Online, Internet, or Search Marketing?

What IS in a name?

My surname, for instance, means either 'mighty as a boar' if it's from Saxon Germany, or 'native of Evreux' in what is now northern France, if it's Norman.

My wife Jacqui's surname is French-speaking Swiss, via Jersey. I'm still amazed at the series of coincidences that brought us both to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

Anyway, I recently posed a question on Facebook:

'If you promote your business on the web, which do you use - online marketing, Internet marketing or search engine marketing?'

What I was trying to get at was not so much, 'Which do you use' as, 'What do you call it?' because the three terms are to most people virtually interchangeable. What I really wanted was a clue as to what search term I should optimise a website for.

But the people who answered tended to choose one type over the others, so I had to re-think.

Now, I still think 'online marketing' is interchangeable with 'Internet marketing', but they both cover a wide range of marketing strategies that happen to employ Internet-based technology. Emails, for example, or direct mail sending people to an otherwise obscure website.

For instance, Andrew Reynolds doesn't bother too much about optimising his sales pages for the search engines because he knows he can rely on exceptionally good direct mail to send visitors to them.

So if you're not on Mr Reynold's list, you might not ever stumble across one of his promotions in time to take advantage of it.

Whereas what we specialise in, under the broad title of 'online marketing' is in fact search engine marketing, or even just 'search marketing'. We get our clients' websites higher in the search results and we add a few more useful listings as well, so our clients don't so much show up on Google as invade it.

Much like the Saxons and Normans invaded England, actually. Maybe it's in the blood.

So that's what I've been doing with some of my time: invading Google and daydreaming around quotes from Shakespeare. How very English.

Roy

Online Marketing Project in Bury St Edmunds

One of the tactics you can use to get you onto page one of Google is an online news release, or several news releases.

We had great results for our marketing test using Pressbox, which offers a free service. It got us third place on page one with this item about the online marketing services we offer in Bury St Edmunds.

It's probably only slipped lower on the page because we took another eight places as well!

So think about using online news releases for marketing your business. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering news. If you're unsure about how to write a news release, we'll be happy to help.

Roy

Cinnamon Edge Moves (Temporarily...)

Due to unforseen circumstances (okay, we forgot), CinnamonEdge.com was allowed to lapse last week.

But, that little 'mishap' won't stop our online marketing, either in Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk, or for the rest of the world, for that matter...


...and Cinnamon Edge is now to be found at http://www.cinnamonedge.co.uk

See you back at the website!

Roy

How Do You Price Your Product?

Hello again

One thing we can all find difficult, especially if we're new to business, entering a new niche or launching a totally new product, is how to set the price.

Surprisingly, a low price can reduce sales, because it reduces theperceived value of the product.
So what a lot of people do when they start is to look around for roughly comparable products and set their price a little lower than the average their competitors are asking. What does this do?

It lowers the perceived value of the product to less than most ofthe alternatives. So how many people will choose the new product ahead of one of its rivals, which cost just a little more?

Very few, I'd say.

But when we launched The Complete Marketing Manual there were no direct competitors to compare it with. There were very few offering anything remotely similar. So what could we do to set a realistic price for The Complete Marketing Manual?

We tried to think what we might be prepared to pay. Bad idea. We asked other people what they might pay. Better, but not perfect, becaue they weren't actually going to buy it. All we could actuallydo was set a price and test it. Result: we need to raise the price,and soon.

So, while The Complete Marketing Manual is currently £47 or $97,depending which sales page you go to (that's about the same price, depending on exchange rates), it's going to be more than that in thenear future. Not immediately, because we're also testing something else, but soon.

So now you have advanced warning of the price rise, and the chance to buy it today, for £47 or $97, whichever suits you best.

Go to http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=LqDY8&m=1ee5dfl0vQRg9P&b=RHTNeMW4RohELdARhcropw for the £47 offer, and to http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=LqDY8&m=1ee5dfl0vQRg9P&b=OZfUuvhHkAYSJvIccdhWuw for the $97 one.

That's it for now, but remember the price will rise soon.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

The Complete Marketing Manual, from Cinamon Edge

Internet Marketing - Anyone Can Do It!

Hello again,

The best thing about Internet marketing, and what prompted me to use such a bold headline, is that it can act as your shop window, your shop floor, your sales person, your cashier, your bookkeeper, your production workers, your workshop and your delivery system. All, pretty much, for free.

And the more you sell, the closer to ‘free’ it gets. Digital products cost nothing to deliver via the Internet, so margins are astronomical. Almost regardless of the business you do now, you will be able to create, or have created for you, a digital product – an ebook, a software download, an audio or video recording, a ‘how-to’ manual, or whatever. The recurring income in IM is from products that cost very little to create except for time and imagination but which sell over and over again, with free delivery and zero manufacturing costs. And ‘physical’ products like manuals, DVDs and the like sell for prices far above the cost of reproduction and delivery anyway.

So you haven't missed the boat, even if you haven't started yet. Here's a great resource that will take you all the way from novice to know-it-all, and from zero income to a potential income with lots of zeros. It's from my good friend Terry Telford, and I have to say he's roped in a good few friends of his own - and what circles he moves in!

Terry's 'Business Building Strategies E-course' is the real deal. You might even be intimidated by the sheer amount of wisdom he's collected together, but the great thing is you can follow one 'teacher' at a time or dip in and out to gradually hone your own methods and fill in the blanks in your knowledge-base. If he's left out a thing, I haven't spotted it! Get it HERE.

Another great thing about the Internet is that you can keep things very simple: while it’s delivering your merchandise and collecting and recording payments, the Internet is simultaneously building you a database of clients you can go back to time after time. By integrating an auto responder system like Aweber into your sales and marketing process, you can automatically add every online customer and every enquirer to your database, so you can repeat your sales message as often as you see fit. You can also be more subtle with your email marketing, by providing useful content and information, like our Cinnamon Edge articles and newsletters, building the trust and respect of your potential clients until they feel happy to buy from you. Or they can just keep reading.

Either way, it still costs you next to nothing to stay in touch. If we can do it, so can you!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. You can get the Business Building Strategies E-course here.

PPS. We've also just updated The Complete Marketing Manual and we're so proud of it we want you to have the first chapter, absolutely free, when you go HERE

Business Building Strategies E-Course

Are you using the Internet properly in your business?

Obviously, we use the Internet for a lot of our marketing: it's cheap and powerful and quite easy to use once you get into it. But because it's so versatile you might have despaired of ever learning enough about it to make it work for YOUR business.

Well, here's a brilliant resource we've just uncovered. It's the business building strategies e-course and it's very impressive. It's a combined effort from 50 of the Internet's top level entrepreneurs. Each one shares how they made it to the top of the heap and how they continue to grow their business and their incomes, regardless of the economic climate.

Note that you can use these methods whether or not your business is Internet based, and even if you're very new to business.

But I think the best thing about this course is you can pick one 'instructor' and follow their exact steps to build your business online, take their strategies to make a very substantial part-time income, or just fill in the blanks in your own knowledge by cherry-picking the information you need.

But whichever option suits you, we know this course will help you achieve your business and financial goals. You can review the Business Building Strategies E-Course here.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS Speaking of results: for results-based marketing, go to The Complete Marketing Manual. We'll even give a free chapter when you visit the sales page.

http://www.cinnamonedge.com/cmm.html

21 Ways to Promote Your Business

Hello again.

If you have a business of any kind, you might be getting a bit twitchy about the economy.

You might even be tempted to cut a few corners with your marketing, to shave a few pounds or dollars off the 'cost'.

Well, you should and you shouldn't...

The good news is you can nearly always find a way to get more effective marketing for less. The even better news is we can tell you how, and even that advice is free!

The even better news is we can also show you how to get so much more for your money that you'll soon be proving the ultimate marketing truth: Spending on effective marketing is an investment, not a cost.

So go to http://www.cinnamonedge.com/cmm.html and sign up for the free ebook '21 Easy and Effective Ways to Get You and Your Business Noticed'.

And, while you're there, think about how quickly you could recoup a £47 investment in effective marketing!

The Complete Marketing Manual is on special offer, but we really don't know how long that will last. You probably have until next Monday, at least, since we'll be away and far too busy to update the sales page until then.

But who knows? If it starts flying off the proverbial (and virtual) shelves, we might make time!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS Go to http://www.cinnamonedge.com/cmm.html anyway, and grab your free ebook '21 Easy and Effective Ways to Get You and Your Business Noticed'.

Grab Camtasia - Free!

Because I can't quite believe they meant to do this.

Hello again.

Excuse the urgency, but this is one opportunity that is genuinely too good to miss.

Camtasia - Free.

Yep - not a trial version or a freeware copy or a special, reduced-usability version, but Camtasia 3, absolutely free.

To get it, before they realise what they've done, go here to download the trial version: http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe to your desktop, or wherever.

Then go to this page and enter your details as requested, whereupon you'll be emailed a 'software key' (a password, really) by Techsmith that enables you to install Camtasia 3, absolutely free. Here's the page:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

I'd do it right away if I were you. Alright, so they'll offer you an upgrade to the latest version (version 5, I think), but it's very easy to ignore!

And if you're wondering what the hell Camtasia is, it's that very clever video-capture software that allows absolutely anyone to create a 'how to' video on their computer. Like 'How to build a website', or 'How to use Camtasia', for that matter. And since video is the 'must have' information product now, you'd be daft not to grab it.

Camtasia is a brilliant tool, and I promise I didn't hesitate to steal it!


Roy, Writing For Results

Selling Information Products

Hello

Just a quick one this evening...

As a copywriter, part of my business is in creating and marketing information products. In fact, the major products we're working on at Cinnamon Edge right now are information products to be marketed offline and online.

There's no doubt that the online option is the cheaper, easier option for beginners to the information product business. With that in mind I wrote a brief report about a year ago on how to get started online.

A few months ago I updated my beginners' guide and I've just made some more minor changes and posted it online HERE.

If you've been wanting to try your hand at info products but just don't know where to start, then start with my beginners' guide. It's totally free, you don't have to sign up for anything and it doesn't even need downloading.

Just read it on your screen, or feel free to print it and pass it on as you wish. Just keep my details intact if you do.

It's online and waiting for you right HERE.

UPDATE: Today saw the launch of a great new product that takes online marketing into the Web 2.0 age. And if that sounds a little intimidating, rest assured that Web 2.0 Stampede takes you every step of the way with Facebook, MySpace, etc, and every other manifestation of Web 2.0. I was lucky enough to get a preview copy, and it's brilliantly written. You can get your copy by clicking HERE.

Cheers for now,

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. If you're after some more advanced information, leave me a message here or email me here and I'll try to help. I look forward to hearing from you.

PPS. Don't forget, you can be amongst the first to get Web 2.0 Stampede here.

What's He Got ...

... That I Haven't?

It seems a fair question to me. I mean, why should some people have all the luck, all the money, and that damn attitude that seems to say, 'I deserve it all'?

What do truly, exceptionally, mind-bogglingly successful people have that the rest of the population lacks?

What is it that divides the self-made 'haves' from the unmade 'have nots' (not counting those that inherited or otherwise got lucky)?

In short; what have they got that gets them everything else?

I think that's the wrong question, however we phrase it.

I think what they actually have is something missing.

Something like doubt, fear, uncertainty - or something that creates those unhelpful feelings, anyway.

I've finished Professor Daniel Gilbert's excellent book Stumbling on Happiness, and if you've read it too, you might well know what I'm talking about. You might have come to a similar conclusion already, anyway.

It's that mental process that seems 'unique to humans' - a dangerous phrase, as the Professor points out - which is so unreliable in most of us we really might be better off without it sometimes. It's called imagination.

It's imagination that shows us the worst possible consequences of an action, and it's imagination that makes us fearful for a child's safety when they're out of sight, even when keeping them in sight might put them in greater danger. It's imagination that makes us wonder 'What if I can't do it?'

And that's something that the most ballsy, seat-of-their-pants, outlandishly flamboyant and successful entrepreneurs in the world never seem to allow themselves to consider. Some of them don't seem able to conceive of the idea.

So, next time you're considering a new venture, and wondering 'Should I try this? What if I can't do it?' Stop imagining and just try!

Who actually knows what will happen if you do try? Not you, that's for sure.

And what's the worst that could happen?

No - don't answer that!

Unless you want to stay exactly where you are, that is.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

The Number 1 List Building Secret

Hello again

In a conversation I had with a business partner on Friday, I was suddenly reminded that we were about to reveal to the world the number one list building secret - the method ALL the world's most successful marketers, without exception, use to build their massive lists ...

• EVEN the ones who promote SEO
• EVEN the ones who sell you Adwords guides
• EVEN those who encourage you to create your own information products
• EVEN the ones who own traffic exchanges
• EVEN the ones who say you should sell products from mini-sites
• AND EVEN the ones who say that viral marketing is the way forward

ALL use this method above all others to build their massive lists quickly and, most importantly, almost for free.

We will be using it too, very soon, to virtually guarantee fantastic results. And I'll be in a position to let you in on the secret just as soon as we go live...

Don't stay away too long, or you might miss it!

In fact, to make sure you don't miss our launch - the day when we reveal how the top gurus really make their money, and how you can copy them - subscribe to this website, using the form on the top right-hand side of the page.

Until next time,

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. I can let you in on one little secret, though - all this excitement came about as a result of ... you guessed it ... networking! And if you're not doing that, you really are missing a trick!

Why Long Copy Works

(and why it needn't matter if it doesn't)

It seems to be a perennial debate: long copy versus short copy. But most copywriters know from experience (and from reading the copywriting gurus) that long copy far outsells short copy, especially for high-ticket items.

Why?

Well, first let's look at why short copy might sometimes be better.

Business people are busy people. They don't have time to spend reading page after page of sales material, however excitingly written, before they decide whether or not to spend a few pounds or dollars. It just isn't cost effective – their time is too precious.

They'd be better off buying something a little less than perfect than wasting that precious time.

So, for a low priced item, short copy is the way to go. In fact, it might not be worth investing in a copywriter’s fees for a low cost item. Of course, if the item sells by the million it would be worth every penny, but that's another matter.

In short copy, there's a headline, a story, an offer and a call to action. Call them by other names if you will, but they're the essential elements, and the advantage to the customer is that they know exactly what your offer is, almost at a glance.

For higher-priced items, it's different. When someone is contemplating spending a lot of money (for them) they need to be convinced it's worth it. They may take a fair bit of persuading, but the time spent - yours and theirs - will be worth it if they can save or make the value of that time, plus the price of the product, many times over.

They may not make that calculation consciously, but on some level or other they will be making a judgement on whether you're wasting their time. Even before, that is, they decide whether they'll be wasting their cash buying your product.

Which is why, perversely, it needn't matter. So long as your long copy is constructed properly they can get all the short copy benefits, while you offer all the reassurance and potential persuasiveness of long copy.

You may spend page after page extolling the virtues and numerous irresistible benefits of your product, but a hurried and harassed businessperson needs to be able to scan your copy in seconds and deduce exactly what you're offering, how it can solve their problem and the price they'll have to pay.

Then, if they're interested, they’ll go back and read in more detail. And study after study shows that while long copy outsells short copy, it's the short copy 'scanned' version that the buyer actually sees first and on which they'll most likely base their decision to buy or not buy.

So, when you produce your long copy it needs to have exactly the same elements as your short copy.

In fact, at first sight it should actually look like short copy with a lot of extra detail between the essential bits!

So, you'll need:

· a headline, emphasising the main benefit

· body copy, explaining the product and its benefits

· the offer, which is the price plus bonuses and guarantees

· the close or call to action, made as easy as possible.

Each of these elements must be highlighted with a sub-heading so the busy reader can pick them out at a glance.

And here’s the critical part: those sub-heads must tell a coherent story on their own, to get the message across to the quick-scanning reader.

Here’s how legendary John Caples put it recently: “[Long or short] depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Generally speaking the more explaining you need to do to get your reader to understand the product’s benefits fully, or the more money it costs, the longer the copy you’ll need.
In many cases, longer copy will work best. But remember, it’s not because it’s long that it works. It still needs to be brief and succinct in the sense that it packs maximum meaning and benefit into each sentence … Distil it down as much as possible without omitting any of the points … of interest to the target market …then render the copy in logical chunks prefaced with powerful, curiosity inducing sub-heads that stop skimmers and skippers, drawing them into the copy. Finally … edit your sub-heads into a logical summary of your entire sales argument.”


So the details (detailing benefits remember), the credibility-building testimonials and explanations of why this is such a terrific never to be repeated offer, etc, all fit in between these compelling sub headings.

End with a PS - the ultimate short copy summarising all the above - and there you have it - long copy that works like short copy. But better!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. I’ll be giving you more tips of the copywriter’s trade right here in the days and weeks to come. But you can make sure you don’t miss a single one by subscribing to this site – it's free and the sign up is top right on this page – AND you’ll also get occasional, exclusive information for subscribers only, PLUS a member’s only free offer in the very near future. But you’ll have to subscribe to find out what that is!

What's Your Net Worth?

Okay, so what is your net worth?

If you're a financier or banker, or you have money matters on your mind, you might well be thinking that's none of my business.

If you're a deep sea trawler skipper, you might think differently.

And if you're a trawler skipper who's especially aware of his or her finances, you might have read the question both ways...

But, if you owned the Internet, you'd probably be able to answer, 'As much as I'd ever want.'

All of which goes to show that we need to understand what we're being asked before we can give a useful answer. From there, we can draw all kinds of lessons about finding out what people want before we try to sell them a thing; about how communication is a two-way affair, and how the best answer in the world may be totally irrelevant to the person asking the question.

Sometimes, though, an unexpected answer to a question we've asked gives us a wonderful insight into a world we would never otherwise have known.

On a more mundane level, a product designed to solve one problem may actually be a perfect solution to another problem we didn't know existed. Apparently, chewing gum was 'discovered' by scientists trying to create synthetic rubber.

Do you have a product that just won't shift? Is it a great product, but without a great demand? If so, could you market it as the solution to a whole different problem - even one you didn't know was a problem?

Maybe; maybe not. But bat around some crazy ideas anyway - you never know. After all, who would have thought people would pay for a food you have to chew forever without it ever being ready to swallow, that has no nutritional value whatsoever and which, as far as I know, is totally indigestible?

Well, all over the world, people buy chewing gum.

And remember, even something that only ever sells to a small minority can make you a fortune if you can spread your marketing 'net' across the whole world.

So I wonder; what's Wrigley's net worth?

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. What? All this talk of 'nets' and not a mention of networking? Well, you ought to know by now that I think that's priceless. But rest assured, I'll get back to it!

Back on My Soap Box

Just a relatively gentle reminder, really, of the absolute necessity to get out there and network if you want your business to grow exponentially. And if you want to meet the people who can help you to the next stage, even the next five or six stages, you have to get to the biggest events you can.

Because that's where you'll not only get the best information but also get to meet the biggest names - the people who can help make people like you rich, with nothing more than a few well-chosen words or a single deal.

So, knowing what I know about the importance of learning and networking, I'd be negligent if I didn't tell you about a massive opportunity to network like there's no tomorrow...

AND to learn from some the BIGGEST names in Internet marketing

AND to profit from some amazing bonuses - easily worth far more than the ticket price

AND to witness a live experiment in online marketing

ALL at the WORLD INTERNET SUMMIT UK, at Earls Court, London on 15-18 November.

I'll be there. Most of my JV partners will be there. You can meet Ewen Chia, Tim Brocklehurst and Sean Roach there too, along with Tracey Repchuck, Tom Hua, Brett McFall and others.

Fancy networking with those kind of people?

If you really want to make it big in Internet marketing and you can possibly make it, you must get to Earls Court on 15-18 November. In fact, just cancel any other plans you had!

Because it's not called the World Internet Summit for nothing.

Want to know more? Click here for more information

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. It's a massive event; everyone who's anyone in the world of online marketing is going, so just click here to see who you'll meet. Don't delay too long, though - I've no idea what the capacity is, but I do know it's filling fast.

PPS. Excuse me getting excited, but this really is massive. I only just heard about it yesterday and I snatched up one of the remaining tickets. It's just too good to miss.