The LuxMob Info Tags

Advertising is a very precise science. It finds its bases in many different fields including copywriting, psychology and even math. In recent decades, we have observed a slow but steady beautification of advertising. For marketing experts this can work. For less savvy advertisers, it is a huge pitfall that draws attention away from the much more important aspects of a successful selling proposition. Faulty advertising costs its makers billions of dollars a year, and almost all are guilty of it, even the huge corporations.

For the sake of clarity, let us define advertising as a call to action, that action being a purchase, a contact for more information or a clickthrough. This distinguishes the former from marketing at large including branding and awareness campaigns, which serve more to build a basis for the influence to make prospects act.

You will see many of today’s internet marketing “gurus” recommending volumes several decades old. There is a good reason for this. Many of those volumes were written by direct marketers that engaged in extremely costly mailings. These ads have to produce optimal results or they produce losses. The upside is that results can be measured and broken down to a ridiculously precise extent. In fact very small fluctuations in these figures separate success from failure.

Back to basics.

First and foremost is the written word. Nothing replaces a captivating headline and solid advertising copy. For headlines, the goal is to grab attention and qualify. Prospects must immediately recognize that the ad is addressed to them and they must also be drawn into the main copy. Ad copy should be as abundant as needed to tell the whole story, or however much of the story is needed to lead to the action you are soliciting.

For internet marketing, this generally means getting a clickthrough to your sales page or that of the affiliate product you represent. There are pre-determined recipes for this purpose: “how to”, “secret”, “?”, “you” as well as too many to list here.

The headline of this article is an amalgamation of several psychological triggers that force attention. “Which one of these 4″ suggests options where the target may be able to find something that applies to them. Moreover it poses an exact number and precision is always appreciated. “Are you guilty of” capitalizes on the fear of not doing things correctly and the word “sin” gives emphasis to this idea.

Without further ado, here are the 4 biggest mistakes you can make in advertising.

1) Being pretty instead of selling. This is really deadly. You don’t need to impress with your design, you need to make a sale, and words sell.

2) Not following a formula. Formulas exist because they work. Use them.

3) Forgetting, even for a single instant, to concentrate on your MDA, Most Desired Action.

4) Not testing different models. This is one of the most painful shortcomings of many marketers. They try an ad and if it’s not profitable the first time, they drop it entirely. If it is profitable, they continue to run it. Here, there is usually an enormous amount of room for improvement. Fluctuations in sales of the order of 500 to 800% are not uncommon…

Advertising comes in many shapes and sizes, with different costs associated to them. Do your research, purchase and read books by the likes of David Ogilvy and follow formulas that are aimed towards direct mailings. The results you get will far outweigh any effort you expend or money you invest.

Alex Goad is a specialist in Incentive Marketing. Read more of his articles at http://www.myeasyblog.com

When decorating the bathroom, there’s no doubt that special attention gets paid to the sink, toilet, towels, and shower. After all, these are the main staples of the bathroom, and they serve as the main focus (both in function and aesthetics). However, the shower curtain is one accessory that can change the whole look and feel of a bathroom, depending on several factors. Furthermore, the internet has changed the whole experience when looking for a shower curtain by adding limitless options. In this article, we’ll give you some easy tips in shopping shower curtains online that may help to makeover the mundane look of your bathroom.

The first consideration when shopping for a shower curtain should be color and design. The days of solid or clear shower curtains that lack personality are definitely a thing of the past. Today, there are hundreds of shower curtain options available online. These range from basic colors to fun, bold colors dressed up with characters and images. While many of the images featured on shower curtains tend to be water-themed (penguins, fish, boats, rubber ducks, etc.) there are others that know no boundaries. Shower curtains can feature sports teams, animals, or cartoon characters - basically, if you can imagine it, there is a shower curtain for you. However, it is important to choose a shower curtain with the colors of your bathroom in mind. It might be fun to buy a hot pink shower curtain, but it is sure to stick out like a sore thumb if your bathroom is designed in blue and white.

Another factor when shopping for a shower curtain online is choosing the right material for you. You may be thinking that all shower curtains are alike, but that is not the case. Shower curtains come in a variety of materials including vinyl, plastic, cloth, and earth-friendly hemp. It is important to decide which look and feel is right for your family before making a purchase.

It is also important to buy a shower curtain online from only the most reputable web sites. How can you ensure that you are making a safe purchase? For starters, you should only buy from sites that have security measures in place to protect your personal financial information. Encryption services such as VeriSign make it impossible for your information to be hacked into by an outside source. This peace of mind is invaluable when shopping online. It is also best to buy from reputable online merchants that you have either dealt with before, or have knowledge of. Many retail and discount stores offer online shopping that is safe and trusted.

By following these tips in shopping shower curtains online, you are sure to find the perfect shower curtain for the bathroom(s) in your home. A shower curtain can be the first step towards renovating a bathroom look that may be stale, or it can help to enhance an already wonderful environment. Either way, shopping for shower curtains online can be a fun experience that will help bring out the best in your bathroom.

Once a cherished project such as your first ebook or ecourse has been completed, we need to turn our attention to the marketing of your project.

Here’s where things sometimes turn somewhat difficult if the author and the marketeer are one and the same person, and here’s where we have to be cautious and take the right steps in the right order, so we might stay on track.

In order to write ANY form of marketing material for your ebook or course, you need to be completely FAMILIAR with all the benefits of your product.

Now it seems obvious that the author, of all people, SHOULD be familiar with the benefits but there is such a thing as over-familiarity, as well as having been immersed in the project for a long time and thus not seeing the proverbial forest for the trees any longer.

I was assisting just such an ebook author and absolute AUTHORITY on writing their major sales page the other day, and I was astonished that they couldn’t answer certain basic questions I put to them, such as:

“How many chapters are there in your book?”

“How many pages does your book have?”

“How many illustrations?”

“How many words?”

“What’s the ISBN?”

The answer was always something along the lines of, “Ahm … I guess I could look it up …”

Oooh!

These are the kind of “technical details” that are handled in a publishing house by “other people” - but of course, in web publishing they need to be known EXACTLY by the author, because these things comprise the “technical specifications” of the product and a prospective purchaser might well enquire or need to know up front before they make their buying decision.

But that’s just an example and in a way, it is the tip of the iceberg.

What became very apparent was that the author in question had missed out on the first step of ANY marketing analysis.

This important step, which is the core topic of this article, is ESSENTIAL to be able to write any form of advertising copy, to target the correct audiences with the correct approach and to market the product, full stop.

This first step is called “the benefits extraction”.

*** How To Do The Benefits Extraction ***

You need a printed out copy of your book or course, PLENTY of empty pieces of paper, a big pot of coffee and then, you take off your author’s hat and instead, you put on your marketing hat and go through the text, ONE PARAGRAPH AT A TIME, and “extract” ALL the benefits that could possibly accrue for the reader/user/learner AND all they come into contact with *if they follow the advice and procedures outlined* exactly.

There is a HUGE range of potential benefits that can and will be found in this process, and even before we get into the text and content itself, there’s also benefits such as:

Good sized print - easy to read for older people, avoid headaches!

Good use of white space - easy on the eye, relaxing reading

Well structured - information flow is logical, and thus easy to understand and learn

Fully indexed - things are easy to find, you can quickly get to what you need to know.

Helpful diagrams and illustrations - pictures say more than a thousand words …

… and so on.

Once you get into the content, you will notice that sometimes, a single sentence or paragraph hides a MAJOR benefit, such as:

“The SINGLE little known SECRET to all your marketing problems!” (Page 23)

Take your time and keep backing up and asking yourself over and over again, “What BENEFITS will the reader/user get from this?”

Immediately, short term, long term?

Don’t stop with things like,

“Reader will learn how to use the snarkometer …”

That’s not a benefit.

A benefit is what happens WHEN you use a snarkometer as its creator designed it to be used - so the benefit might be:

“Reader will be able to capture even well hidden, rare and elusive snarks.”

From there, you can go on to further future benefits, such as:

“Reader will become famous and rich from his snark sales.”

That’s the point, after all!

*** Sorting Out Your Benefits ***

If you do this properly, you will find HUNDREDS of benefits, big and small, and for all sorts of different applications, situations and people, and from all sorts of different angles, in ANY decent ebook or ecourse.

You will have them all written down, as they come, with the referencing page numbers on your many sheets of paper.

Now it’s time to sort them out.

Firstly, go through your list and find the MAJOR benefits that would make the best HEADLINES and major bonus lists.

As soon as you’ve got those, your advertising and marketing falls into place because now you know WHAT IT IS THAT YOU ARE SELLING!

“Deep down”, of course you knew that all along but it’s extraordinary how “deep down” this stuff often is and how hard one has to dig to get it out of the authors to bring it to the surface!

Pick out the top ten benefits and transfer them to a new sheet of paper.

Now, pick the next 20 or so which will become benefits in lists on pitch pages, or will be laid end-to-end in classifieds and sales letters.

Finally, take all the rest and sort them out in any way you want.

You might find that a particular market emerges that you hadn’t thought about before with their OWN benefits list that is quite separate from the general main benefits, and where you can then market your product accordingly.

You might well find material amongst those benefits that you can use to write articles or engage in customer “education” - explain how and why these benefits arise in separate articles so they get to appreciate what you do and how VALUABLE your product really is.

You will find ideas, headlines, tag lines, and pure advertising GOLD COPY in this benefits extraction and analysis.

And once you are done, NOW you are ready to write REAL advertisements of all kinds - and you’ll find that now you ACTUALLY KNOW what your product is from the marketer’s standpoint, you’ll also be able to SELL IT TO OTHERS.

Oh, and one more thing.

A benefits extraction is also possibly one of THE most motivational and exciting things any author or creator can do for THEMSELVES.

Yup, it’s all true. It really is THAT good, and it REALLY has all those benefits!

It’ll do the world for your self confidence AND for YOUR ability to start shouting about the amazing benefits of YOUR amazing product from the rooftops - and that in turn, leads to a whole lot more sales, more money in the bank, more joy and freedom and love all around!

So if you have not yet done your word-by-word extreme benefits extraction, go for it NOW.

It is absolutely THE FIRST STEP to ALL future marketing.

Good luck and surprise blessings,

Silvia

Silvia Hartmann

Silvia Hartmann is the author of “MindMillion”. You can get a FREE Wealth Booster Course with many great bonuses, including the famous “Pitch Page Maker” at MindMillion.com/60/

Deep in the valleys of the Himalayan mountains of Tibet and Mongolia, there grows a red berry no bigger than a small grape. This berry, popularized by marketing networks and appearances on television shows such as Oprah, has been revered for centuries as a healer, natural anti-aging supplement and just plain healthy food. But what is the truth behind this hyped up little berry? Are any of the outrageous claims made on the many websites on the Internet actually true?

Looking for Proof

It is no surprise that many people are skeptical about a berry claiming to have such dramatic health benefits. Noni juice, which came along only a few short years ago, helped to start a massive natural health trend, claiming to treat everything from cancer to arthritis. Unfortunately, the claims made by the main company selling the juice never panned out, and although noni juice is certainly healthy to drink, one would do much better to simply purchase a bottle of pomegranate juice at their local grocery store for much less, as the antioxidant levels in pomegranates far exceed the levels found in noni berries (if you are going for the anti-cancer benefits).

So, what about goji? The main claims about goji juice include the claims that it is a natural anti-aging supplement, contains many anti-cancer agents, is the most nutritionally dense food on the planet, contains higher antioxidant levels than pretty much any known food, and various other claims.

The Science

If we look at the Pub Med medical database published by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, we can immediately see that there is a lot of scientific interest in goji juice and goji berries, particularly in Asia. Many traditional medicinal plants that have been used for centuries in Asia are now beginning to enter into the mainstream in the West after rigorous scientific scrutiny and indeed, many of our common drugs have been derived from such plants.

In terms of studies relating to the polysaccharides in goji berries, there are several. One study showed that seventy nine people in advanced stages of cancer who were treated with polysaccharides isolated from goji berries actually demonstrated a high rate of regression. When combined with a common cancer treatment drug patients showed a 40.9% regression rate, as compared to a 16.1% regression rate for patients treated only with the drug.

Another study showed that the blood pressure in hypertension rats could be lowered significantly by treatment with polysaccharide.

Another showed that polysaccharide isolated from the berries significantly inhibited the growth of tumors in mice and encouraged the production of beneficial antibody agents, noticeably improving their immune system.

Yet another study showed that a “purified component” of polysaccharide significantly enhanced muscle performance of mice, enabling muscles to recover more quickly after strenuous activity and perform better all around.

The Nutrition

In my research of goji berries, probably the most indisputably interesting thing about them is their nutritional value, including their extremely high levels of antioxidants. To give you an idea of just how high the antioxidant levels are, we can compare them to levels of antioxidants found in the most antioxidant-rich foods we are familiar with. The standard measure of antioxidant levels in food is known as the ORAC test. It is commonly given as a measure per 100 grams of food.

The foods we are aware of in the West that have the highest antioxidant levels include: black raspberries, with an ORAC score of 7,700, prunes, with a score of 5,770, bilberries, with a score of 4,460, and pomegranates, with a score of 3,307. Other foods high in antioxidants include raisins, at 2,830 and blueberries, at 2,400. Astonishingly, goji berries have a score of 25,300. This means that a person has to eat only 20 grams of the berries to get their daily recommended intake of antioxidants (it is best to get antioxidants from a variety of sources though, so it is extremely important to eat many different fruits and vegetables).

But antioxidants aren’t the only thing the berries are high in. They are also high in iron, protein (they contain a complete protein), fiber, vitamin C (far more than oranges), vitamin E, essential fatty acids, beta carotene (more than carrots) and many other things. They also contain various anti-cancer agents including selenium, germanium, cyperone and physalin. The claim by many websites that the berries are the most nutritionally dense food on the planet is actually not so far out there, it seems.

The question remains, however, is it worth it to buy goji berries or goji juice? It is true that the berries contain unusually high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial agents, but whether or not they are worth the money is up to you to decide. Whatever you decide, make sure you do your research and find the companies that not only have the best prices, but also use natural organic berries, as these are more likely to contain all of the benefits with none of the chemicals. Another important thing to consider is that goji juice does not contain certain things that the actual berries do (essential fatty acids for example), as some things are found only in the seeds, which are not included in the juice.

For more information on goji juice or goji berries, including comparisons between companies selling them, summaries and links to scientific studies, general information, and information on growing, buying and selling goji juice/berries, visit http://www.gojijuices.net This site does not sell goji juice or berries, and is strictly an informational website.

‘More than 80% of the traffic comes from the top ten search engines’.

You have probably read this statement many times and it’s true at least for the majority of websites.

So how about web directories? Is submitting your site to them a waste of time?

Even if directories usually don’t deliver a lot of traffic they contribute inbound links to your site increasing its link popularity a very important factor used by search engines to rank websites.

When someone queries a search engine using a keyword relevant to your site, higher is your site link popularity higher are its chances to come up near the top of the results.

Submitting your site to web directories will help you increase its visibility and attract more traffic from search engines.

However you need an overall strategy to successfully manage your directory submissions or you will only lose your time and energies.

Is your site ready?

You should never forget that directories don’t exist to give away free links. Their purpose is to provide their visitors with good quality sites.

If you want some chances to get listed you need a well designed web site containing useful and original content or offering useful services.

Your site must also be complete without broken links or links to ‘under construction’ pages.

Other things that can cause a rejection of your submission are: too many ads (especially pop-ups and pop-unders), automatic redirections to another domain, having the same exact content of other sites (example: the ’self replicated’ sites some companies provide to their affiliates).

Preparing your listing details

Open your favorite text editor and write down the following informations:

1) your web site URL.

2) your website Title. Some directories accept only the official site name as title, others allow some descriptive keywords, but in general stuffing a lot of keywords in your title is not acceptable.

Write 2-3 different titles in compliance with these different rules.

3) your website description. Write what your site is about in a couple of sentences. Avoid superlatives, exclamation marks, excessive hype and generally everything that makes your description sound like an ad.

Description should be written in third person. Avoid expressions like ‘we offer’, ‘we are …’.

4) a set of search keywords related to your site. Separate the keywords with commas, then write down the same set of keywords this time separated by spaces. Some directories require the first format, others the second one.

5) your full name and email address.

Once you have done save the document. By copying and pasting these informations into the submissions forms you will save time and avoid errors.

Or you can utilize Clipboard Magic. This free software allows you to save multiple rows of data and load them into the Windows Clipboard simply with a click of the mouse. It’s really useful when you need to fill in many online forms with the same informations.

Finding web directories

The next step is finding directories where you can submit your site.

You can use top directories to find minor and specialized directories

DMOZ

Yahoo

Spend some time to determine how each directory is organized and find the most appropriate category for your site.

Submitting to the wrong category usually causes a rejection of your submission.

Compile a list of all directories where you have submitted your site indicating the date of your submission.

Verifying the results

Not all directories send you an email when your site is listed.

You should periodically visit your list of directories and make a search for your site title or url.
Flag all directories where you find your site.

If your site has not been listed after about 2 months from the date of your first submission you can try to submit it again. My advice is to not resubmit more frequently.

You can also contact the directory owner and ask about the status of your submission, but if you don’t receive a reply, don’t insist. There may be many reasons why a directory doesn’t list your site, simply accept the fact that not all submissions are successful.

Submitting your site to web directories is an essential part of your website promotion strategy.
It’s a time consuming task, but with the right planning you will be able to manage it successfully.

Mike Paolieri is webmaster and co-owner of WebmasterGate, a directory of selected articles, tools and resources of interest to webmasters and web developers.

Imagine if you will a horrific dream where you are trapped on a crashing plane full of terrified passengers who know the end is any second away. While oxygen masks and beverages shake and spill, the chaos of this moment somehow ceases to faze you, because the deep and helplessly frozen state you are in cannot be lifted, even in the most severe of circumstances. This intriguing and compelling moment graces the opening scene of Zach Braff’s Garden State, a film of realization, suffering and love, and leads into one of many symbolic and metaphoric moments that consist of a young man’s struggle to overcome emotional hardships and a dysfunctional past. During each major sequence of events that take place throughout the story, the visual aspect presented to the viewer plays a significant role in understanding the meaning and intent of the director’s vision. The design of this film is one of the most important elements used to convey thematic symbolism and appropriate mood of each moment with specific techniques such as lighting, color, and structure. It leaves the viewer with a deeper understanding of the character’s internal thoughts and feelings, and creates powerful mise-en-scene during each of those large, turning point moments. Through effective design, each phase of the main character’s progression towards change is symbolically represented, and helps to illuminate the mise- en -scene that attaches emotional impact to the narrative of this poignant film.

The film’s story is centered on the life of Andrew Largeman, (Zach Braff), a psychologically repressed New Jersey native struggling to make it as an actor and part time waiter in Los Angeles. After several attempts at reaching him to no avail, Andrew’s
father leaves the message that his mother has died on his voice recorded answering machine while he lies in bed one morning. Having little apparent reaction, he returns to his home town and goes through the motions of the traditional funeral, and runs into family friends and burnt out high school classmates with lethargic boredom. For the first time being home since a number of years of estrangement, Andrew struggles with facing past and present failures, including a distant surface-level relationship with his father (Ian Holm), and everyday reminders of just how unimportant and pathetic his acting career is turning out to be. During a session with a local neurologist for headache symptoms, Andrew wonders about the effect the plethora of anti-depressants and mood stabilizer medications he has taken for as long as he can remember might be having on his life. Upon reaching the decision of stopping all prescription drugs, he becomes acquainted and amusingly intrigued by a talkative, happy go lucky girl named Sam (Natalie Portman), who struggles with her own failures and insecurities. Through the growing relationship of these two very different but somewhat alike loners, Andrew and Sam find comfort and strength in one another’s company and conversation. A series of crazy, emotional, and humorous events adventures between the two misfits lead to Andrew’s emotional enlightenment and acceptance of his adolescent shortcomings, guilt, and lifelong anguish. With the visual design of each of these moments, viewers are given the chance to experience the film through Andrew’s point of view by appropriately shaping the look of each scene to fit what he is feeling. While Andrew’s life takes turns for the better, the design and mise-en-scene fit accordingly, and portray an effective vision that is aesthetically present and helpful to the experience of this film.

One of the most expertly used tactics in creating meaning in this film is how design is used to depict so literally the tone of Andrew’s life prior to his emotional changes. The colors used in several of the opening scenes are stark whites, grays, and dark blues with little energy or depth. These colors tell the viewer with little or no dialogue whatsoever about his state of mind and the life he leads. One of the first opening scenes, following Andrew’s dream of being a passenger on a crashing airplane which served as a metaphor for his life, is a shot of him lying unmoving in a white bed, in an all white room. The closed frame of the shot shows how trapped he looks in his own room, or perhaps his own life. The vision or implication that is portrayed to a viewer is that of how a mental hospital or prison might look. This scene is followed by quite a few scenes of the same nature, with dark and murky colored lenses, closed frame shots, and stark open spaces with characters spaced far apart. In most of these shots, including one of him stuck in traffic alone and another standing at a distance from his family at his mother’s funeral, the viewer is seeing Andrew alone, staged away from other actors and focused in on so it is clear to see the sad, expressionless looks on his face. Mise-en-scene is effectively reached in a scene of showing Andrew, alone on a strange couch after a night of rolling on ecstasy, with a dark blanket covering him. The smoky, gloomy air around him can be seen by sun peering through holes in dark posters that cover the windows. As Andrew slowly wakes up, alone, the viewer is shown the nature of his life; under the influence of something that is preventing him to feel real and sober life experiences.

The developing relationship between Andrew and Sam is the most vital motive for change in Andrew’s life, and that is seen quite obviously as the design takes new form. When first introduced to the character of Sam, the viewer is exposed to a laid back and nervously cheerful personality; the polar opposite of Andrew’s. Everything about the two characters is dissimilar, down to their different colored clothing and body language. The first scene of the two together, which takes place in an almost empty hospital waiting room, conveys the different comfort levels of the characters as Sam comes over to sit as close as she can to Andrew in the large space, while he sits stiff and edgy. As their conversation progresses, his body language becomes more fluid and inviting. As Andrew is shown Sam’s world through a visit to her house, the viewer is also entering a different world from which they started. The tone shifts from drab and stoic, to bright and welcoming by orange walls and colorful curtains that Andrew at first feels out of place by, but eases into eventually. As they enter her room, the same vivid orange dominates the surroundings accompanied by girlish dolls, bright lamps, and sentimental trinkets that symbolize her innocence in opposition to Andrew’s. The warmer lighting surrounding Andrew and Sam while together continues as their relationship progresses, and the staging becomes noticeably closer. Their growing emotional attachment is seen through different aspects of lighting and distance, especially in a scene while they are swimming late on a very foggy night in a pool full of other people their age. While Andrew swims alone at an opposite end, a shot taken from above shows Sam swimming towards him from the other end of the long pool. They then are slowly zoomed in on, illuminated by the warm light of the bottom pool light, that frames their two heads shown, gradually moving closer to one another. This scene conveys the mounting closeness that is taking place, and its effect on Andrew and his previous way of life.

Another important relationship that contributes to Andrew’s momentous internal change is the lack of communication with his father. The house Andrew grew up in is large and empty looking, with the same bleak colors as seen in the opening scenes of the film. The space between them, while they talk face to face for the first time in years, represents their emotional distance and the fact that they barely know each other. There are three scenes where Andrew and his father interact, the first two being alike in nature. The first takes place the day after the funeral, when they are forced to see one another for the first time in years. Andrew remains standing close to the door as they begin talking, while his father sits behind a large desk. Neither one moves much at all as they continue a forced conversation. The second shows the two in the kitchen, spaced purposefully a significant distance apart showing the father, this time, close to the door. Through the archway leading to the living room, all that is seen is white and pale gray tones of furniture and window light; the same color of the light that dominates the scene. The third takes place towards the end of the film, after Andrew has undergone considerable emotional transformation through his time with Sam and the absence of his medications. This scene starts out with the same distance between the two characters, but drastically changes as they begin a real and deep conversation, and ends with the two characters sitting close enough to touch. The lighting changes to a warmer quality that makes color show in both of the character’s faces. The last interaction between Andrew and his father creates mise-en-scene that leaves the viewer with a new emotional attachment to the two characters who are building a new relationship.

Garden State is a film that is realistically honest and sends the viewer on a passage that is touching, dark, and comedic all that the same time. The way that writer/director/ and star Zach Braff’s vision is intriguingly apparent through the concepts of lighting, design, and mise-en-scene makes viewers empathize and identify with the main character, and the number of diverse and affecting situations he finds himself in.

Are you a skilled communicator? Well that’s a good thing if
you’re in the business of selling things to other people!

But are you absolutely sure that every word you say is received
by those you speak with, or write to, in the way you intend them
to be?

You might be surprised how your words are analyzed and
interpreted by your potential customers.

Here’s a few things to think about before you write your next
piece. Everything you’re about to read is based on a
“presupposition” of NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming. NLP is a
relatively new process of self discovery and is used widely as a
serious training tool for business people of all fields.

The Meaning of a Communication is the Response You Get

But that’s not what I meant!!!

How many arguments have that little gem in them? I know that
I’ve often been heard saying that around the house.
Unfortunately for me, and the countless others who’ve uttered
those words, what you meant doesn’t matter if it isn’t
understood that way.

The next two presuppositions tie in very closely, so let’s look
at them and them summarize the three together . . .

You Cannot Fail to Communicate

Whatever you do or say is a form of communication. From verbal
expression to body language, everything conveys something about
what you’re thinking.

For example, you clicked your mouse and opened this article. By
doing so, you communicated to me that you’re seeking knowledge
that you might not yet possess. You’ve implied that you’re
willing to issue me a particle of trust that my efforts could
bring you that knowledge you seek. You’ve told me that you’re
interested in this subject matter. You’ve let me know that
you’re willing to take some reasonable risks, and so on and so
on.

Yes, communication can be anything from a mouse click, to a
facial expression, to cringing in your comfortable chair while
watching a scary movie on TV, to giving a full blown oration in
front of thousands of people.

It’s all about relaying inforamtion from you, to someone else,
or to the whole wide world! You can’t help it. In fact none of
us can because it’s a part of life and inbred in us as living
creatures!

If You Aren’t Getting the Response You Want, Do Something
Different

So far we’ve learned that communication is inevitable. As a
living, breathing creature, everything we do or say relates a
story about how we feel at any given moment. We’ve also seen
that the meaning of a communication, or its intent, means little
in comparison to reception and/or interpretation.

The obvious conclusion then, if it’s important to do so, is to
figure out how to communicate what you mean and have it received
in the way you intend it to be received. As the sub-heading
states, this might mean doing something different in order to
reach that goal.

Now if we were primatives, we might consider beating the other
person into understanding our drift, but we can’t think that way
anymore, right?

And the old standby doesn’t work either. I mean, no matter how
loud I yell at the other person, it doesn’t change how they hear
me. It just makes it easier for them to misunderstand because
they don’t have to listen all that hard. Besides, yelling only
proves you have the bigger mouth, not the more valid point!

So then here’s a visual for you . . .

Let’s say you create a dynomite web page, complete with
javascripting and flash animation and you are just sooo proud of
it. You publish it on your site, advertise it, and wait for all
the positive feedback you just know you’re going to get. But
something different happens. You begin getting emails from
people complaining that they can’t see all your bells and
whistles. So you do a little backtracking to make sure
everything is in place, and it is. You re-upload everything just
to be sure. You send out emails to those who’ve complained
asking them to visit your site again. But you still get the same
response.

Hmmmm!

After scratching your head in confusion for a while, you do a
little research on the web and discover that not all browsers
are equal.

Ah Ha!!

Some people can’t see your site the way you intended them to
because their browsers aren’t programmed for it! So you go
looking for another way.

Now you hate the idea of losing all the pizzazz of your web
page, but you do want people to see it right, so you find a
little program online that allows you to see your site in the
eyes of other browsers. You then decide to optimize your site in
such a way that it becomes user friendly for all viewers and
everyone is happy! You accept the idea of losing some of your
site’s glitz, because it’s the only way to get it across to
everyone you want to reach. A kind of a compromise of sorts for
the sake of getting your point across. You decide it’s a fair
trade off!

What just happened?

You created a scenario that allowed those who didn’t understand
you to see things more your way, didn’t you? You discovered that
obstacle in the others that hindered them from getting the gist
of your intentions, and by doing something a little different,
everything turned out just fine!

And the moral of the story is?

To have good communication skills, you most often times have to
see things the way the other person does in order to better
understand how to tell them what you want them to know.

Just like when you optimized your website to suit all browsers,
you can learn from the feedback of your visitors what you need
to do to improve your communications with them. It may mean
scaling down, or changing your language a little bit, but in the
end, you’ll achieve your desired results.

Congratulations! You have the professional Real Estate web presence you have always wanted. Now that your business is online, Pay Per Click Advertising is the best possible online tool to let the world and your real estate clients know about your new real estate website.

If you’re not familiar with Pay Per Click marketing, you’re in for a treat. When people search for products or services online, they search by using keywords or keyword phrases. If you were to do a search on Google for “real estate” or “homes for sale”, you will see that the top spots in the search results are occupied by large nationwide real estate companies or companies that provide real estate services of some sort. These companies spend tens of thousands of dollars every month to maintain their high page rank in the search results. At first glance, you might be saying to yourself, yikes, how can my real estate website compete with that? Here’s the good news. You don’t have to! Pay Per Click Advertising can put your ad right along side the big boys. The answer is simple. You don’t want your ad for your real estate website to come up in the search results for “real estate”. That’s too broad. You need to be more specific.

For example, you want your ad to be shown when someone searches “real estate in Glens Falls” or “homes for sale in Glens Falls” or “real estate listings in Glens Falls”. If you’re a Realtor in Glens Falls, that’s where you’re potential customers are looking. Your customers won’t type in “real estate” when they do their search. They will type in “real estate in Glens Falls”. The “natural” search results listings will most likely be dominated by the big companies, but guess what? Glance over to the right and you can see your ad for your real estate website right along side the big boys.

Why is Pay Per Click Advertising Important for My Real Estate Website? If you’re a Realtor, having a professional Real Estate web presence will be an essential part of your business. However, just having a website will not guarantee success. You need to market your website. If your clients don’t know you’re there, you may as well have a lemonade stand in the middle of the desert. You might have the best lemonade in the world, but, if no one can find you, you’re not going to sell much lemonade.

Pay Per Click Advertising is the fastest, most cost effective way for you to start marketing your website. In real estate, one good listing, or, buyer can turn into thousands in commissions. Your website being seen is important, but being seen by the right people is even more important. Grab a piece of paper and jot down some of the keyword search terms a client in your area might use to search online for your real estate services. You might find putting together a list of fifteen or twenty keywords takes no time at all. If just five people in your area search each of your ten to fifteen keywords every day, that’s fifty to seventy five potential clients that won’t see your website. That’s every day! Type one of your keyword search terms into Google, chances are, you will see some of your competitors websites listed.

Would you like to see your Pay Per Click ad, for your real estate website right next to the results for your competitor’s websites? Real Estate is a competitive business. You should be competing for those leads. That’s why Pay Per Click advertising is important for your real estate website.

Mike Alves is the owner of http://www.Marketing4Leads.com
My business is unique, I market Realtors websites on Google. If you would like to get the edge on you’re competition, I can help. Let Mike create a custom advertising campaign on Google for your Real Estate website.

Beginner and experienced home based business owners have the
unenviable task of submitting their web sites to thousands of
search engines and classified ad sites.

The purpose is always - and has ever been - to increase web site
traffic. As you know, more site visitors means more sales.

The purpose of this article is first, to provide a no-nonsense
guide to web site owners and webmasters on the best web sites to
submit your ads and URLs, for free. Second, my aim is to give a
fair warning to all and sundry to be very careful about buying
web site and ad submission services and software.

As for the first, there are noteworthy web sites to where you
can submit your free classified ads and URLs. The problem is
locating these web sites. As you know, there are thousands of
web sites to submit to, but just submitting to a few sites will
spell a difference on your profit position.

You can find these sites through the age-old practice of
research. I have done some research of my own, and some of these
sites are featured on my web site. These sites are listed below.
More are being added regularly. If you are interested, the link
on the resource box below will lead you to my classified page.

As for the scam submission services, I’ll say the Latin words
for alerting you as potential buyer of lemon submission
services: “Caveat Emptor,” or let the buyer beware.

If you want, I can even tell you of one of these services, now
continuously promoting their software this early days of 2006.
Just write to me using the email address listed on my web site
found at the resource box below.

I’m sad to say because one of the web pages of the late Corey
Rudl, whom I esteemed highly, was used to advertise this lemon
service at one time in late 2005. I’ll be happy to have snatched
you from parting away your forty or so dollars from this
ineffective program.

I’ll also tell you of one software - which appears to be working
good as this point in time. As of now, this program is being
sold at about $50 on the Net.

If you are resourceful enough, you can find this same software
on eBay at a much lower price. I’ll give you the source of this
same software sold at $10 on eBay if you send me an email.

Lastly, below is a listing of web sites where you can post your
classified ads for free. This listing is updated regularly on my
web site’ classified page.

1second.com/1america.htm - 1 free ad and one category per
advertiser every 10 days.

5starads.com

Ablewise.com - Your ad has a duration of 1 week. Repost your ad
after 1 week.

Ad-line.com

Adpost.com - The ad you placed is good for 30 days. You can
renew your ad.

Adtrackclassifieds.com

Adv-marketing.com - You can renew your ad every week.

Appearfirst.com

Free-world-classifieds.com - This is a free posting to various
web sites.

Bestmall.com

Bravenet.com - 1 free ad and one category per advertiser every
10 days.

Buysell-classifieds.com

Classifiedclub.com - Your ad is good for 1 month.

Classifiedsforfree.com - PR 5

Cgispy.com - PR 6

Craigslist.org - You can post to one city/area at a time.

Entertheweb.com

Freeadvertisingforum.com - PR 4

Free-world-classifieds.com

Getyourstuff.org

Inetgiant.com - Your ad is good for 15 days. Intheworld.com

Netterweb.com

OneIndia.com

Ozemedia.com

Pageland.com

Adanad.com - PR4

Adlandpro.com

Asianclassified.com - PR4

Classifiedscentral.com - PR3

Free-online-ads.com

Greekads.com - PR4

Inetgiant.com - PR5

LAclass.com

Malebits.com

Marketingresource.com - PR3

Myebizpage.com

Netnickel.com - PR6

BTW, I’m not affiliated with classifiedsforfree.com, but I have
to say their service is excellent and produces result. It’s free.

Good luck to your ad posting!

There are 3 basic components to capturing leads on free traffic exchanges that need to be understood. Lead capture pages , Autoresponder follow up systems , and Ad tracking URLs .

The lead capture page can be hosted anywhere but it needs to have at least one thing on it to be effective… a way to capture a person’s email address.

Why waste your traffic exchange credits sending user’s to your sales page where they only have 15 seconds to decide whether they are interested in your product or service? It is too easy just to let your website rotate to the next causing you to lose a potential prospect.

If you set up an incentive-laden lead capture web page (by incentive I mean a contest or freebie for providing their email address) that has a short tag line about your product or service combined with a 2 line form consisting of name and email address you have a simple yet incredibly powerful marketing tool.

In fact what would stop you from advertising 5 or 10 different lead capture pages on several traffic exchanges for each product or service you are promoting?

Ok, so you have a person’s email address and name. What now?

Let me explain the purspose of an Autoresponder before I do that. An Autoresponder is a script that sends out timed follow up messages to anyone in your Autoresponder email list. If you connect the form on your lead capture page to your Autoresponder you have a virtually unlimited opportunity to advertise to your now ” opt in ” subscriber.

Your only real job becomes promoting your lead capture pages. The Autoresponder system once set up requires little or no maintenance on your part.

Now when a person sees your incentive laden lead capture page on a Free Traffic Exchange they can quickly scan your opportunity and provide a minimum of information (nobody likes filling in forms, especially when they only have 15 seconds to decide on your offer).

Freebies work well, free downloads, contests, giveaways. People like free stuff and this gives you a nice way to build up credibility with your customer.

To take this a step further you can track your campaigns by replacing the URL for your product with an Ad tracking URL .

This will tell you every time someone clicks on a link within your email message or lead capture page allowing you to weed out ineffective ad copy.

Make sure you set up a different ad tracking URL for each lead capture page or email message and you can truly see how well each of your campaigns are performing in real time.

So get busy creating your lead capture pages, connect them to your Autoresponder follow up system, and start promoting and tracking your campaigns. You should see improvements in your sales and recruiting efforts immediately.

Michael Lawrence is the webmaster for http://www.cobrasurf.com
providing Free Web Traffic and Free Website Promotion.

He also publishes a Blog which can be found at http://cobrasurf.blogspot.com
containing articles on website promotion and internet marketing.