Table of Contents:

Preface

Why Read This Book?

Doing Business on the Internet

Starting Your Own Home-based Business

Accepting Credit Cards

3 Ways to Make Money on the Internet

Targeting Your Marketing Audience

Researching Your Competitors

Designing Your Own Web Pages

Keywords

Meta Tags

Choosing a Host for Your Web Pages

Fine Tuning with Web Site Statistics

Search Engines

Promotional Tools

Marketing with Autoresponders

E-mail Marketing with Signature Files

Contests

Publishing Your Own Ezine

Ezine Advertising

Power of the Media – Press Releases

Opt-In E-mail Instead of Bulk E-mail

Discussion Forums

More Visitors by Using Buzzword Topics

Targeted Reciprocal Links

How to Develop a Distributor Network

Index of Resources

Associates Needed

Internet Business Builder Package

  

Preface

My objective for this book is to enhance your knowledge, to teach, stimulate, and get your creative minds working in the art of Internet marketing. I did not ramble on writing hallow words or paragraphs without importance just to fill the pages in this book. If I thought any topic, sentence, or paragraph was not important and did not relate to teaching someone how to market successfully, then it was omitted from ABC’s of Internet Marketing. So, read, reread, utilize, and implement everything this book has to say. Take notes, highlight, and underline anything you feel you need to improve.

By reading other people’s books, it truly inspired me to write a clear, concise how-to Internet marketing book that generates results based upon the time and efforts of its readers. Each time I picked up these books, I couldn’t help noticing that there was always something missing, and that something is my own acquired knowledge that I wholeheartedly share in this book.

I’ve always wanted my own business, but finding the right one for me was a challenge. After many failed business attempts, I realized that the products, my marketing approach, and a lack of dedication on my part were to blame. For each of my failures there was a lesson to be learned. Once learned, I began my next business venture with greater insight, and dedication, which has taken me closer to my goals.

Years later, what I gained was the passion to create my own products and services, and market them wisely. When you are passionate about what you are selling, you are committed, and you do not accept failure as an option.

Set goals, commit, aim, and achieve!

Robert Fox

WHY READ THIS BOOK?

Whether or not you already have a business or planning to start one, or you have an idea, or want to expand your business, ABC’s of Internet Marketing provides the resources, ideas, and information you must know to market your products successfully on the Internet. Here are some of the key elements you will learn from this book:

• How to use your competitor’s web sites as grounds to build a better, more marketable web site of your own;

• How to market your products or services through the use of e-mail;

• How to generate more traffic to your web site while building better content;

• How to free up your time for other profit-generating ideas, while your product sales multiply;

• How to optimize your web pages for better search engine ranking;

• How to create a web site that targets your marketing audience.

Whether you’re a beginner, new to marketing, or an entrepreneur looking for greater success, this up-to-date and informative book will teach you the fundamentals of Internet Marketing.

DOING BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET

• STATISTICS

Currently there is 1.2 billion Internet users worldwide. (Nelson/NetRatings)

E-commerce is projected to surpass $300 billion a year by 2002. (U.S. Department of Commerce)

• COST – EFFECTIVENESS

Starting a home-based Internet business is cheap. With lower overhead expenses you are able to compete with the business giants.

• GLOBAL CLIENTELE

Through the Internet, you can expand your business worldwide. You are no longer limited to a geographical location; your products or services can reach beyond your community.

• ACCESSIBILITY

Anyone who has access to the Internet can be your potential customer. Without the Internet, your exposure is limited to a physical storefront address. With it, your products and/or services have the potential to reach millions of consumers.

STARTING YOUR OWN HOME-BASED BUSINESS

Every year thousands of people start up a home-based business. Below are crucial procedures you will need to do before starting your business:

• You will need to file a fictitious business name statement at your local county clerk’s office. A fictitious business name states the name of your business. There is usually a $10 filing fee.
• You will also have to publish a legal notice of your fictitious business name in your local newspaper. The cost is around $40 to run your notice once a week for four weeks.
• Once you have filed your fictitious business name, you will be able to open a business checking account.
• Many cities and towns require a business tax registration to conduct business there for a small annual fee. It is a misdemeanor in most cities if you do not have one.
• Be aware of the zoning regulations. You may not be able to conduct certain types of business in your home or apartment.
• There are other business license depending on what you are selling and where you will be selling them. Most businesses will require some sort of license. State & federal laws may require you to have seller’s permits and to abide by other tax laws.

ACCEPTING CREDIT CARDS

The Department of Commerce statistics show that 90% of Internet business is placed with credit cards, and billions of dollars in credit card transactions will be placed on the Internet.

Should you accept credit cards? Yes, because you will gain an image of stability and professionalism. Your overall orders can increase by 30% to 80% and your clientele that spans the globe can easily purchase your goods. If you do not accept credit cards, your competitors will.

Customers on the Internet are impulsive and want everything instantly. When a web surfer clicks on your site, they are ready to buy, usually with credit card in hand! Do not make your customers jump through hoops to purchase your products. Make it as easy and as secure and convenient as possible. Remember, your Internet competitor is only a mouse click away.

To accept credit cards, you need a merchant credit card account, which is a commercial bank account established by contract agreements between your business and a bank. Fees for setting up a merchant account range from zero to a couple of hundred dollars. Just about everybody on the Internet is selling or reselling merchant account services. (Do not be discouraged about getting accepted, just about anyone can get approved with minimal requirements).

Research all companies thoroughly before considering doing business with them. You will need to know some specific things when setting up a merchant account. First, the companies that do not have an application fee usually charge a monthly fee, regardless if you do or do not have any credit card sales. You will need to know the percentage rate you will be charged for each transaction, monthly fees, annual fees, and any miscellaneous fees.

Merchant account applications processing and prices will vary. Here are some of the application questions to give you an idea of what is needed.

Business Information

• Business name (d.b.a.)
• Start date of business
• Number of store locations
• Federal identification number
• Location of business
• Description of products or service sold
• Average price per product
• Sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, other
• Percentage of goods sold by: Retail, Mail Order, Telephone, Internet (must add up to 100%)

• Annual estimate volume (What will be your monthly sales volume? Think about this because if you say $1500.00 for total sales per month, your credit card processing company will give you a cap of $2000.00 and you will not be able to process orders over that cap limit. They will give you a limit increase in about 60 to 90 days.)

Owner Information

• Owner’s name
• Title
• Percentage owner
• Telephone
• Date of birth
• Social Security Number
• Address

Bank Information

• Bank name
• Branch address
• Checking account number
• Bank telephone
• Bank contact person

Some rate information for transactions:
Discount rate (swiped)	1.99%
Discount Rate (mail / phone / Internet)	2.35%
Transaction charge (swiped card)	.20 cents
Transaction charge	.30 cents
Monthly statement fees	$20.00
Annual fees	$10.00

Things you will need to send with original contract:

• 6 months Business Checking account statements – If you do not have a business checking account, you will need to provide 6 months Personal Checking account statements.
• 2 years Business Tax Returns. If you don’t have Business Tax Return you will need to provide 2 years of your own Personal Tax Returns.
• Copy of your Fictitious Business Statement form
• Shipping and charging policy
• Return and cancellation policy

3 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ON THE INTERNET

• Selling your own products or services
• Selling other people’s products or services
• Selling advertising space

If you focus on these three key elements when designing your web pages to promote your products or services, you will be closer to achieving your desired goal.

Selling your own products or services

Do you have your own products or services to sell? First, to create a product you must find a need and fill it. These needs can be many things. It could be an already existing product or service that needs improvement. Have you ever seen something and thought to yourself that you could make it better? Are you knowledgeable about specific topics such as golf, sewing, marketing, etc…Well, you should consider creating an information product that educates it’s users. Creating your own products or services to sell can be self-gratifying and very profitable.

Creating your own products

To help you get started creating your information product, you will need to first write an outline about the objectives of your product and the benefits for its users. Here is a list of some things you will need to consider:

• Who will be the target audience for your information product?
• Will your product cater to the beginner, novice, advanced, or expert user?
• Will you provide step-by-step procedures on how to use your products?
• Will you create a concise product that explains what is needed to be able to get from start to finish?

The above objectives should get you thinking about your goals for your products. You will need to break these objectives down even further to create a great product. Do any necessary research as needed for your products on the Internet, in libraries, and also from your own ideas. Just have fun creating your products; you never know were your creative ideas may lead you, perhaps even in Forbes Magazine’s top 500 businesses.

Selling other peoples products or services

You can become a distributor or a reseller, selling products or services that range from books, software, web hosting space, merchant accounts, music, games, etc…However, the profits will not be as big as if you were selling your own products. Reselling other companies’ products or services is a great place to start to get your feet wet in the world of Internet marketing.

There may be several people selling the same type of products or services.. Most of them are making little or no money. The reasons are that they may lack the dedication, knowledge, and/or direction that is needed to market a product successfully. To be successful selling other people’s products, you must be determined and market those products diligently, creatively, and consistently.

Reselling: How it Works

A reseller is provided with a web page that has product information
and an order form with a unique ID code in the URL
(i.e., www.HowToBuildYourDownline.com/id1234.htm) The “id1234″ would be your code as a reseller. This code will track all the products or services that you sell and then you would be paid a monthly commission based on this data.

Selling Advertising Space

To be able to sell advertising space you will need many visitors to your website and/or many subscribers to your newsletter. The only way to get lots of visitors and subscribers is by offering quality and in demand content.
To get an idea of what content is in demand visit www.searchwords.com and look at the most popular 100 Internet search words. This site contains an up-to-date, uncensored list of the 100 most popular words that people are entering into search engines. This is invaluable for webmasters and those interested in understanding what is “hot” on the Internet right now.

TARGETING YOUR MARKETING AUDIENCE

It is very important in the world of advertising to market your products or services to the most likely prospects that would buy what you are offering.

Many companies fail in business because they lack the knowledge or direction in their marketing efforts. These companies think that they have the best product and everyone is a potential client. They spend billions advertising on any radio, TV stations, magazines, and web sites. When the sales are low or not what was anticipated, they shut down business thinking that this wonderful product was not so great after all.

When you are in business, you are in business for the long haul. You’ll do anything possible to be successful, but without the knowledge of a true marketing guru, one’s success is very limited.

If these companies focused more on the benefits of their products or services and who could benefit from using them, then they would have been able to narrow down the advertising mediums that would attract their desired clientele. For example, their products or services may benefit a certain age group, gender, income bracket, geographical location, and so on. Knowing who to target and which medium to use for your products or services, you have a better chance of success.

Studying Your Market Audience

Think of as many questions as you can about your audience and find the answers from their point of view. Get involved in the things your audience does. This will tune you into what your audience wants or expects.

• What web sites do they visit, and why?
• What newsletters do they read, and why?
• Which forums do they participate in, and why?
• Which print magazines do they read, and why?

Asking yourself the Why questions will start to narrow your targeted audience, and you will have a better idea who your ideal customer would be. With this new knowledge you can choose the best mediums to market.

Things to do to attract your audience

Gear your web site to attract your targeted audience with content that interest them. When I talk about content, I’m referring to articles, tips, how-to information, marketing resources, links, etc… For example, if you sell web-hosting space, you would want your clients to be successful with their web site, because they would continue to use your services. So, have relevant content that would help them expose their web site on ranking high in the search engines. By providing this content, you can attract additional traffic to your web site and gain the visitor’s trust that you provide quality products or services as well as useful content.

RESEARCHING YOUR COMPETITORS

View your competitors as a compass pointing you in the right direction. Learning from your competitors can give you the upper hand and could help you launch your business more successfully. Competitors may have had a longer Internet presence than you thereby having more experience marketing a specific product. They may also know how to rank higher in the search engines. By using the knowledge of others as stepping stones helps you to quickly create, design, and implement your own vision.

Find out as much as you can about your competitor’s products and services. You can use many search engines as tools for research. You should utilize all of these, because using different engines will give you a variety of results. There are only a few top search engines:

www.infoseek.com

www.altavista.com

www.hotbot.com

www.excite.com

www.yahoo.com

www.aol.com/netfind

www.lycos.com

Finding Your Competitors with Search Engines

First, make a list of all the keywords and phrases related to your own products or services being offered through your web site. Type in a keyword or phrase in the search engines.

What to do once you’ve found your competitors:

Peruse the site while keeping in mind the following:

• Is the site user friendly? Are there links on all the pages? Do they provide enough information about the products or services?
• Do they have a professional web site appearance?
• Do they have a frequently asked questions page? If so, what are their visitors asking? This information may put you a step ahead of your competitor by already addressing these issues about your products or services. Remember that you want to find out what made each of your competitors successful so that you can apply it to your own success.
• How much are they charging for their products? This will help make your decision on how much you should charge for yours.
• What payment methods do they offer? For example, do they accept credit cards? Do they provide secure on-line credit card transactions? Note: If they are accepting credit cards, they may be moving volume. If they only except cash or money order purchases, use your discretion, or research the company further.
• Look for ideas they may have that you can use in your site.

• In what other ways do they attract their audience? See what other types of content they use to get visitors to their web site other than the products or services that they sell. Do they have free stuff, prizes, contests, newsletters, etc…?

Keeping An Eye On Your Competitors

This next link is very useful to keep track of what your competition is doing. By using this free service at www.netmind.com/html/url-minder.html , you will be sent an e-mail notifying you about any changes or updates that have been made on your competitor’s web site. This saves you some time and keeps you informed each time your competitor makes a move. You can be specific. For example, maybe you only want to know when your competitor updates his or her price list. All you do is let netmind know the URL of that page and you will be notified every time updates are made to that page.

Some search engines give you a higher ranking based on link popularity, which is the number of people who link to your site. Do you want to know which web sites your competitors are marketing on or how may other sites link to their site? Just go to www.altavista.com and in the search, type in this information:

link:www.mycompetitorsurl.com AND NOT www.mycompetitors url.com

DESIGNING YOUR OWN WEB PAGES

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the code behind a web page or, more appropriately, the skeleton. Software programs have made the coding of html web pages almost effortless. Anyone with spare time can design a web page, but for a professional appearance, it may involve more time and experience.

The two benefits of designing your own web pages are Cost-Effectiveness and Control. Hiring a professional web designer, as opposed to doing it yourself, can be very costly. The fees range from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand. Keep in mind though, that it takes a considerable amount of your own time to create, design, and implement a quality site.

There is a variety of web designers available depending on your budget. You may find them using the search engines. Review the designer’s portfolio and prices carefully. Make sure you already have an idea of how you want your web site laid out before consulting a web designer. This can save you time and money in the long run.

If you are designing your own web site, what I recommend is to sketch every single page on a piece of paper. Draw different styles and graphics. Do not worry if you can’t draw, this is only a sketch that stimulates your creative process.

You may have enough money now to just get your site started. However, what happens if your site needs to be updated or changed? Every update, change, or new products you add to your site will cost you. Also, the timeliness of doing this may depend on your designer’s schedule. So, why not take control and make these updates, changes, or additions yourself whenever you need to without costing you anything. And if time is all you have, I suggest you get started as soon as possible!

Microsoft FrontPage 98 is the program I use to design my own graphics and web pages. I really like this program for its Graphics Editor Image Composer and animated graphics program. It is also simple to use, and makes publishing your web pages to the Internet easy.

Some programs on the market range from shareware to a few hundred dollars. Just shop around and try to find trial downloads of the programs that interest you. “It is always best to try before you buy.” Samples of some of the top web page designing programs are listed below for trial downloads.

HTML Editor program sites and review links:

FrontPage 2000
www.microsoft.com/frontpage/

Pagemill
www.adobe.com/prodindex/pagemill/main.html

HogDog
www.sausage.com/

HotMetal Pro
www.softquad.com

 

Software Reviews:

www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/htmlauthor/_open.htm

SHAREWARE SITES:

Download
C|Net presents the latest and most popular shareware for the PC.
www.download.com

Shareware
C/Net’s shareware archive with tons of apps including games. Enter topic in Quick Search window for downloadable applications.
www.shareware.com

Tucows Internet Software
Internet software that you can download, including VRML viewers, e-mail clients, IRC clients, and HTML editors. Each application is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 “cows.”
www.tucows.com

ZDNet Software Library
ZDNet’s reviews and library of top-rated software.
www.hotfiles.com

Jumbo: Shareware and Freeware
Thousands of shareware and freeware programs have been grouped by topic, with links to multiple FTP archives for downloading.
www.jumbo.com

WinFiles
The Internet’s Largest Source for Information, Shareware, Drivers, and Tips for ALL Versions of Windows!
www.winfiles.com
After downloading and installing the program, you will want to learn as much as possible about the software. Read the help files. See if there are any tutorials, wizards or templates to help jump-start the learning process.

After a few days or weeks, you should be able to determine if that program suits your needs. Again, try as many different programs as you can to find the one that’s best for you.

KEYWORDS

Choosing the right keywords to use is very important in your meta tags, titles, descriptions, and the content of your web pages, because these will be the keywords people use in the search engines to find your web site. First, think of all the related keywords and keyword phrases that describes your site’s content, products, or services. Next, put yourself into your ideal customer’s shoes and think of every word or keyword phrases that you would look for in the search engines to find your products or services. Now, visit different search engines and one by one do a keyword search from your list.

Your main objective is to see just how the top 10 web pages are indexed. What are these sites doing, and how are the search engines ranking them? Use the list below to see how search engines rank web pages.

Titles

• Make a note of anything you find unique about the titles.
• Do they use multiple keywords within the titles?
• Where is the placement of keywords in the titles?

Content

• Are keywords used throughout the text of the web pages?
• Are keywords used in links?
• Are keywords used in the Domain name? For example, www.keywords.com
• Are keywords used in the html file names? For example, www.HowToBuildYourDownline.com/internet_marketing.htm
• Do they use keywords in the alt tags? These tags are hidden behind graphics and text, which can be used as an alternative description when graphics are turned off. For example, <imgsrc=”crafts1213.jpg” alt=”KEYWORDS“ align=”center” border=”0″ WIDTH=”84″ HEIGHT=”40″>

How to View HTML Tags

• Netscape: Click on View, then click on Document Source to see the meta tags.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer: click on View, then Source Page.

Meta Tags

• What keywords are they using?
• In what order do the keywords appear? (Usually the keywords at the beginning of the list have more weight than the rest.)
• Are keywords used in headline tags. For example,
  <h2 align=”center”>keywords</h2>
• Do they repeat keywords in their titles, content, and/or meta description and keyword tags?
• Are the keywords singular or plural? If singular, make them plural. Some search engines will look for exact keywords. When you use a word that is singular, the search query will not show plurals, but if you used a word that is plural, it will show all singular and plural keyword matches.

• Are keywords placed together to make a phrase or are the keywords separated by commas? (e.g. Internet marketing books, Internet, marketing, books.)

Meta Description Tags

• Do they use keywords throughout their description meta tags?

Comment Tags

• Are comment tags used? <!–Keywords/ description – ->
• Some search engines do not index web pages by meta tags, but they can with comment tags.

META TAGS

Each search engine ranks your web pages differently. You may rank number 1 in one engine and you many rank number 10,001 in another. To rank higher in the engines will take some time, but using some extra code in your web pages can definitely raise your ranks.

Meta tags are used to help enhance a web site’s chance of being “found” by search engines when a search has been initiated. Meta tags are one of the many things search engines use to index your web pages. They just consist of a string of keywords and a descriptive paragraph.

Meta tags should be placed after the “<HEAD>” tag in an HTML document as follows:

<HEAD>

<title>Internet Marketing Secrets Revealed</title>

<META Content=”write your short paragraph description here”>

<META Content=”keywords or phrases go here, separated by commas”>

</HEAD>

Tips & Tricks:

• Make sure every page has its own keywords & description meta tags related to that page’s content.
• Your meta description paragraph should also contain keywords.
• When you write your title, try to place some keywords of your web site’s content into the title. Try using the more important keywords in the beginning of your title, if possible. Remember to make your title coherent.
• Some directories index your site alphabetically by the title. However, do not just place AAA at the beginning of your title unless it really is AAA, because these directories are viewed one by one and your submission request can easily be denied.
• Use two- or three-word keyword phrases in your meta tags, because most people searching the Internet use keyword phrases when looking for information.
• Use keywords in your alt tags. These tags are hidden behind graphics and text, which can be used as an alternative description when graphics are turned off. For example, <img src=”crafts1213.jpg” alt=”KEYWORDS“ align=”center” border=”0″ WIDTH=”84″ HEIGHT=”40″>
• Use keywords frequently throughout your site’s content.
• Use keywords in your headline tags. They make your font size bigger and some search engines use them as important keywords in indexing your web pages. For example, <h2 align=”center”>keywords</h2>
• Use keywords in your links.
• Use keywords in your Domain Name. For example, www.keywords.com
• Use keywords in your htm file names. For example,
  www.keywords.com/keywords_keywords.htm
• Use your meta description info in your comment tags. Some search engines do not index web pages by meta tags, but they can with comment tags. For example, comment tags look like this:
  <!- -Keywords or description –>
• Do not keyword spam; that is, repeating words too many times. Search engines will recognize the repeated words as spamming and drop you from their index.
• Restrict your meta keywords and description tags to a minimum of 150 characters including spaces, because search engines will only index the first 150 characters to be used as your site’s description.
• Make your keywords plural, because some search engines will look for exact keywords. When you use a word that is singular, the search query will not show plurals, but if you use a word that is plural, it will show all singular and plural keyword matches. For example, a keyword search for “job” would only show web sites that used the word “job” in their meta tags. If you did a keyword search with “jobs” you would see all web sites that used the keywords “job” and “jobs”.

CHOOSING A HOST FOR YOUR WEB PAGES

Once you have your web pages designed, you need a place to host them. A host is someone who stores your web pages on a server, which is simply a remote computer system that holds all your files so that people surfing the Internet can access and view your web pages.

The fees for hosting your web pages vary on a variety of features like the amount of web space needed, autoresponders, shopping cart system, etc… Basic prices range from $19.99 and up to $100 or more per month depending on the features you want. There are also set up fees that are usually $30 to $100. You can also rent server space from other people for a cheaper fee, but in doing this, you would not be able to choose your own domain name. It would be www.someoneelsescompany.com/thenyourname.html

Hosting your web pages has more benefits than renting from someone else. You can have your own domain name (e.g., www.yourname.com) which makes you look more credible. Your own domain name costs $70 for two years and then $35 each year after the first two years. Most reputable hosting companies can help you process the paperwork a little faster to get your domain name registered.

NetworkSolutions is the leading company that sells domain names. For additional information on getting a domain name, visit their site www.networksolutions.com.

Choosing a Hosting Company

There are many web-hosting companies to choose from. Choosing the right hosting company can mean the difference from lost sales, downtime, and stress. Here are some important factors to consider when comparing hosting services:

Support

Do they offer 24-hr. e-mail customer support? You want to be confident that they will be there when you need them.

Server Performance

You want a server that is reliable and fast. Download time (which is the amount of time it takes to download your files) is a very important factor when choosing a host. www.netmechanic.com is a free tool that can help you evaluate a server’s performance statistics such as download time and more…

Traffic Allowance

Some companies give you a limit on the amount of material that can be downloaded from your site each month. Should you exceed the limit, what will be the charges?

Space

Most hosting companies with higher priced server space options offer advanced features such as autoresponders, S.S.L. (Secure Socket Layer), shopping cart, etc…

Features

Usually you will get more features when you purchase a bigger hosting package. Most hosting packages come with customer support, e-mail addresses, autoresponders, shopping carts to collect all order information, for encrypted secure transactions, web site statistics reporting, cgi-bin to run special scripts like forms to e-mail plus many more.

Guarantee

Go with a hosting company that offers a 30-day money back guarantee. Simply, if you’re not happy, get your money back and go elsewhere.

Cost

Hosting companies compete with one another offering different prices and various features. Depending on what your needs are, find a host that offers upgrade options so they can accommodate you when your company grows.

FINE TUNING WITH WEB SITE STATISTICS

Anyone trying to cater to their marketing audience needs to know WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, and HOW their visitors are responding to their web pages. Use these statistics to give your products more exposure, or to keep your audience at your site long enough to see your products or services.

When someone visits your web pages, your hosting company has the ability to track that visitor’s activities, then records them in a log file. The only way to access these log files is with a statistics software program. Here are some useful information you can access from your log files:

Total number of page impressions

Total number of page impressions tells you exactly how many people have visited your web site. You can use this information to prove to potential advertisers the number of visitors your web site receives.

Which advertising campaigns attract visitors

There is a way for you to track the results of your banner advertising campaigns. For example, you have paid someone to place your banner on their web site. You can set up your banner to link to a specific web page or you can also use the “?keyword” after each of your banner’s URL links and you will able to track your banner results (www.yoursite.com?yahoo). When a visitor clicks on your banner, you will know exactly where those visitors are coming from. If you have many banners on different web sites, you will need to make each banner link unique.

The average time someone spends on your site

You can find out the average time that a visitor spends at your site. If your visitors are only at your site for only a few seconds or a couple of minutes, you may want to consider that your graphics take too long to download or your content may need more improvement. Knowing the amount of time your visitors spend on your web pages allows you to make changes, if needed.

Which pages were most visited and on which day

This data can show you what content on your site interest your visitors. Knowing this, you may want to expand or change your site’s content to cater to your desired audience.

Which pages were visited least often from your site

Maybe reconsider changing your content for those pages. If they are important to what you are selling, you may need to optimize those pages and resubmit them to get better search engine ranking.

Which pages of your site are the top entry pages

Top entry page is the most visited page on your site. Knowing where they enter your site and go next, you will be able to promote sales, discounts, special offers etc… where these offers would be seen the most.

Which pages are the top exit pages

Top exit page is the last page your visitors see before they leave your web site. Maybe your visitors are leaving your site too soon to outside links. One way to keep visitors at your site when using outside links is to use the “target=”new” HTML code. When visitors click on links that take them to another site, a new browser window will open. This is a quick and easy way to keep your visitors and have your links, too. Your html code must have the target=”new” inside it.
For example, <a href=http://www.outsidelinks.com”target=”new”>/a>

Where your traffic is coming from

Find out which search engines and keywords are being used that send visitors to your site. It is very important to know what keywords and search engines people use to find you. Without knowing this information you may change or delete a keyword that brings the bulk of your traffic, and that would pose a problem. You can also focus on the search engines you receive the least amount of traffic by making a specific copy of a web page and optimizing it for those specific search engines.

Reciprocal linking finds out who is linking to your site and how many hits you are getting from them. It would be a good idea to get in touch with that site and make an alliance, or network with them to keep your link on their site.

SEARCH ENGINES

Web sites receive the majority of their visitors from millions of people who use the search engines to find information. If your web site is not listed with the search engines, you will have a harder time getting visitors. Submitting to the search engines is easy, but you need to rank in the
top 1 – 20 to get noticed.

Of course, the higher you rank the better. Some of the information you can utilize in this book are: ranking with search engines; monitoring your ranking; researching the top ranking sites and how those sites rank so high in the engines; modifying your site and resubmitting it again. It will certainly get you in the top ranks bringing more visitors, more sales, and ultimately, the success you deserve.

There are tools that aid in the process of finding where you rank in the search engines and with which keywords. Web Position is a program that assists in telling you where you rank in the search engines. You can also use it to find the top ranking sites that use the keywords that you would use to describe your products or services. With this data, you can find out what exactly the top ranking web sites are doing to get their position.

Web Site Submission

You need to make sure all your web pages get submitted to the top search engines. Some search engines take from 2 minutes to 6 weeks to index your web pages, so be patient. When your web pages are completed and enhanced with the information that is provided in this book, then it is time to submit them.

Go to each of the search engines below. Either at the top or at the bottom of each web page a link will say, Submit or Add URL (Universal Resource Locator), which is your web page’s name such as www.HowToBuildYourDownline.com.

To quickly submit your web pages you should:

• Make a list of all your URL’s in a text program such as notepad, so you can easily copy and paste the URL’s you need to submit.
• Turn the graphics off on your web browser. This will save you time from downloading any unnecessary graphics. To turn your browser graphics off in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, click View, Internet Options, Advanced, and scroll down a little until you see Multimedia, Uncheck, and Show Pictures. Click Apply, then Ok. To turn your browser graphics off in Netscape Navigator, Under Edit, choose Preferences. Click on the word Advanced. Uncheck the box beside Automatically Load Images.

Submit to these major search engines

search.msn.com

www.excite.com

www.altavista.com

www.webcrawler.com

www.lycos.com

www.euroseek.net (may need graphics on)

www.aol.com/netfind

www.infoseek.com

www.hotbot.com

www.yahoo.com

Checking your URL in search engines

If you are using Webposition software program you can quickly check if your URL is indexed. If your are not using a software program in order to check to if you are listed in the search engines, you can manually go to each search engine separately and type in the following text:

www.altavista.com
(shows all your pages)
“url:imace.com“

(shows specific page)
“url:imace.com/targeted_ezine_advertising.htm”

www.infoseek.com
(shows all your pages)
“url:imace.com”

(shows specific page)
“url:imace.com/targeted_ezine_advertising.htm”

www.hotbot.com
(this link tells you what to do)
www.hotbot.com/help/checkurl.asp

www.lycos.com
(this link tells you what to do)
www.lycos.com/addasite.html
Be patient, monitor your ranking and your server statistics and resubmit as needed.

PROMOTIONAL TOOLS

There are many promotional methods, and listed below are some of the major tools. The key is to be committed as well as creative.

MARKETING WITH AUTORESPONDERS

Autoresponders are an immediate and convenient, way for your prospective customers to get information about your products or services sent directly to them by e-mail twenty four hours a day, three hundred sixty five days a week.

Many web-hosting packages offer free autoresponders when you host your site with them. Some companies just sell autoresponders and they have added features that are really amazing.

How does it all work? Visitors at your site are reading your classified ads, and click on your hyperlink to request for more information. Either an e-mail message window appears, or your prospective customer’s e-mail program opens, then they click Send. Within a few seconds, they will receive your information by e-mail.

Autoresponders are simple text files with all your information about your products or services, sales letters, price list, reseller program, newsletter subscription, order forms or anything you want your prospective customers to know immediately. You can have as many autoresponders as you need and can afford. These files then need to be uploaded to your web hosts server. So, when a customer sends an e-mail message to the e-mail address you have assigned, they will immediately receive your autoresponder message.

Another great thing about autoresponders is that when a prospective customer requests information, their e-mail address is collected and can be forwarded to your e-mail address. With all the collected e-mail addresses, you can manually send follow-up e-mails.

Why should you do your follow-ups manually, when you can do it automatically? So, you can personalize your autoresponder and have automatic follow-ups. When you address your autoresponder with your potential customers’ names, people in general respond better when their names are mentioned. Most experts agree that it often takes 7 or more exposures of your ad before your prospects purchase from you. You can set automatic autoresponders to follow-up after a certain number of days, weeks, or months.

Autoresponders are an e-mail marketing tool no one on the Internet should be market without.

E-MAIL MARKETING WITH SIGNATURE FILES

If you are just composing, replying, and/or forwarding your e-mail correspondence without utilizing signature files, you could be losing additional sales. E-mails are best utilized if sent with a signature file attached. Signature files, like a business card, is attached to the bottom of your e-mail containing your company name, web site, e-mail address, address to your newsletter, autoresponders, along with your regular contact information. But unlike a business card, you can provide more information about your products or services by briefly describing what you are offering. Signature files are designed to motivate the reader to do something, so try and write your sigs that would make the reader want more information. [Refer to my sig below as an example.]

———————————————————————-
How-to marketing for the newbie to the novice.
Subscribe to ABC’s of Internet Marketing Ezine Free
<mailto:subscribe@HowToBuildYourDownline.com>
FREE E-Books, FREE Web site Submission,
FREE Articles, FREE Marketing resources,
<http://www.HowToBuildYourDownline.com>
———————————————————————-

When to use your sig files

You can use your sigs in daily e-mails, or you can also take advantage of all those spam e-mails by replying to them stating that you will think about their products or services when the time comes that you need them. At the same time you would also like for them to consider what you are offering. Your signature file will be attached to your reply e-mail, in hopes that you might be able to sell them something.

Most newsgroups will not accept advertising of any kind, but they do allow you to have a sig file at the bottom of your postings, which consist of articles, questions, and answers. So, get active in the newsgroup world, and write helpful how-to information that you can post to many newsgroup topics.

Setting up your sig files

Setting up a sig file is very simple. First, click Start in Windows 95, then Programs, Accessories, and then Notepad. Start writing your information. When you are finished and happy with your sig file, then go to File, Save As and find or make a new directory folder where you can save your new sigs. Next, you will add these sig files to your e-mail programs of choice.

Signature files should only be 4 to 6 lines of text approximately 65 characters including spaces per line.

You can use your signature files with the following programs:

Netscape Communicator: Click Edit, Preferences, Mail and Groups, then Identity. Go down to the bottom where it says Signature File. Click Choose, and find the file, then click Open, and it will pop up in the signature file window. Click Ok.

Netscape Navigator: Click Options, then Mail and News Preferences. Go to the Signature File window. Click Browse and find your file and click Open, and it will pop up in your sig file window. Click Ok.

Eudora Light: Click Window on the top menu bar, then click on Signature. Type in the sig file and close it.

Eudora Pro 4.0: Click Tools, then Signature and you will see a file that says Standard. Right-click in that same window and click New from the pop up window. Enter a name for your new sig file. Write your sig message. When finished, click File, Save As, then click on sigs folder and click on the file’s name you previously created and click Save, replacing existing file.

When using your sig files to compose your e-mail message in Eudora 4.0, click above the To: field, and you will see the word Standard. Click the scroll down button to the right of it and find your sig file of choice. Note that you will not see your sig information in your e-mail message because it is attached when it is sent.

Using your signature file in your e-mail marketing messages is very important and very easy to set up. Create custom signature files to use with different product, services or different promotions.

CONTESTS

Another way to attract more people to your site is to hold a contest. For example, imagine that you are a computer shop or a repair shop. You advertise your contest in search engines, promotional material, word of mouth, link exchange, and programs, or anywhere possible. Your prize could be a memory upgrade or a hard drive or even better yet, a zip drive that stores files, which is like an extra hard drive.

In order to become eligible contestants must complete a short form, which you will later use to help you understand your market audience. Ask a few questions on the entry form, such as, what products or services, content, or resources that they would like to see at your web site. You can always change your question around every few weeks. Also, ask them if they would like to be informed of additional contests, related products, services, or would like to receive your newsletter.

Confirmation E-mail

Another great thing about the entry form is a confirmation e-mail autoresponder. When they enter your contest they will receive an automatic e-mail after submitting their entry that thanks them for entering your contest.

For example, you could say in your autoresponder, “a winner will be notified by e-mail on a specific date.” You may want to consider stating the following: “We would like to offer our new friends for a limited time a 10% discount on any products or services that we provide. Offer expires on a specific date.”

This will help your prospective customer to take action and make a purchase. (You can say just about anything in the confirmation e-mail.) Your contest should only last a month or two at a time, but offer these contests regularly or monthly. It is very cheap to promote a contest while you gain loyal customers and repeat business. Keep in mind that you do not have to make a profit on your promotion. This will come back to you in repeat sales along with new customers.

Customer Follow-up

With the names and e-mail addresses you collect by having a contest, you will keep these e-mail addresses and build a mailing list. You will want to send them information about product updates, sales, and discounts regularly.

PUBLISHING YOUR OWN EZINE

One of the best ways to promote your business and keep contact with your current and future clientele while building a mailing list is to publish a regular newsletter or ezine.

For a successful newsletter, you must offer useful content that informs, teaches, or enriches your audience. By doing so, your company’s name, products and/or services are brought to the subscriber’s attention each time they receive your newsletter.

Composing Your Ezine

Write newsworthy articles about subjects that you are knowledgeable about, which will target your marketing audience. Be subtle, and promote your products with one or two lines of text in each issue. You should use a sig file at the end of each article, which consists of four to six lines of text that promote yourself, your business, your offer, and your web site. [Refer to the signature file section "E-mail Marketing with Signature Files" in this book.]

Finding Articles

Sometimes when writing, it is hard to come up with fresh content, so writers look for other articles that they could use. Many newsletter writers let you use their articles as long as you have a footer at the end of their article referencing the author. I give you permission to use any of my ezine articles on my web site as long as the footer information is intact. You will need to search some of the ezine databases for other ezine of interest to see if the publisher will let you use their articles.

Classified Ads

In each issue of your ezine, you can sell classified ads for additional income. Price per ad usually depends on the number of subscribers. The cost range from five dollars for one hundred subscribers to one hundred fifty dollars or more for a few hundred thousand subscribers.

Getting Subscribers

Place a link on all your web pages on how to subscribe to a sample issue of your ezine for possible subscribers to read. Next, make sure you get listed in some of the ezine databases and newsgroups on the Internet. Try some of these links to get you started:

Newsgroups:

• news:alt.zines
• news:alt.ezines

Newsletter Databases:

John Labovitz’s e-zine-list
www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Internet Scout New List
www.scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/caservices/new-list/

NewJour
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour

DIY Search
www.diysearch.com

Flying Inkpot’s Zine Scene
www.inkpot.com/zines

eZINESearch
www.homeincome.com/search-it/ezine

EzineSeek
www.ezineseek.com

E-ZineZ
www.e-zinez.com

Article Submission

Submitting your articles to other ezines is another great way to get additional subscribers, visitors to your web site, and/or more prospective buyers. Find related-ezine-publishers and e-mail them asking if they accept articles for submission, briefly list some of your article titles, your contact information, and/or a web site address where they can download or copy your articles. Start building an e-mail mailing list where you can regularly submit your articles.

Keeping Track of Subscribers

Publishing and keeping track of a small number of your subscribers is easy with a free software program called Eudoralight, which you can be downloaded at www.eudora.com. With this program, you can keep all of your subscribers’ e-mail addresses in one or multiple address books, and you are able to send e-mail to all of your subscribers simultaneously.

Composing Your Ezine

When you write your ezine in Eudora’s e-mail program, it’s as simple as this:

To: Your e-mail address goes here (You want to be sure
your subscribers received it.)

From: This is automatically filled in when your program is set up.

Subject: Title of ezine issue goes here.

Bcc: Very important! – Place cursor on Bcc, then click Address Book. Then, click your mouse cursor onto Folder, which holds your subscribers’ addresses. Click Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy), which e-mails all your subscribers without exposing all the e-mail addresses to the readers.

Tips

The text in the body of your e-mail should only consist of 65 to 70 characters including spaces per line. With so many different e-mail programs, your nicely typed newsletter can easily become truncated. By only using 65 to 70 characters per line, this will insure that 95% of your readers will see exactly how you originally formatted your newsletter.

EZINE ADVERTISING

Why ezine advertising? Ezine advertising is cost-effective and affordable for the home- based and small business entrepreneur.

People subscribe to ezines to be informed, entertained, and educated.

Finding the best possible audience for your products or services is not so difficult when you advertise in targeted e-mail newsletters that publish articles, which appeal to the interest of your targeted marketing audience. Following are examples of such articles from ABC’s of Internet Marketing’s Ezine:

• Starting Out On The Internet
• Researching Your Competitors
• Choosing A Host For Your Web Pages
• Web sites & Ranking
• Pre Web site Submission Checklist
• Publishing Your Own Ezine
• Targeted Reciprocal Links
• E-mail Marketing With Signature Files

Our subscribers consist of people looking for opportunity, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and consumers much like you and me.

Four elements of a successful ezine advertising campaign

1.) Targeted Ezines

Find ezines that publish articles your potential customers might find interesting. By finding the right ezine to compliment your products or services, you have a greater chance of success in your ezine advertising campaigns.

2.) Classified Ads

Put yourself into your ideal customer’s shoes when you write your classified ad. If your ad does not hook you or leave you wanting more information, then you need to rewrite it. People always love something for free, so if you can give anything away for free in your ad, you are more likely to get responses.

Do not use your classified ads to make sales. Instead, use it to get the reader’s attention so that they request more information by e-mail, and/or visit your web site. Let your sales letter do the selling for you.

3.) Repetition

In any forms of advertising like Television, Radio or Print, repetition is the major factor for success. By continually placing your ad in the same mediums, you will gain the trust and respect from your desired audience as opposed to placing a one-time ad where your results are minimal. You may even start doubting the products or services you are marketing as well as yourself. All you need to do is rewrite your ad and/or recheck the four elements of a successful ezine advertising campaign.

4.) Tracking Results

Tracking your results from your ezine advertising campaign is very easy. Most forms of contact will either be e-mail or through your web site. For example, in your classified ad, your e-mail address along with the text that goes in the subject field are provided so that the reader can request more information. You will use the subject field of your e-mail to gauge your response by using a code. For example, “Internet Gold ABC.” The Internet Gold is the sales letter you used and ABCs is the newsletter where your classified ad was placed.

If you are using a link to your web site for more info, you could use “?ABC” at the end of your URL, (e.g., www.money.com?ABC). This will take your visitor to your web page. The “?ABC” would show up in your server log statistics. To track your responses with this method, you will need a statistics program to view the wealth of information in your server logs.

POWER OF THE MEDIA – PRESS RELEASES

Submitting a press release is an important step for any business. The media is the ultimate form of free publicity. If your press release is accepted, it could be published in magazines, newspapers, broadcasted over the radio, and even televised. You could gain a tremendous amount of exposure and sales without the expense.

Big companies and small companies know the power of media. Companies use it to launch new products or services to higher levels. So, take advantage of the media and submit press releases.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t know how to write a press release. Look at those who are already on the media wagon and study their press releases to compose your own.

Some tips you should consider when writing press releases:

• Target the media that best suits your products or services;
• Keep your e-mail messages short while being intriguing;
• The topics in the subject field of your e-mail message are what initially attract your reader’s attention;
• Personalize each e-mail, and do not send bulk e-mails;
• Do not sell the media your products or services. Get their interests with newsworthy problem-solving messages associated with the benefits of your products or services and those who could benefit from them;
• Spam is spam no matter which way you look at it. Send a brief e-mail message requesting their permission to send them your press release, before doing so;
• Once you have the OK to send your press release tailor your press release to that media’s editorial styles and/or content.

Preparing/ Sending Your Press Release

For the do-it-your-selfers, visit www.gebbieinc.com/presto1.htm for free media contact information to many sources. They even have the labels preformatted, so you just need to download & print your labels as desired.

If you want to hire a professional to write your press release and distribute it, it would cost you from a hundred dollars and up.

Finding companies for distributing your press release. Requires some research with some search engines. You will find that many companies provide this service. It is very important that these companies meet the mentioned tips. Make sure that they can target the media for your products or services.

OPT-IN E-MAIL INSTEAD OF BULK E-MAIL

So why should you use opt-in e-mail instead of bulk e-mail?

First, people who receive unsolicited bulk e-mail are not your targeted market audience.

Second, unsolicited bulk e-mail can get you into trouble. If enough people complain about you e-mailing them, your Internet service provider will shut you down. This would put a halt to any sales you could be making with your web site.

Opt-in e-mail is a great way to distribute your product information. People who are on these lists have requested to be on them and are interested in receiving information about specific topics. Your advertisement will reach your targeted market audiences’ eyes cheaply, accurately, and timely.

The cost to advertise is roughly .02 – .25 cents per name, which is cheaper than mass mailing a postcard mailer at .20 cents plus the cost of paper, printing, postage, and a mailing list.

If your budget allows you to advertise with opt-in brokers, then do so. If not, it is much cheaper to advertise in targeted ezines that cost from around .01 cent to .05 cents per e-mail address.
Tips for a more successful opt-in advertising campaign:

• Choose a reputable opt-in list broker;
• Write a short message that you would reply to;
• Write about the benefits of your products or services;
• Have incentives for the readers to purchase. For example, free samples, discounts, and limited time offers.
• Use your opt-in list in your multi-step sales formula. For example, your opt-in ad should motivate the reader to take action and request more information from your autoresponders and/or your web site.
• Make them take action. Tell them exactly what they need to do next. For example: Click here and place your order for “Widgets Resources 2000″ on our secure server now!

For more information on Opt-in e-mail see the links below.

Post Master Direct
100% OPT-IN e-mail marketing! Over 3,000 lists and 4 million plus totally voluntary e-mail subscribers want to receive your ads!
www.postmasterdirect.com

Bullet Mail
Targeted opt-in e-mail lists – direct e-mail marketing services
www.bulletmail.com

Targ-it
Targ-it has only 100% opt-in e-mail lists available. Build traffic to your site provide a direct marketing offer announce a new product or service build brand awareness
www.targ-it.com

Direct E-Mail List Source
Direct e-mail marketing lists. The Internet resource for non-spam direct response e-mail advertising; plus electronic newsletters and discussion groups accepting ads.
www.copywriter.com/lists/

DISCUSSION FORUMS

Discussion forums are great places to learn from and to help others at the same time. Forums cater to specific topics. People who regularly take part in discussion forums are ezine editors, entrepreneurs, business owners, or just about anybody who is looking for specific topics of interest. So, if you have any questions these groups of people most likely have the answers you need.

Just make sure you are in the proper discussion forum before you start posting messages. It is always best to get a feel of the forum by reading other people’s postings.

Forum Posting Dos & Don’ts

Do not post classified ads or sales letters or any other promotional material about your products or services. You will upset a lot of people and lose any credibility you or your products may have. Forums do not accept advertisement postings.

Do post messages answering previously posted questions with how-to advice, helpful resources, or from your own experience.

From discussion forums you can learn, network and help others. You can also establish yourself as an expert in the field of discussion, while attracting qualified visitors to your web site.

Tracking Your Messages

When you are posting your message, most forums have a check box for you to be notified by e-mail when someone responds to your message.

To track the number of visitors from your URL that you have posted in your message, all you need to do is place a question mark and a short description after your URL. For example, www.HowToBuildYourDownline.com?bobsforum. So, when someone clicks on your link, it will be logged in your server statistics log files and you will know exactly where these visitors are coming from.
Here is a list of some of these great forums:

Independent Publisher’s Discussion Group
www.bmyers.com/ipub/index.html

The BMG Entrepreneurial Success Forum
www.ablake.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi/

Home Based Business
www.homebasedbusiness.com/cgibin/index.cgi

Free Publicity and Promotion Discussion Board
www.free-publicity.com/cgi-bin/talk.cgi

ProfitInfo’s Biz-Gold
www.ProfitInfo.com/discuss/marketing/

Success Connection
www.loska.com/successconnection/discussion/

Guerrilla Tactics Forum
www.gmarketing.com/tactics/forum.html

Deadlock.com
www.deadlock.com/bbs/

AdvertisingTips.net
www.advertisingtips.net/bbs/index.sht

EzineSeek E-mail Publishers Forum
www.ezineseek.com/forum/index.cgi

Trump Internet Group Discussion Board
www.the-illuminati.com/board/

Tipsbooklets Discussion
www.tipsbooklets.com/discussion.htm

Secrets of Self-Publishing Success Discussion Board
www.unconventionalwisdom.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?

MORE VISITORS BY USING BUZZWORD TOPICS

Another great way of getting additional exposure for your products or services, but not necessarily a targeted audience. Creating web pages from buzzword topics that you continually hear about in the media. For example, scandals, movie and sports stars, technology, etc… just about anything that seems to be the buzz topic in the news. These buzzword topics do not last long, so act quickly. By using these buzz topics and creating web pages with the information these visitors are looking for, you could gain a tremendous amount of exposure.

Keep in mind that when you are searching for certain information and you click on a web site and it has little or nothing pertaining to what you are looking for, you just click the back button and you’re onto the next site. (When you frustrate visitors who are looking for specific information and you do not have anything worthwhile about that topic, they are not receptive to anything you are offering.)

So you must create quality content, but how do you get quality content to keep the visitors at your site? First, you will need to do some research about the buzzword topics. Having links alone to these topics are not enough, because links are a quick way for your visitors to leave your site. So, the longer these visitors stay at your site, the longer they will be exposed to your products or services.

You should gather enough information about the buzz topics and, in your own words, write about the topics or use excerpts or entire articles. Just be sure to ask for permission when using any copyrighted information. Never assume it is Ok. You could get into a lot of trouble.

After setting up these pages you will need to optimize them with the information in the previous section for better search engine placement.

This process of setting up buzzword web pages may seem to be time consuming and cumbersome. Then again, this information needs to be put together quickly because most buzzword topics are time sensitive and people eventually get tired of hearing about them.

By using this process of getting more exposure, your business could skyrocket overnight. Be receptive to new buzzword topics.

TARGETED RECIPROCAL LINKS

Reciprocal links are an exchange of links between web sites and is beneficial to all parties, because it greatly increases a site’s traffic.

Use discretion, however, and do not exchange links with every web site. You would think that the more visitors the better, right? This is not always true. You may attract many visitors, but most may have no interest in what you are offering and possibly increasing your web-hosting bill for over the allowable limits your server bandwidth traffic permits.

So, place your reciprocal links only on targeted web sites. In doing so, you are exposed to the clientele that may benefit more from your products or services.

How do you get these targeted links? Just go to the search engine, then type in a few keywords that relate to your products or keywords related to your targeted audience. Visit these sites to see if they meet the following requirements before offering to trade links:

• Does the site have a non-competitive product or service from what you are offering?
• Do they have quality content such as articles a guest book, free classified ad site, a site counter, or anything you can use to determine that they receive a lot of traffic?
• And most importantly, do they rank high in the search engines?

Once you have reviewed and chosen a site, write that site’s webmaster a letter, highlighting the benefits of exchanging reciprocal links for both parties. Be sure to compliment and include specific details about their site. If you have some web pages that receive a tremendous amount of traffic, acknowledge that in your letter. However, this alone may not be enough to convince them of trading links.

Go one step further and be creative. For example, offer them additional sponsor ads for free on your site, or in your ezine. You may even want to mention in your letter that you have an impressive number of subscribers that would benefit from their products or services.

Having only a few reciprocal links may not make a difference in your promotion. But having targeted reciprocal links on highly trafficked web site greatly enhances your success.

HOW TO DEVELOP A DISTRIBUTOR NETWORK

You have created your own products or services that you believe will be in demand. The advertising could cost you a fortune if you choose to market it alone. When you market your own product, you are limited on how many people you can expose to your products. Recruiting others to sell your products or services can expand your reach tenfold. Having distributors to sell for you does not require out-of-pocket expense from you. They place their own ads and make their own sales, and you supply and ship the products collecting the money as your business grows.

When getting distributors to sell your product, you must give them incentives for choosing your products or services over others. Usually, distributors get 25% to 75% commission for each sale, depending on the volume of sales from that distributor. This percentage may seem to be a big chunk of your profits, but having distributors selling your products or services, frees up your time to develop, add, and implement new products that your network of distributors can help you sell.

You will need a sales kit when setting up your distributor’s program, which simply consists of impressive, eye-catching promotional material. Your distributors can use these materials to make sales. Your success depends on your distributor’s success. Make sure they have the necessary supplies to make the sale. A sales kit includes ads, flyers, sales letters, postcard mailers, and web pages. (On all the promotional material, leave a space for the distributors identification number and web site address.)

There are a few different ways to market your sales kit. Do what you would want if you were a distributor. Would you want to pay for the distributor’s kit? Would you want to pay for marketing supplies? You can’t give sales kits away, but you can offer affordable programs, such as camera-ready ads, flyers, sales letters, postcard mailers, which they would just take to a print shop to reproduce. For your marketing kit, and/or if you are setting up a web site so distributors can funnel customers to make credit card purchases, you could charge the distributors a one-time set up fee.

Getting distributors by placing ads for opportunity seekers in magazines, newsletters, web sites, forums, and postcard direct mailers. Your ad’s main target should only be for recruiting distributors.

To respond to the distributor’s wanted ads, you will need to send out another mailer. You could have your advertising material explaining the benefits of your product and becoming a distributor. This will explain how you will drop ship the products that the distributor sells, the commission structure, and the wholesale quantity purchase prices along with a distributor set up form. You can also point people to your web site that explains all this information. You can also set up a autoresponder with this information to quickly respond to all inquires.

Once you receive the distributors set up form, mail out your camera-ready copy of your advertising material that they can reproduce with their distributors identification number and web site address. You could also e-mail them a Microsoft Word file they could print out and duplicate at a print shop.

Setting up distributor’s web sites is simple. Just make a duplicate copy of the web page that you use to sell your products. Rename the file for each distributor by placing the distributor’s id # as the file name after your URL (www.yoururl.com/a1234.htm). The products must include the distributor’s id # as well. This helps you keep track of your distributor’s sales so, that you will also know which distributors to pay a commission.

You might like to charge a small fee for setting up the distributor’s credit card processing web page and identification number.

This is how you develop a distributor network. Within six months, you could have hundreds of people selling your products nationally and internationally.

INDEX OF RESOURCES

• HTML

HTML Goddies HTML tutorials, JavaScript archives, primers, manuals and related Web publishing services.
www.htmlgoodies.com

• HTML & WEB PAGE OPTIMIZATION TOOLS

URL Minder
URL-Minder keeps track of Web pages and other resources on the World Wide Web, and sends a notification via e-mail whenever your personally registered resources change.
www.netmind.com/html/url-minder.html

NetMechanic
NetMechanic is a free online service. Let their robots tune your web site. Their robot will search your web site and find broken links, validate HTML tags, and rate your server’s response time.
www.netmechanic.com

SiteInspector
SiteInspector checks your site’s HTML design, load time, dead links, spelling, site popularity and search engine readiness.
www.siteinspector.com

Web Site Garage
Free five point Web site tuneup, maintenance and promotional services. Fee-based services for more thorough overhauls.
www.websitegarage.com

Free Link Popularity Service
This free service queries Infoseek, Altavista, and Hotbot and reports on link popularity.
www.linkpopularity.com

• HTML EDITORS

Software Reviews
PC Magazine’s comprehensive evaluation of HTML editing and authoring software for Web publishing
www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/htmlauthor/_open.htm

MicroSoft FrontPage 2000
Graphical Web site authoring and management tool.
www.microsoft.com/frontpage/

Pagemill
Home page of Adobe PageMill for Windows and Macintosh.
www.adobe.com/prodindex/pagemill/main.html

HotDog
Home of HotDog, a fast, flexible, user-friendly and highly rated Web editor.
www.sausage.com

HotMetal Pro
HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 is the most powerful version yet of SoftQuads award winning HTML authoring and publishing tool.
www.softquad.com

• GRAPHICS

Andy’s Art Attack
One stop resource for Web designers offers thousands of free animations, buttons, bullet points, backgrounds and tips.
www.andyart.com

Free Graphics
Very large database of free resources – just about everything you need to design and create a web sites.
www.freegraphics.com

Clip Art Searcher
Use one of several search engines to search for clip art, backgrounds, animations and icons by name.
www.webplaces.com/search/

ClipArtConnection
Massive free resource for all types of clip art and digital imagery.
www.clipartconnection.com

Free Business and Clip Art Photos
This is a collection of FREE clipart and photos from various sources on and off the Internet.
www.bizart.com/index.html

GIF Wizard
Are there bloated graphics and broken links on your web site? Use GIF Wizard SiteScan Web site Analysis and you will be sure!
www.gifwizard.com

• BANNER EXCHANGE

SmartClicks
Banner exchange services plus Web site promotion tools.
www.smartclicks.com

LinkExchange
Web marketing and networking resource center.
www.linkexchange.com

• BANNER CREATORS

Instant Online Banner Creator
Create your own banner easily, instantly, and online. Choose from our backgrounds, add your text, and that’s it!
www.crecon.com/banners.html

Media Builder Animated Banner Maker
A collection of multimedia resources on the Internet for Webmasters, graphic artists, and software developers.
www.mediabuilder.com

• BANNER MAKERS

Azurii Designs
www.azurii.freeservers.com/fourcorners.html

Digital Dreams Imaging
www.myfreeoffice.com/digitaldreams/freebanners.html

ImperialArt Designs
www.imperialart.com/freebnrs.htm

Pi Productions
www.piproductions.com/specials.html

Randy’s Playground
www.frontiernet.net/~eod/banners.html

WebUpgrade
www.webupgrade.com

• CGI

Matt’s Script Archive
Over 20 free Perl and C++ CGI scripts to help make your web site more interactive!
www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/

HTML The CGI Collection
This searchable super site has a large index of archives of everything related to Scripting & Programming.
www.itm.com/cgicollection/index.cgi

Thanks-CGI
Web site packed with cgi scripts for counters, WWW boards, chat, and search engines.
www.thanks-cgi.com

The CGI Resource Index
Contains a number of links to CGI resources on the net, including programs and scripts.
www.cgi-resources.com

WebScripts
High-quality Perl CGI scripts and log analysis tools.
www.awsd.com/scripts/index.shtml

CGI City
CGI City is one of the biggest resources for Perl and CGI materials.
www.icthus.net/CGI-City/

• COUNTERS

WebTrends
Tools for measuring Web traffic, demographics and marketing trends.
www.webtrends.com/default.htm

Web Stat
Web-Stat analyzes your traffic for free, telling you where folks are coming from, when they visit, where they’re located and what equipment they’re using.
www.web-stat.com

WatchWise
Real-Time Monitoring Provides Marketing Information and statistical reporting system, which will help you determine the true impact of your Web site.
www.watchwise.com

Better Counter
Free counter that counts all pages of your site, counts all external links, checks usability and clarity of the data and analyzes hits.
www.better-counter.com

SiteMeter
Site Meter is a free, fast, and easy to add to your web page.
www.sitemeter.com

Extreme Tracking
Conveniently arranged, numbers, percentages, stats, totals and averages. All the way up from simple counting your visitors until tracking the keywords they use to find you.
www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/

• DEMOGRAPHICS

CommerceNet
Internet statistics and studies considered and used as industry benchmarks.
www.commerce.net/research/stats/stats.html

• FREE SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS

Download
C|Net presents the latest and most popular shareware for the PC.
www.download.com

Shareware
C/Net’s shareware archive with tons of apps including games. Enter topic in Quick Search window for downloadable applications.
www.shareware.com

Tucows Internet Software
Internet software that you can download, including VRML viewers, e-mail clients, IRC clients, and HTML editors. Each application is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 “cows.”
www.tucows.com

ZDNet Software Library
ZDNet’s reviews and library of top-rated software.
www.hotfiles.com

Jumbo: Shareware and Freeware
Thousands of shareware and freeware programs have been grouped by topic, with links to multiple FTP archives for downloading.
www.jumbo.com

WinFiles
The Internet’s Largest Source for Information, Shareware, Drivers, and Tips for ALL Versions of Windows!
www.winfiles.com

• TARGETED E-MAIL MARKETING

Post Master Direct
100% OPT-IN e-mail marketing! Over 3,000 lists and 4 million plus totally voluntary e-mail subscribers want to receive your ads!
www.postmasterdirect.com
Bullet Mail
BulletMail – targeted opt-in e-mail lists – direct e-mail marketing services
www.bulletmail.com

Targ-it
Targ-it has only 100% opt-in e-mail lists available. Build traffic to your site provide a direct marketing offer announce a new product or service build brand awareness
www.targ-it.com

Direct E-Mail List Source
Direct e-mail marketing lists. The Internet resource for non-spam direct response e-mail advertising; plus electronic newsletters and discussion groups accepting ads.
www.copywriter.com/lists/

• NEWSLETTER DATABASES

John Labovitz’s e-zine-list
Directory of electronic magazines worldwide. This meta-site is a great starting point to browse your interests.
www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Internet Scout New List
The NEW-LIST mailing list continues to provide the Internet community with prompt notification of the creation of a new mailing list on any given topic.
www.scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/caservices/new-list/index.html

NewJour
Archive for NewJour, the Internet list for new online journals and newsletters.
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour

DIY Search
Directory for the do-it-yourself community.
www.diysearch.com

Flying Inkpot’s Zine Scene
The Flying Inkpot’s resource lists a collection of online newspapers, newsletters, periodicals, zines, magazines.
www.inkpot.com/zines

eZINESearch
Online ezine directory with over 3,000 ezines. List your ezine FREE!
www.homeincome.com/search-it/ezine
EzineSeek
EzineSeek – E-mail Newsletter Directory
www.ezineseek.com

E-ZineZ
An ezine directory, FREE ezine builder tool, ezine tutorials including everything you need to know to start publishing an ezine or e-mail newsletter.
www.e-zinez.com

• DISCUSSION FORUMS

Independent Publisher’s Discussion Group
For authors, software developers, writers, and entrepreneurs. Provides resources, insights, advice, and opinions.
www.bmyers.com/ipub/index.html

The BMG Entrepreneurial Success Forum
Entrepreneurial Success Forum – the official entrepreneurial, business, success, marketing & publicity disscussion forum.
www.ablake.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi/

The BizWeb2000 CyberMarketing InfoBoard
Internet Marketing Discussion Board – The Cybermarketing Infoboard
www.bizweb2000.com/wwwboard/

Home Based Business
Open to everyone with questions, comments and advice about running and succeeding in your own home & small business.
www.homebasedbusiness.com/cgibin/index.cgi

Free Publicity and Promotion Discussion Board
www.free-publicity.com/cgi-bin/talk.cgi

ProfitInfo’s Biz-Gold
Biz-Gold Discussion Group: BBS forum offering free help, advice, resources from and for Internet marketers, authors, writers, and self-publishers.
www.ProfitInfo.com/discuss/marketing/

Success Connection
www.loska.com/successconnection/discussion/

Guerrilla Tactics Forum
Sound off and share your ideas and questions with other Guerrillas around the world.
www.gmarketing.com/tactics/forum.html

Deadlock.com
Topics about Meta Tags, HTML, Search Engines, Promotion and more…
www.deadlock.com/bbs/

AdvertisingTips.net
Internet advertising and marketing discussion forum
www.advertisingtips.net/bbs/index.sht

EzineSeek E-mail Publishers Forum
www.ezineseek.com/forum/index.cgi

Trump Internet Group Discussion Board
www.the-illuminati.com/board/

Tipsbooklets Discussion
www.tipsbooklets.com/discussion.htm

Secrets of Self-Publishing Success Discussion Board
www.unconventionalwisdom.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?

• SEARCH ENGINES

Search Engine Watch: All about search engines, news, tips, and more.
www.searchenginewatch.com

Alta Vista
www.altavista.com

AOL NetFind
www.aol.com/netfind/

Excite
www.excite.com

Google
www.google.com

GoTo
www.goto.com

HotBot
www.hotbot.com

Infoseek
www.infoseek.com

InfoSpace
www.infospace.com

LookSmart
www.looksmart.com

Lycos
www.lycos.com

MSN Web Search
www.search.msn.com

NewHoo
www.newhoo.com

Snap
www.snap.com

Starting Point
www.stpt.com

WebCrawler
www.webcrawler.com

What-U-Seek
www.whatuseek.com

Yahoo
www.yahoo.com

• MISCELLANEOUS

Eudora Light
The freeware version of the Eudora Pro E-mail Client Available for Macintosh and Windows.
http://eudora.qualcomm.com/eudoralight/

GebbieInc
Directory of media information. Use Gebbie’s E-mail Wizard to send press releases to a large press mailing list. Free downloadable labels
www.gebbieinc.com

GoTo.com Top Searched Words
This is a list of the Top 100 terms searched on by GoTo.com users for the month.
www.goto.com/d/top100/

Searchterms
A ranking of what people are searching for on the web.
www.searchterms.com

Searchwords
This site contains an up-to-date, uncensored list of the 100 most popular words that people are entering into search engines. This is invaluable for webmasters and those interested in understanding what is “hot” on the Internet today.
www.searchwords.com

• MAGAZINES

PC Computing
www.zdnet.com/pccomp/

PC Family
www.zdnet.com/familypc/

Inter@tive Week
www.zdnet.com/intweek/

PC Magazine
www.zdnet.com/pcmag/

PC Week
www.zdnet.com/pcweek/

Small Office
www.smalloffice.com

Business Week
www.businessweek.com

ASSOCIATES NEEDED:

I would like to start sending you your monthly checks…

My new 1999 edition of “ABC’s of Internet Marketing” is fast becoming the must have book for anyone who needs the resources and how-to information on exactly what is needed to multiply one’s income over the Internet.

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What do you need to do? Spread the word and send visitors to your web site. Give away a free copy of my ebook and when customers order they will be sent to a specific web page set up to track your distributor id number and I will pay you a commission.

How will you do this? I will continually reinforce the concepts, which you have read in this book, along with new ones to help you get even more visitors to your web page. Your web page has our proven sales letter, online credit card processing and your own URL to promote.

Associate Compensation I will pay you $5 for each book you sell.

Why so much? Because I am serious about my product and I want serious minded individuals to help with the expansion and growth of my business. In doing so, both parties prosper. So, sign up today at:
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P.S. This is a chance for you to make extra money with very little effort on your part. Just think, if you only sold 1 book a day for a month you could easily make $150.00. I used an example of 1 book sold daily, because it is easier to imagine than 10 books a day, which would be $1,500.00 a month.

Sincerely, Robert Fox

CEO/President – RDF Publishing

Every day, start-up companies are cashing in on the Internet.
Why haven’t you?

E-commerce is projected to surpass $300 billion a year by 2002.
source: (U.S. Department of Commerce)

By 2005 there will be 206 million dial-up connections.
source: (Ovum Research)

Starting a home-based Internet business is cheaper than leasing or furnishing office space, and warehousing products. With lower overhead expenses, you have more money for product development, research and advertising. You can have your business up and running quickly.

Without the Internet, your exposure is limited to a physical storefront address. With it, your products or services can reach beyond your community. Anyone who has access to the Internet can be your potential customer.

Not everybody can set up a web site that is sales oriented, generates leads, closes sales, takes orders, and that is content driven.

You need to know which Internet Marketing techniques works the best for your products or services.

Just like traditional marketing, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

With all Internet marketing businesses you must first have an idea, a plan, and an ongoing development process.

The trials and errors of doing this alone will eventually cost you time, money, and sales.

I have put together a complete package, which helps you optimize your web site for peak profits. I will personally consult, review, analyze and help you develop your web site from the ground up on the following:

• Appearance

• Navigation

• User-friendliness

• Load Time

• Product / Services Development

• Product Layout

• Ordering Procedures

• How-to Sell More Products

• Related Products to Sell

• Theme Content

• Ways of Promoting your Products and Services to your Targeted Audience

• Search Engine Optimization Techniques for Optimum Ranking

• Web Page Submission with the Top Search Engines

• Server Log Analysis – Products & Advertisement Placement for Better Exposure

• Site Optimization / Search Engine Modifications and Resubmission

Who needs this type of service?

New web sites, existing web sites, and entrepreneurs in need of web site development and a foundation for growth.

Our first step is to understand your business objectives and review the purpose of your site. Your web site objective may be to provide comprehensive product information, generate leads, close sales, or take orders. Your web site objectives will be a definitive starting point for developing a content-driven web site that targets your marketing audience.

How much does this personalized service cost?

You cannot put a price tag on your success! Many companies offer this type of service for thousands of dollars more. I do not… Why? Because my main objective is to help start up businesses, small to medium size businesses and entrepreneurs, who are new to the Internet, that do not have a big budget, but need all the elements of a successful web site for a reasonable price.

FREE BONUS OFFER:
When you place your order today!

You will receive my book,
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ABC’s of Internet Marketing provides the resources, ideas, and information you must know to market your products successfully on the Internet. Here are some of the key elements you will learn from this book:

• How to create a web site that targets your marketing audience;

• How to optimize your web pages for better search engine ranking;

• How to generate more traffic to your web site while building better content;

• How to use your competitor’s web sites as grounds to build a better, more marketable web site of your own;

• How to market your products or services through the use of e-mail;

• How to free up your time for other profit-generating ideas, while your product sales multiply.

Whether you’re a beginner, new to marketing, or an entrepreneur looking for greater success, this up-to-date and informative book will teach you the fundamentals of Internet Marketing.

I have put together a complete Internet Business Builder Package: my consulting services, my book, all which will help you optimize your web site for peak profits. All for an introductory price of $ 99.00

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Place your order today and I will contact you by e-mail to set up a phone consultation and we will start the development process.

Only YOU can make it happen!
Robert Fox

All content Copyright © 1999 – 2009 RDF Publishing