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November 23, 2007
How To Use Press Releases
If you've ever felt reluctant to submit a press release because you weren't sure how to write an effective release, pay attention to the following advice. Writing a good press release is simpler than you may think.
A good press release is essentially a good news story. Any time your business releases a new product or does anything newsworthy you should create a press release to tell the world about it. The press release will be welcomed by journalists and internet writers whose job it is to educate and inform. They will either use your press release intact or use it as the basis for an article that they will write about your news and your company. The result? Publicity, credibility, and a stream of customers.
Therefore, you'll want to write as many press releases as you can. A good press release can be more valuable than an advertisement, generating more potential customers.
The elements of a good press release include three essential parts, the headline, the introduction, and the body. It is recommended that you put a lot of thought and attention into the headline. It should be informative and make the reader want to learn more. The introduction is short and interesting The body contains all of the who, what, where, why and when answers that a good news story requires. Since good news stories are people centered, these elements should be focused on the people aspect of the story.
Take care that the press release is timely, relating to something that has just occurred. It should also be brief and to the point, around 400 to 500 words in length. Be sure that the grammar and the spelling are standard and correct or else the press release will not be published. Lastly, make certain that the press release is factual and truthful.
It's a good idea to keep the paragraphs of the body short, about three or four sentences in length. This length will make the press release easier to read. Also, it is wise not to send extra material such as photos with the press release. If photos are important they can be posted on a website which is referenced in the body of the press release.
A couple of additional elements are commonly included at the end of good press releases. A short "about us" section provides some background information about your business and yourself. Some media contact information gives your contact person the information they need to be able to contact you.
The press release traditionally should close with the symbol, "###," which signifies that it is complete.
Posted by billenross at 05:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
Internet Marketing Focus
Internet marketing is a complicated business. There is so much to learn. Building websites, learning search engine optimization, emails, autoresponders and that is just some of it. Then you have to find your niche, research your market, dream up your product and on and on it goes. Then just as you think you have figured out your blueprint along comes another indispensable tool or system. So you make a few adjustments and read another 150 pages of instructions and watch another 20 hours of high powered video. Phew! You take a deep breath and rewrite your blueprint. You turn on the computer and check your emails. There are 65 emails all heralding the latest and greatest in internet marketing. Spy on your opposition, buy these private label rights and do not forget to listen in to the latest over hyped teleconference with two or three self proclaimed gurus thinly disguising mutual backslapping for selling some over priced "how to" book which is probably just another rehash of what you learned two or three months ago.
Have you ever wondered if this is a cleverly orchestrated plan by the successful operators to confuse the would be marketers out there. Maybe not but it does sow the seeds of utter confusion into the minds of the unfocused.
The fact is your email inbox is a major distraction to actually getting on and achieving success in Internet marketing.The answer here is to limit severely the amount of email you read. Go through the list of emails you receive and unsubscribe from most of them. Be thoroughly ruthless and just retain one or two of your very best newsletters. It is probably going to be painful because you enjoy receiving them and will spend hours reading them and the things they promote. But that is the point, they have actually distracted you and robbed hours of your time.
Now it is time to focus and select that aspect of Internet marketing that you enjoy. Go for one thing and get it going properly and then expand into the next thing in a natural progression that will best compliment your first interest. Follow your prepared blueprint and focus on that. Do not be totally deaf to what is going on in the internet marketing world but limit the destructively distracting nature of so much of it.
So concentrate and focus on achieving your goals and making some money. Join a good mentoring program if you really need to but stop hopping from one thing to the other. Be single minded and maintain that focus. When you have achieved your initial goals and have things running on some sort of auto pilot then you can look around for ways to improve and fine tune your business.
Posted by billenross at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2007
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Posted by billenross at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2007
Basic Website Security Measures
With more people setting up their own home based, online business every day, the amount of vulnerable web sites is increasing at an alarming pace. And the blame for this lies mostly within the Internet Marketing community itself. Why? Using the powerful techniques of persuasion at their disposal, many so-called Internet Marketing Gurus lure people into setting up their own online business by providing them with ready-made, plug and play web sites that contain basic security flaws. Do not forget that most of these sites are made by marketers, not programmers! And the consequences for you can be disastrous...
One of the most common vulnerabilities - and paradoxically the most easily cured - is to ensure that each directory on your site contains an index file. By default, web browsers, when directed to a directory look first of all for a file named index. This could be followed by a variety of extensions such as .html, .htm, .shtml or .php to name the most common ones.
If the browser does not encounter the index file, it will display the entire directory in the form of a clickable navigation list, disclosing all its contents for the world to see, thus leaving your precious and often restricted content wide open to any type of malicious action.
To prevent this from happening you should make sure that you have at least one or a combination of the 4 following basic security measures in place:
Security measure 1:
Ensure that each directory contains an index file by renaming the default page you want to be shown to index. Then make sure that all the internal links to that page are updated as well!
Security measure 2:
Create an empty index file. When arriving at the directory, a blank page will be shown, but you will no longer be displaying a directory listing. You could also provide a message and a clickable link on that page to take your visitors to the correct page.
Security measure 3:
Create an index file that contains a redirection to the page you want to be shown. There are many free and easily implemented code snippets available that will allow you to do so and your visitors will not even notice that they are being redirected.
Security measure 4:
If you have downloadable content that people have to pay for, do not keep it it the same directory as the sales page, but keep it in a separate, secure directory and set up your payment processor to that directory. This way you ensure that only people who have paid for the content have access to it.
When selling products online as an Internet Marketer or otherwise, you are more prone to people trying to get to your restricted content so as to avoid having to pay for it. These 4 basic security measures should help you drastically reduce the risk of unlawful access to your site and save you from a lot of headaches and worries.
Posted by billenross at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Internet Business Reality Check
The siren call of starting a business on the Internet is hard to resist. Work when you want, do it from home, make lots of money (even when you're asleep) - what's not to like, right? You'd be a fool not to jump in and start building that website or writing a blog!
Not so fast. There are more Internet millionaire "wanna-bes" than you might think. And many have spent more than a few years and more than a few thousand dollars in a vain effort to start a profitable Internet business.
It may seem that "everybody" is making money online, but that's simply not the case. And not many people will admit their frustration, partly because no one hates admitting failure but also because perception is everything online. If you are perceived as a failure, no one will buy from you, which makes you fail even faster.
So what are the disadvantages and roadblocks that potential Internet entrepreneurs encounter?
The first is the learning curve - it's steeper than you might think, and there's no single "how-to" process to follow.
Succeeding at an online business requires mastery of several key abilities, not all of which directly correlate to doing business offline. For example, you not only have to build a user-friendly and relevant website or blog, you have to drive traffic to it, all without making any mistakes that cause you to lose credibility in your prospect's mind and cause them to click away from your site.
Not easy!
And though there are countless experts, books, and how-to courses on how to start a business online, it's hard for a beginner to know who to believe, and there are multiple online business models to choose from as well.
The second issue, which was mentioned above but which warrants more attention, is the problem of driving traffic to your website. Novice Internet marketers know they want their site to be found in the search engines, but often vastly underestimate the amount of competition they have for the keywords and search phrases they desire.
The Internet reality is that top-ten rankings for most popular keywords is extraordinarily difficult to achieve - which means that the novice "Interpreneur" will need to master the art of advertising online, which can become quite costly.
The third and final obstacle mentioned here is that it's very easy to become distracted when building an Internet business.
If you subscribe to Internet ezines or visit Internet discussion forums, which are recommended methods to build knowledge and connect with potential customers or partners, you're bombarded almost daily with new ways to make money. New advertising strategies to try. New top-secret, never-before-revealed-to-the-public ways to get more targeted website visitors than you've ever imagined. And so on.
And while some of these strategies may be an excellent fit for a particular online business, many will not. Since inexperienced Internet marketers find it difficult to make that distinction, they waste time and money delving into new income models before mastering the income method they're using now.
Hopefully, if you're considering starting an Internet business, this article will serve as a "reality check" for you. It's certainly possible to make a substantial secondary or primary income online - but it's much more likely if you have a good grasp of the obstacles you'll probably encounter along the way.
Posted by billenross at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
