As most of you already know the greatest rewards of an online business consists of independence and financial freedom. But to realize the success that we each hope to achieve, there are several things that must be in place prior to reaching your goals. If you’re not generating the revenue you are after, the following few strategies and suggestions may help move your business in a new direction.
1. Goal Setting
First things first. One of the best ways of changing the direction of your business is through the process of goal setting. While various strategies come and go, the one method of goal setting is never passe. What it does is set in place what you want to have happen and keeps you in the right frame of mind. Without goals, we can feel like a ship without sails having little or no direction. The following are a few good questions to ask yourself prior to working on your goal setting exercise.
a) How much money would I like to make by 2005?
b) Do I want to go high tech or do I want to stay simple?
c) Are the marketing strategies I’m currently using demonstrating effectiveness?
d) Am I up-to-date on the latest strategies?
e) Am I willing to do whatever it takes to make my business succeed?
f) Am I reading everything that can empower me?
g) Am I putting myself out there enough to be known?
2. E-mail Communication
If after setting your goals you require a few different strategies towards reaching your target audience the method of e-mail communication can surely help you generate income. Although e-mail communication is of course not new, read what one of the WebPro readers did to reach her target audience.
Victoria at http://www.worldvisionenterprises.net came up with an excellent permission based e-mail. Her subject heading read “Verifying Permission.” In her note Victoria politely mentions that my e-mail address is currently in her WorldVision Enterprises Business Services address book. She further states that because I was either a customer or had communicated with her in the past she wanted to know if I would like to remain in her database. It just so happens that I had the pleasure of writing Victoria’s bio for her after she read about me in Murdok. As many of you know, Bio writing is a strategy I highly recommend as it offers a great deal of credibility. Victoria’s bio can be seen at http://www.worldvisionenterprises.net/Bio.htm.
In any event, Victoria’s e-mail, which was very professionally written explained that if I didn’t want to receive her e-mails any longer I had the option of letting her know that I wanted to be removed or instead if I wanted to remain I didn’t need to do anything. I personally found her communication very well written and would of course enjoy being on her mailing list. Her positive, well-constructed e-mail note was worth its weight in gold and can potentially open many doors for her business. For that reason, I encourage permission based e-mail marketing and recommend you try this form of marketing to generate new business.
3. Writing Testimonials
In the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of doing some work for a few special and highly professional individuals who without any prompting on my part wrote some great testimonials in regard to my work. Testimonials speak volumes and should certainly be incorporated on web sites as well as letters and press releases.
These special testimonials came from, http://www.thesuncastle.com, http://www.all-gardening.com and http://www.americawestdrillingsupply.com. Not only do these wonderful testimonials give me credibility, but I was so delighted by what they had to say, I added them to my site. In that way we all win. They’re linked to my site giving them some added exposure, while at the same time, I have great testimonials to share with the world. This is a terrific way of marketing.
4. Press Release
While there are no guarantees that an editor will pick up your press release, the potential for reaching millions with a press release is staggering. All you need is one editor who is interested in your product or service and you’ve hit the bull’s eye. Overall, in comparison to other forms of marketing, a press release is one of the least expensive methods for promoting your company, product or service. Last year a press release I wrote for Chi at http://activeheat.net/pressRoom.shtm was featured on Fox TV News. Not only did it reach amazing proportions, but in addition, Chi was so pleased by the results he featured the press release on his site which includes my name. Here again it was a win/win situation for all.
5. Partnering with Someone Who’s a Good Match!
Don’t overlook the potential of partnering with someone who’s a good match for your site. As a strong networker I enjoy finding clients that can enhance each other’s services. Recently I realized that two WebPro readers that had become clients would benefit from each other’s products so I made the suggestion by giving a little info to each and sharing their e-mail addresses. As it turns out they were both delighted. One provides a very unique outdoor furniture line while the other is in the gardening business. It was a perfect match. Now each are featured at each other’s sites and gaining the ideal exposure.
6. Write Articles
Are you the expert in your field? Sharing your area of expertise and the reasons your product will benefit the masses is a great way of marketing yourself. But you must make sure the article is useful to those who read it, and is applicable to the e-zines format and criteria. Every good e-zine is constantly looking for potentially interesting and important articles to feature therefore writing articles gives you an opportunity to promote your business while building credibility. It costs you nothing but a little bit of time and can ultimately open the floodgates. Had I not had the courage to submit my first article to Murdok about three and a half years ago, I would not have received the wonderful recognition and exposure that Murdok has afforded me!
To summarize, it is unmistakable that the marketing approaches and strategies available are constantly changing which means in order for you to attract your niche market, you must maintain a competitive edge by staying one step ahead. When it comes to marketing, the bottom line is that no one method can guarantee your success, so you may have to try a few different strategies to find the one that works. Dare to be bold. As long as you’re doing something with an attitude of professionalism, you never need to be afraid of taking a few chances.
Charlene Rashkow brings 15 years of experience as a Writing Stylist and Author to her creative efforts as a freelance business writer/consultant. She has successfully helped companies and individuals reach their objectives by writing outstanding press releases, bios, articles of interest, business plans, resumes, web site content and all other forms of marketing material. To speak with Charlene you may contact her at http://www.allyourwritingneeds.com or write her at info@allyourwritingneeds.com. You can also call her directly at (310) 514-4844
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