Internet Marketing Center

Cory Rudl is one of the best Web marketers we've found. If you haven't yet heard of him, let us introduce him by saying that he personally owns four successful Web-based businesses, one which successfully markets a book on car tips which he wasn't able to sell elsewhere. Cory, being an entrepreneur and recognizing opportunity, has also developed a web site called Internet Marketing Center which is fast becoming known as one of the best marketing help sites on the Web. We've benefited from it, and in the Web's spirit of sharing, are here including a link to his site so others can also benefit from his savvy.

Want a flavor of how he thinks? Here's an example he offers in an article he wrote recently:

"I will show you an example that I recommended to one of my clients and then I will show you how you can relate it to your business. My client provides a service for submitting your web site to all the different directories, search engines and indices.

"He stated that he wanted to undercut his competition by offering his services for $99. Everyone else was charging anywhere between $150-$400 for this service. His operating cost was almost nothing as he had a local programmer design an automated submitting program that submitted the URL and descriptions he specified to all the directories and search engines automatically.

"He had been doing this for a while, but still wasn't getting a large quantity of orders for his services; even at a price far below his competition. Basically, I recommended that he sell his services for $299 on his web site, but actually sell most of services for $99. Let me explain.

"He had a lottery at his site. He also announced this free lottery to all appropriate newsgroups, AOL and CompuServe forums, etc. to generate traffic (to register for the lottery). It was a draw for free registration on 200 directories, search engines and indices. After he got 1000 registries to the lottery (or every four days, which ever came first), he would send out email messages to the participants.

"Note: His product is very time sensitive. That's why it had to be done every four days. Let me explain in the next few paragraphs. From this draw, he would pick one person to win the free service. He would consider everyone else to be a second place winner, taking the other 999 email addresses he captured with his free lottery and send them the following email.

"You can imagine how many sales this generates every month. It is to the point now where he barely sells any packages at $299. Almost everything is at $99. People feel that they have "lucked out" and can get real value for their money from this lottery idea. Again, it's not in what you have to offer, but how you offer it.

"It has even gotten to the point now that the description of his site in the directories and search engines reads something like "free draw to win free submission to over 200 directories". If people don't buy his service at $299, they usually register for the draw (he captures their email address) and has a chance to sell them at $99.

"A little tricky, but it works. For more tips like this and how to increase online revenues, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/4837

Send Your Prospects Targeted Email - With Regular Frequency - AUTOMATICALLY

It's sad, but the fact is, one ad or marketing message generally doesn't close a sale. When I taught marketing and advertising a few years ago, I generally told my students to anticipate that it would take as many as twelve exposures before an unsolicited advertising message made any impression on a prospect. Problem is, few small businesses can afford to repeat expensive marketing over and over. That's probably why the Small Business Development Center says that the largest reason businesses fail is that they neglect to market themselves.

Today, we have an excellent solution in the Web, especially when combined with targeted email messages to persons who have visited our sites. Email is wonderful! For the small monthly price of an Internet hook-up you can send all the messages you want to prospects who have asked for it. Valuable repetition is a snap. And, there are no costly postage or long distance charges to contend with.

We recommend that whenever someone asks you for information about your products or services, you should not be content to simply send them a single reply - they may be busy when it arrives, or not quite as interested as they were initially . So instead of quitting with one follow-up note, send another a few days later. Remind them of your offer and see if they need more information or help.

How can you do this without annoying people? Remember this: People don't mind getting email when your messages are full of things they want to know about. Prospects will always be eager to read notes that answer their primary question: "What's in this for me?" \so pack your email messages with lots of valuable information. Talk about your new offer, a development in a service, or an expert tip.

Of course, now I hear you saying how do I keep up with sending follow up messages to many different folks, each on a different schedule? Good question, and that's where we recommend a nifty product called an autoresponder. This is a software program which automatically sends follow-up messages to your prospects, immediately upon receipt of an email message from your site. Many ISP companies provide these and I'm sure you've seen them, or even tried one.

But there's one we feel is head and shoulders above the rest. Why? Because it can be programmed to send up to seven follow-up messages automatically, each different than the last, and each with a message you create which will answer your prospects' all important question, "What's in it for me?" Want to learn more about this product? Check it out at http://www.aweber.com/?2436