Thursday, October 23, 2008

Chill in the Air

Good morning to all. Getting a little nippy out there in
the morning while waiting for the school bus with my kids.
Yikes. Can winter already be around the corner. Time to
shut off the A/C and turn up the heat. Momma, throw another
log on the fire. Daddy's home.

Oddly found myself alone this weekend. Wife and daughter
went on a Girl Scout camp out and son went to circus and
slept over friend's house. That left me alone for 24 hours,
and it felt really odd. Of course, I managed to fill the
time doing laundry (have to separate the loads in every hue
of the rainbow as my wife taught me or else I risk death if
the colors bleed), catching up on the bills (am I the only
one who hates this?), and working till 3 am on various
client projects. Yeah, nothing like a little down time when
the family is away!

As has become my tradition on my Monday morning rants, I have
a little something for everybody. First, here's some cool
new tools I reviewed this weekend:

Auto-Submit Article Machine:

If you need to stretch your promotion dollars, publishing
articles on free article directories is the best way to get
free back links to your site, This new service makes it
quick and easy business to submit your articles to the top
directories on the Net. Very easy to use. Intuitive and
good value. Improves your ranking. Learn more about it here:

Transfer My Video:

If you want to convert and transfer your favorite videos to
your iPod or other hand-held device, then this software tool
is exactly what you need. It makes a normally confusing
process push-button easy. Learn more about it here.

Next up, if you subscribe to other marketing newsletters,
have you noticed that everyone is using the economy as a
means to push their product? Every headline says something
about the failing economy in an effort to make you overly
concerned or alarmed. Like if you don't buy their product
right now, you are going to wind up on the street. So much
for scare tactics.

I agree times are bad, but I don't think that means you go
out on a shopping spree, buying a million useless ebooks and
software packages. Typically, those that invest in their
marketing and promotion during bad times will prosper more
than their competitors who tighten their pocketbooks. Why?

Well, the natural reaction to lean times is not to spend
money on marketing, advertising, promotion, new design or
new copy. That gives you a competitive advantage when you
do the opposite. So look around your niche and formulate a
plan.

Look for free or inexpensive ways to market yourself. And
if you don't have the right knowledge or tools to exploit
these areas then you should make some inexpensive
purchases to widen your knowledge and understanding. It's
the prudent thing to do. Here are some suggestions for you
or even for your employer:

1. Now is a good time to use Google AdWords to generate
traffic for your web site. Regional businesses should
exploit the power of local ads to focus your traffic and
generate more local buzz. If you don't know a lot about
AdWords get educated. The best ebook is this one.


2. Polish your site so it rises organically in the major
search engine rankings. I know a little about this. As most
of you know, my product reviews usually rise to the top 10 on
page 1 within a matter of a few days of publishing the
review. There is an art to this. You can accomplish similar
success. Read my ebook here.


3. Now is a good time to freshen up the look and feel of
your site. How is that ebook cover working for you? How is
your header graphic performing? Does your site have that
attractive Web 2.0 look? If the answer is "No" then you
should focus on appearance this month. You don't have to
be graphically skilled. There are tools you can buy that
make it easy for anyone to enhance the look of their site. Go
here for ideas.

4. How is your headline and sales copy converting visitors
to sales? Has your site performance stagnated? Are you
using email wisely to stay in contact with your prospects
and customers? Do you automatically send new subscribers a
series of emails through an autoresponder? If you answered
"No" then it's time to consider the possibilities.
Recommended tools include:

Headline Creator Pro - simple brainstorming tool

Secret Marketing Strategies - cheap killer ideas


GroupMail - perfect way to personalize and blast emails


Insider Secrets to Email Marketing - he Bible of email
marketing


If you invest a little time now, you can leap frog over
your competition. Don't ignore this call to action. Now is
the time to do something. It will make a difference in your
revenue later.

OK, another thing you should be doing is expanding your
network. I favor LinkedIn which is a business-oriented
networking service. Join it for free here.

Then start searching for people you know and start
connecting withe them. Then look at who they know and ask for
introductions to widen your reach and develop new
relationships. Get testimonials. Find new opportunities.

Then get linked in with me:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenschneiderman

Alright, now it's time to get to work and embrace the day!

As usual, the first call or email is on me, so feel free to
send me your questions, and I will do my best to help you.

All my best,

Steven

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