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| From Chris Kilian, Stealth Promotions Austin, Texas email: chris@stealthpromotions.com Welcome Stealth Promotions' Ezine to our official launch of the Stealth Promotions' Ezine: Secrets for Success. We are now able to commit to regular publication of this Internet tool. Until this time, we have been gathering names without sending anything, which frankly is a bad deal for you, our subscriber. Your patience is appreciated and about to be rewarded. All of you have indicated that you wish to receive this publication, which will be sent by email. We are VERY interested in knowing what you wish to get from us. We expect this newsletter to evolve over time. We expect add sections as we go along. Please tell us what you think. Tell us what you like and don't like. Make suggestions. If you are not interested in getting this information from us please see the directions at the bottom of this communication. Now without further comment comes information we believe will help you fight the good fight in your cyberwars. Contents: 1. Guest Article 2. Useful Sites 3. My Article 4. Misc. 1.############################################################# 3 YEARS OF WEB MARKETING IN 60 SECONDS by Joe Bellshaw I have now been marketing on the net for almost three years. Previously I had been a successful import/export entrepreneur for the last 12 years. Last year I sold my old business, sold all our manufacturing equipment, fired 14 employees, leased out our 10,000 sq. foot warehouse and devoted my new full time career to marketing on the internet. ( Hmmm that sounded way too easy ) It was a major change in my life, and a new path that is now proving to be more profitable and rewarding than all of my previous careers. When I first started out, all I wanted from the internet was to use the free resources that were so readily available. Who doesn't love the word "free"? I sure did, and judging from the top 10 keyword searches produced by most of the major search engines, a lot of other people seemed to like that word too. I did everything I could for free. i.e.: bulk email, newsgroup postings, free classified ads, free for all links, etc. In fact, I even built an extensive web site, which focused on utilizing those free resources. I experimented with everything. I placed classified ads, I bought all the latest "promotion promising" software, I tried bulk email (which was more hassle than it's worth), I joined every known banner exchange, you name it, I tried it. To make a long story short, the four key aspects to successful Web marketing I've learned over the years are: 1) You get what you pay for 2) You must offer something that relates to the masses, or at least a sizable niche market. 3) Target, Target , Target your advertising to your audience 4) The best things in life are not always free In my opinion, these keys to success all point to one direction, NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING. It's cheap, it's fast, it works! The biggest obstacle I faced when trying this new marketing medium, was the fact that it wasn't free. I simply could not get over the fact that I had to pay for advertising. Boy was I a cheap, dumb, newbie. I wish to God I had this information sooner. I'm sure it was out there - somewhere, I just never knew how effective it really was. Honestly, I wouldn't have even believed it had I not experienced the results for myself. (Sound familiar ?) So I pulled out the 'ol visa card and placed my first newsletter ad. It was something like $16.00 and was mailed to about 4000 subscribers. I received a confirmation from the editor that my ad was scheduled to run in about 10 days. I basically forgot about it, and carried on with my daily routine. About a week went by, and as usual, I checked my morning mail. I'm watching the mail come down... it says 1 of 42 messages. What ? Did some jerk off send me a mail bomb ? After peeking through the first few messages, I then realized my newsletter ad ran. To my disbelief, I had dozens of orders and inquiries from here to New Zealand. The phone started ringing, and our server logs actually had something to log. I was completely freaked out. The bottom line was that the $16.00 investment turned into $700 in immediate orders, plus another $200-300 that trickled in over the next few days. Was this a some kind of magical newsletter ? I had to find out. I then went on to advertise in a different one. 10 days later, the same thing happened. I continued again, and again. Each time the results kept getting better and better. I then realized I had a winning product. I just needed it to be seen by the right customer. I bumped up my ad budget and started securing ads in most every newsletter I could find. It didn't seem to matter which newsletter I was in, as long as the targeted audience was right. The good thing for you, is that there are now newsletters about everything. From apples to zebra's. There's a market out there for just about anyone or anything. A few of the requirements are: 1) a good product or service that people want 2) the ability to accept and process orders efficiently 3) at least $16 in your advertising budget 4) a targeted audience 5) honesty and integrity Mind you there are quite a few more, but if you possess these, you're well on your way. As much as I would like to tell you where to advertise, or which newsletter is right for you, this will solely depend on the type of product or service that you sell. They key here is finding a newsletter that reports (or writes about) the interests of your product, and maintains a targeted subscriber base. The fastest way to find this is to run the search phrase " newsletters " on most any search engine. You might also try " newsletter + the type of your product/service". -------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c)1998 The Classified Club tm all rights reserved. Publishers are given permission to re-publish this article as long as it is done so in it's entirety with no changes whatsoever, and the publisher gives appropriate credit to the author, and his web site at: http://www.tunza-products.com/classified/ads.html 2.############################################################ Looking to make online money? We highly recommend that you click on over to http://www.associateprograms.com where our friend Allan in constantly on the lookout for the good and the bad of affiliate/reseller programs. Become a regular subscriber to his newsletter for up to the minute inside information that can make or save you time and money. Need to create a quick banner for your site, but short on skills? Zip over to http://www.animation.com/ and let their free online wizard help you whip up something nice. We created a 468X60 in about a minute. You can too. Knowing that the web is time consuming, let us suggest you take a few minutes to hop over to ED Foods and get yourself some free soup. While there is no such thing as a free meal in real life, in cyberspace, you can have these nice folks deliver a sample of their product to your door. You will find the free sample offer at: http://www.ed-foods.com/freesample2.html While you are there, look around at what smart, sassy copy and artwork can do for your webpages. 3.############################################################ I originally meant to create and send this article to Stealth Promotions' Ezine alone, intending to deliver right to your email address at chris@stealthpromotions.com. However, I posted it online, and this article has been kindly included in several other newsletters. One editor called the article "lengthy, but insightful" ... whatever that means. Ads That Sell Chris Kilian, Stealth Promotions Why advertise, unless you want your ad to sell? The secrets to successful advertising, ads that sell, are available to you if you just remember the last time you went fishing. Ever been fishing? I don't get to go as often as I want, but I have noticed some truths that apply to successful fishing trips also apply to successful advertising. Whether you are on the water in a boat, on a shoreline, or a pier, you will notice the same thing happen over and over again. The successful fisherman goes where the fish are. Watch the action the next time you go. Everyone stakes out their own territory, and begins individual efforts to find fish. After some time, if conditions are right, someone catches a fish. There are ooos and ahs by those who have caught nothing. However, if no one else is catching fish, especially if the successful fisherman catches another, there is a migration towards the area where the action is. After a while, the successful will have to contend with people right next to them, but everyone goes home with fish. The first lesson about ads that sell is to follow the action. You, as an advertiser, must go where others are. You could be a true explorer and find your own success alone, and you may wish to do that to some extent. However, in addition to that strategy, until you find your own areas where success comes more easily, you should go where others are advertising now. As you select your own location or medium for advertising your product (free classifieds, paid classifieds, usenet groups, newsletters and the like) follow the action. The first measurement you must assess before you spend much effort or money is whether others are being successful in that medium. Success breeds competition. Competition gets the medium noticed, which brings more potential clients, which leads to more success. Success is contagious. Catch it. If your offer is not bringing you success, examine where you are placing your offer. I have never caught a fish in a tree, although I have strategically placed a few lures there. I had all the right gear. The bait was perfect, but the location was all wrong. I can't catch fish where none exist. Follow the action, and you will have success rub off on you. You can leave your bait in a tree, if you wish, (I have) but to succeed with your offer, put it where you find similar offers. Ok, so what if you are right next to successful advertisers, and you are not making sales? The next lesson for success also comes from lessons learned on the boat. Have you determined that you are in the right area, your target market is all around you, but you still get no bites? Examine your bait. The second lesson for ads that sell is to use appropriate offers for your target market. There have been many times, that successful fishermen have had to share not only their location (which is hard to hide) but their bait. Look at what the other person is using to be successful. When I was in the boat, and fish were biting artificial bait, I switched to artificial. When live bait brought bites, I used live bait. I matched what I saw was working, rather than foolishly being smart about what "should" work which leads to more of the same. Don't you notice that when you find a good medium, there seem to be many offers that sound the same? You should do the same. Your offer may be the best thing since sliced bread, and you should point out your competitive differences, BUT your offer, at least as you start your venture, should have the look and feel of other successful offers. You may feel that your success rate would drop, because there are so many of the same type of offers there already. The truth is that the market you want is probably reading many of those same-sounding offers. They are there because they want to read information about your type of product or service. They might as well read yours too. If your offer has the same delivery style (not the same words) you will have potential clients look at your offer too. IF you follow my first lesson to follow the action, your chance of having ads that sell will depend on using an offer that matches your target market. OK, so you where your target market is with the appropriate offers, but still no sales? The third lesson for ads that sell is how you handle your hook. I love fishing with kids. Their eyes widen with just a nibble, and they explode with excitement when they get an actual bite. Kids love to fish, but they are not always as successful as they could be because they haven't learned how to work with hooks. Haven't you pulled out your young fishing buddy's line to find the right bait with the hook exposed? Fish are not sympathetic. When they come to bait, they can get excited, but they will not bite an exposed hook. That makes them uncomfortable. A hook must be properly handled to be effective. Exposed hooks have the same effect on your target market. Tell your target market what you want them to do too early, and you spook them. They will see your offer for what it is and run. However, if you can disguise your offer as something valuable without your own self-interest screaming at them, they will take the bait. Empty, naked requests for your target market's money have no more chance of success than empty hooks in the water. You may catch something occasionally by accident, but you won't have an ad that sells. On the other hand, if your advertising is where similar advertising can be found, explaining an offer that is appropriate to the market, discussing your reader's interests first, you will have an ad that sells. OK, so you are following the action, with an appropriate offer, and your hook is not obvious to your reader, but still no sales? Your next lesson is to learn how much bait to offer. Fisherpersons must know how much bait to use for the specific conditions they are facing. Some types of bait, artificial lures for example, are complete as they are. They are without discretion. If you have determined your offer is a one-size fits all offer, this part of the lesson may not apply to you. The rest of you should think about children fishing. Have you noticed that they need your guidance on how much bait to offer at any one time? If one worm is good, isn't two or three better? That is their under-developed reasoning process. They don't mind wasting extra bait (especially before they are required to bait their own hook.) Unless you have unlimited resources, you must decide how much information to offer your target market. Your advertising can be very specific and detailed, or you can be a bit more general, or you can just tease your market towards your offer. You must decide how much to deliver in your advertising, and that answer may change with when, where, and how you are delivering your ads. The more information or bait your deliver, the more comfortable your market will be with you. The less you explain, the more intrigued your audience may be, but you may lose prospects to distrust if they wonder what you are not telling them. Online advertising, especially classified advertising or free for all links phrases, necessarily deliver less content, less bait. The idea is that it is better to deliver more information later through a web page, phone, fax autoresponders, email or otherwise. I agree with this idea for this medium. Ads that sell are located in places with action with offers attractive to the market delivering a message your audience wants in an appropriate amount. OK, so you are following the action with an offer attractive to your market and your concern for your audience is on display providing the right amount of information, but still no sales? The final difference between a meal from the frying pan or a meal from a drive through window could rest with your ability to set the hook. You must be able to get your audience to act now. Ads that sell have an effective call to action. People generally resist advertising. They generally want to be left alone. In contrast to this is a strong self-interest. That is why advertising is effective. We want to be attractive, smell better, drive cool cars, use neato gadgets and have a better life. Offer them that, and you have the audience's interest. But interest alone is NOT enough. You must give them a reason to ACT on that interest NOW. Without action, your ad is wasted space. Give them a reason to act. Set the hook. Your ad that sells will have four key components. It will create attention, interest, desire and action. Actions come from your command to do something. "Email us. Phone us. Fax us. Contact us. Go to our web pages." If you have an ad that contains the first three elements, your suggestion to take the next step towards a sale will be followed. The final thing to remember about action is timing is critical. Tell your prospect to do something. Tell them how to do it. Tell them when to do it. They will. Once you have an ad that sells, what do you do? Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat...... Like any venture, fishing and advertising take practice and experience. One thing that can increase success is to take advantage of the right combination of elements in your ads that sell, and to do it over and over. The next lesson is you should repeat successful ads that sell. While kids may be misguided when they ask for a fistful of bait when a finger-full would be appropriate, they are right on target in another area. Once fish are being caught, you can catch more if you use two lines rather than one. The only problem may be dealing with trying to land all the fish you are catching. When your sales offer is getting results, the best and fastest way to increase your sales is to repeat that combination over and over. You will know what is working. You will have your advertising where the action is. It will have an offer that is appropriate to your audience. Your own self-interest will be secondary to you reader's desire to gain from your offer. You will be telling your target market enough but not too much, and when the time is right, you advertising will cause your audience to act. You have an ad that sells. Use it. Copyright © 1998 Stealth Promotions This article can be copied and used in your publication or on your web site at no charge. All we ask is that you publish the article in it's entirety, including the footnote found at http://www.stealthpromotions.com/freereport3.htm 4.############################################################# Just getting started? Or just feel like that is true? Need a good source for Internet hints? One of my favorites, in spite of some controversial propositions, is found at: http://marketing.by.net/t.cgi/8490 Got an article you wish to share with fellow subscribers? Send it to me at: spezine@stealthpromotions.com Are you currently publishing a newsletter? I will expose you if you will expose me. What do you say? webmaster@stealthpromotions.com Until next time- Plan your work. Work your plan. Succeed. Chris Kilian, Stealth Promotions Add Our Free "Suggest This Site" Service to your site http://www.stealthpromotions.com/suggest.htm Win One or More of 600+ Awards http://www.stealthpromotions.com/awardlist.htm You are on our opt-in mailing list. We have your subscription request on file. If you do not wish to continue with this newsletter, send a blank email to unsubscribe@stealthpromotions.com and you will be promptly removed. We are bringing you tips, hints, websites, tools and advice that is meant to increase your web traffic and internet success. Feel free to forward this whole message to friends or associates who may wish to take advantage of this type of information. 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