Posts Tagged ‘copyright’
7 Questions to Ask Before You Advertise
Most business owners and managers keep a fairly close eye on their marketing budgets.
And nothing throws a budget out of whack faster than advertising.
Advertising, or paying good money to get your message in front of your target market, still has a place in your marketing mix, although it’s not quite as effective as it once was.
If you’re going to advertise, you need to be smart about it — or you can quickly find yourself with a blown budget and not much to show for it. Below are seven questions to ask yourself before writing out that check.
1. Do you need to generate customers/traffic/leads/etc. right away? If so, then you better pull out your wallet. Advertising is hands down the fastest way to get your message in front of your target market. (You’re paying for placement after all.)
2. Do you have another way to get the word out about your business? For instance, do you have a customer database or an e-zine list? If so, then you might be better off sending an e-mail (assuming you have customers’ e-mails). Although technically e-mail announcements fall under advertising, I’m not counting it in this particular case because it’s more or less free (or very low cost).
Perhaps you have a good news angle and a good relationship with a reporter. Or you have a high-traffic Web site and/or blog. Or maybe you’re an active volunteer with a large organization and can use networking to get the message out.
But if none of those really apply, then you’d better take a closer look at advertising.
3. Do you need to augment your other marketing efforts? Maybe you have articles featured on a Web site targeted to your customer base. Great when your article is front and center and not-so-great when your article is buried in archives. A little advertising on that site can keep you in your target market’s sight all the time. Or maybe you struck gold and got a big article written about your company in the perfect trade publication. Fantastic for that month and not-so-fantastic for the other 11 months of the year. Or maybe it’s taking you longer than you’d like to drive traffic to your Web site. Advertising is good for speeding things along.
Frequency is king when it comes to marketing — if you’re out of your customers’ sight, you’re probably out of their mind when it comes to buying time. Advertising is a good way to beef up or speed up what you’re already doing.
4. Are other marketing methods not appropriate in this situation? Let’s say you want to have a sale. But your customer database is small (or nonexistent). Your Web site has minimal traffic. And you aren’t going to get any bites from the media since having a sale isn’t news. What do you do? Run some ads.
5. Would you rather save time than money? Let’s face it. Running an ad is easy. Other marketing methods are more time-consuming. If you want your marketing to be easy, then advertising is about as easy as it’s going to get. (Now there is a caveat to this one, because you can hire people to do some of those marketing tasks, such as updating Web sites, running PR campaigns, etc. However, not everything can be hired out so you still might be stuck spending time you don’t have.)
6. Are you planning to test a new campaign or a new product/target market? Running small, inexpensive ads can be a good way to test certain marketing aspects before launching big, expensive, time-consuming campaigns. If you want to penetrate a new market or if you have a new product to launch or a new marketing message to try, buy some ads and see what the response rate is. Another strength of advertising is control — you have total control over your test.
7. Do other marketing approaches never quite measure up? It happens. Advertising in one or two specific media outlets seem to generate more sales and more leads then anything else you’ve tried. If that’s the case, then don’t mess with it. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Creativity Exercise — Advertising and your business
Is advertising right for your business? Try this exercise and see.
1. What’s your biggest marketing challenge right now? Write it down.
2. Go through the above list of questions and ask yourself each one. Does it apply to your situation? If it does, write that down too.
3. Do some brainstorming. In what ways can you use advertising to solve your marketing challenges? What media would work best? Online? Print? Radio? Television? Direct mail? Something else? Make up an ad for a variety of media.
Now do the exact opposite. Think of ways advertising WON’T work for your business. Brainstorm at least 25 reasons why advertising won’t work for your specific situation. Be silly. It’s a good way to loosen you up.
4. Go back and reread both your pro and con lists. Now read your ads. Do you like what you came up with? Do any of them resonate with you, even now after coming up with your list of objections?
You may have just come up with your next advertising campaign.
Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of “Got Ideas? Unleash Your Creativity and Make More Money.” She offers two free e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.TheArtistSoul.com. Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek
Microsoft and Google Show Its Time for RSS Marketing
Many internet marketers are still wondering whether to start marketing with RSS or not. It seems that not even all the case studies, hard metrics and benefits available can’t convince them, or everyone would be jumping on the RSS wagon by now.
Just as an overview, here are some of the benefits marketers are missing out on by not marketing with RSS:
A] 100% delivery of their marketing, relationship building and educational messages to their subscribers, customers, prospects and partners. E-mail isn’t getting delivered, but with RSS you will achieve 100% delivery.
B] Increased search engine rankings and quick content indexing, and increased traffic from other RSS-enabled online sources.
C] Getting your internet content published on other websites.
D] Generating new subscribers more easily and quickly.
E] And much much more ?
Even if you don’t believe that RSS is being used by enough people right now, that’s still no excuse to not start using it as a vehicle to generate more traffic to your sites.
But, soon all of this will change, too.
As it was widely predicted, Microsoft is integrating RSS support in the next version of its Internet Explorer, and perhaps even more important, it’s making it an integral part of its long-awaited Longhorn operating system.
What does this mean for marketers?
A] By being integrated in IE and other Microsoft software, RSS will achieve mass penetration. For marketers this means that RSS will finally become one of the standard tools of mass communication and content delivery. Furthermore, internet users will start to expect RSS from marketers, probably even more so than e-mail newsletters.
B] Marketers will no longer (eventually, of course, when most of the world starts using the latest software versions) need to explain how to get an RSS reader, but will be able to focus only on presenting their business and benefits to the end-user.
C] Broader RSS integration in Microsoft’s tools will enable for additional RSS uses, far beyond basic content delivery in the form of stories, podcasts and products. Marketers and developers will be able to deploy rich interaction applications to make communication and business/personal interaction more fluent, easier and more effective. In essence, for many advanced marketers the capability of marketing with RSS will mean their either “in” or “out” of the game.
D] This is now official. Marketers need to start taking the lead and implementing RSS feeds accross all their communicational innitiatives, from PR to direct marketing and sales.
And to top all of this, Google just recently started serving Google AdSense ads in RSS feeds as well.
The deeper meaning behind this is four-fold:
A] The new “program” is the perfect opportunity for RSS publishers to monetize their RSS feeds. With inclussion in Google’s standard “runnings” of AdSense ads, publishers can expect to monetize on RSS immediately.
B] This is yet another reason for publishers to start publishing their content via RSS, especially since it won’t cost them anything or very little, but will provide them with an additional source of revenues. With the low-cost aspect of RSS, we can expect a flood of new publishers to set-up RSS feeds of their content to generate additional AdSense clicks.
C] With RSS ads included in feeds, more advertisers will become aware of RSS and its marketing potential.
D] Using RSS advertising publishers are now not only creating an additional revenues source, but are in fact making sure they don’t lose ad revenue opportunities.
We used to refer to RSS as the future. Well, that future is now. If you’re not ready to start marketing with RSS, time just might run you over. As well as your competitors… Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik
Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts. The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa10
How To Protect Your eBooks From Piracy And Copyright Infringement!
eBooks, or electronic books, mean big business for all aspiring writers. Not only can eBooks be sold in their own right as standalone products, but eBooks are fast becoming the weapon of choice for marketing gurus!
Many business owners and webmasters pay writers to write eBooks for them. Writers spend hours, days and weeks researching material and writing the eBook. But for writers, business owners & webmasters alike, there is often little in the way of protection in place that stops unscrupulous operators from stealing eBook content. Shockingly, 4 out of every 10 eBooks offered for sale on the Internet are pirated. Material from legitimate eBooks are taken without the owner’s knowledge, and passed off as original content every single day!
I should know…I was a victim!
I have written and published 5 eBooks on various topics in the past year, the content of which has all been stolen and used as original copy on other people’s web sites. The sad thing is, MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS DO NOT REALIZE THEY ARE DOING ANYTHING WRONG!
US Copyright law, and for that matter, most copyright laws around the world state that as soon as a book, e-book or other material is published, the author has immediate & full backing under copyright infringement law. Unfortunately for many writers & publishers, placing a ” © Copyright – All Rights Reserved ” statement on their material affords little in the way of protection these days, unless there is a good team of attorneys and a bottomless pit of cash to back it up with.
So what are your options?
1) Copyright Registration – If you’re serious about protecting your hard work you’ll need to register your e-book through a professional copyright service.
To register copyright, visit one of these service providers -
IN NORTH AMERICA
Click &Copyright
http://www.clickandcopyright.com/
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Writers’ Copyright Association-UK
http://www.wcauk.com/
Copyright registration though is only worthwhile if you can follow it through with lawyers & attorneys?and the cost can sometimes hurt!
2) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) – If you’re really, really serious about protecting your hard work you’ll need to register for an ISBN number. This will give you a bit more clout when dealing with copyright infringement.
3) EAN Bar Codes – If you’re really, really, really serious about protecting your hard work you’ll need to buy an EAN bar code. This can get expensive but gives your lawyers something to latch onto when taking proceedings against people who have infringed copyright.
4) Digital Content Protection Systems - If you’re really, really, really, really serious about protecting your hard work for a fraction of the cost of other routes then go for a digital content protection system like Virtual Vault. This type of program protects your eBook AT SOURCE, so there’s no need to chase people through court, as they won’t be able to steal it in the first place!
S Jay is a professional writer and owner of Copyright-Protect.net – http://www.copyright-protect.net
How To Protect Your eBooks From Piracy And Copyright Infringement!
eBooks, or electronic books, mean big business for all aspiring writers. Not only can eBooks be sold in their own right as standalone products, but eBooks are fast becoming the weapon of choice for marketing gurus!
Many business owners and webmasters pay writers to write eBooks for them. Writers spend hours, days and weeks researching material and writing the eBook. But for writers, business owners & webmasters alike, there is often little in the way of protection in place that stops unscrupulous operators from stealing eBook content. Shockingly, 4 out of every 10 eBooks offered for sale on the Internet are pirated. Material from legitimate eBooks are taken without the owner’s knowledge, and passed off as original content every single day!
I should know…I was a victim!
I have written and published 5 eBooks on various topics in the past year, the content of which has all been stolen and used as original copy on other people’s web sites. The sad thing is, MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS DO NOT REALIZE THEY ARE DOING ANYTHING WRONG!
US Copyright law, and for that matter, most copyright laws around the world state that as soon as a book, e-book or other material is published, the author has immediate & full backing under copyright infringement law. Unfortunately for many writers & publishers, placing a ” © Copyright – All Rights Reserved ” statement on their material affords little in the way of protection these days, unless there is a good team of attorneys and a bottomless pit of cash to back it up with.
So what are your options?
1) Copyright Registration – If you’re serious about protecting your hard work you’ll need to register your e-book through a professional copyright service.
To register copyright, visit one of these service providers -
IN NORTH AMERICA
Click &Copyright
http://www.clickandcopyright.com/
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Writers’ Copyright Association-UK
http://www.wcauk.com/
Copyright registration though is only worthwhile if you can follow it through with lawyers & attorneys?and the cost can sometimes hurt!
2) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) – If you’re really, really serious about protecting your hard work you’ll need to register for an ISBN number. This will give you a bit more clout when dealing with copyright infringement.
3) EAN Bar Codes – If you’re really, really, really serious about protecting your hard work you’ll need to buy an EAN bar code. This can get expensive but gives your lawyers something to latch onto when taking proceedings against people who have infringed copyright.
4) Digital Content Protection Systems - If you’re really, really, really, really serious about protecting your hard work for a fraction of the cost of other routes then go for a digital content protection system like Virtual Vault. This type of program protects your eBook AT SOURCE, so there’s no need to chase people through court, as they won’t be able to steal it in the first place!
S Jay is a professional writer and owner of Copyright-Protect.net – http://www.copyright-protect.net
Is Time Really Easier to Sell than Products? Generate Extra Revenue by Packaging Up What You Know
Over the years I’ve worked with very many coaches and consultants who make their money by selling blocks of time.
This is great but anyone who’s done it – also knows that when they stop working (and selling time) the money soon dries up too. This predicament is not only potentially dangerous, especially for smaller firms, but can leave you feeling trapped by your own success. There’s often never any rest without that guilty, sinking, feeling that while you’re not working you’re not earning.
So, on top of selling time, I encourage people to turn their knowledge into an information product so they can earn additional money even while they’re sleeping or having a well-earned rest, enjoying a hobby or reading a book.
Strangely though, many of these people who are so good at selling time come completely unstuck when it comes to doing the same with products. In fact, one high-earning coach I spoke to recently said, “I think you will find that selling products takes a lot more time and effort than selling services.”
Well does he have a point?
If you’re interested in turning what you know into a book, e-book, e-course or audio programme to add kudos to your main business and to bring in a bit more money each month then today’s article will come in handy.
Selling products doesn’t necessarily take a lot more time and effort than selling services – though the rules are very different…
If you have an appropriate plan (and a good target) it’s very likely they’ll be just as difficult/easy as each other – though making a lot of money quickly from products is very often harder than people think.
Making lots of money out of products does take a bit longer and it’s unlikely that a handful of CDs and books will make you into an overnight millionaire as many of these “turn your knowledge into a million quid” internet marketing “gurus” would have you believe.
An Example… We sell information products for £15 each on average (though we’ve successfully sold some for £100+) whereas I can sell time for £650-£1000 a day (excluding speaking engagements where this rate can be hourly). Therefore the ‘quantity-quality’ ratio is very different between the two. You need much bigger numbers to make products pay off.
With products of a comparatively low price you have to play a big numbers game (where the quality of the relationship is basically transactional). So it’s the high quantity of people you need to reach that can make selling products seem harder.
Now with high value services, you may only need to sell a handful of days (where the quality of the relationship is way beyond a mere transaction) a month, to earn a decent income – which makes selling time seem easier.
Now, if you didn’t already know, I stopped selling time (and taking on new clients) early in 2004 to focus on producing and selling information products instead.
So, why did I choose to stop selling time to focus 100% on products if I can make plenty of money selling time?
Because you can only effectively maintain a set number of high-quality (high-time-demand) clients without having to take on more people. This sets a limit (based on hours you’re willing to work) on your own personal earning potential. Transactional clients (people who buy a product) don’t need the same time/resource (ie personal attention, accountability – beyond a product guarantee or high skill level) which vastly increases your overall earning potential from products. You can even earn money while you’re playing ping-pong, flying a kite, or anything else you like to do with your spare time.
But the key distinction here is “earning potential”. Intellectually, selling products seems a nice and easy way to earn income – but realising the “potential” is flippin’ difficult as I’ve found out.
After focusing on products for a few years now we’re finally earning as much selling products as we were when we were just selling time – but now there are only 2 full time people to share the money with rather than 11!
So anyone thinking that giving up your consulting or coaching business and just doing products is an easy way to get rich – it isn’t – but when you’ve got the revenue coming in from almost passive sources then the ceiling on your overall earning potential can increase beyond the number of hours you are willing to exchange for cash.
And for me, time (and the freedom to spend it however you wish) is far more important than overall income.
If you’re keen to write the next business bestseller – here are a few resources that might come in handy…
* Get Yourself Published – Suzan St Maur
* Release The Book Within – Jo Parfitt
* Lean Marketing Press – Our 50-50 Publishing Deal
‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com
(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com
SUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS
But don’t let that get in the way of your success.
This is the ideal time to work on your business
rather than in it. Get 2 F’REE eBooks and prepare
for more success with less effort here…
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk
I’m wondering if… You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books – we get a new subscriber – you get to look good) when you Pass On This link… http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk
Are You Making These E-Commerce Excuses? (part 1)
A year ago, I had big plans to re-vamp my web site. I was going to publish my e-newsletter twice a month ? every month, and I was going to upgrade my own e-commerce capabilities. Those were my Internet marketing “resolutions” for 2004.
And I broke them all. *Every single one.* (One of them I broke even before the month of January was over!) For every goal, I had an excuse. And the excuses won.
But this year is different. It’s 2005 ? time to get live! At the end of the first quarter, I’m already off to a good start. In January, I launched my new web site, http://www.EcommerceDiva.com and new “Supersize Your Bootcamp” training program. And you’re reading another newsletter issue. So far, so good!
But this article isn’t about me. It’s about YOU! What are *your* Internet marketing goals?
This spring, I intend to (check all that apply):
___ Finally get that web site up and running.
___ Add e-commerce to my current web site.
___ Overhaul my existing web site.
___ Get more web traffic.
___ Get more leads, prospects, or subscribers to my web
site.
___ Get more orders.
Great! But how?
Just like any other kind of goal, Internet marketing goals require ACTION. E-commerce success doesn’t happen overnight. What do you plan to do to make it happen? As the old adage goes, “if you do the same thing you’ve been doing, you’ll get the same results you’ve been getting!”
So, will you do things differently this time? Or will you make the same excuses you made last year for not bringing your web site up to par?
Let’s take a look at some of the most common marketing issues. Do any of these statements sound familiar? Check off any that do.
__ “I just can’t seem to get my [web site, marketing campaign,
redesign, shopping cart, etc.] started.”
___ “I keep starting a new marketing effort, but I can’t seem to finish it.”
___ “When it comes to [Internet marketing, e-commerce, web sites, etc.], I’m just clueless. I don’t know what to do.”
___ “I know I could benefit from marketing my [web site, products, service, etc.] but I’m not sure what steps to take. I feel stuck.”
___ “I just don’t have time. I’m too busy dealing with [customers, clients, day job, family, etc.] to deal with my web site.”
___ “Every time I sit down to work on my marketing, I just can’t seem to stay focused.”
Now, let’s look at each statement, and see if there’s any truth to it, or if it’s actually an excuse that’s keeping you and your business from the success you want to achieve.
————————————————-
Excuses # 1 and #2: “I just can’t seem to get my [web site, marketing campaign, redesign, shopping cart, etc.] started.” And “I keep starting a new marketing effort, but I can’t seem to finish it.”
————————————————-
Ah, the words of a first-rate procrastinator. I ought to know ? this is me! I’ve been a procrastinator since as far back as I can remember. When I was in school, I would always wait until the night before a paper was due to start working on it, no matter how far in advance I knew it was coming. I used to think I just worked better with that last-minute rush of adrenaline, but now I know better. Procrastination is caused by one of two things: LAZINESS or FEAR.
Entrepreneurs, by nature, usually aren’t lazy folks. So let’s deal with the fear. Projects that are big, new, or unfamiliar (such as e-commerce) can often make us feel overwhelmed or intimidated. So we respond with “I’ll just do it later?”
THE REMEDY:
1. MAKE IT SMALL.
The solution is to break up a project into smaller, more manageable chunks. Outline each individual task that needs to be accomplished (such as take product photos, research vendors for e-mail newsletter services, etc.), and assign each item a deadline. If the list is long, group the tasks by week and put one week’s list on one sheet of paper. If you see an entire page full of stuff to do, you’re more likely to get intimidated or overwhelmed and not do them at all. So keep each list short. Use a big piece of paper, too ? it makes the list look smaller!
2. CARROT AND STICK
To make sure you stick to your to-do list, try the carrot and stick approach: the carrot is the reward ? a small treat such as a pedicure or a movie; and the stick is the punishment ? such as an extra household chore or adding $10 to a “penalty jar.” If you complete all the tasks for the week, you get the reward. If you don’t, you get the stick! Decide on the weekly rewards and punishments ahead of time, and write them at the top of your weekly task list. Be creative! Also, come up with a bigger reward to give yourself when the entire project is completed. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should definitely be meaningful to you.
3. GET A BUDDY.
Also, try the “buddy” system. Make yourself accountable to complete your tasks by enlisting the support of a trusted friend or colleague. Send your buddy your task list by email (or better yet, exchange lists with your buddy so that he can get support for his project as well), a do a quick check-in by phone once a week. It’s an amazing motivator to have to tell on yourself if you don’t do what you pledged to do!
EXAMPLE:
Let me show you what I mean. My sister Sydnye recently completed the manuscript for her first novel. Partway through, she found herself procrastinating and she just couldn’t move forward. She used both of these techniques to get through it. First, she got a reliable buddy. Together, they agreed that she would need to write X number of pages per week. Every week she would call her novel buddy and report her progress to him, and email the completed pages as proof.
If she completed the agreed-upon number of pages that week, she took herself to the movies or bought some fun craft supplies to play with. If she didn’t finish the pages, not only did she not get her reward, but she had to take her novel buddy out to lunch — and McDonald’s was not allowed! Now, her novel is finished and edited, and it’s just a matter of time before Oprah calls to tell Syd she’s the next big book club pick!
————————————————-
Excuses #3 and #4: ” When it comes to [Internet marketing, e-commerce, web sites, etc.], I’m just clueless. I don’t know what to do.” And “I know I could benefit from marketing my [web site, products, service, etc.] but I’m not sure what steps to take. I feel stuck.”
————————————————-
Lack of information is the root cause of these excuses. You’re a smart person.If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have that great business concept or great product idea that you have. At some point in time, we’ve all found ourselves with the motivation to do something, but not the know-how.
THE REMEDY: When you find yourself in this situation, start with the end in mind. What is it exactly that you want to accomplish? (“I want to improve my web site.”) Be specific. (“I want to improve my web site so that I can get $20,000 in new orders this year.”)
Good. Now ask yourself, what steps do I need to take to make that happen? (“Hmm. First, I need to make the colors a little brighter to make it more attractive.”) Good, keep going. (“Then, I need to find out at least one thing that other successful businesses are doing to attract web traffic.”) That’s a good start. Keep doing this until you have a list. For each item on the list, ask yourself “What resources or materials do I need to do it?” and add those to the list (for example “Create new product descriptions”). If you get to a question you can’t answer, don’t stop. Instead, try this: ask “Where can I find this information?” or “Who can I ask who knows the answer or can point me to it?” Then add “Call [name]” to your to-do list.
Once you have a list, start working on the tasks one at a time. If you feel yourself getting off track and things aren’t happening, try the methods outlined in the “Procrastination” above.
In the next article, we’ll take a look at these excuses: “I just don’t have time…” and “I just can’t seem to stay focused…” [see part 2 of this article here: http://www.ecommercediva.com/articles/excuses2.html]
Stay tuned!
© Copyright 2005 Jamila White. All rights reserved.
[NOTE: You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end and the copyright notice), and you send a copy of your reprint to articles@jamilawhite.com.]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jamila White, “The E-Commerce Diva”, is an Internet Strategist, Web Designer, and E-Commerce instructor in the Washington D.C. area. For a FREE subscription to her “Sell More Online” e-newsletter, go to http://www.ecommercediva.com.
Your Book Marketing Plan – Winning Strategies and Tips
Many authors hit a roadblock when it comes to putting together and implementing a book marketing plan. You know you need to have one, you have a vague idea of what it needs to include, but pulling it all together into a step-by-step plan of attack is not nearly as easy as it sounds.
A good starting point is to break your plan up into major categories. From there, you can further define and set up strategies for each area of your book marketing plan.
The first thing that comes to mind for most authors and self publishers is book store sales. Makes sense doesn’t it? That’s where people buy books don’t they? It’s true that making your book available to the general public through bookstores is a very vital component of your marketing plan.
However, it is just that — one single component of your plan. There are many elements that will make up your book marketing plan and arranging to have your book available in bookstores is just one of them. Let’s call that component #1:
Book Marketing Plan Component #1
Making Books Available in Bookstores
Now, it’s one thing to secure placement for your book on the bookstore shelves, but now how are people going to know it’s there? Customers can’t (and won’t) buy something they’ve never heard of. This is where the publicity component of your Book Marketing Plan comes into play. Setting up and ongoing publicity campaign is the number one way to drive customers to the bookstore to buy your book. We’ll call this component #2:
Book Marketing Plan Component #2
Setting up and Implementing a Successful Publicity Campaign
Besides book stores, you can also sell your books to nontraditional book buyers like display retailers, book clubs, catalogs, gift retailers, volume buyers (think Costco and Price Club), corporations, foundations and foreign markets. We sell thousands of self published books to buyers like these all the time and targeting these buyers should make up a good portion of your book marketing plan. This will be component #3:
Book Marketing Plan Component #3
Non-traditional Markets
In this day and age, you would be making a big mistake if you didn’t include the internet as a vital component of your Book Marketing Plan. The internet is the best way to directly reach your target customers. It is also the best way to sell to them since you cut out any third parties and retain 100% of the profits. There are many ways to research the internet to ensure that there is a demand for your book and the best ways to fill that demand.
Book Marketing Plan Component #4
The Internet – Your Book Website
These are the four most important components of your Book Marketing Plan. Now you must research each component individually to customize the approach you take for your book.
© Copyright 2004 Ink Tree Ltd.
Ink Tree Ltd. helps authors publish, market and sell books. We have all the tools you need to succeed in book marketing and book promotion. Let us help you make your book a success. http://www.inktreemarketing.com/BookMarketingKit.htm
Freelance Technical Writers – How Much Are You Worth?
Where can you find out about freelance technical writing pay? Is there a place where you can go and find out where you stand? As with any field, pay is determined by several things, not just because you can do the work. Instead, it is about how you work, what type of work you do and how well you work with other people. It is often said that you cannot get experience without experience. That is true when it comes to these jobs as well. But, if you want to know about technical writing pay, then look at the characteristics you possess first.
Here are some basic things to consider about yourself before you go looking for the pay that you believe you should get.
- How experienced are you? Yes, we mentioned that sometimes it feels that you need experience to get it, but have you had any employment in which your skills were utilized?
- In your completed work what type of reference do you think your boss would give you? It doesn’t even matter if this is something totally unrelated to your current employment position. Will your boss say that you were a hard worker, dependable, and honest? These qualities go a lot farther in some cases than your resume can.
- What types of work have you done? Are you willing and able to write in other realms in order to get some experience?
There are many things that will determine the pay that you will receive. In many cases, vacancies are only filled by qualified individuals, but you can change this situation when you present yourself in a qualified manner. When you take a look at yourself to determine your worth, you will have a better understanding of what type of pay you should get.
Visit http://www.FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Advice about Freelance Writing. Copyright © FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.
Article Marketing: How to Submit Your Articles at Turbo Speed
Want to become an article-writing machine? Here are a few tricks for submitting articles on the internet at top speed and accuracy.
As always, you should first type your article text into a Word document and save it on your hard drive. Many article sites offer space on their servers for your work, but ideally you should have a home for it on your own computer- just in case. Next, transfer your article text from your Word file to the article submission box. The quickest way to do this is to “set it all up” ahead of time.
Quick Copy-and-Paste Article Transfer
Start by finding a music CD of your choice that will get you into some kind of groove. Pop that into your Discman, CD player or whatever else you like to listen to your tunes on, and settle down in front of the computer. Take a deep breath, sit up straight, palm the mouse and then do the following:
1. Log in to your Ezinearticles.com account (or whatever other account you may be using to submit articles.)
2. Go to your existing Author Bio and hit Control-A (Highlight All) and then Control-C (Copy).
3. Go back to the Word file where your article is located and scroll to the end of your article, after the copyright line. Type Control-V (Paste) and add your bio text.
4. Now type Control-A (Highlight All). The text of your entire article and bio will be highlighted. Type Control-C (Copy).
5. Return to your article submission box and do a Control-V (Paste). Both the article text and the Author Bio will now be housed in the place where your article lives.
6. Scroll down to the end of your article text; that’s where the Author Bio is. You are going to remove it from here and pop it into the Author Bio box.
7. Highlight the Author Bio text with your mouse and then do a Control-X (simultaneous Delete and Copy).
8. Go into the Author Bio Box and Control-V (Paste). Your author bio should now land in the proper place.
Note: when writing articles for the internet, it’s wise to break up your text into easy-to-read sections. Bolded subheadlines will guide the reader’s eye down the page, thereby holding their attention on that excellent copy that you took such care in writing!
Here’s a formula for adding bold, ital and other HTML tags to your articles in a hurry.
1. Type your entire article in regular type, with no code.
2. Go to the first sentence that you want bolded and type your < B > code (but without spaces).
3. Highlight the HTML Bold tag that you just typed, and hit Control-C (for Copy).
4. Now go to the end of the line where you want the Bold to stop and hit Control-V (for Paste). Now add a / mark before the B in that end tag.
5. Scan the article from top to bottom wherever you want bold, copying and pasting tags where necessary.
6. Go back to the top and repeat the process for Italic, if you have that in your article too.
Bonus Tip: To get your mouse to the beginning or end of a long page of text (such as an article), type Control-A (Highlight All), and then the Up or Down Arrow. If you accidentally delete it, just hit Control-Z (Undo) and it should appear again.
A quick copy-and-paste routine like the ones I just described really comes in handy when submitting articles in mass distribution. Faster is better! Have fun.
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Find out how crisp, targeted copywriting can make a world of difference for your business. Dina Giolitto is a Copywriting Consultant with ten years of experience. Visit http://Wordfeeder.com for free tips on branding, copywriting, article marketing and more.
