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       ** DEMC ** Volume VIII No. 37 **
        The Truth About Email Marketing!
    Serving the Internet Since November 1995

Quote for today:

"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win."
                    - Bernadette Devlin
_________________________________

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For details on advertising to DEMC E-Magazine's 175,000 subscribers for as little as $36.
Go to: http://www.demc.com/Advertise/advertise.html

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What's In This Issue - Features

1) Editor's Note: "And The Winner Is . . . "
2) Email Marketing Insights: "Top 3 List Building Ideas"
3) Feature Article: "Secrets of Reciprocal Linking"
4) SOHO Help Desk: "5 Strategies To Boost Business Productivity"
5) DEMC's - Advertising Information

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1.

Editor's Note:

"And The Winner Is . . .
Contest Winners and Winning Ad Strategies"

Today I am pleased to announce the winners of our DEMC list building ideas contest.

During October we asked for your input on the best techniques to legally and ethically add more subscribers to a permission list. Thank you to all who submitted an entry!

We received many good ideas the highlights of which have been compiled into an informative article. You'll find the article below in our "Email Insight" section.

To encourage you to take the time and share your favorite list building strategy, we offered 4 valuable advertising packages in DEMC for the best ideas.

This week we awarded those prizes to our winners and they're as follows:

1st place prize winner is Jim Fleck. He won a Solo Ad emailing to 25,000 DEMC subscribers worth $247.00.

2nd place prize winner is Anisa Aven. She won a top sponsor "In The Spotlight" ad to run in one issue of DEMC E-Magazine worth $227.00!

3rd place prize winner is Martin Franzen. He won three "Marketplace Classifieds" ads, each ad to run in one issue of DEMC E-Magazine worth $180.00!

And our random prize winner is Romeo Salvitti. He won a "Marketplace Classifieds" ad, to run in one issue of DEMC E-Magazine worth $60.00.

As our winners are now busy composing their ads for placement with DEMC, I thought I would provide my top ten tips on how to write a winning ad to run in DEMC or any ezine you choose.

1) Have only one message in your ad.

Ads which sell multiple products or services or have multiple messages loose the reader. A good ad will be focused on promoting just one offer and have a landing page which relates directly to that offer.

2) Give away a freebie.

You've probably heard this advice before, and there is a reason - it works. So be sure to use the word Free and really give away something for free - be it free shipping, a free gift, a free report, a free subscription, etc..

3) Avoid a big block of text.

Yes, you can pack your ad full of words and use up every available character you purchased. But don't. Block ads are more difficult to read and often get skipped over. Instead try using more white space, vary your line length and you'll find your ad will get better readership.

4) Use a deadline.

An immediate deadline in your ad, prompts the reader to act right away. However, be careful with deadlines. One that's too far out, such as buy before Christmas is not soon enough. And one that is for the same day that you're ad is to be mailed out in the ezine issue such as - Sale Ends 11/12/03 - may not have been delivered and read in time.

Consider using a generic immediate deadline such as "Today Only", "In the next 24hrs" or "By Friday". These deadline phrases will be more effective, as they call the reader to take action but they are applicable no matter when the reader sees the ad.

5) Use the word - You.

Talk to the reader rather than about your company. Going on and on about how wonderful the company you're promoting is does not excite people. Focus on the reader. Say -

You will be wealthy. You will be attractive. You will be thin. You will be envied. You will be powerful. You will be loved. You will be famous.

You get the idea?

Emphasize the benefits, he/she will gain from your product/ service/opportunity.

6) Repeat exposure.

One ad, I'm sorry to say is not enough. To generate good response from ezine advertising you have to run your offer multiple times and mix up your ad placements. Run some classifieds, a few top sponsor ads and a solo ad or two. Also consider submitting articles to the publication. Space out the ads over the course of several weeks or months. And talk to the publisher about the best strategy. Believe me, if you're looking to run multiple ads, they'll work with you.

Repeat exposure in this manner will give your business the best response possible, as the ezine readers will come to know you, trust you and buy from you.

7) Use a spam filter checker.

Unfortunately, many words and phrases trigger spam filters. As a result, your ad may need to be altered in order to ensure the message gets through. If you do not want the editor to add odd characters or make word changes to your ad, use a spam filter checker on your copy. Using a spam filter checker is especially important when running a solo ad mailing, as then the editor may not proof your ad offer prior to distribution.

A free spam filter checker is available at - http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker/

8) List a contact web site address.

Readers will rarely respond to a phone number or a postal address after seeing just a small ezine ad, so I would suggest not including this contact information at all. Rather list full contact details at your web site.

As readers are so overwhelmed with spam these days, a short ad with just an email address to respond to will also prevent many potential prospects from contacting you. They'll be too nervous that you'll sell their addresses, as you've had no opportunity to gain their trust.

Listing a URL so the prospect can learn more about your offer and your business will generate the best response for you. When prospects can investigate your business, read your information, your privacy policy, etc. then they'll be much more likely to not only share their email addresses with you but also buy from you.

9) Target the ad copy.

My point about targeting your copy, is not about finding targeted ezine audiences - yes an important aspect of advertising - but rather on writing copy that relates to the readers of the publication. Good copy can make your product appeal to a wide range of individuals so long as you target each group separately.

For instance, if you'd like to run an ad in DEMC for a health related product, make your ad copy and your web copy relevant to the small business owner. For instance, you might say -

Are you tired and stressed from running your business?

XYZ gives you the energy you need to succeed!
Claim your Free test pack Today Only and Feel the difference.
http://www.xyzenergy.com/biz

10) Have a great headline.

You may have heard about the importance of a good headline, but I thought I should mention it again as it is so critical to your results.

Ezine readers skim. It's up to your headline to grab the Reader's attention long enough so that he/she notices the rest of your ad. Without a headline your ad has no chance. With a weak headline your ad has little chance. Only great headlines get noticed and generate the attention you need to get a click thru. So be sure to focus your efforts on writing the best headline possible.

Ezine advertising does work. You simply need to write ads and make free offers that are irresistible to the ezine's reading audience. Follow the ten tips I've outlined above and you too can be a winner in the ezine advertising game.

And of course, a great place to run your ezine ad campaign is with DEMC! (smile) To learn more about advertising to DEMC E-Magazine's 175,000 subscribers for as little as $36, plus details on How To Get a FREE Ad in DEMC E-Magazine just visit our web site:
http://www.demc.com/Advertise/advertise.html

Abbie Drew
DEMC Editor
mail@demc2.com

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2.

Email Marketing Insights:

"Top 3 List Building Ideas"

Is there anything new under the sun in email list building? That was the real question behind the contest that DEMC organized. We wanted to share techniques that people have perfected that we had never written about.

After reading all the submissions to pick out the winners, it occurred to me that although many of the entries were more or less the same those that caught my interests are the ones that could be applied once and would keep on working with minimal effort. And of course, they had to deliver quality leads.

In this article, I will quickly comment on the winning ideas and how you can implement them in your list building efforts.

The winner is Jim Fleck of instantprofits.com. He writes:

"The best idea we've used or seen anywhere is sending out Decoder items. You know the red film used in 3D glasses? You can send it out as glasses, a decoder key, even as part of a 1 piece postcard.

The recipient then has to logon to discover what they've won, or to detect a hidden message, or to get some freebie. In has worked with magazine ads, product intros and in straight direct mail.

We sell ebooks, shippable courses and software as far as products go. We sell hosting, website design and marketing consulting as far as services go. Decoders work b2b or with consumers although we've never gone straight to consumers. We do know big companies like Buick and Denny's have. That's why we use them. This is the best offline technique for getting the subscribers to your website period."

I seriously love this idea. Although it can be quite an expensive exercise and cannot be unleashed on a large scale, there is no doubt in my mind that the results are nothing short of amazing.

The key to making this idea work for you is to target the right prospects with your magazine ad or direct mailing. Plus you need to be sure when they logon you acquire their email address and get their permission to keep in touch with them.

The runner up is Anisa Aven of CreataVision.com. She writes:

"Compile tailor made e-courses, mini-ebooks for other websites. We already know that offering free incentives such as an e-course or ebook gets more subscribers for our own site. Therefore, find complimentary sites that don't have their own incentive, and write/compile one for them in exchange for a sponsorship. You can even do a compilation type e-course where 7 sites offer their "nugget" of advice through an article; each site gets their link in that section and gets to offer it as their incentive. You have an instant e-course "sponsored by YourSite.com, ad/tagline here" in every installment.

Depending on how Internet savvy fellow business operators in your industry are, this can work wonders. The secret to making this work in your favor is to target sites that appear to have considerable amount of traffic (use Alexa.com to find out).

If I were to do this, I would actually add another element into this smart idea. I would ask the webmaster of the site I have prepared the e-book or email course for, to add a co-registration box where their visitors can also sign up to my list. This will be an immense advantage as you'll be able to build your own list beside getting the initial exposure.

I would also make sure that I cleverly make mention of resources that can be found on my site in the freebie. Then on my site, have a process to sign-up for those who clicked over.

The second runner-up is Martin Franzen of SiteSelling.com. He writes:

"Set up a permanent stream of new subscribers by letting affiliates build your list. Simply put together a quick valuable mini-course (or use your ezine), and let people offer a free subscription from their site. (This can be done in 10 minutes by adding one line of code to their site.)

When someone subscribes, their affiliate link is included, and used in all follow-up messages. You can also include a viral component by linking to your affiliate program in the last issue. If you don't have an affiliate program now, simply get the rights to a good related product, and connect the list building strategy to that sales process. This extremely powerful, and can easily be done with most list servers. This simple strategy has been used to build lists of 100,000+ subscribers in a few months."

This strategy is how most gurus build their lists. I can attest to this. Using the affiliate technique you can easily reach the 100 K subscriber mark. Of course not in one day but eventually. The subscribers are highly targeted and once you've set-up the pipeline, you can let it run on auto-pilot and just focus on the content and list management.

The hard part here is to generate results. After all, these affiliates will be tracking their numbers carefully and if they see that they are getting you subscribers and that they are not earning any commissions in return, your affiliates will drop you which is understandable.

Unfortunately, I don't have the space to delve deeply into the winning submissions but you should consider adding one of them to your promotional efforts as they'll work to build your permission email list.

Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to all who participated. We look forward to the next competition.

###
Jean Bim is not an Internet marketing guru. Just a regular
online business operator that tries, tests then reports his
results with you (http://www.legitmoney.com). If you like
his column and want him to write for your web site or
newsletter (some conditions apply), see
http://www.freshmarketingcontent.com


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3.

Feature Article:

* Exclusive *

"Secrets of Reciprocal Linking Strategies - Revealed"
By: Ed Duvall

Whether you're new to the internet or a seasoned online marketer, developing a plan to increase the number of reciprocal links back to your website can help you bring more traffic to your website as well as improve your ranking in the search engines.

Link popularity is an increasingly important criteria for better search engine ranking. So the more popular your site, the better your ranking. You may be thinking that you'll lose website traffic if you link to other websites. Sure, that can and will happen, but you should gain as many or more NEW visitors that would not have visited your site.

As an online business owner you realize that there are a variety of advertising and web promotion techniques you have available to you. Linking to other websites is a well known but little used tool that can produce significant traffic for your website as long as it is done properly.

Understanding how to link to other sites is as important as any advertising you do. The time and energy you put into developing links to your site can pay off for weeks, months, even years to come!

**First Rule of Linking**

"Know Thy Self" or at least know what you want to accomplish online. Decide whether you will sell products or services of your own or as an affiliate, distribute or disseminate information on the Internet or just have your own personal webpages.

Unfortunately, I frequently see people who jump from one program, or provider or affiliate program to the next without any focus on what exactly they want to accomplish, other than make money online.

Now, not later, is the time to look into exactly what you want your website's focus to be. Decide what primary category(s) your website will fit into and what secondary or peripheral sites will compliment it. Once you've decided what your focus will be you are well on your way to using reciprocal linking strategies successfully.

**Second Rule of Linking**

"Know What Kind of Websites Will Compliment Yours". There has been a lot written about how to choose websites to link to. You want to keep focused on your target market and make the majority of your links relevant to your site and its content.

But I think one issue often gets overlooked, it is the fact that people all around the world have diverse interests. Although they may be looking for specific information, one day that doesn't eliminate them from clicking on a link to a website whose subject matter is totally different the next day.

Once you begin thinking about what kinds of sites will compliment yours, you will be surprised at how many potential candidates are available. You should develop a broad list of primary and secondary category sites that could be reciprocal link partners.

**Third Rule of Linking**

"Know who is Linking to Your Website". You can do this very easily by going online to www.linkpopularity.com . It's FREE. And it's quick and easy. Usually it doesn't take more than 2-3 minutes to check your website links.

You may find that you have several links back to you that you didn't know about, some you like and maybe one or two you don't. You may also want to check out who links to your competitors and other popular websites. This will give you a basis for comparison so you can see how you can improve.

**Enough With The Rules Already**

Before you go contacting webmasters, now would be a good time to set up your Main Links page on your website. On this page you are going to describe how a webmaster can add their link to your Links Pages. You can call this Favorite Links, Personal Links or something similar.

Use a name that lets visitors know you have a Quality links page available. Your Main Links Page should have several categories for visitors to choose from. Each category should link to a separate page on your site where the category links can be viewed. Remember to code each reciprocal link so that it opens in a new window when a visitor clicks on it. You don't want your visitors leaving your site altogether and forgetting where they started out from.

On the Main Links page you'll invite your visitors to apply for the privilege of linking to you. Why should they have to apply? Because you want to screen their website to be sure it doesn't directly compete with yours and that it also compliments yours in some way. You can see my links page at www.cashway.com for an example. Just click on the Resource Links at the top of the page.

You also want to inform your visitors that a reciprocal link back from their website is a requirement for obtaining a link on this page. Those who are serious about Reciprocal Linking will understand and be willing to place a link on their page.

Why not just use a FFA website and link to 1,000's or millions of webpages?

FFA links should not be included in a Reciprocal Linking strategy because people rarely see the FFA sites or the messages. What's more Search Engines don't recognize them in their criteria for determining link popularity. It's best to stay away from them as a way to develop reciprocal links for your website.

**Contacting Webmasters**

The best webmasters to contact are those whose websites compliment yours in some way. How do you find these sites and contact the webmasters?

The simplest way is to go to one of the major search engines, enter in the terms that describes websites you want to link to and let the search engine bring up the lists for you. You can get several hundred email address just by visiting these sites and contacting the webmaster.

It is always best to send a short email to the webmaster introducing yourself and stating the reason you're contacting him/her. You may want to give the information for them to add your link to their Link Page or simply start a dialog to see if there is a mutual interest in linking.

For best results I like to find a website that compliments mine and add the site to an appropriate link page. Then I send the website owner a personal email telling him I liked his site, have added it to my Quality Links page and ask if he would link back to my website.

I also like to tell the webmaster some of the benefits of Reciprocal Linking and I even may go so far as to offer to help him set up his own page if he doesn't already have a good quality links page. Some webmasters will link back to you and some won't. If they don't simply delete their links.

Implementing a reciprocal linking strategy does take time and effort, but it is easily manageable. Combined with an overall web promotion strategy it can be a powerful way for you to drive relevant, good traffic to your web pages as well as help to increase your website's overall position in the search engines.

###
Ed Duvall copyright 2003. Inside information on to promote your website, increase visitors and ezine subscribers we recommend you visit http://www.cashway.com/traf.htm

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~/~ SOHO Help Desk ~\~
http://www.demc.com

Today's SOHO Help Desk offers valuable advice on staying focused on building your business.

If you have a informative tip, promotional idea or question you would like included in an upcoming issue of DEMC, all you have to do is submit it by email to - mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com

=== Productivity Tips ===

"5 Strategies To Boost Your Business Productivity"
By: Glen Smyth

Building a dynamic small business is a constantly evolving, increasingly demanding role.

It is very easy to get so caught up in the day to day running of our business that we neglect to take the time to look from the outside in to see what we could do to improve our profitability!

Well here are 5 Strategies that could boost your productivity overnight!

They are not rocket science and you may have even heard some of them before, but they are 5 proven principles that you can review today to help you stay on track regarding the real issues to grow your business from here.

1. Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in one sentence

What is at the heart of your business that makes it unique and attractive for your customers? Summarize your key selling points that make your product or service a 'must have' for your clients.

You probably went through this exercise when you first started your business...but have you need to remind yourself regularly why you are doing what you are doing!

New competitors may have emerged and you don't have that same uniqueness that you once had.

Perhaps it's time to reinvent yourself and get that edge over the market once again!

2. Identify Who Your Target Market Is

When you first started your business, you knew exactly who your target market was. Is this market still the same, or have they grown up or matured in their buying habits.

Has new technology overtaken your ideas?

Just imagine if Video Rental Stores had stubbornly refused to rent DVDs because they were just a Video Store! Your market may have changed, and you may need to reassess who you are trying to reach.

Your original target market have grown older since you began and if you are still promoting your products or service to this same group - their needs may be different!

3. Would you like Fries with That?

McDonalds have made an additional fortune by training every one of their sales force to ask one simple question with every order: "Would you like fries with that?"

I went to buy a tube to fix my daughter's bike puncture the other day, and instead of just selling me a new tube, the smart salesman in the Bike Shop inquired quite genuinely if I had the right tools to fix it.

I didn't - but of course he did...so he cleverly added value to my shopping experience, and added extra profit to his bottom line.

What service or product can you offer to people to make their original purchase with you even more worthwhile?

4. Establish where your clients go before and after they visit you?

If you can determine this, then you can add instant profits to your business.

Just imagine if you owned a Real Estate business. Wouldn't it make sense to have a Settlement Agent in house? And what about a Mortgage Broker? Or even a Removalist Company?

Perhaps you could rent out a large Furniture Trailer with your company name emblazoned all over it!

Ask yourself the same question and you can start incorporating other services that complement your existing business and watch the profits grow!

5. Ask your existing customers for referrals

If you are providing an excellent product or service, then your biggest fans will be your existing customers.

Why not offer them an incentive to put you in touch with people just like them who would also benefit from your services?

It doesn't have to be anything really expensive maybe even just a 10% discount off their next purchase from you.

I referred some friends to a Mortgage Broker a few months Ago, and had forgotten all about it until last week, I received 2 movie tickets in the mail thanking me for the gesture.

A $20 investment leaves a nice impression in my mind that will probably make me think of him again when my next friend asks me if I know of a good Mortgage Broker!

###
Glen Smyth is the author of the popular new eBook, "The Small Business Success Guide". Discover how you can build your own profit-pulling small business, starting today: http://www.smallbusinesssuccessguide.com Make sure you also sign up for the WOW! Factor Newsletter which is full of great ideas from other Small Business owners!

----

If you have a valuable tip, promotional idea, question or answer you would like included in an upcoming issue of DEMC, all you have to do is submit it by email to - mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com

Be sure to include your SIG and contact URL with your post as we'll be sharing any viable ideas/information in an upcoming issue of DEMC E-Magazine.

======================

Advertise In DEMC - * Prices *

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(c) 2003 DEMC All rights reserved

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