read an article about using vitamins to improve
health and click a link for more information, only then they
will they be truly receptive to a marketing message about
vitamins.

Consumers have taken back control of Internet!

Not with laws or more regulations, but simply by flexing the
muscles of their wallets. By pulling money away from
advertisers who annoy them and putting it with those who
meet their needs, the average web surfer has brought the
Internet powers to their knees and will continue to reshape
the Internet into an effective, consumer-driven
communications vehicle.

Any site owner who wants to have a thriving online business
and survive the next year had better take this fact to
heart!

--- Jim Edwards is the co-author of a step-by-step, "paint
by numbers" guide that guarantees to teach you how to go
from zero to making real money online in about a month!

"33 Days to Online Profits"

=============================================
"Finally -- a Simple, Video-Based Training System on CD-ROM
that Teaches You Step-By-Step How to Make Real Money Online-
100% Guaranteed!" You can start with a few bucks and a good
idea to make lots of money online! I did, and I'll teach you
how no matter what product or service you sell...
Click Here => http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/video/10/
=============================================

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Let's face the facts!

Almost everyone online today is looking to make or save a
buck any way they can. In the past, most of the people who
clicked on your affiliate links used to purchase without a
second thought... but, as times get tougher online, it seems
a growing number won't!

As money gets tighter and product prices rise, people who
know how to manipulate the system will sometimes replace
your affiliate ID with theirs and "hijack" your commissions.

Here's an example:

Let's say your affiliate link is
www.ebookaboutcats.com/?live-well.

Say the highjacker uses the affiliate ID of captain-hook.
What he would do is replace your ID with his, and buy from
the URL www.ebookaboutcats.com/?captain-hook.

The bottom line: the hijacker puts your money in his pocket.

In other cases, they can't stand the thought of you "making
money off them" so they bypass you by simply chopping off
the end of your affiliate link that contains your ID.

Instead of buying from www.ebookaboutcats.com/?live-well,
the bypasser will simply "chop off" the affiliate ID at the
end and simply buy from the plain URL www.ebookaboutcats.com
--without your affiliate ID attached!

Either way, you get cheated out of your rightful commission.

To help you fight these affiliate link hijackers I offer a
couple of my best (proven and battle tested) tips, which
will at least confuse these "hijackers" and, in many cases,
often defeat and disarm them completely.

Side Note: If someone really, really wants to steal your
affiliate commission, they will find a way; however, most
hijackers are just opportunists who will only act if they
see an easy buck.

The first and cheapest way to hide your affiliate links is
using a javascript redirect page. This is where you hide
your affiliate link in a page on your site using a simple
javascript that redirects people to your affiliate link.

It works great not to expose your "naked" affiliate link in
your actual email messages and ezine ads, but, once people
get redirected to the true affiliate link, many affiliate
programs expose the affiliate link along with your ID in the
browser address bar.

Here's an example of a redirect script in action.
Click => http://www.ebookfire.com/esejs.html

Notice how the link takes you to a page where you can see my
affiliate ID, ebookfire, in your web browser's address bar.

Like it or not, someone can replace my ID with theirs and
"hijack" the commission... but at least the redirect script
keeps them from immediately seeing my "naked" affiliate link
(http://hop.clickbank.net/?ebookfire/ebksecrets) when I
publish it in my newsletter, email, or on my website.

You can get free redirect scripts just about anywhere you
find free javascripts. Here is the script I use
http://www.ebookfire.com/jrs.shtml.

A better way to hide your affiliate links is using a zero-
frame or "invisible" frame that masks the affiliate link by
making it appear you are sending people to a page on your
website. In reality, you are actually sending them to your
affiliate link.

This is the technique used by those "sub-domain" redirect
services that provide you with urls like
http://ese.ebookfire.net.

While giving someone a link like that is much better than
using a "naked" affiliate link such as
http://hop.clickbank.net/?ebookfire/ebksecrets, there is a
problem. As soon as someone does a "view >> source" in their
web browser they'll see your naked affiliate link plain as
day... which instantly blows your cover!

Currently the best way to protect your affiliate commissions
from ruthless hijackers is to use a combination of a zero-
frame page along with URL encryption. This involves sending
someone to URL that looks like a page on your site, but
actually pulls in your affiliate link like those "sub-
domain" services. However, there's one critical
difference...

If someone does a "view >> source" in their browser, you
have added protection in that all they will see is a jumble
of computer code instead of your naked affiliate link.

Check out this example of a zero-frame with URL encryption
in action.
Click => http://www.ebookfire.com/ese.html

Side Note: Beware of cloaking scripts that use javascript to
mask your affiliate link because they could malfunction in
some web browsers.

Here's the bottom line: if you are going to sell through
other people's affiliate programs, never send a "naked"
affiliate link... you're just asking for people to hijack or
bypass you if you do.

If you want to get paid more often through your affiliate
links, make sure it's not obvious you're referring people to
an affiliate link. If they can't easily see how to hijack or
bypass your link, a lot more people who would have taken the
money out of your pocket will just go ahead and buy through
your link - which is, after all, the whole point! :-)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards, author of numerous best-selling ebooks, earns
thousands in affiliate commissions every month! Jim has
developed "Affiliate Link Cloaker," the easy, FAST, safe way
to STOP affiliate link "hijackers"... Dead in their tracks!
Click Here => http://www.affiliatelinkcloaker.com

** Attn Ezine editors / Site owners **
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety
in your ezine or on your site so long as you leave
all links in place, do not modify the content and
include our resource box as listed above.

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn up to 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

If you are looking for an immediate increase in your website
traffic, and you don't want to shell out a lot of money for
pay-per-click search engines, I'll let you in on a secret
that has helped me make many sales and build large lists
very quickly with zero cash up-front: it's called "OPT"
(Other People's Traffic).

Other website operators have the targeted website visitors
you need right now - you just have to convince them to
funnel some of it your way. Your mission is to find people
who can refer you their traffic either for a percentage of
the sale, a flat fee, a trade for services, or on a per-
click basis.

NOTE: I prefer to pay people a big percentage of the sale -
as much as 50% - because it has the lowest risk for me as
the merchant. I only pay when a sale is made and, therefore,
I make it well worth someone's while to work with me. That's
the whole idea behind a successful affiliate program.

The quickest way to find people who can refer you traffic is
to take inventory of whom you know. Who operates a site
drawing the type of visitors you need?

For example, if you have a website that sells fishing lures,
then you want to find ezines, websites, and discussion
groups dealing with fishing rods, tackle boxes, fish hooks,
fishing trips, fishing supplies, etc.

Get the picture?

Once you have exhausted the list of people you know, go to
the search engines and do a search for the keywords that
would bring targeted traffic to your site. Make a list of
the websites that rank well in those searches and approach
those individuals with related, but non-competing sites
about a traffic deal.

To continue the above example, that means go to the search
engines and do searches for "fishing rods", "fishing trips"
and related keywords to your site to find others who already
have the traffic you need, but who don't directly compete
with you.

Try to work all your agreements on a traffic trade or per-
sale basis first so you won't have to pay any cash out of
pocket until after a sale is made.

If you don't have any traffic to trade, or they don't want
to get paid by the sale only, then you should negotiate a
per-click or per-signup deal.

Paying by the click or by the signup means you only pay when
a visitor comes to your site or signs up to receive your
newsletter or other information. With this structure you
only pay for performance and don't waste any money on
advertising that doesn't directly result in bringing
visitors to your site.

You have 3 main choices for funneling another site's traffic
to yours: endorsed mailings, pop-up windows, and link
trades.

1. Endorsed Mailings

Endorsed mailings are by far the best way to funnel traffic
from another site. A well-written endorsement letter by a
website operator who already has a relationship with people
who can buy from you is often worth its weight in gold. An
effective endorsed mailing can result in traffic, sales, and
money in your pocket within just a few hours of sending it.

2. Pop-Up Windows

Focused "pop-up" windows represent the next fastest way to
funnel traffic to your site. When used incorrectly, pop-up
windows create an annoying distraction for web surfers. Make
sure your pop-up windows are relevant to exactly what
visitors came to your site for in the first place!

My experiments have shown that a "pop-under" works best.
This is where your website pops behind the other person's
page. Go to http://www.7dayebook.com for an example. You'll
see my other ebook, "eBook Secrets Exposed," pop *under* the
7 Day eBook site.

When the visitor is finished viewing the main page and
closes it... your page is right there!

TIP: For maximum sales, make sure that your page is closely
related to the page that is referring traffic to you.

3. Link Trades

The next way to funnel traffic from other sites is using
"Reciprocal Links" - which is a fancy way of saying trading
links with someone. Make sure you negotiate a high profile
spot for your link on the other person's site.

Creativity is key when negotiating with other websites to
steer some or all of their traffic your way. Show them how
sending you traffic will make them money through affiliate
commissions, how their readers will appreciate being
introduced to new and valuable products (yours), or how you
can open a new stream of income for them by paying them a
few cents for every unique visitor they refer to you.

They win by making extra money and making their customers
happy. You win by attracting traffic to your site that is
focused and highly targeted to your offers.

Creating win-win scenarios like these will cause people to
jump at the chance to work with you and send you all the
"OPT" you can handle.

===============================================
Jim Edwards & David Garfinkel are co-authors of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Success online follows a simple formula...

"Ask and you shall _______."

Most people fill in the blank with "receive". Not only is it
a well-known phrase from the Bible, but it's also a very
powerful online marketing principle.

If you operate a business and want to sell massively more
products and services quickly, the fastest way to do it is
by simply asking your customers and prospects what they
want... and then give it to them.

In the past, gathering critical research information through
customer surveys represented a very time-consuming,
expensive and labor-intensive process available only to
large organizations.

However, with inexpensive online tools, even a one-person
business can now quickly and easily conduct powerful surveys
to discover exactly what customers want - and then give it
to them.

Virtually any business can benefit from conducting a survey
because the information you get is priceless for your
planning purposes.

Do you know what your customers plan to purchase next?
(If you did, you could be the one to sell it to them!)

Do you know why they've purchased from you in the past?
(If they've bought once, they'll buy again for the same
reason!)

Do you know what other products and services they have
purchased from your competitors and why?
(So you can be the one they buy from next...)

Knowing the answers to those three questions could literally
transform your whole business plan (and wallet) overnight!

The sad fact is most business owners just *guess* what their
customers want. Sure, they might make an educated guess
based on past experience, but it's still just that -- a
guess.

By conducting a survey you don't guess what people want -
you *know* what people want!

When conducting a survey (online or offline) it's critical
to remember these three points:

1. Keep your survey short and sweet.

People don't want to spend more than a couple of minutes
answering your questions.

I personally try never to ask more than 6 questions and they
are always "yes/no", multiple-choice questions that don't
take much time.

Short questions also allow you to get instant "gut-level"
reactions from people, which is helpful in figuring out what
people will buy. People purchase on emotion, so a fast
response will show you their true feelings on a subject
since they don't have time to think about it.

2. Give people a "bribe" for taking the survey.

You will increase response rates by 1,500% (15 times) or
more by offering people a reward in exchange for 2 minutes
of their time to take your survey. With so many time
constraints, giving people a "perk" for giving you some of
their valuable time will make the difference between getting
a dozen responses and getting several hundred.

3. Use simple, easy-to-understand questions.

When first surveying any group, you simply want to know what
they like/dislike, will/won't buy in the future,
have/haven't bought in the past.

As you get to know a group better, you can ask more detailed
questions, but also make sure you offer better bribes if you
expect people to take even more time answering your
questions.

When choosing an online survey tool to help you administer
your survey, make sure it meets the following criteria:

· It should require no programming on your part. You want to
just plug in your questions and have it generate all the
code, etc. so you can copy and paste it into a web page and
send it out.

· It should automatically calculate all survey results for
you in 'real-time' so you don't have to manually calculate
responses. Do not get stuck doing "number crunching" because
your survey tool doesn't automatically calculate results.

· It should send a "thank you" letter to people taking your
survey so you can send them a "gift" for participating.

Thanking people for participating goes a long way toward
leaving them with a favorable impression of you, as well as
setting the stage for both your next survey and your next
sale.

For a free report on how to quickly and easily conduct your
own simple surveys to increase business profits, go to
http://www.ebookfire.com/survey.html. Though the report is
aimed at a specific online audience (ebook publishers), the
principles will help any business succeed using surveys.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

"What makes a great web page?"

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter
difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

Every serious website operator wants to know how to create
and maintain the best possible website that makes them the
most money and builds the largest subscriber base!

The following "commandments" represent the ideals towards
which every new or existing website should strive.

1. Thou shalt have a Purpose

Clearly define the site's purpose and ensure all content
(pages, graphics and text) tightly focus on that purpose.
Discard all extraneous material... only give people exactly
what they came for!

2. Thou shalt be Lightweight

Use only small, fast loading graphics. If you must use large
graphics use thumbnails and image slicing to diminish the
size of every file to less than 12-15kb. Use standard
optimized gif's and jpg's and avoid anything that requires
the user to download a "plug-in" to view your content.

3. Thou shalt Load Fast

Each and every page on your site should weigh in under
30-60KB total, including graphics and navigation.

If your pages must be larger, such as the case with long,
1-page sales letters, make sure the top part of the page
loads fast so surfers can read your headline and
introduction while the rest of your sales letter loads
further down and out of site.

4. Thou shalt not use False Code

Use only html. Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of
code that require a surfer to keep their browser set up
"correctly" to accommodate your page. This is especially
true when using "cloaked" pages that require the use of
javascript in order to work correctly.

5. Thou shalt respect the Search Engines

If you want search engine traffic, use whole web pages that
don't incorporate frames. Search engines get confused trying
to read content from most frames pages because the designers
don't set them up with the proper information in the
correct frame.

6. Love thy Surfers and Visitors

Design for "last year's" technology so surfers using 56K
modems can download and use the site quickly and easily. If
you design only for people with high-speed Internet
connections (DSL and cable) you have eliminated 85%+ of your
potential market.

7. Thou shalt not Annoy

Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements. No
Scrolling text, marquees, or animations of any kind,
including rollover buttons.

This "eye candy" steals valuable bandwidth and adds little
to a site's main purpose, especially for returning visitors
who just want information, not a carnival sideshow.

8. Thou shalt Not Scroll Left or Right

Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll
left or right, no matter what the resolution settings on
their monitor. Sites that read "best viewed at 800 x 600"
really say "look at it my way because I don't care about
your preferences or limitations."

9. Thou shalt stay Consistent

Include a standard navigational structure on every page.
Though it may mean a serious challenge for the designer,
users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site.

Also, this includes using standard link colors in all text
links. Blue: hyperlink; Purple: visited hyperlink; Red:
active hyperlink.

10. Thou shalt Know Thy Traffic

Use a site-wide statistics program that enables you to
determine what brings someone to the site, where they go
once they arrive, and when and where they leave.

This critical information helps with marketing efforts as
well as identifying parts of the site that need tweaking or
adjustment to help you increase sales. If everybody bails
from your site at the same page, knowing this can help you
change the page so people go from "bail mode" to "buy mode"!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards, author of numerous best-selling ebooks, earns
thousands in affiliate commissions every month! Jim has
developed "Affiliate Link Cloaker," the easy, FAST, safe way
to STOP affiliate link "hijackers"... Dead in their tracks!
Click Here => http://www.affiliatelinkcloaker.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Not a week goes by that half a dozen people don't ask me
what separates a great, money-making website from a bad one.
In response, I surveyed of a number of different websites,
large and small, to find what they share in common to make
them so successful. With few exceptions, every
extraordinarily great website contained the following
elements.

** Testimonials **

Every great website has testimonials from satisfied
customers. These testimonials help set the potential
customer's mind at ease that the products or services sold
online will perform as promised.

Truly great testimonials not only endorse the product, but
clearly state how the product increased sales, saved money,
or benefited previous buyers in very specific and tangible
ways. Testimonials should present real benefits others can
readily identify with, understand and, more importantly,
want those same results for themselves!

** Headlines **

Headlines capture visitors' attention and get them involved
in the website. How do you read the newspaper? If you read
like most people the headlines first catch your attention
and determine whether you'll actually read a story.
Similarly headlines on a website determine whether visitors
get involved in the information or surf away never to
return.

My own experience has shown that the proper headlines can
easily and quickly double, triple, or even quadruple a
website's sales almost overnight.

** Bullets **

Bullets communicate various and subtle bits of information
about a product or service without making readers plow
through paragraphs of information to get to the meat of a
website's offering. Bullets arouse interest, build
excitement, and convey a lot of information very quickly to
time-starved web surfers.

** Bonuses **

Every great website offers bonuses to people who buy, apply
or fill out a form. Nothing induces someone to do business
with you online like offering them something extra for
taking the action you want. Offering a bonus report, tape,
extended membership, extra quantities of product at a deep
discount, coupons, or just about anything makes people more
willing to go ahead with the purchase decision.

** Guarantees **

Everyone takes a risk whenever they buy anything from
anyone. The risk centers on whether or not the product or
service will perform as promised. In a retail store most
people feel pretty confident the store will still exist if
they need to make a return or exchange in a few days. On the
web, however, that risk in making a purchase seems much
higher than in the "offline" world.

Every great website makes a point of specifically telling
customers about their return policy and truly exceptional
sites offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantees.
People rarely take advantage of such guarantees and I have
personally seen a website's sales increase by 45% just by
extending the guarantee period an additional 30 days.

** Phone numbers **

Every great website has a phone number with a real live
human being on the other end who can answer questions and
provide product support.

So there you have it! With few exceptions this represents
the formula for creating or identifying a truly great
website.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

Just for fun, evaluate the following statement:

"Most people want to write a book and get it published, but
that's simply impossible 99% of the time."

Is the above statement true?

Not exactly. What's true is that most people THINK they
can't write a book and get it published. And while that's a
widely-held belief, just the opposite is true.

In fact, it's easier to write and get published today than
ever before - especially thanks to the ebook "revolution."
The field of ebooks is literally wide open for all who are
interested - including, perhaps, you!

What does it take to write and publish your own ebook?

Three things:

1) A TOPIC you are interested in that others would also like
to know more about.

2) The DESIRE to get the ebook written (note - you can write
it yourself, but you don't have to. There are other proven
and simple ways to get your ebook written and published for
you.)

3) A simple, one-page, "sales letter" WEB SITE to sell the
ebook.

Does it take a lot of money or any special aptitudes? Oddly
enough, not really. You have to be willing to take action,
certainly, and learn as you go, but there are no special
educational, financial or talent requirements to become a
successful ebook author.

The truth is, it costs very little to get started. You can
get a domain registered and online for as little as $9 to
start and $6 a month for website hosting.

In fact, there are actually six ways you can create an ebook
without ever writing a word of it - so you don't need to be
a skilled writer. We'll tell you about one of them,
in-depth, right now.

Think of a topic you know something about that you'd like to
write an ebook on.

Once you have that topic in mind, then all you need to do is
write a list of questions other people would pay to get the
answers to... give that list to a friend... have the friend
call you on the phone and ask you those questions... record
the call... have the recording transcribed... and edit the
transcription!

Presto - you've just created a "meaty" ebook fast! (Yes, it
really is that simple!)

By the way, if you don't want to transcribe or edit the
ebook yourself, you can get both of those things done for
you for surprisingly little money... as little as a few
hundred dollars, total, in many cases.

That's how we wrote our most recent ebook.

As authors ourselves, we came up with a list of questions,
got on the phone, recorded the answers, and had the entire
4 1/2 hour conversation transcribed. Using this phone call -
transcription - edit route we created an ebook in about a
week. It cost us a total of $163 to produce it. (We hired
out the transcription, and did the editing ourselves.)

So far we've spent *zero* money on advertising and, as we
write this article today, we've sold over $49,683 worth of
that ebook in less than six months!

We're not unique in that way. We know many others who have
successfully published ebooks - including another small
publisher who has used this exact same method to create
dozens of ebooks.

If you can clearly understand a specific problem, want, need
or desire of a large enough target audience and then create
a publication that helps them get what they want, you stand
to make a lot of money and help a great number of people at
the same time.

If there ever was a "golden age" of publishing, NOW is the
time. The truth of the matter is, today anyone can become a
published author with an ebook in less than a couple of
weeks. Between us, we have 11 ebooks online and we're
making money every day, even as you read this.

You can do the same. Opportunity awaits you right now.
It's never been easier to seize the day and go for your
dream - become a published author!

--

Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel are co-authors of "eBook
Secrets Exposed," the authoritative resource for making a
lot of money quickly writing and publishing your own ebook.
Guerrilla Marketing series author Jay Conrad Levinson says,
"If ever there was a 'must-read' for this century, it's this
book." For more information...
Click here => http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

As the Internet continues to populate with websites trying
to turn a buck, two drastically different schools of thought
have developed on how to advertise online - "Push" and
"Pull."

"Push" advertising involves the use of "in-your-face"
advertising tactics such as pop-up windows and direct email.
"Pull" advertising entails using search engines and posting
articles that literally "pull" interested consumers to a
website on their own terms.

As web surfers revolt against pushy advertising, site owners
who understand how to pull consumers to their sites will
come out the long-term winners.

"Push" advertising tactics worked in the past because they
had not reached a saturation point. Since not everyone used
pop-up windows, a site owner could use them without fear of
backlash. Now it seems pop-up windows hit consumers from
every angle and even multiple times from the same sites.

The cycle of events with online advertising always unfolds
the same way. Someone finds something new that works and
people immediately jump on the bandwagon. As a technique
saturates the 'Net and loses effectiveness, instead of
finding an alternative, site owners just do it more!

Result: instead of pop-up windows going away, many site
owners just run more pop-up's - more often!

Well, if recent developments indicate anything, they show
that consumers have said "enough" to pushy advertising.

AOL, infamous for their pop-up ads, has agreed to cut down
on the intrusions even though their earnings could use a
boost right now.

Major ISP (Internet Service Provider) Earthlink even offers
a "pop-up killer" feature on their new service.

Almost all email programs come with filters to fight
unsolicited email and many email add-on services have sprung
up to help consumers eliminate the unsolicited offers for
pornography, business opportunities, and promises of instant
riches.

This "anti-spam" sentiment has also caused an unintended
consequence for legitimate marketers. Many major newsletters
have found their emails blocked by spam filters intended to
stop unsolicited email. Through no fault of their own,
legitimate email marketers have found themselves casualties
of the war on spam.

The future of the Internet lies in "Pull" advertising driven
by consumer wants and needs.

The successful Internet companies of the future will invest
in search engine promotion and in providing valuable, on-
demand information consumers receive only when they ask for
it and want it. When a web surfer goes to their favorite
search engine and enters the keyword phrase "MP3 Player" or
"tax advice" that means they are receptive to information on
those subjects.

If they read an article about using vitamins to improve
health and click a link for more information, only then they
will they be truly receptive to a marketing message about
vitamins.

Consumers have taken back control of Internet!

Not with laws or more regulations, but simply by flexing the
muscles of their wallets. By pulling money away from
advertisers who annoy them and putting it with those who
meet their needs, the average web surfer has brought the
Internet powers to their knees and will continue to reshape
the Internet into an effective, consumer-driven
communications vehicle.

Any site owner who wants to have a thriving online business
and survive the next year had better take this fact to
heart!

--- Jim Edwards is the co-author of a step-by-step, "paint
by numbers" guide that guarantees to teach you how to go
from zero to making real money online in about a month!

"33 Days to Online Profits"

=============================================
"Finally -- a Simple, Video-Based Training System on CD-ROM
that Teaches You Step-By-Step How to Make Real Money Online-
100% Guaranteed!" You can start with a few bucks and a good
idea to make lots of money online! I did, and I'll teach you
how no matter what product or service you sell...
Click Here => http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/video/10/
=============================================

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts

If you are looking for an immediate increase in your website
traffic, and you don't want to shell out a lot of money for
pay-per-click search engines, I'll let you in on a secret
that has helped me make many sales and build large lists
very quickly with zero cash up-front: it's called "OPT"
(Other People's Traffic).

Other website operators have the targeted website visitors
you need right now - you just have to convince them to
funnel some of it your way. Your mission is to find people
who can refer you their traffic either for a percentage of
the sale, a flat fee, a trade for services, or on a per-
click basis.

NOTE: I prefer to pay people a big percentage of the sale -
as much as 50% - because it has the lowest risk for me as
the merchant. I only pay when a sale is made and, therefore,
I make it well worth someone's while to work with me. That's
the whole idea behind a successful affiliate program.

The quickest way to find people who can refer you traffic is
to take inventory of whom you know. Who operates a site
drawing the type of visitors you need?

For example, if you have a website that sells fishing lures,
then you want to find ezines, websites, and discussion
groups dealing with fishing rods, tackle boxes, fish hooks,
fishing trips, fishing supplies, etc.

Get the picture?

Once you have exhausted the list of people you know, go to
the search engines and do a search for the keywords that
would bring targeted traffic to your site. Make a list of
the websites that rank well in those searches and approach
those individuals with related, but non-competing sites
about a traffic deal.

To continue the above example, that means go to the search
engines and do searches for "fishing rods", "fishing trips"
and related keywords to your site to find others who already
have the traffic you need, but who don't directly compete
with you.

Try to work all your agreements on a traffic trade or per-
sale basis first so you won't have to pay any cash out of
pocket until after a sale is made.

If you don't have any traffic to trade, or they don't want
to get paid by the sale only, then you should negotiate a
per-click or per-signup deal.

Paying by the click or by the signup means you only pay when
a visitor comes to your site or signs up to receive your
newsletter or other information. With this structure you
only pay for performance and don't waste any money on
advertising that doesn't directly result in bringing
visitors to your site.

You have 3 main choices for funneling another site's traffic
to yours: endorsed mailings, pop-up windows, and link
trades.

1. Endorsed Mailings

Endorsed mailings are by far the best way to funnel traffic
from another site. A well-written endorsement letter by a
website operator who already has a relationship with people
who can buy from you is often worth its weight in gold. An
effective endorsed mailing can result in traffic, sales, and
money in your pocket within just a few hours of sending it.

2. Pop-Up Windows

Focused "pop-up" windows represent the next fastest way to
funnel traffic to your site. When used incorrectly, pop-up
windows create an annoying distraction for web surfers. Make
sure your pop-up windows are relevant to exactly what
visitors came to your site for in the first place!

My experiments have shown that a "pop-under" works best.
This is where your website pops behind the other person's
page. Go to http://www.7dayebook.com for an example. You'll
see my other ebook, "eBook Secrets Exposed," pop *under* the
7 Day eBook site.

When the visitor is finished viewing the main page and
closes it... your page is right there!

TIP: For maximum sales, make sure that your page is closely
related to the page that is referring traffic to you.

3. Link Trades

The next way to funnel traffic from other sites is using
"Reciprocal Links" - which is a fancy way of saying trading
links with someone. Make sure you negotiate a high profile
spot for your link on the other person's site.

Creativity is key when negotiating with other websites to
steer some or all of their traffic your way. Show them how
sending you traffic will make them money through affiliate
commissions, how their readers will appreciate being
introduced to new and valuable products (yours), or how you
can open a new stream of income for them by paying them a
few cents for every unique visitor they refer to you.

They win by making extra money and making their customers
happy. You win by attracting traffic to your site that is
focused and highly targeted to your offers.

Creating win-win scenarios like these will cause people to
jump at the chance to work with you and send you all the
"OPT" you can handle.

===============================================
Jim Edwards & David Garfinkel are co-authors of the NEW
"eBook Secrets Exposed": How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Feel free to substitute your affiliate link in place of
our link in the resource box.

Earn 50% on every purchaser you refer.

Affiliate details are available here:
http://www.ebookfire.com

If you do use the material please send us a note
so we can take a look. Thanks.

Marketing Ideas, News and Thoughts