10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE YOU BID ON A BUSINESS PRODUCT FROM AN ONLINE AUCTION

1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If the product is brand new, check to see what price retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or
reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the retail value.

2. If the product's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the merchant to get more information before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money.

3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the product's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price with your bid.

4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some merchants auction the same product in many auctions. You usually can purchase the product for a lower price in an unpopular auction because there are less bidders.

5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship. If you need the product by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it.

6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts before you bid on their product. If they only accept checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the product because the payment has to clear. If they accept credit cards make sure they have a secure server.

7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not satisfied with.

8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the merchants’ history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about their products or business practices before you decide to bid.

9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the product. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price.

10. Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again.

THE TOP TEN MARKETING MISTAKES YOU DON'T WANT TO MAKE

1. RESTING ON YOUR LAURELS. Just because you have what you think is a good marketing plan in place today doesn't mean it'll be right tomorrow. The pace today is so accelerated; you must stay ahead of the game. Constantly research what your competition is doing. Surf the Internet to see what's new out there.

2. HYPE. Sooner or later hype will catch up with you. Being superficial and underestimating the consumer is first of all poor taste, and second of all, it's bad business. Avoid the jargon and the pat phrases and give substance.

3. NOT HAVING AN R&D TEAM, FOCUS GROUP OR FEEDBACK SOURCE. Test your ideas on others. There are some absolutely wonderful ads out there that people remember, but they don't remember the name of the product/company. For example, there was a great ad out awhile ago that talked about the Bank of the Northern Hemisphere. Very clever; everyone remembered it. The problem was, they didn't remember the name of the bank you were supposed to use instead.

4. NOT TRUSTING YOUR MARKETING PERSON. If you hire someone to do your marketing, hire someone you trust and then let them do their job. With 20 years marketing experience, I had many interesting jobs and some interesting job interviews. One corporation asked me, "Can you stick with a plan once it's in place?" Any marketing campaign must be constantly monitored and you need to be able to switch on a dime. An experienced marketing person can figure out what's working and what isn't. It becomes almost a sixth sense. Why would you throw good money after bad just because changing it is an inconvenience?

5. NOT GIVING IT TIME TO WORK. It's an adage in marketing that if you're going to say it, say it at least 3 times. I've consulted with individuals, particularly, who send out a brochure, no one bites, they want to abandon it. Generally it takes 3 "hits." People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn't. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is when you're sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.

6. BEING TIMID. There really is no such thing as bad publicity, and things will happen. You have to have been through this to know. Several years ago I was marketing an apartment complex and the manager mis-communicated an "early bird special." The whole unfortunate event made the front page of the local newspaper with stories about parents not being able to buy school clothes for their children, because .... 6 months later the apartment complex was filled to capacity. People remembered the name of the apartment and nothing else. Carry on!

7. NOT BEING CURIOUS. If you have an ezine edition that had a large number of click-throughs, don't just pat yourself on the back, ask yourself why. Figure out what was different about it -- Was it on a special day? Was there something different--more graphics, no graphics? A catchy subject line? A new layout? Don't forget, you can always ask someone who clicked-through!

8. THINKING YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR MARKETING. Use the free options liberally. Establish yourself as an expert on a subject and let the press know you're willing to be interviewed. When a national news event breaks, make it local. For instance, I'm a coach, and when 9/11 happened, I contacted the press to let them know what coaches had to offer at such a time.

9. LEAVING IT AT HOME. Prosaic, but we all do it. Your business cards and brochures do absolutely no good sitting in the office. Take them with you!

10. FOLLOWING THE RULES. Be as thorough as you need to be. The rule is 'be brief,' but say what you need to say. One of the most effective mailers USAA ever did was a 5 page letter. Know the rules. Then break them.

To thrive, you need to live and breathe marketing. Look around you all the time to see what's out there that's working and keep your own marketing strategy fresh and vibrant.

10 KILLER WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE CLICK

Read it below!

1. Use reverse psychology on your banner ads. You could tell people not to click on your banner ad. For example "Don't Click Here If You Are Comfortable With Your Looks"

2. Make your banner ad words as attractive as possible. Use words like ultimate, powerful, sizzling, hot, etc. Your words should relate and highlight your total offer.

3. Offer a discount offer on your banner ad. People are always looking for good deals. You could offer a percentage discount, dollar discount, buy one get one free discount, etc

4. Use a testimonial on your banner ad. This'll give people proof they aren't wasting their time clicking on your banner ad. The testimonial should include enough information so they understand the offer.

5. You could have a famous and respectable person on your banner ad representing your product, web site or service. People will click because they'll trust them over you.

6. Use a strong guarantee on your banner ad. You could include the guarantee as a headline for your

offer. It could read double or triple your money back guarantee, lifetime your money back guarantee, etc.

7. Tell people to click on your banner ad. Newbies to the internet may net even know they can click on banners. Just having the phrase "click here" on your banner will increase your clickthroughs.

8. You could advertise a trial or sample offer. This will tell people there is no risk or obligation if they

click on your banner ad and try out your product or service.

9. Tell people the major benefit of your product, web site or service on your banner ad. It could be benefits like make money, lose weight, increase energy, save money, save time, etc.

10. You could advertise a free offer on your banner ad. People love free stuff. The freebie should relate to your target audience. If the freebie is attractive to them they will click.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLASSIFIED ADS

How often do you submit classified ads on the internet?

Daily, weekly, monthly? However often you do, I bet you do it more often than you'd like to. That's not necessarily a bad thing. You need to advertise so other people know you're out there.

HOW ORGANIZED ARE YOU THOUGH?

Do you compose a new ad every time you place an ad or do you copy and paste the ad copy, forward an email, change the data etc? It can certainly become a monotonous, timely chore and being well organized can have great benefits. Creating a document that holds your precious ads can save you time!

JUST THINK

1. If you ever lose your inbox emails, you have a copy of your ads and the related links saved in a different place on your computer, so it also acts as a backup.

2. You don't have to go searching through your inbox folders for your affiliate link or go to the site to find the recommended ads etc.

3. Placing an ad via email or directly to a site can now take half the time because you have the ad preformatted with the correct number of characters per line.

So organizing your ads starts as soon as you join a new program. Here's what to do and MS Word have been used as the example program to use.

1. You receive a welcome email from a new program you've joined and it contains your affiliate link. Copy the link.

2. Open your word document, call it my Ads.doc (original huh?). At the top of the document in the index, type in the name of the program in alphabetical order, eg. Centman’s

New-Z - Paste your promotion link here, eg.

http://centman.com/new-z.html

You will end up with a list of program names and links here at the top of the document.

3. Scroll down to where the program will appear in your document alphabetically and type the name of the program again.

4. Select the name and insert a bookmark, (insert, bookmark, type in abbreviated name of program). Bold the name of the program so it stands out.

5. The line above the name is a good place to insert a horizontal line format, borders and shading, horizontal line, ok). I also place a 'back to the top' hyperlink above the line - then I copy and past the line and the link above each program name so if I want to get back to the top quickly, I can.

6. Paste the link in again after the name of the program.

7. Now go back to the top of the document, select the name of the program and insert a hyperlink to your bookmark (click the hyperlink button on your toolbar, click on bookmarks, and select the bookmark you just created).

8. Now when you open the document and you want to copy an ad for a particular program, you just click on the name and it will take you to the right place.

9. Visit the site of the new program and copy ads, email letters etc. or copy them from your welcome email and paste them into the correct place under the name of the program. Create your own ads, format your ads for emails etc. or to the ezine's guidelines that you will be sending.

10. If you use ad tracking facilities, you will want to add your tracking link under the name of the program in the body of the document as well.

Once you have your document started, it's easy to add new programs and ads to it. I've had my document going for about 1.5 years and it's now 75 pages long! I also send it to work so if I'm placing any ads from there, I know all the links! Verrry handy! Remember to always test your links to make sure they work, then you can trust your Ads.doc implicitly!

Have a go at setting your own up and see how much easier and quicker it is to select ads that you have used previously and know work! If you have any trouble setting your document up at all, feel free to email me and I will set it up for you and email it to you.

You can also use the document for keeping track of URL submissions to search engines and FFA Submitters etc. as well, depending on the services and the software you utilize.

This document also comes in handy for copying your program links if you're using a traffic generation program and adding and deleting sites. Just open the document and copy the appropriate link from the index and paste it into the site where you're working.

Have a go at your own and let me know what you think.

Good luck and happy advertisement placing!