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                 ** DEMC ** Volume X No. 11 **
        The Truth About Legitimate Email Marketing!
          Serving the Internet Since November 1995

Quote for today:

"Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla.
You don't quit when you're tired -
you quit when the gorilla is tired." - Robert Strauss
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What's In This Issue - Features

1) Editor's Note: "2 Keys to a Successful Internt Business"
2) Marketing Insights: "RSS Works: Hard Metrics to Prove It"
3) Feature Article: "Interview With Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian"
4) SOHO Help Desk: "10 Steps to Google AdWords Success"
5) DEMC's - Advertising Information

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

1.

Editor's Note:

"2 Keys to a Successful Internt Business"

Okay, so in the last issue I left you hanging. But I wanted you to look forward to this week's issue! When today's email arrived, I expect you opened it immediately, curious to see what product / service we're developing for futures traders. (Am I, right;-)

But before I provide you with more details on our new product / service, let me start with a quick review of the last issue.

My partner and I are developing and launching a new Internet service for futures and forex traders. As we go through the development stages, I will be sharing with you the step by step path we take.

When we're done, you will know exactly how to develop, launch and market your own Internet Business.

To recap the steps we discussed last week, step one is determining your target niche. The keys to remember when selecting your target market are audience size, disposable income and a personal like of the niche's focus. Step two is developing a product / service for that niche. Research is the key to finding the right product / service.

To read the last issue's article see our DEMC issue archive - http://www.demc.com/newsletters/5_11_05.html#1 .

Once you have completed step one and two you are ready to move on. So let's get to it.

Step Three: Find Backend Products / Services

Having additional products to sell to your customers is critical to your success.

Why?

The cost to sell to an existing customer is much less than acquiring a new customer.

Many businesses often only brake-even on their initial sales to first time customers. It is the backend sales that create the real revenue.

So how do you develop additional products / services?

You return to step two. You have to research what your target audience will buy.

When developing backend products / services examine what your initial product / service offers. See if there are any natural follow-up products / services you can sell. For instance if your initial product is shampoo, the easy back- end products are conditioner, hair gel, hair spray, etc. - you get the idea.

You may find as you consider backend sales, the initial product / service you intended to sell would be better as a backend product. And a quick sale product / service should be your front end offering.

For example, perhaps you decided to develop an in-depth 12 part video course on woodworking as your product. You may find an initial ebook highlighting basic woodworking techniques is a more effective introductory product. The ebook is a less expensive item, that will likely be easier to sell. The targeted customer list resulting from your ebook sales, is a perfect audience to whom you can promote you 12 part video course.

In addition, you may want to consider becoming a reseller of certain products / services. Related items, that you do not have to develop because another business has already, you can sell profitably to your target audience.

Returning to our woodworking course example, perhaps there is specialized equipment needed for your woodworking techniques. You could become a reseller of those woodworking tools. Thus you sell your course and then on the backend you sell the needed woodworking tools, making a commission from the tool sales.

In our new project, we are developing a web based service for futures and forex traders. The backend products we'll be selling are detailed reports on trading information as well as paid publications on futures trading.

The point to remember from step three is the importance of thinking through your product line. While you may not know all the backend products you intend to sell when you first launch, you should have at least one or two backend sales ready. It is these backend items that will generate the greatest revenue for your business.

Step Four: Write out your vision.

Okay, I could hear your groans when you read this step. I know you're thinking write out a Business Plan . . . ugh!

But unless you need financing, I think creating a formal business plan is a waste of your time.

Still before you simply jump into creating your products / services you have to have a clear vision of the entire business. The best way to create the vision is to write it down. Some may call this a Business Plan, I like to call it my Business Project Proposal, or Proposal for short.

If you are selling through a web site, you absolutely need to write out your proposal of how that web site will be put together. This step is especially important if you intend to hire an outside designer or programmer. They'll need your blueprint to know what you want. But even if you create the site yourself, having a proposal of what the site will do, will make putting it together much easier.

One of the best analogies I've read on the importance of writing out a proposal for your business is comparing it to building a house.

You certainly would not start to build a house without a written plan of what the house will look like. You wouldn't know how big the house should be. Or what type of house to build - ranch, colonial, split level? Or even how many rooms the house should have?

You simply can not build a house without writing down what you want so the builder can build it properly. (Even if you're the builder - you need the information to get it right.)

So why is building a business any different. It isn't!

The process of business creation begins by writing out a step by step description.

In the case of our new business, I've written out an in depth outline of the web application. I also laid out what would be in each of the reports we're selling and I highlighted the subject matter for the paid publications. In essence I've written a report describing the business.

Writing the detailed description means including all the specifics you can think of. This point is particularly critical for businesses which include web applications.

What type of details do you cover?

In the web application for our futures trading service, the site will have a login process for subscribers to the service. Therefore the web site needs to have a registration form so subscribers can select their username and password. However, we want to collect contact information from these subscribers as well. The proposal I wrote, specified this data collection. It states:

* Collect Name, Postal Address, Email and Phone of subscribers.

In the web application proposal I also specify how the login should work. I write the following

* The login for site should be on an SSL connection.
* Only one subscriber can be logged-in to an account at one time.
* Pages of the site in the subscriber area should be set-up so that they can not be copied and pasted or saved.

Notice the specific details in my write up.

I go through each section of the site, describing exactly how it should work as best I can.

As you write out your proposal, you'll probably realize you are missing certain elements. (Yet another reason for writing out the proposal - it makes you think through the business.)

In the case of our new web application, we had been very focused in step 2 and 3 on the functionality of the futures trading service. But when I moved on to step 4 and began writing out the proposal, I realized we had neglected to consider the purchasing process.

( You'd agree, that is a fairly important aspect of the site, we'd missed.)

Only by sitting down and writing out the proposal did we realize we'd skipped thinking through how we intended to sell the service.

As a result, we had to go back, think through and research selling a web service to the futures trader market. We determined we would begin by selling the service with a monthly option as well as a one year and two year option.

Upon concluding these 3 choices were the best strategy, we recognized that we would want to encourage customers to buy the year or two year option. This realization lead to a discussion on price as well as the bonuses we would offer for longer subscription periods. Then we had to think through how to deliver the bonuses - by email, by download or have the information accessible in the account.

You get the picture. Only by writing out the proposal were we forced to think through each element of the business and how it will work.

Creating a written vision of your business will take time. But a written proposal is essential to starting an Internet Business.

So don't skip this step!

I expect you'd love to get your hands on the proposal I've written for our new business. Well stay tuned as I will make it available in the weeks to come!

Abbie Drew
DEMC Editor
mail@demc2.com


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2.

Marketing Insights:

* Exclusive *

"RSS Works: Hard Metrics to Prove It"
By: Rok Hrastnik, http://rss.marketingstudies.net

Marketers are constantly asking if RSS marketing works and if this can be proved.

Instead of our regular RSS marketing series article, we're going to take a quick detour: a look at some real-life RSS metrics from real-life marketers. These will show you what kind of results you can expect to see from RSS.

I first presented this data at the Syndicate Conference in New York City, the first conference entirely devoted to RSS.

To make a point, we'll take a look at RSS metrics from 4 different viewpoints, each demonstrating one facet of RSS marketing and a different way of capturing RSS metrics. This data combined will give you the answer of whether RSS marketing is for you, as an addition to e-mail marketing, or not.

1. Click-Through Rates From RSS Feed To Site:
The RSS Aggregator Side

RSS statistics should be most relevant when coming from actual RSS aggregators and their vendors, since these people can measure precisely how their users are actually using RSS.

Customer Reader [http://www.customreader.com], who just recently launched a desktop RSS aggregator, which marketers can brand for themselves and then distribute to their readers, supplied us with their latest data. This data is based on 3,500 users of their brandable RSS aggregator and on the last [two weeks ago] 48 hours of their reader usage.

The most interesting piece of data is the 23% average CTR (click-through rate) from feed to site within last 48 hours, which proves that RSS works in terms of getting readers from the outbout message to the site. RSS users are actually clicking on RSS content!

Now, what is the "feed-to-side" CTR? It simply means that 23% of the end-users that subscribe to various feeds, clicked at least once on one of the content items in the feeds they are subscribed to.

2. Click-ThroughRates From Content Item To Site:
The RSS Solution Vendor Side

Considering the different RSS metrics systems and the fact that no marketing tool whatsoever can be measured 100% precisely from the outside tracking service side, seeing stats from RSS solutions vendors is important as well.

On this end, some basic stats were supplied from SimpleFeed [http://www.simplefeed.com], the providers of one of the more advanced RSS marketing solutions.

The stats are based on an app. 10,000 end-user sample, 30 day average and 4 months of data.

They are seeing a 6.8% average CTR from content item [individual content item in an RSS feed] to site and a 150% [1.5 clicks] average CTR from feed to site within 30 days.

3. Subscriptions and Click-Through Rates:
The Marketer/Publisher Side

And finally, let's take a look at the stats from the publisher/marketer point of view.

Lockergnome.com is one of the most popular tech sites on the internet.

Although they are serving a more tech savvy audience, Lockergnome is an excellent example of the results you can ultimately hope to achieve using RSS.

First of all, they are seeing a ration of 5:1 in favor of the number of RSS subscribers against e-mail subscribers, and even more interesting, a 500% better clickthrough ratio with RSS than with e-mail.

4. Search Engine Visibility

The BTI Group is a smaller VoIP provider and, through their high ranking blogsite [http://blog.btigroup.com/], the proof that RSS works for search engine positioning.

Here are just some of their achievements, as a result of their RSS marketing activities ...

a] 120 page-one search results on important industry search terms
1 - Voip vs traditional phone system
1 - VoIP solution provider
2 - VoIP small business
2 - VoIP architecture
5 - VoIP phone equipment
6 - VoIP benefits
7 - VoIP Small Business costs

b] A 75% increase in traffic to the corporate website

c] BTI's link popularity jumped from 164 in June 2003 to 1312 in December 2004 to 1405 in February 2005

Overview

These metrics clearly show that RSS works for marketers and publishers.

This data alone, also considering that RSS clearly gets 100% of your content delivered and actually provides you with an abundance of new marketing opportunities, such as podcasting, should be enough to make you do something about RSS now.

###
Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide on marketing with RSS by top RSS industry leaders, experts, developers and top marketers. Find out all you need to know about RSS and how to use it to get your content delivered, win back your customers, make more sales and increase search engine rankings http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?demc5


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3.

Feature Article:

The Masters Of Autoresponder Marketing Series

"Interview With Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian"
By: Mike Merz

Dr. Mani, author of Ezine Launch ( http://www.ezinemarketingcenter.com/index.htm ) , is one of the Web's best known experts on ezine marketing ... having published, at a time, 7 ezines that reached over 15,000 subscribers every month.

He has also written extensively about ezine publishing and promotion.

So it goes without saying that Dr. Mani knows a thing or two about utilizing autoresponders effectively.

Let's see if I can extract an inside tip or two from the good doctor. ;)

MM

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share with us today, Dr. Mani ...

DrM

My pleasure, Mike :)

MM

As a well known Ezine publisher, I would assume it's safe to say that autoresponder marketing has played a big part in the success of your Online businesses ...

DrM

Absolutely. It has helped just about every aspect of my online business - while saving me time and effort, as my business grew and developed hands-off

MM

Are autoresponders as important a tool in your day to day business as they have in the past? If not ... why?

DrM

They are critical. Today, I have (I just counted!) 47 different autoresponder sequences going - and they handle everything from lead-generation, conversion, follow up marketing, client support and more. I'm even planning on adding separate sequences for getting client feedback, testimonials and seeking product suggestions for future development!

MM

Are there any words of advice you'd like to offer to those new to ezine publishing ... or those that have been working at it for a while, but have yet to enjoy reasonable success?

DrM

Be persistent. Don't give up too easily. It is hard to stick with it in an environment ruined by email filtering, trigger-happy s- pa m complainers, time-deprived subscribers with the attention span of a 2 year old... but ezine marketing STILL works - and works VERY well.

As a little example, by running a new 'mini-ezine' with one tip every day on niche marketing, I've built a segmented list of 2,750 subscribers from my other lists - and in a month, many have ordered my new product - 'Quick Niche Profits' - bringing in over $17,500 in revenues in the last 3 weeks alone! And these are subscribers who ordered *only* from this mini-ezine list which doesn't *sell* but only *tells* (teaches one new niche marketing tip a day)

MM

I have to ask this ... text or HTML format ... and why?

DrM

I still prefer 'text only'. Several reasons - all suit *my* needs and audience, and should not be taken as generalizations for other markets or target readers.

My reasons:

File size is smaller. Many subscribers in different parts of the world are on slow dial ups and prefer content in text only. Risk of viruses and other scripts in HTML email. I personally *hate* having an email open up in my preview screen and then try to hijack my browser as it tries to access the Web. Plus, I can read text email even offline :)

Drawbacks - less than excellent tracking, less glitzy or glamorous (though I believe with good copywriting, you can paint just as attractive a picture with words, and my consistent 5% plus response rates to offers proves it)

MM

With all of the new legalities and issues that have confronted email marketers over the last couple of years ... what does the future hold for email as a marketing medium?

DrM

Good, ethical, client/subscriber centric email marketing really doesn't change much in the new environment. Yes, there are constraints and legalities to comply with - but any responsible email marketer either already has them in place, or will gladly implement them... because it will NOT affect them adversely.

What worries me more than legalities are the filters and ISP determined choices to blacklist and delete emails from specific sources. But as with anything in technology, change is a fact of life. Accept it, embrace it, move with it...

... but don't whine or complain about it! ;)

MM

What's new ... or on the horizon, for Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian? How about giving our DEMC subscribers an inside line? .. ;)

DrM

A LOT. Many exciting projects are on the anvil. I just launched my most ambitious - and in many people's opinion, simplest and easiest - niche marketing profit solution for a beginner or 'busy' marketer. It's called 'Quick Niche Profits' and offers a system of turning hot niches into revenues as quickly and effortlessly as possible.

MM

Thanks so much for stopping by, Dr. Mani ... it was certainly a treat!

DrM

It was my pleasure to share some views with your readers, Mike. Thanks for inviting me over :)

Stay tuned for next month's masters of autoresponder marketing interview, where we'll be featuring the unique talents of ... ?

;)

Regards,

Mike Merz

###
Mr. Merz is a well known Internet Marketing Expert, and owner of Internet Marketing For Newbies LLC. Stop by The Internet Marketing For Newbies Forum, and get interactive! http://www.im4newbies.com/forum/ JV Notify Pro - The Joint Venture List For Experienced Marketers. http://affiliatejointventurelist.im4newbies.com/


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4.

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

"10 Steps to Google AdWords Success"

Today's SOHO Help Desk gives a great 10 step outline on how to use Google AdWords to make money.

If you have a valuable tip, promotional idea, question or answers 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

To start us off today, we have another DEMC subscriber quëstion. I have answered the quëstion but if you have expertise in web design and would like to provide your input please feel free to do so. You can send your recommendations to - helpdesk@demc2.com

=== Help Requests ===

Hello,

My name is Lance Kading and I'm a DEMC subscriber. I was wondering if you would share the name of your web designer with me. I am trying to incorporate an e-mail newsletter with my site (www.dailysoldier.com) and I really like the layout/setup of the DEMC site. I would greatly appreciate any help that you could offer.

Thanks in advance,

Lance Kading
http://www.dailysoldier.com

=== Answer ===

Hi Lance,

Thank you for your email regarding your search for a web designer. As it turns out, I am the designer of the DEMC web site.

I created the site using WYSIWYG software. Some examples of WYSIWYG software are FrontPage by MicroSoft or the program I used, NetObjects Fusion (http://www.netobjects.com/ ).

While I do not design web sites for others, I'd encourage you to look into WYSIWYG software for updating your site. WYSISYG software allows you to create a nice looking site without a lot of time or cost investment.

Good luck with your site,

Abbie Drew
DEMC Editor

== Mastering Google AdWords ==

From: Herman Drost

Then most difficult aspect of marketing a new product or web site is to find enough people that are interested in it so that they are ready to buy. Mastering Google AdWords will enable you to drive traffic to your web site and start making sales immediately. You can create a Google AdWord campaign in a matter of minutes and be making sales within 24 hours.

Benefits of Mastering Google AdWords

1. Test Products - with Google AdWords you can quickly test a product to determine if there is a demand for it. If you generate a lot of clicks, this may mean you have a winning product.

2. Generate sales leads - use Google AdWords to generate leads by offering something for free to obtain their email address. Following this, create an autoresponder series to build a relationship with the person. Through this long term relationship you can continually introduce new products to them.

3. Sell your own products - this can produce large profits because you don't have to deal with any middle men which tend to reduce your total profits.

4. Sell other people's products through affiliate programs - you become the sales person for a large company. The company provides a quality product that is in high demand, with a professional web site and sales page. You simply direct visitors to this site and collect commissions for every sale you make.

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Do extensive keyword research first - use Wordtracker to find the best keywords that fit the product you wish to sell. Make a list of at least 50-100 keywords or keyword phrases. Create different ads based on your most targeted keywords. Not all keywords will necessarily be profitable, however you can use them later when developing content for your web pages.

2. Create several ads within an ad group. - an ad group consists of a group of ads you create for the keywords you have researched. Choose your most targeted keyword or keyword phrase then create at least 2 different ads so you can see which ad produces the highest click through rate.

The click through rate (CTR) is the ratio of the number of times a person clicks on your ad based on the number of times it is viewed. For example if 100 people see your ad and only one person clicks on your ad to be taken to your web site, then the CTR for that ad is 1/100, 1%.

3. Don't place too many keywords in one ad group - if your keyword phrase is "red wagons" then create an ad group of 2 ads containing this phrase. If your keyword phrase is "blue wagons" then create another ad group with 2 ads containing this phrase. All your keywords must be similar.

4. Write an attractive ad - you have a very limited space to write your ad so you need to make each word count if you want your visitors to click through to your web site or landing page. Start with a clear headline, followed by benefit, feature then web address.

5. Use strong verbs in your ad - strong verbs link directly to the five senses--touch, sight, smell, sound, and taste--and to familiar emotions. They are short and personal: "run," "fight," "love," "say."

Weak verbs seem abstract and impersonal. They tend to be long words: "employ," "postpone," "construct."

Here's a comparison of weak and strong verbs:

Weak verbs
Inform
Reduce
Indicate
Modify
Endeavor
Desire

Strong Verbs
tell, say
cut
show
change
try
want

Next time you visit the grocery store look at some of the headlines of popular magazines ie Cosmopolitan Magazine. They spend millions of dollars researching words which will attract readers. By using strong verbs in your ads your visitor will be more inclined to take action.

6. Write ads that have rhythm - ads that have a flow nice flow to them effect people in a better way than ones that don't ie "simple self defense"

7. Set a daily budget - Google will recommend a specific amount to spend for each click. Don't go with their recommendation as they probably have their own self interest in mind. Start with a smaller daily amount than what is suggested ie 5 cents per click and keep a eye on your CTR. Ads shown at the top of the page don't necessarily produce the highest CTR. Aim for positions 6-8. Google will rotate your ads periodically so each one of them gets equal exposure.

8. Check on your ad regularly - when you first run your ad, check on it 3-4 times per day until you have got at least 50 clicks.

9. Refine your ads - discard those ads that are not producing a high click through rate. Continue editing those ads that work or create new ones within your same ad group until you find a winner. You can do this by using different combinations of keywords or trying different headlines.

10. Track your ads - track which ads produce the most clicks. The adtracker I recommend you use is Adtrackz:

http://www.isitebuild.com/cgi-bin/a/t.cgi?adtracker

This software allows you to create a different URL for each ad and tracks how many clicks you receive each day from placing the ad. You can also use the Google tracker that's included with your AdWrords account, however it is not as powerful as Adtrackz and has much less features.

When you have created a winning ad (high CTR) adjust the landing page of your web site until you convert the visitors into buyers.

By mastering Google Adwords Ads, you can confidently expand your marketing campaign to include other PPC advertising companies ie Overture, FindWhat and also try offline advertising.

###
Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com. Affordable Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Promotion Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes Get the Definitive Fast-Start Guide for Google AdWords http://www.isitebuild.com/cgi-bin/a/t.cgi?adwords

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

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