Unique Joint Venture Twist: Make Huge Profits Even If You Have No Money, No Products, and No List
By Rick Miller

Would you like to jumpstart your online or offline business without spending a ton of money?

Without a doubt, joint venture marketing is the most powerful secret to making money online or offline.

In its simplest form, you partner with someone else: You either sell their product to your customer base or they sell your product to theirs.

The true power of this lies in the fact that it's much easier to sell a product to an existing customer, rather than going out and trying to get another customer.

Here's the twist:

[Read More!]

Direct Marketing isn’t all Brute Force
By Nick Usborne

There are so many metrics surrounding direct marketing. So many facts, figures, test results and other sundry measurements.

It’s tempting to think the only thing that matters with direct marketing copy is to get the tried and tested elements in place.

If that were the case, you would be able to buy DM copywriting software.

You would just enter a few lines of information about your product - price, offer and audience - and the software would draw on a database of thousands of previous, proven DM letters and ads. Press Enter and you would have near-perfect copy delivered to your screen in the blink of an eye.

Sounds cool, eh?

[Read More!]

Say Something Worth Talking About
By Nick Usborne

I recently published a short e-book called 'One Thing I Know About Doing Business Online'. Seventeen people contributed - including Seth Godin, Jeffrey Zelman, Danny Sullivan, Jared Spool, Gerry McGovern and Ann Handley.

But I didn't make a contribution of my own. This article is about the one thing I know...

First, I should say that the rules are a little different for me within this article. I allowed my contributors only 150 words each. Why? Because I wanted them to think hard, find that 'one thing' and explain it clearly and briefly.

To be half fair, here's my 150 words or less version:

[Read More!]

How Can RSS Feeds Help Your Online Business?

by Brandon

So who should I use RSS Feeds? How can it help with my online business?

1. RSS Feeds allow you to deliver your newsletter/message directly to the desktop of your subscribers and readers, BYPASSING email. As you might have read or heard, email is not getting through to a lot of people, especially now with CAN SPAM law in place, ISPs are filtering a lot of emails with certain subject
lines in them.

Imagine if you have a 10,000 list and 20% of your emails doesn't get through.

That means 2,000 mails are not being delivered.
How much sales are you losing from this alone?

[Read More!]

Bacon's To Track Blogs
By Gavin O’Malley

Bacon's Information, the provider of media research, distribution, monitoring, and evaluation services for public relations and corporate communications professionals, has endeavored to light the depths of the Blogosphere. In January, Bacon's MediaSource will begin sharing with its clients the names of what it considers to be the 250 most reputable blogs, the messages they contain, and the frequency with which client-relevant information appears on them.

To read this news item in its entirety CLICK HERE

Tell Site Visitors What To Do
By Nick Usborne

Your site visitors make all the choices when it comes to browsing the Web.

No other medium gives users, readers or customers such control over their own experience. TV, radio and print present information in a very linear, controlled way. But on the Web, there is no telling how your next visitor will experience your site.

Where will they click? Which pages will they visit? It's hard to tell.

Being sensitive to the fact that the user is in control, many sites simply present as many options as possible on their home pages. The thinking apparently being that the more choices you show on page one, the more likely you are to present something that connects with as many visitors as possible.

Perhaps this was the strategy behind Ford.com.

[Read More!]

The 6 Top Reasons Marketers Should Blog
By Linda J Bruton

If there is a downside to blogging, I have yet to find it. The more you learn about blogging, the more there is to like.

In fact, here are 6 mouth-watering reasons why every marketer should be blogging:

1- Fast Search Engine Spidering and Indexing of Your Site:

Did you know that Google owns the most popular blogging platform on the planet? Blogger at http://www.blogger.com is used to produce thousands of blogs. Even a complete internet newbie can set up a blog in about 5 minutes at Blogger. And guess who can be counted on to come by and quickly spider all those new blog posts as they are written?

[Read More!]

The Art of Being Human
By Nick Usborne

This isn't the first time I have written about the benefits of inserting a human voice or presence into your online communications. And I make no excuse for writing about this again.

Site visitors crave the sense that someone is there, within and behind your Web pages, your emails and newsletters.

Dealing with the bare technology of online interactions is a cold experience for many, or even most of us. It makes us feel anxious. Technology isn't warm. It has no heart. It neither understands us, nor cares for us.

For many Web sites, whether for businesses or organizations, we simply plug in and play the bare technology - the super-duper means of information delivery. All the site visitor sees and feels is the design, the interface, the links and the clicks. The experience is about as warm and human as banking with an ATM machine.

[Read More!]

Hello Online Marketers! This week's interview is with Kathy McHenry and her business Your Virtual Advantage, LLC. This is one very focused woman who knows what she's doing! She sure knows her niche market well and has some great ideas on how to promote your business.

---

KB: Kathy McHenry thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview for our readers.

To set the stage for this interview, would you please tell us a bit about yourself?

KM: I’m originally from North Dakota; relocated to the DC area for my husband’s job. I have two beautiful daughters, Jamie 24 & Brandi 22. My two poodles (the boys) keep me company now that the girls are on their own. I love cooking, reading, and working. I’m currently developing a delicious pastry that I want to market to specialty stores.

KB: I bet that was a big move for you Kathy. So, you love dogs too – great! Your pastry sounds very interesting!!

Okay, give us your elevator speech, or 30-second spiel, about what you do, about your business:

KM: I am a virtual assistant. I support successful entrepreneurs and small business owners who don’t have the time or inclination o do the administrative part of their business. For instance, did you know that the majority of small businesses lose 62% of sales because they don’t follow up? What I do is handle your contact list and help with your follow-up so you don’t lose that 62%. While I’m doing that, you can be focusing on increasing your sales.

KB: That sounds like a plan Kathy. How long have you been in business for yourself? [Read More!]

Your Readers are Publishers Too
By Nick Usborne

Too often we charge ahead and treat the web as if it were just like any other medium. We know it isn’t, but somehow we just can’t resist retaining complete control of the creation and publication of our website and newsletter content.

Meanwhile, our readers are writing blogs, participating in discussion lists, writing book and video reviews, adding their opinions on shopping comparison sites, completing online surveys and so on.

Our readers are also online publishers. They are creating valuable, interesting content every day.

There are two opportunities here.

First, you can have your readers contribute content for your site and your newsletters. Take a look at Amazon.com. They have thousands of pages of content written by their customers. Imagine the cost saving of having their customers write all those reviews.

[Read More!]

Web Users Crave Familiarity
By Nick Usborne

The sad truth is, general Web users would love it if all our sites looked like Amazon.com.

They'd immediately be familiar with the interface, they would know how to find what they wanted, and they'd find it a breeze to check out and complete the purchase.

Or, if your site is crammed full of thousands of pages of content, make it look like Yahoo!. That's what FindLaw.com has done.

The trouble is, the creative spirit hates to copy the work of others. We want to make out own mark, do something different, be original. And the more creative we are as individuals, the greater that compulsion becomes. As a result, we build flash homepages, with unfamiliar scroll bars and use strange icons in place of familiar words like 'Home' and 'About'.

[Read More!]

Cathy and I would like to take today to wish you all a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus!

May you all have lots of good food, great gifts and best of all the love of your family and each other. Don't forget the Christ in CHRISTmas!

Kim Bloomer and Cathy Carlton

What Santa Knows About Marketing

by Charlie Cook

What's that ringing sound you hear at this time of year? It's the sound of store registers ringing up the sales generated by Santa Claus. Just because he's old, overweight, long haired, unshaven and dresses funny, don't overlook his marketing success. Santa is a marketing expert and you can become one, too, if you follow his marketing methods. What's that you say? You don't believe in Santa Claus or you don't celebrate Christmas? It's true that Santa may be mostly mythical, but ask almost anybody who Santa is and what he does, and they'll tell you. And there are millions of children who are convinced he's real. So put your doubts about Santa aside for a moment and take a look at why he's so good at marketing.

Knows How to Be Unique
Whether it is his trademark red suit, his unconventional transportation, his belly laugh or his occupation, Santa is different. He's one of a kind, which makes him memorable.

[Read More!]

Signature File Dos and Don'ts
By Judith Kallos

Signature files have been around since, well, before most current Netizens were even aware that e-mail existed. Most will use their signature file as a quick identifier of who they are and what they do and provide a link to their Web site while those online for personal use will serve up witty, clever and many times interesting quotes.

If online for commercial gain, the most important reason to use a signature file is that your signature file allows you to promote your Web site indirectly, by simply going about your daily online business. Whether you are posting on message boards, e-mailing other site owners or participating in mailing lists, your signature file gets your basic information and a link to your Web site in front of everyone you e-mail or those who may just read your post on a message board. Signature files are the ultimate in online passive promotion when used properly and effectively.

Let's first cover the DON'Ts:

[Read More!]

Making the Most of Your Holiday Down Time

by WT Abernathy

The holiday curve is upon us, and yes, we're all busy tying up those personal loose ends. For those of us in the specialty internet products field, this can be a time of ho-hum sales and reflections upon other career venues. But wait! It doesn't have to be that way!

It is important to remember that what you're doing is a worth-while and valuable asset to your customers. What you need to do is think like a customer and apply that to your marketing strategy.

Add some fun to your site! Fresh content is the major draw for repeat sales, and the holiday slump is no exception. One feature I've added to my own formula is a meticulous approach to updating our entertainment section. By hosting original web comics, RSS feeds, polls and contests on a regular basis, I assure each customer a new experience each time they visit. If it is something that I would find entertaining, so would my customers. By building a regularly updated site, folks will get in the habit of dropping by and perusing the changes. And each time they do, the receive another opportunity to purchase from the site.

[Read More!]

The Internet Challenge
By Luke Vorstermans

In spite of the increasing attention on how the Internet is changing the business landscape, many small business owners are still struggling to understand its influence. But unlike the ceaseless blinking of the home VCR, the impact of the Internet cannot be ignored.

The Internet provides an all-encompassing vehicle to connect us to the information and things we want. Browse for your desires through millions of pages of shopping, communications, entertainment, and business opportunities. Unfortunately, consumers are parked at the tail end of the Internet’s evolution and as these users arrive at any given website, a fierce battle to manipulate their purchasing habits is being pursued. The battle has barely begun.

[Read More!]

the newsletter for small business owners

Click here to Visit Agape3, Inc. Homepage

Due to unforeseen problems, "Three Secrets to Re-energizing Your Marriage Now!"
had to rescheduled. Click here for more details.

Table of Contents

• Tidbits submissions
  • Voted Website of the month/Monthly article: SBO strategy planning (by Kim Beasley)
  • 6 Keys to Entertaining Your Audience While Persuading Them to Buy (by Susan Harrow)
  • 24 Ways to Double Your Newsletter Subscribers (by Jessica Albon)
  • Time Management 101, part 2 (by Terence Kierans)
  • Branding Your Business (by Kay Green)
  • RSS: What is RSS, a Layman's Answer (by Kim Bloomer)
• Tales submissions
  • Words of Wisdom
    • Biana Babinsky
    • Diane Carter
    • Kim Beasley
    • Gina Badalaty
    • Penny Haynes
  • FAQs
    • Where can I get free clipart?
    • Where can I find free training to help me start my business?
    • I've heard a lot about adding audio to my website, where can I find details?
• Subscribe to this newsletter

Why Suppliers Should Use B2B Exchanges
By Nowshade Kabir

Business to business e-commerce is on the rise! Worldwide B2B e-commerce revenues are estimated to reach around US$ 2 trillion in 2004. This is a significant leap from last year’s US$ 1.4 trillion. However, according to a recent survey, although, more than 70% of companies have already used Internet as a purchasing channel, a mere ten percent of their overall spending is directed via the Internet! Contrary to popular believe, this means, B2B e-commerce has still large potential to grow.

Internet has the capacity of changing the conventional way of doing business. Today, you can not only buy and sell your products and services on the Internet, you can, virtually, shift all your business processes to online solutions as well. If you take advantages of new Internet based technologies, the outcome would be tremendously beneficial to your business. How to do this without spending a fortune and not putting a huge pressure on scarce corporate resources? The possible answer could be B2B exchanges!

[Read More!]

Marketing Lessons from Santa

by Catherine Franz

If a nonexistent man can change the world and millions of people with a message of joy then his marketing plan surely works. Right? Then what has Santa been doing right all these years that we can learn from?

Santa’s message is short--joy. His target market-- children and the young at heart. When you think of name Santa, you automatically associate it with giving, kindness, thoughtfulness, joy, magic, and usually a lighter heart.

Yet, his campaign began long ago in another country with a different brand. There have been songs about him, plays, movies, and more TV shows than any other brand.

Let’s examine how Santa markets. Afterwards, let take a few minutes and see how it compares to you. It is natural to feel intimidated being compared to Santa, everyone feels that way at first. First, kick the intimidation in the "ass"ets. You can't compete and you don't want to.

[Read More!]

Improve Web Sales Figures Forever And Ever Amen!
By Steve Jackson

“How do I improve web site sales figures?” The CEO roared at the web developer. The web developer looked at his boss a little confused and mumbled something about it not being his core competence with him being a programmer and all. So next the CEO went to his marketing department and bellowed “How do I improve our web site sales conversion rates?” A few mouths opened as if to speak but nothing came out until finally exasperated the CEO tearing at his hair in frustration turned to a guy painting the wall and said, “Can you answer this question? How do I increase my web site sales figures?”

The painter smiled knowingly, winked, dipped his brush into his paint tin, before evenly applying more paint to the wall in calm considered strokes. Then without looking away from his work he continued, “When you asked me to paint this wall, you knew why you wanted it painted. Yes, I told you what it was going to cost you and I told you why it was going to cost you what it’s costing you. But you knew what the problem was, you knew you had a crack appearing in the paint. What I would do is calm down, take a few deep breaths and ask yourself the same questions. First you need to know exactly what it is that isn’t working, find the cracks in your wall.”

[Read More!]

Daily Changing Content - Hands Free

by Pamela Heywood

The benefits of providing your site visitors with something new & different on a regular basis should be obvious. If folk come to expect frequently fresh content from you, then they are much more likely to keep calling back.

As also keeps being proven time and again through the use of newsletters, blogs, rss feeds and other regularly updating information, the same can be said for search engine robots.

They, likewise, will keep returning and re-indexing your site if they find that your content is kept fresh and new.

But, even with a blog it is difficult for a "staff of one" to be on hand, 365 days a year to update content when you have other tasks to perform. You might like to take weekends off, holidays, vacations, sickness, or take time to sleep.

[Read More!]

Give Your Website A Chance
by Elizabeth McGee

I often wonder how serious people are when it comes to their websites. I thought that most everyone knew that the phrase "Build it and they will come" no longer applies on the internet but I'm not sure how many people really believe it.

I look at sites everyday as part of my sales strategy and I can't tell you how many of them violate the obvious elements of good website design and submission.

What even amazes me more is that they can't figure out why they don't get sales or visitors.

Do yourself a favor and attempt to apply the following tactics to your site. They won't cost you a thing except a little time and effort to apply them.

** About Page **

[Read More!]

Hello Online Marketers! This week's featured guest here on Kick The Email Habit is Suzette Flemming and her business Financial Business Solutions. This is the perfect time of year to be reading about Suzette's business because tax season is right after our holiday season - ugh!
Suzette has some great suggestions and can be of help to anyone wanting needing help in this area.

---

KB: Suzette Flemming, thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview for our readers.

To set the stage for this interview, would you please tell us a bit about yourself?

SF: I have been assisting service corporations, e-commerce start-ups and non-profits in untangling their finances and providing clear financial direction since 1994.

My passion is helping businesses thrive and prosper as well as educating business owners about how to best manage their finances. I keep all of my clients informed about the latest tax laws, financial strategies and new technology to ensure my clients benefit from the latest developments in accounting, tax laws and finance.

KB: What a great business Suzette, especially since most of us don’t know all we could or maybe even should about these very things.

Okay, give us your elevator speech, or 30-second spiel, about what you do, about your business:

SF: Every successful business owner knows personal and financial success means dedication, hard work and long hours. It also means knowing when you need to find help to attend to the hundreds of details that it takes to run your business on a daily basis.

Flemming Business Services can help. FBS is a full-service financial agency that manages the accounting tasks necessary to keep your business healthy, while providing you with the experienced insight of a high-level CFO to help you grow your business. FBS manages the day-to-day financial activity of your business, including cash flow, accounts payable and receivable, and taxes and payroll in an easy-to-understand format so that you know where you money is coming from and where it’s going at any given moment.

In addition, at FBS, we make it our business to learn everything we can about your business, so that we can manage your finances and provide you with financial advice and direction about best practices, tax benefits and big picture analysis with your specific business goals in mind. Whether you have a staff of one or 1,000, Flemming Business Services provides the financial framework to guide your business to the next level.

KB: That is worth its weight in gold Suzette! How long have you been in business for yourself? [Read More!]

7 Ways to Stop "Selling" & Start Building Relationships

by Ari Galper

Sometimes we can all use a friendly reminder to keep us from backsliding into old ways of thinking about selling that lead us down the wrong path with potential clients.


I was inspired to write this article after a few coaching sessions with a client named Michael, who sells a technology solution. Michael had been struggling with a mental block about how to detach from the traditional sales thinking he had learned from old-school sales "gurus".

You know who they are. You may even have some of their books or tapes. And you know their sales messages too: "Always be closing," "Think positive, and you'll overcome all your cold calling fears," "All you need to boost your sales is a few new sales techniques."

[Read More!]

Aim At The Bullseye And Your Online Home Business Will Prosper

by Kirk Bannerman

Traffic is one thing, but targeted traffic is everything. You have no doubt seen dozens of offers similar to "10,000 hits per hour driven to your website!". This type of website traffic is completely untargeted and will undoubtedly result in a very low conversion ratio. It's basically "throw it up against the wall and hope something sticks". The big incoming numbers give the illusion of progress, but you will achieve better results with a lower volume of highly targeted traffic.

I speak from experience because in the early days of developing my home business, I went for the big numbers instead of focusing on targeting prospects. It took me a while to appreciate the importance of targeting (quality) instead of just going for the big numbers, but it was a lesson well learned.

[Read More!]

Screen Scraping Your Way Into RSS

by Dennis Pallett

Screen scraping your way into RSS Introduction RSS is one the hottest technologies at the moment, and even big web publishers (such as the New York Times) are getting into RSS as well. However, there are still a lot of websites that do not have RSS feeds.

If you still want to be able to check those websites in your favourite aggregator, you need to create your own RSS feed for those websites. This can be done automatically with PHP, using a method called screen scrapping. Screen scrapping is usually frowned upon, as it's mostly used to steal content from other websites.

I personally believe that in this case, to automatically generate a RSS feed, screen scrapping is not a bad thing. Now, on to the code!

[Read More!]

Climbing Mount Profit (Starting From The Top)
by John Reese

I have been an entrepreneur for most of my life. I started my journey as an entrepreneur at age 11. Ironically, it was running a BBS (bulletin board system) with a computer, a 300 baud modem, and a phone line in 1981.

(BBSs essentially became the Internet that we know today.)

It would take me nearly 15 long years of being an entrepreneur before I would really make much money. And by that I mean more than $6,500 in a single YEAR which didn't happen until almost 15 years later.

I have made every mistake in the book and invented several new ones when it comes to being an entrepreneur.

I was in nearly $100,000 of debt by age 22 -- mainly from trying every business possible.

I practically ruined my health by age 25 and it almost killed me.

[Read More!]

Most Linked By Bloggers: Jon Stewart

The transcript of Jon Stewart's debate on CNN's "Crossfire" in October was the most blogged news item of 2004, according to market research firm Intelliseek. Bloggers linked to the "Crossfire" episode 1,880 times in 2004, followed by the Slate.com's "Unfairenheit 9/11: the Lies of Michael Moore," and 1,174 posts for the BBC's obituary of radio DJ John Peel.

--Ross Fadner

---

© 2004 MediaPost Communications. All rights reserved.
16 W. 19th Street, 9th floor New York, NY 10011
phone: 212-204-2000 fax: 212-204-2038
feedback@mediapost.com

Buzz-Informed Predictions for 2005
BY Pete Blackshaw

When not writing this column, I'm usually analyzing and interpreting lots and lots of buzz; buzz on forums, buzz on blogs, buzz around the water cooler. Marketers actually pay for this analysis because it shines a light on how consumers think and feel. That, in turn, informs better assumptions about what's coming. This always comes in handy when spending money, planning a marketing campaign, or dodging an attack.

This year brought a great deal of attention and visibility to the practice of monitoring buzz and word of mouth. We saw the explosion of blogs, establishment of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), and a New York Times Magazine cover story on buzz marketing. There were spirited and continual debates over word-of-mouth ethics and a slew of research reports on this topic, including a recent Pew study noting nearly a third of all Internet consumers contribute online opinions, reviews, or ratings.

So with buzz as a backdrop, I couldn't resist the temptation to wrap up the year with a few predictions for 2005 about marketing and advertising, informed by both consumer and industry buzz. If I'm wrong, forgive me. If I'm right, please don't shoot the messenger.

To read this news item in its entirety CLICK HERE

Great! So Now Your Web Site *Sounds* Like Crap
by John Reese

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've noticed that Armand Morin's AudioGenerator service is taking the industry by storm.

It's not just because it allows you to add audio to your web pages. Heck, there are some much cheaper ways to do that. It's because he's made it brain-dead-simple to do it. You call a phone number, record your message, and get code you paste to your site.

Whamo! You've got audio on your site.

For people that don't want to mess with all the techie stuff involved with adding audio to web pages, his service has made it really simple...

http://www.marketingsecrets.com/audio.html

BUT THERE'S A MAJOR PROBLEM NOW...

[Read More!]

If an RSS feed is the Yahoo Backdoor, is a Blog Google's?
By Tinu Abayomi-Paul

Though the answer is in a book I wrote this July, the question is still asked of me repeatedly. Why does it work for some sites and not others? And how come some blogs get indexed in a day and then are dropped, and others stay in Google indefinitely?

Well, let’s take one question at a time. The answer to whether you can blog your way into Google search results is yes, sometimes in six weeks, often in 24 hours.

Yes, you read right, in less than 24 hours. Under certain conditions, the search engines actually want you to succeed at this.

I’m aware that these statements may cause some controversy, but that won’t make them any less factual. Since September, Google has been set up to show you proof of this, which we’ll go over in part two. My new blog has been spidered and indexed daily since it was created.

[Read More!]

Planning and Evaluating Marketing Programs
by Bobbette Kyle

Measuring and understanding your Website's success is a critical process that is sometimes overlooked. Many times, marketing efforts stop at getting traffic to the site. The next step is to evaluate results.

By "connecting the dots" between your marketing programs and end results, you can improve performance. Ultimately, site success depends on how well your site performs with respect to your goals. Measuring actual results against those goals tells you how well your site is succeeding.

Improving results means not only measuring the results themselves but also measuring, understanding, and adjusting the events that lead to those results. Further, having a marketing plan that identifies general strategies and specific programs for meeting your site goals will give you a higher baseline performance to work with when improving upon your site's success.

Have a Plan

[Read More!]

Marketing with Blogs and RSS Feeds
By Hong Brandon

Perhaps you still don't realize or fully understand the power of RSS Feeds as a marketing tool.

After all, email works fine, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, the truth is:

1. It's getting harder to send e-mails to the prospect's inbox because of SPAM filters

2. People are getting numbed by the amount of e-mails they receive everyday

3. People are not reading their e-mails

4. It's getting harder to get people to opt-in or subscribe to your newsletter or content.

With RSS feeds, this changes the playing field:

[Read More!]

Tips on How to Earn Money with a Home Business

by Jim Noel

Everyone wants tips on how to earn money with a home based business. It never seems to amaze me that a lot of people with a work at home business are not earning some money.

When I got to question a few of these people about why they are not earning any money, I found out why!

People, you have to do something to earn something! Just because you have joined a MLM or affiliate program, don’t think just by sitting back you will earn some money. NOT TRUE!!!

So I have tried to make it easy on these people by coming up with the necessary things you need to do to earn money from home.
[Read More!]

Monthly IVWCC Women's eBusiness Roundtable

The International Virtual Women's Chamber of Commerce will hold a 24 hour Women's eBusiness Roundtable on Thursday, December 16. Getting your business ready for 2005 will be the overall theme of our December roundable. We will discuss how to perk up your business plan; prep your books for the upcoming tax season; what business tactics worked and didn't work for you in 2004; networking strategies to reach the women in business market; and much much more.

A one hour live discussion will be held in IVWCC's VOIP conference at 8:30 p.m. eastern. Guests will be able to ask questions and network. Mics are not required. The roundtable will be conducted on a private ListServ. Guests are given a complimentary pass to attend one roundtable. After that, the fee is $10 to participate in future roundtables unless they join the IVWCC.

Subscribe to our private Women's eBusiness Roundtable ListServ by visiting lists.ivwcc.org/listinfo.cgi/womensroundtable-ivwcc.org. Your subscription request will have to be approved before you can participate.

Jerrilynn B. Thomas
Contact Jerrilynn - 770-603-6521 Noon - 8 p.m. eastern

Important Chamber Links
Members Area & FAQ - http://www.ivwcc.org/connectwithus
Member Profile Template - http://www.ivwcc.org/success.php
Women's News Bureau - http://www.womensnewsbureau.com
Meet & Greet Profile Template - http://www.ivwcc.org/meetandgreet.php
Virtual Women List Management - http://lists.ivwcc.com/listinfo.cgi/virtualwomen-ivwcc.com
Subscribe to IVWCC's RSS Channel - http://quikonnex.com/channel/quiksteps/ivwcc
Networking List Management - http://lists.ivwcc.org/listinfo.cgi/networking-ivwcc.org
Women's eBusiness Roundtable List Management - http://lists.ivwcc.org/listinfo.cgi/womensroundtable-ivwcc.org

---

Tell Jerrilynn you found out about this event on Kick The Email Habit RSS Channel with Cathy Carlton and Kim Bloomer - thank you!

Phil Leigh of Inside Digital Media Spotlights Encouraging Enterprises, Inc., a New Source for Free Audio

Phil Leigh, of Inside Digital Media, interviews Penny Haynes, CEO of Encouraging Entertainment, Inc., about her multi-media publishing house for the everyday man.

(PRWEB) December 5, 2004 -- Phil Leigh, the expert on digital media, spotlighted a new multi-media company, Encouraging Enterprises, Inc., this week.

According to Phil, "Penny's company provides a number of Digital Media functions for consumers. For example, she has a website for downloadable audio books, some of which are free. Another website provides audio-downloadable magazines which she calls audiozines. Encouraging Enterprises also provides online tutorials to teach people how to create their own audio books and other multimedia content. She focuses on making all of this available at low cost."

[Read More!]

Top 10 Tips for Developing A Newsworthy PR Pitch

by Barbara K. Mednick

“Public sentiment is everything. With it nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed.”
— Abraham Lincoln

These days, the media plays a much larger role in our lives than it did in Abraham Lincoln’s time. The need to gain public sentiment, however, has not changed, causing public relations to be more important today than ever. Continued growth of the Internet also has increased the influence of public relations.

LOW COST, HIGH CREDIBILITY
It used to be that advertising was king, but not anymore. The rise of branding has shifted the priority of the elements that constitute an integrated branding campaign, which also now includes websites, public relations, marketing and other strategies, according to an article in IABC’s September 2004 CW Bulletin.

[Read More!]

Livewire: News and Info Junkies Take New Look at RSS
By Lisa Baertlein

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - News and information junkies are taking a new look at RSS, a technology that helps them feed their habit without getting overwhelmed in the clutter of the information age.

News organizations and Web log commentators constantly update hot stories, and RSS technology can help people stay abreast of the latest developments. But RSS is about more than the latest news. Some online shoppers use it to keep an eye out for rare items that come up for bid on eBay.

Users say the simple utility of RSS is its greatest strength. Popular demand, together with higher-capacity networks and a crop of RSS-related readers that make it easier to keep track of massive amounts of incoming information, have lately caught the eye of venture capitalists.

To read this news article in its entirety
CLICK HERE

Worn Out Brochure Design Is Keeping Small Business Owners Down

by John Jantsch

I got another one of those calls the other day...Can you make me a brochure?" Many business owners have been sold on the notion that they need a tri-fold brochure or they are not in business. Forget it...everybody's got one and no one uses it.

Your potential clients need an education. They need to know how you are different. (The typical tri-fold brochure simply confirms that you are the same.)

Every small business should create the following pieces of information and format them in a way that allows them be printed inexpensively and updated often. I like to call this approach, the Marketing Kit. Your marketing kit starts with several professionally printed pieces that are the framework for up to 10 or 12 different educational documents. The core components are:

1. A pocket folder - A multi-use workhorse, this piece alone, if designed well, can send the message that you are in business to stay. (This one will cost a little but it has many uses)

[Read More!]

Hello Online Marketers! This week's featured guest is Linda Miller. Linda is a Life Coach. She is straight forward and to the point. I think you'll enjoy her interview.

---

KB: Linda Miller, thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview for our readers. To set the stage for this interview, would you please tell us a bit about yourself?

LM: I’m from NC, now living in MI with my husband, whom I met on the Internet 7 years ago and married 6 months later. We consider it a miracle that we met and we continue to grow together in our spiritual awareness and desire to help others.

KB: Wow, a true Internet success! Okay, give us your elevator speech, or 30-second spiel, about what you do, about your business:

LM: I am a Spiritual Entrepreneur and an Internet Marketer. My passion is providing tools and resources to help others learn more about spiritual principles that can empower them to manifest prosperity and abundance in their lives.
KB: What an interesting business Linda. How long have you been in business for yourself? [Read More!]

How to Write A Blog... And Survive
by Priya Shah

Copyright © 2004 Priya Shah

The question of the day is "Should you start a Blog?"

People all over the planet are blogging. Companies, CEOs, lawyers, journalists, stewardesses. Even dogs and babies.

Why? Because they can. It's that simple.

Blogging requires little or no learning curve. If you can type, speak into a phone, bark, chew, record a holiday movie, you can blog.

Blogs have taken publishing out of the domain of those who know HTML and designing, to make this powerful tool available to the rest of us.

[Read More!]

Shopping Cart Abandonment – Discover 5 Things you can do to Lower Cart Abandonment
By Joe Duchesne

A common frustration among merchants who sell online via a shopping cart is the percentage of people who abandon their cart and leave the site never to return. This is known as the shopping cart abandonment rate. It is not unheard of for companies to experience as high as a 99% abandonment rate. Getting the abandonment rate under control can go a long way towards increasing the income your company earns from their online venture.

1. Don't make them register until they have to

A common complaint amoung web shoppers is the irritation and invasion of privacy they feel when they have to register for a new account before they can even use the shopping cart. If people have to share their personal information with you before they even know if they want to buy from you, they'll often click away never to return. Whenever possible, get them to register after they know how much something will cost them including shipping. This will help them to feel