Autoresponders - A 24/365 Marketing Machine

What if you could send out all the information thatyour potential customers have requested withoutchecking your email or answering a phone? While thismay seem impossible, it is becoming more and morepopular among the most successful Internet marketinggurus. This is all due to what is called anautoresponder. An autoresponder is an automaticmethod of responding to emails sent by existing orpotential customers and is an must for any Internetbusiness. Time is money and answering emailspersonally take a lot of valuable time for both youand the customer. Not only do autorespnders allow youto spend the time elsewhere in your business, but itgives the customer access to the information almostimmediately.Since there are so many different uses forautoresponders, they can be of value to virtually anytype of business. Some choose to use theautoresponders to answer frequently asked questionsabout a product or service. Others use them toprovide information about pricing or productinformation. Autoresponders are also a nice way towelcome new members to a website or group as well asthank them after a visit.One might ask what would be the advantage of usingautoresponders as opposed to simply listing theinformation on the site. An important feature ofautoresponders is that they send you an emailnotification each time a response is sent out. Thisallows you to track the success of your promotions aswell as have the email addresses of potentialcustomers at your fingertips so that you can easilysend out updated and new information to them.It is of the utmost importance to choose an effectiveautoresponder. An autoresponder should be aspersonal as possible and send out follow-ups topotential customers since it has been proven thatpersistence pays off. It could take up to sevencontacts before a final sale is conducted. Generallyspeaking an advertisement should be short and to thepoint. However, in this case, the customer has askedto see this specific information and therefore aneffective autoresponder should allow you to place asmuch text on the page as you desire. Theautoresponder that you choose should provide automaticupdates to customers free of charge.The autoresponder is one Internet marketing tool thatwill not cost you an arm and a leg. You can get freeautoresponders online from several sources. Theautomatic responses will be a welcome addition to yourmarketing strategy and will help to automaticallyincrease traffic to your site all while you donothing. Be sure that the one you choose includes allthe extras that will send you site to the top and yourprofits through the roof.---------------------------------------------------------------------Dick Pennington can help YOUstart your own profitable business on the Internetwithin the next 24 hours... To learn more, visit:http://www.LearnToWinBig.com/pips.html

Autoresponder Etiquette - Simple Guideline for Marketing Success

Autoresponders are a perfect way to increase traffic to your site. They can save many valuable hours by automatically answering emails concerning frequently asked questions about a service or product or by sending a welcome letter to new members of your program. There are many ways that autoresponders can help your business. One of the most important is their ability to track the effectiveness of your promotions. Since autoresponders are one of the most popular marketing tools available today, they are being used by a lot of different kinds of business and websites. Some of these take advantage of the system to use the autoresponders in a negative manner. You should be aware of some of the "Golden Rules" when using autoresponders.Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder Address When Submitting to Search Engines.Since you will most likely submit your site to search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, directories, classifieds, and free for all sites, you should be made aware of the fact that these sites commonly use an autoresponder as well. If you were to use your autoresponder to contact these companies, their autoresponder will reply to yours and so on and so on. Thus creating a cycle of autoresponses that will flood your email box and theirs as well.Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Subscribe to Ezines or Discussion Forums.Since most of the time an Ezine will send you updates and new information regularly, your auto responder will send them a message each time. In a discussion forum, every person in the discussion forum will receive your auto response. This can be irritating and most of the time you will be unsubscribed. It is often hard for the administrators of the forum or ezine to determine who is using the autoresponse and therefore it is simply common courtesy to never use an autoresponer in this manner.Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Take Advantage Of Unsuspecting Individuals.Some very unprofessional companies will use autoresponders to respond to an automated message when this is done the address in the "from" field will be automatically subscribed to their mailing list. This is a extremely un ethical use of autoresponders and those who do it are in jeopardy of creating a very negative image of themselves and their company. Rather than promote their service or business, this usually leads to people becoming very upset and spreading a negative word about your company rather than a good one.The Internet can be a great place to do business and autoresponders can be an excellent way to save time, however when used in an unprofessional way, they can lead to frustration and aggravation for others. Your company will suffer the loss of much business if you choose to participate in these abusive practices. The appropriate use of auto responders can generate a large amount of business, while inappropriate use can drive away that business.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Cross-Promotion Tips for Success

Cross promotions are not a new idea. They have been used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale, as the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. The system is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system, where people traded items rather than using money. How can anything primitive fit into the online world of Internet marketing? Very easily. Cross promotions are, simply stated, a trade of advertising space. Instead of paying for advertising space on a site, you would place their ad on your page and yours on theirs. There are many ways to use cross promotions in your internet business that can be an effective and cost efficient way to advertise.One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective when doing cross promotions with a company that is similar to yours, however you should be sure and never link to a page that is in direct competition with yours. One of the best things about link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring in hits from the sites that are linked to your page to when determining the ranking. Therefore linking to a more popular site, can not only increase your advertising, and traffic, but also increase your search engine ranking.When customers or potential customers subscribe to your ezine you can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions. On the same page that the customer subscribes to your ezine, make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company’s ezine. You can even exchange ad space in ezines, and provide recommendations for those whom you cross promote with. You might even want to exchange column space in one another’s ezines.Writing free articles that inform customers or potential customers with information that is useful and accurate can create a reputation for you and your business. Soon readers will come to know you as an expert on the subject. In these articles the author uses a byline to help promote his site. Bylines can be a way to use cross promotions as well. You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend another’s product.If you have been considering writing an ebook, a joint venture could mean increased profits for you and the person you are partnering with. Cross promotions through ebooks are an excellent way to allow for a wider topic and to promote both your business and your partner’s business. The ebook should contain information that will benefit both businesses and still be helpful to the reader. A good example of using cross promotions through an ebook is to a site selling used video games partnering with a site selling gaming devices. These are two subjects that would interest the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.You should keep in mind that the recommendations that you make are a direct reflection of you, so choose your cross promotional businesses carefully. Also keep in mind that it would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site to another as a way to “shop around.“ Since this is usually not beneficial to you, never link or recommend a site that is in direct competition with you. Instead, recommend those who are similar, such as health and life insurance.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Business Plan Basics

You're excited. You have a great idea for a profitable online business. Maybe it is an original idea that hasnot been marketed online before. Maybe you have comeup with a new spin on the ordinary. Whatever it is that has influenced you to start your online business, be sure that you have a plan before you begin. This is not the time to “pick it up as you go”. These are some basic things that should be included in your business plan.The business summary should give a brief description of the entire business and is an integral part of the overall business plan. After you have completed the business summary you should begin to list the objectives or the goals that you want to accomplish through the business. Next and perhaps most importantly, you should develop your marketing plan.The marketing plan will address all the specifics of the business. When developing the marketing strategy you should consider the following:The target market. The target market is the customers that you expect to see visiting your site. For example will your product be more appealing to college students or those who are in retirement? Consider the competition for your product when determining the marketing strategy. Choose a product that will be seen as unique and useful. Visit sites that are offering the same or similar products. Find out the cost, and how they are marketing their product. Finds out the pros and cons of their business and try to improve your product based on their flaws. Research the various methods for advertising online. You should become educated about search engines and how they work since each one is different. Also be sure that you know how to submit your site to search engines. You should be prepared to spend a small amount of money on advertising, but the profits that you will gain from the advertisements will prove to be money well spent. Think about pricing. Again, look at the competition and see what similar products are selling for. Pricing can play a big role in the success of your product, since selling a product well below the average price may lead customer to think that there is a problem with the product, or that it is not of the best quality. However, pricing items too high could also detour customers. Determine the shipping method. Be sure that you know how products will be shipped so that you can have shipping details clearly posted on your site. If you are shipping things of great value, you should consider providing shipping insurance. Also think about shipping outside the country that you live in. Think about the different methods of payment that you will accept. If your business does not accept credit cards, you should be ready to give up half if not more of your sales. If you decide to accept credit cards, will you use a merchant account or will you use a third party credit card processing center? Both will help you get started and the third party processing center will handle all of the business so you do not have to. You should decide which you will use and also if you will accept checks or money orders. It isessential to have a secure server when taking credit cards. These few things will help your online business to become a great success and also provide you with peace of mind knowing that you have thoroughly thought about and planned for the opening of your online business.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Guide to Online Traffic and Sales

There are hundreds of ways that you can promote your online business or website, some more effective than others. These five proven methods will help you to generate traffic to your site and also to generate income into your wallet.

1. One thing that appeals to everyone is “free.” If it is free people will take it. Think of the samples of cheese given away at grocery stores. Do you really want a small piece of cheese? Of course not! But you take it simply because it is free and someone is nice enough to offer it to you. The same principle applies with information or services offered from your website. You can send out free newsletters or offer a free trail period. One popular thing that is being given away now are free credit reports or free PC scans. These freebies are what we in the marketing field like to call teasers. After running the free credit report or PC scan we alert the customer if there is something found on their credit record or PC and then offer to show them what it is or repair the problem for a price. This can be an effective way to get information to your potential customers, create sales or to generate traffic to your site.

2. Your website contains information about a service or product that you are very knowledgeable about. You can use this knowledge to generate traffic to your site by writing articles in your area of expertise and having them published in an ezine or an article information site. The most effective way to use these articles is to write them for free and ask in return that the publisher allow you to include a byline. A byline is a very short summary of the author, their credentials and their website. Your byline is a way that readers will come to know you as an expert on the topic and will in turn come to trust your site as a source of credible information.

3. Some search engines will allow a website to purchase their ranking. This is an excellent Internet marketing technique in that it is effective and inexpensive. In the pay-per-click programs, website are only billed for those who actually visit the page, unlike banner ads which may be seen by millions but only used by a few. When using the pay-per-click program you are asked to choose keywords and when those are entered your site will appear and if the surfer chooses to view your site, you are billed for that click. Many pay-per-click programs will offer other benefits as well, such as updated lists of commonly used keywords.

4. You should remember that others are in the same boat as you. You can choose to network with those who have similar marketing ideas. When networking you will be able to share links and refer customers to each other. You should always be very cautious when choosing a networking partner as everything that you recommend is a reflection of yourself or your product and therefore, you should be certain that your networking partner is a reputable source of information.

5. Simply because your website is online, doesn’t mean that all your advertising should be. Advertise in newspapers, TV, the radio or you can even send out a press release to get your information to thousands of people all over the country.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Expand Your Sales Potential Using Affiliate Programs

What could be better than exceeding your personal sales goals for a given month or year? How about doubling, tripling or even more of you sales goal for the month? This is exactly what affiliates can do for you. The amount of growth potential through affiliates is unlimited; the more affiliates you have the more money you can make, after all, if Sam Walton tried to run every Wal-Mart store, he obviously would not be very successful. You must realize that for maximum growth you cannot do it alone. Think of the success of companies such as Avon or Home Interiors. Their success is based on two things; a great product and excellent affiliate programs. To attract affiliates to your company you should make it worth their time. Offering one percent of sales, is not an attractive offer, the higher the commission that you are able to offer your affiliates the more affiliates will be tempted to join your team. You should also provide your affiliates with the tools that they will need to successfully market your product such as banner ads, articles, and anything else that will help them to better market the product. You should provide the affiliates with updated product information through newsletters, new promotional campaigns and other things to motivate and inform the affiliates. You can choose to run your affiliate program in a few different ways, both of which are beneficial to your business. A one-tier affiliate program allows you to generally offer a larger commission and pays on one level. The affiliate will receive a predetermined amount for each sale. Using a two-tier affiliate program, affiliates are paid on two different levels. This is done by allowing the affiliates to recruit others to sell under them. In this situation, the top level affiliate would receive a slightly larger commission than the recruit or second level affiliate. For example if the top level seller makes 20% of the sale, then she/he would make 15% giving the second level affiliate the 5%.Setting up the affiliate program can also be done in two different ways. One way is to do it yourself through an affiliate tracking software. This software will provide you with a way to track affiliate sales as well as allow the affiliates to view their progress. The downside to this option is that you are responsible for making payments. You can also choose to hire an affiliate tracking company to do all the work for you. These companies will allow the use of credit cards and completely run the affiliate program from billing customers, paying affiliates, and also pay you. This is a great option for the busy business owner or the beginning business owner, and it is affordable as most affiliate tracking companies charge a small one time fee. However you choose to run your affiliate program it is sure to increase profits for your business.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Optimize Your Internet Marketing Success With the Opt-In List

In order to make a success of your website or online business, it is obvious that you will need customers. Although everyone who visits your page will not becomea customer, they must have some interest in your product or service that brought them there in the first place and therefore they are a potential customer. Potential customers are much more likely to become actual customers if you make an effort to keepin touch with them. This essential marketing tool is called an opt-in list. An opt-in list will allow you to keep track of your potential customers by obtaining their email address in order to keep them informed about the latest updates for your product or service. You can create your own opt-in list or you can use an opt-in list creator that is available online from several sources. The benefits of creating your own opt-in list is that you will be able to send personal messages to and call the potential customers, and they will not need to do anything, whereas with commercial opt-in lists, the customer will receive a generated message and will be required to verify their acceptance of the message. An important part of creating a successful opt-in listis to keep in mind that potential customer will visit your site from many places, and may not see your homepage. Therefore it is imperative to have the ability to subscribe to the mailing list from all pages of your site. You should not, however, make the subscription information a focus point of every page. It is a good idea to put it at the bottom or top ofthe page where it is visible but not distracting. It is also a good idea to promote your mailing list by using a give-away. You could offer a service, a discount, or an ebook. You can also drive potential subscriber to join your mailing list by writing articles that will benefit the reader and at the sametime, build your credibly as an expert. You can include the subscription information in the byline of the articles. You could also write an ebook with yoursubscription information on each page, which will allow the customer to easily access the information, and join the list with ease. Once you have created the mailing list and now have your potential customers within your grasp, it is your responsibility to keep them updated and interested. Provide them with quality information that is up-to-date and of interest to them. Offer discounts or a newsletter, something that the reader can use. This will keep them interested and will drive them to your site over and over, eventually they may make a purchase and if not, they will be informed enough to use word of mouth advertising for your site.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

How To Design A Website That Sells!

Would you buy meat from a food store that left the expired meat in the case with the good meat, or wasn’t clean? Would you buy a car from a sales lot that had totaled automobiles on the front lot? I wouldn’t and neither would you. Your website is your store. You must have an website that is pleasing to buyers. One that tells that buyer that you are a trained, seasoned professional. Your site is a direct reflection of you and should include your picture. Your products must be designed with value. That is why having a well designed website can make or break your sales. The first thing to keep in mind when designing your website, is “surfability”. Take time to look at your competitors sites. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you wanted to close out of immediately? Why? Take notes and do your research. Keep in mind that when a person visits your site they have a goal in mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Give the person what they want without having to search for it. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant to your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product to solve their problem. Your main page serves a very specific purpose. It should be an avenue by which the customer can shop your site. It should be easy to view and load very quickly. This is your first impression, and we all know that first impressions can either close the deal or loose the deal. Make it simple. It is best to have links that are easily viewable by the reader, that will navigate them to where they want to be. Tables are often a great choice when deciding on a way to design the main page of your site. Your main page should load very quickly, chances are if it takes the page more than ten seconds to load even on a 56k modem, the customer will click away to save time, hoping to find the information or product elsewhere. To increase the loading speed of your main page you should avoid large graphics or excessive graphics. To many banners or special effects can cause a page to load slowly as well. To make your web site more appealing to the eyes, you should stick to mild colors. If your site is a content site where the user will be doing a lot of reading, it is best to stick to black and white. Color can be added when using tables, as a way to brighten up the page, but remember to keep the overall look of the page professional, and appealing to the potential customer that will be visiting most often. Since screen resolutions vary among monitors, it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 800x600. You may also choose to set the tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of inches. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes. You should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you, and therefore you should be sure that your site looks as good on other browsers, as it does your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page. Be aware of the fact that the overall look of your website is a way to make money. The appearance of the site, if designed properly, can be an excellent marketing strategy for your product or service.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Subject: The Amazing Truth About Pop-Ups: They Still Produce Results!

A few years ago, pop-up windows were all the rage in Internet
marketing. It seemed that every time one opened a web page they
would be bombarded with offers for this or that. It had gotten to
the point where surfing the Internet was almost like playing a
video game; when the ads would pop-up one would try and close
them out before another one came. This is precisely why we have
seen the decline in the use of pop-up windows on the Internet
today; surfers simply do not even look at the pop-ups anymore.
They close the windows out before even reading the ad. Very
often, a surfer will even leave your site if there are too many
pop-up ads. They simply do not want the hassle of closing those
windows while trying to obtain the information that your site has
to offer. This information, while valuable, is not as valuable as
the surfers time. Studies have shown however, that even with
these set backs, pop-up windows are still an effective method of
Internet marketing.

Is there some way that pop-up windows can be less irritating and
still be effective? Yes! What if the pop ad were seen upon
exiting your site instead of entering? This would allow the
surfer to obtain the information that they need from your site,
feeling that they were able to come and go quickly without being
hassled by other ads and offers all the while making the surfer
happy. You have left the surfer with a positive attitude and
therefore are more likely to respond to the pop advertisement.
This is being accomplished more and more by using what is being
called pop-under windows. When the surfer comes to your site, the
ad is opened discretely behind the your web page. Then, upon
leaving your site, after obtaining all the information that they
need , will see the ad and therefore be more likely to respond.
Since the surfer has the information, he has achieved his
objective and is now open to do other things; ideally respond to
the pop under advertisement.

Not all pop-windows are created equally. There are some things
that you can do to make your pop-windows, whether pop-up or pop-
under more effective. The pop-window should be easy to “escape”
from. If the surfer does not want to see the add, but has a hard
time closing it out, they will likely become frustrated and could
leave your site all together. You should either use a button to
that will allow the surfer to close the window or be sure that
the “x” is easily visible. Another good idea is to use a script
that utilizes cookies. Cookie will prevent pop-windows from
overloading the surfer since you can decide the frequency of the
pop-windows, rather than each time a page is opened. Also be sure
that there is no more than one pop-window per page.

When creating a pop-window, you will be asked to fill out a short
information form, select the length of cookies, and choose the
layout of the pop-window. When choosing the design of the pop-
window, you can increase the effectiveness by creating a large
headline that includes benefits that will be most appealing to
the customer. You should also consider using incentives and
lastly do not ask the customer to read a long and drawn out
advertisement. Keep the message simple yet powerful and your pop-
ads will be sure to generate profits for your site.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909

Options For Online Advertising

Your online business will likely require more advertising than a contemporary business downtown, yet some new to the world of online business do not spend the time and money to advertise their business appropriately and are, in turn, losing money. Your online business is crammed into the world wide web along with thousands of others selling the same product or service as yourself. Consider this scenario: In your hometown you want to open an art supply store. In that same town there are thousands of art supply stores. In order for your business to be successful, it will have to stand out in some way from the others. This is exactly what is happening when a business is opened online. There is so much competition, that you must take drastic measures to ensure that you are getting noticed. Advertising can be done in so many ways online. These are some of the most successful ways that you can promote your online business.Advertising in e-zines is a popular way to promote your online business. Ezines are the magazines of the internet; they written on a particular subject and read by those interested in that subject. Therefore, ezine readers are already potential customers and advertising your site in ezines that are related to your business is almost guaranteed to help drive traffic to your site and increase sales for your product. You should be sure when advertising in ezines that you are not advertising along side competitors. Ask the ezine producer if there is a policy concerning posting competing ads. It is also a good idea to subscribe to the ezine before making a decision about whether or not to advertise in it. An ezine that runs fewer ads is a better choice than one that runs many ads. You can look at the online Directory of Ezines to find publications that are relevant to your company.Pay-per-click programs are an excellent way to advertise your business without taking a risk that you have advertised in the wrong place. With pay-per-click, you can advertise you site and only pay for those who click the link and go to your site. Another popular pay-per program is the pay-per-lead program that allows you to only pay for leads. Usually this means that you pay for only those who download a trail, fill out a form or enter a sweepstakes; whatever you choose. Lastly you can display pay-per-click banner ads in which your company would be allowed to place a banner on their site and you will be charged for every click that your banner receives.Opt-In email is a great way to advertise your business, however it is expensive and it can be misused very easily. Using opt-in emails, you would submit your sales copy to the company that will in turn email it to those on their mailing list. You should be very careful since some of the companies that advertise their mailing lists as opt-in email service is sometimes really SPAM. It is essential that you have a perfect and effective sales letter when using opt-in mailing lists. Without and effective sales copy your money and time have been wasted.

Dick Pennington
Pennington Equipment Company
http://www.DickPennington.com
Products, Information, & On Line Ordering
DickPennington@comcast.net
Operator Assisted & Toll Free
For Phone Orders: 888-261-4726
Voice/Fax: 866-422-0018
For Product Assistance
Talk To Dick: 484-624-4909