Personalize Your Site Using a Favicon

In a world where competition is fierce, the need to make your site stand out is imperative. Here is something creative that you can do now.

With the ever increasing number of web sites on the internet, why not take advantage of this simple method of being able to personalize and distinguish your web site from others?

If you bookmark a page with Microsoft IE you will notice some sites have a special icon associated with their respective bookmark thus differentiating or branding site A from site B. Think of it as internet marketing.

It dawned on me recently how easy it was for me to locate web sites that I had bookmarked and appeared in My Favorites menu with a little icon displayed next to the web site name, so I decided to find out if I could put one on my own web site to make it stand out in the My Favorites menu and easier for whoever bookmarked my site to locate.

I started my search on Google and discovered that the little icon that replaces the IE logo (in IE) is called a Favicon (pronounced fav-eye-con) and is short for Favorites Icon or it is sometimes called a bookmark icon. The Favicon also shows in the address bar as well. Notice the red Y! symbol that appears in the left-most area of the address bar in Internet Explorer when you open Yahoo!, or the butterfly in MSN . What a great way to personalise your site.

You will require IE 5.0 or higher and a favicon.ico can show up in at least three different places in Windows:

1) In the Favorites list selectable on the Start menu;

2) In the location bar of the browser when you are visiting the web site;

3) On your desktop if you first bookmark the site, click Start, Favorites, hold down the control key and click on the bookmark to drag it to the desktop (it copies the icon as a shortcut).

The favicon.ico can also show up in the following two places:

4) On the taskbar if you bookmark the site, hold down the control key, then right click on the bookmark and drag it to the task bar, it copies the icon there;

5) On the links bar if you bookmark the site, hold down the control key, then right click on the bookmark and drag it to the Links tool bar, it copies the icon there.

If you search in the engines for favicon you will find that many sites come up offering favicon tutorials, online tools to create favicon icons, free favicon icons and installation instructions too.

A favicon should be 16 X 16 pixels with 16 colors and the file name must be favicon.ico and ideally you should search for a program that allows you to create favicons online. Remember, if you do not save it as favicon.ico it will not work. Do not make the mistake of just shrinking an image to icon size and renaming it with a .ico file extension. That will not work either because it is not a real icon file. Do not be surprised if your own favicon does not show up in your own browser when you open your site, as sometimes this can take up to a few days and even disappear again only to reappear.

I had fun creating my own personal 16 x 16 pixel image in MyImager and then found a site on Google that created a favicon.ico file and I uploaded my image and clicked on generate favicon and that is how easy it was. I then uploaded the favicon.ico file to the root web directory, in the same location as the index.html page of my hosted website and bingo, I now have a Favicon and have personalized and distinguished my web site from others. Creating such an icon adds to the professionalism of your site, marking you as a web designer who attends to detail.

So now when someone bookmarks my site with a browser that supports favicons, my favicon will appear, as opposed to a default image (a logo for Internet Explorer), which is used instead if no favicon.ico had been provided. I am sure if you look through your own Favorites Menu you will notice that the bulk of the images are the IE logo.

The favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor's browser. Often, the favicon reflects the look and feel of the web site or the organization's logo. Have fun creating your Favicon.

About the Author:


Cynthia Minnaar works from home online and invites you to visit http://www.cyns-home-biz.com for web income generating ideas and opportunities, articles and marketing tools.

Article Source: iSnare

How To Get Traffic Without Spending A Dime

A terrific article outlining many unique ways that you can generate traffic to your website.

Starting a brick and mortar business requires an enormous capital investment. Today, online businesses are able to compete with the old school way of doing things and win. Take a quick look at newspaper circulation and free classified advertising online, and you get an idea of what I am talking about. This is because of the versatility that the Internet offers and the many ways a single individual can compete on a truly global scale with large corporations, that only recently could not even be imagined.More...

While there are ways to jumpstart your web site traffic, many sites don't have the resources required to generate web traffic instantly. Do not despair, as I will explain in this article, many ways you can generate huge amounts of traffic, and all of them are Free! All you need is the proper mind set and a the discipline to stick with your plan for at least 4 to 8 months to start seeing significant results. You also must have the ability to learn new things, as the online world is constantly evolving, you need to be inquisitive, and alert to these trends. The actual work is not hard work at all, it is easy and fun!

The truth is, that web traffic builds organically over time. By using free methods you can gradually build a huge traffic funnel directed at your website. Many article directories contain articles that offer tips and guidelines explaining free methods of traffic generation. Start looking for good free information and learn as much as you can. It will take time, to say honestly. Paid traffic and PPC advertising will by far, get better immediate results than free methods, But obviously over the lifetime of your site, the free traffic is where you will see the greatest benefit. It will take time, but with these free methods I'm about to disclose, before long you will generate a tremendous traffic flow to your website.

Search for and join online forums and online communities relevant to your business product or service. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can easily find forums that provide community of people interested in your particular niche. You can discuss lots of things about the niche that are relevant to you business, without being overly commercial. Another great advantage is that you can learn an tremendous amount of consumer information about the business you are in, as well as about your competitors.

With online communities and forums over time you build a reputation for your company. Be confident, but not boastful, but showcase your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and trust with a key demographic of your business.

Make use of newsletters, and provide readers with interesting articles and advice, along with a catalog of your products. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic. Some marketers say all their money is in their list. Love an respect your subscribers, and they will reward you well.

Another great idea is reciprocal linking, i.e. trading links with other sites. This is accomplished by engaging in a partnership with another webmaster. By exchanging links, both parties will benefit. Every click that goes to the partner's site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. Be sure to target and partner only with quality sites that are relevant or in the same niche as your site. Done incorrectly, link exchanging can actually damage your site's reputation in the search engines.

Article writing is a proven method for building web site back-links and authority status, as well as significant free targeted traffic. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people will reward you with new visitors, eager to learn more about your business.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a resource box at the bottom of each article, with a link and a brief description of your company with the article to build back links and laser targeted traffic.

Use well written, unique content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. Copy writing is a skill that can be learned with study and practice.

Search engines are the primary means that Internet surfers use to find information by typing a keyword or phrase, which returns results relevant to their interest. Search engines in return use keyword searching to increase the relevance of their search results. With the right keywords, in well targeted context, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods will drive traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and perseverance. Learn all you can about these methods, and start planting seeds and nurturing them, and don't give up! Before long, your Internet garden will provide you a bountiful harvest.

About the Author:

Christopher Andrew is a Internet Marketing and SEO Expert who has been doing online marketing for the last seven years. http://epicycledigital.com provides Internet marketers free and low cost MRR And PLR products, as well as support to build Internet businesses.

Build and Promote a Successful Web Site Without Spending a Dime

Build a killer Web site guaranteed to capture attention using free and low-cost tools found on the Internet--with help from this expert resource. Cheap Web Tricks! Build and Promote a Successful Web Site Without Spending a Dime will direct you to all sorts of handy programs and applications available online--including Internet access, Web site hosting, site promotion, and revenue generation. See how easy it is to create an online presence without spending a fortune!

Plan, build, and publish your own Web site for free!

Whether your goal is to publicize, sell, or share something online, you can build a terrific Web site for a fraction of what you might have expected to pay. So, pin down a purpose and delve into this cost-saving gem. Loaded with resources--available at little or no cost--Cheap Web Tricks! Build and Promote a Successful Web Site Without Spending a Dime will help you access the tools needed to design, construct, publish, and promote your own Web site. View plenty of real-world examples to help get you started, and follow step-by-step instructions for establishing a powerful Web presence virtually free.

• Learn to cost-effectively build and publish a successful Web site

• Organize your goals, determine what's feasible and well-suited to your Web site, and then devise an overall plan for design and execution

• Use HTML to execute your design

• Identify--and meet--the needs of your audience whether your goals are business or personal

• Make a profit more quickly by reducing your startup expenses

• Create and maintain a high quality Web presence

• Learn new skills and share your ideas with the world

• Promote your site through search engines, banners, and other proven performers

• Interpret traffic statistics and keep visitors coming to your Web site

• Discover and resolve compatibility and technical issues

Ebooks Are Promotional Powerhouses

Ebooks are part of the new frontier of cyberspace. They are an entirely new medium for sharing marketing information, ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge. Each day the number of people accessing the Internet grows, causing the exposure of your ebook to increase incrementally. It's obvious why electronic self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.

The publishing industry, I hope, does not intend to forever banish the printed word to the dustbin of history. Books in print have their own special qualities and merits, and the world would be diminished by their disappearance.

Having said that, let's look at what makes ebooks so important and so unique. Ebooks have certain abilities and qualities that other mediums do not possess.

For example, ebooks are fairly easy to produce, and their production cost is inexpensive. Just think about it: you don't need a publisher, an agent, a printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or even a distributor. You just need a great concept, the ability to write it or to hire a writer, and the right software.

Additionally, ebooks are easily and rapidly distributed online. They are also easily updated; they do not require a second print run. All you need is to go into your original creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast as you can type.

Ebooks are also immediately obtainable. You don't have to go to a bookstore or search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do is download it from a website, and presto! It's on your computer, ready to be read.

Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific qualities that ebooks offer. You can add surveys that need to be filled out, order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound and video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your ebook, even direct links to relevant sites that will expand your ebook outward. The potential is virtually limitless.

Ebooks have a particular kind of permanence that other mediums do not possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a few times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they can be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.

Another wonderful quality is that ebooks have no barriers in terms of publishing. You don't need to go through the endless process of submitting your manuscript over and over again, and then once you land an agent, having the agent submit your manuscript over and over again. Nor do you have to shell out thousands of dollars for printing a self-published book. All ebooks require is a writer and appropriate software. Figure out your market, write your book, post it on your website, and with the right business savvy, your audience will come to you.

Finally, you have creative control over your ebook. You don?t have to compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don't have to haggle with a designer or wait for copyedited galleys to arrive by snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.

How to Use ebooks for Marketing and Promotion

There are innumerable ways to use ebooks to promote your business and drive quality traffic to your website. Once posted on your site, you can turn them into a daily course, which brings your customer back to read the next chapter. You can use them as a free gift for making a purchase or for filling out a survey. Put your ebook on a disc, and you will have an innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by inserting the disc into your sales packages.

The most effective marketing products are those that are unique. Copyright your ebook, and immediately, you have a powerful tool that you, and you alone, can offer to the public. People will have to visit your site to acquire your ebook, which increases the flow of quality traffic and the potential of sales and affiliate contacts.

Make sure that you keep your ebook current. Update it frequently as the market and trends change. Add new advice and techniques to show your prospects how your goods or services can enrich their lives. By constantly keeping abreast of new trends and techniques, you can continue to see profits from your ebook for years after your original creation.

Another phenomenal advantage of ebooks is that you can test their marketing potential without putting out hardly any cash at all. You can even produce an ebook one copy at a time, each time you receive an order, eliminating the need for storage and inventory. By this method, you can gauge the saleablity of your ebook, and make adjustments as necessary until the orders start pouring in. Ebooks allow you to learn about your market and customer habits and motivation over a period of time, without risking your precious financial resources. They also provide you with an invaluable way to gather marketing information, which you can use in many different facets of your business.

Use your ebook to discover what the specific goals and problems are in your specific industry. Then figure out how to solve these problems, and publish an ebook with this invaluable information. This will increase the value of your business, upgrade your reputation, and get you known as an expert in your field.

You can extend the value of single ebook by breaking the book down into chapters for a serial course, into special reports available on your website, or into audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be broken down into several different promotional materials by excepting some of the articles and using them to promote your product. You can include a catalog in your ebook to promote all the products or services you sell. You can include a thank-you note for reading your book and an invitation to download a trial version of your product. Or you can include a form for your audience to contact you for further information or with questions, thereby building your business relationships and your mailing list.

Using ebooks in this manner helps to cut the cost of individually producing separate promotional materials. You can use a single ebook to entice new prospects and to sell new products to your current customers.

No other medium has this kind of flexibility and ability for expansion. Think of your ebook like a spider spinning a beautiful and intricate web. Now go and create that web, and see how many customers and prospects you can catch!

About the Author:

Karen Walker assists individuals, entrepreneurs, network marketers, and independent professionals generate substantial incomes within 5 years so that they may live the life they want, fulfill their passions, and achieve their dreams! Visit her informational web sites: http://www.cashflowquest.com and http://www.income-directory.com

Article Source: www.iSnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=12417&ca=Marketing

How to Write a "How-to" Book (Or Ebook) - Make Money Writing About Your Favorite Hobby, Interest or Activity

How to Write a "How-to" Book (Or Ebook) - Make Money Writing About Your Favorite Hobby, Interest or Activitytakes up step by step in process of creating an eBook.

How To Write A "How-To" Book (or eBook) sets the modern-day standard for how-to write "how-to" books, ebooks and info-products. It is based on the premise that anyone who has a hobby, interest or activity that they are knowledgeable and passionate about can easily create their own how-to book or ebook - no matter what the subject. In his tenth how-to book to-date, this author shares every detail of what he has learned in creating and writing his own how-to books over the past few years. He provides a step-by-step approach that will walk you through every aspect of producing a professional quality how-to book or ebook. The book contains specific examples, illustrations, and screen shots that explain exactly what you need to do -- in paint-by-number detail. It also stresses the importance these days of including resource and reference tie-ins with the Internet, if one's book is to be credible. It even includes a chapter on how you can easily extend and add value to your how-to book/ebook using readily-available, easy-to-use audio and video technology to create online tutorials and info-updates. The book itself is a real-life testament to the kind of how-to book that you too can create - no matter what your passion.

Using Audio to Increase Your Online Sales

Here is a great video that speaks of the power of audio in your marketing plan.

Blogging for Business- Use you Blog for Marketing

If you are serious about using a blog to market your business, Blog Marketingis a valuable resource containing loads of information to help you get started.

What if you could listen to millions of people--customers, employees, competitors, partners, even the media--as they candidly discuss your company, your products, and your advertising? And what if you were able to use this real, up-to-the-minute feedback to determine exactly what your customers want and how to improve your business exponentially? Sound too good to be true? Then you haven’t tapped into the power of the blog.

Today, 50 to 100 million bloggers are communicating on the Internet, expressing their thoughts on and experiences with products, and sharing industry information. With millions of voices being heard, this revolutionary medium is now a worldwide forum. No business can afford to be left out of the conversation.

In Blog Marketing, leading blogging consultant Jeremy Wright explains how and why companies of all types blog and reveals strategies for effectively interacting with customers. You’ll find out how authentic feedback from customers can lead to potential new marketing strategies, innovative new product ideas, and new concepts that will completely transform your business.

Get an exclusive look at some phenomenally successful companies currently taking advantage of blogs including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Google, Disney, General Motors, and others, and find out how you can reap the rewards in your own organization.

Blog Marketing is filled with real-world examples of how blogging can

• Extend company branding

• Create positive experiences with your customers

• Provide real feedback on your company and its products

• Transform the way your company does business

• Simplify a variety of project management tasks

• Impact the bottom line

The business world is undergoing profound changes, redefining marketing, public relations, and customer communications. If you aren’t inviting this change into your own business--and keep in mind, your competitors are--then the writing is on the wall. No matter what your business, blogging is essential to your success, both now and in the future.

Using a Blog for Marketing Your Site

Blogs are a perfect way to market your online business and the beauty is that it costs you nothing. Using blogs, you can introduce new products, announce special promotions and, most importantly, increase your site traffic. If used correctly, blogs can bring you highly targeted traffic that can, in turn, result in increased sales. The following is a basic overview of how blogs work and includes tips on how to make it a success.

The Old New Tool That Can Improve Your Internet Marketing Online Business

Technorati is the largest blog search engine online. According to their recent statistics, there are now over 94 million blogging web sites online with 175,000 being created everyday. Very impressive growth for this new/old technology but the most impressive number and the one which affects your business the most is the one from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. They estimate that 57 million adults read blogs on a regular basis. That's a lot of potential customers for your internet business which is why you should start setting up a blog right now.

Quite of few of the mega online companies have taken advantage of this phenomenon. Instead of going the traditional route, these companies have put their trust in blogging and been rewarded with business growth and profits rivaling anything they did previously.

Of course you do not have to have to be a multi-national corporation to jump into the blog pool. The fact that blogs are usually an all in one package, easy to set up and easier to run makes it ideal for small and home based businesses. Also considering blogs are loved by search engines, you can go a long way to raising your online visibility.

Now this does not mean blogging is a set it and forget it enterprise. The money and site traffic is not going to come rolling in without some serious effort on your part. They include:

a. Regular updates

You have probably seen those blogs which have not updated their content since Eisenhower left office. Okay I'm exaggerating but the point is if you do not add fresh content to your blog website on a regular basis, search engines will not visit.

Try to post to your blog at least three times a week. If you can do more, fine, It's also going to help if you write most of the content yourself. People want a fresh unique perspective they can't find anywhere else. A good resource to assist you would be staying up to date with current affairs. It can be the latest political news or which celebrity is on their way to the hoosegow. Whatever it is, try to incorporate it into your blog content.
If you are unsure about writing, you can always outsource the job to any number of article writing companies. Either or, the point is to update your blog website frequently.

b. Sound off

No matter your topic, you must have a place for your blog readers to express themselves.
This can help you in targeting your desired audience. Even if just one person comes to your blog at least they are showing up. Invite criticism and suggestions. Use them as a gauge to find out how to attract more people to your blog.

One other major benefit to having a comment section is that every time a person provides feedback, the search engines view it as fresh content on your blog website; meaning they will crawl your site more often.

c. Linking

There are a couple of ways you want to do this. The first is getting one way links to your blog website. This is usually done in the form of writing articles. When you submit an article to the many directories, other bloggers may see it and post it to their site. By having a link in the byline of your article pointing back to your blog, this will provide you with one way links.

Another way is to just start contacting other blog owners and trade links with them. While not as valuable as a one way link, reciprocal linking is still effective. Just make sure the blog you are link exchanging with is within your niche but not in direct competition with you.

Monetize your blog by linking to different tools and resources that your blog readers can utilize. Also, it is okay to point them to a resource which has no connection to your site. People will appreciate the additional information

Blogging is only going to grow and become more interactive. Do yourself a favor and setup your blog now, update it frequently with unique information, invite feedback and implement your linking strategy. By doing this you are bound to see better marketing results for your online business.

About the Author:

Daryl Campbell invites you to get more free tips, video, step by step coaching and up to the minute information to help you grow your business into a long term success at Internet Marketing Guide.

Strategic Internet Marketing- Increase Your Sales

Getting your online advertising seen takes both skill and a lot of research. Here is a great article that explains some of the ways that you can increase your chances of getting your ads seen by the right people.

With millions of websites out there being visited by millions of computer users, how can you make sure that your ad can be seen by your target customers and that your leads will be followed by these users? Here are a few tips.

1. Place an ad on the websites frequented by your target customers. Before doing this, you need to define who will be your target customers. Placing an ad on sites that they usually visit will increase the possibility that your ad will gain the attention and will be followed your target customers.

Also, consider the website's search engine placement, traffic, external linking and the other ads placed on it. External linking will determine if there are other sites that link to this site. This will mean that people can get to the site where your ad is placed, even if they are browsing a different site. Check if many of your competitors have ads on this site.

2. Placing ads on some sites cost some money. However, there are also sites that can place a link to your site, product or service in exchange of having their link being displayed on your site. This is also true about the newsletters sent by site owners to its mailing list members regularly.

Also, having helpful links placed on your site and having sites link to your pages help in boosting search engine ranking. This is similar to making a statement that your site's content is important that other sites have links to your web pages.

3. Pay-per-click (PPC) is also a good method in Internet marketing. You will only need to pay for the ad if the link is clicked. If you prefer this method of advertisement, make sure that you are using services that set limits on daily expenses. There are also services that help you determine effective keywords and monitor the PPC results.

4. Choose your domain name wisely. It is still being debated if domain names matter when it comes to search engine placement. Whether it does or not, having product related domain names help consumers remember your domain, that they can go back to your site even without the links.

5. Make sure you have useful content on your sites. While keyword density is important in search engine placement, having useless information or annoying repetition of keywords will not increase your customer's confidence in your site. It may even affect your sites traffic and can get your site removed from search engines. So make sure that keywords are used strategically.

6. When thinking of keywords, think like your target customers. What do you think are they going to search so they can get to your site? Also, use specific keywords or key phrases. Submitting a single word or a very general phrase to a search engine will not get you to the top of the search results compared to submitting specific keywords that describe your product and services perfectly.

7. Track your ads. Always check how much you have spent on placing links on frequently visited sites and on PPC. There are services that allow you to monitor PPC transactions and how many of these end in sales. You always need to consider if the ads that you have placed on these websites are getting you to your target consumers and if these ads can lead to revenue.

One final tip on marketing products and services, sell the benefits. It will help your marketing strategies a lot if you highlight the benefits of choosing your products and services instead of merely discussing the product specifications. Product specifications may not mean much to customers, unless they know what these stand for (how these specifications affect the quality of the product or service).

Many people say getting to the top of search engine results is difficult since millions of websites exist, which can be using the same keywords. While this is true, this doesn't mean that your website has to stacked under your competitors' websites when presenting search engine results. Strategic advertising and linking, together with useful content, can also get you to the top of the search results.

About the Author:

Samizr Khan teaches Integrity Marketing with blogs. Learn how to build a list & make more money online, visit his blog at www.samizrkhan.name.

Website Design and Legability

Many web designers fail to take into account the importance of web colors and text legibility when building their site. Watch this video which talks about this at length.

Website Marketing- Stand Out From The Crowd

Website marketing has evolved in many ways over the years. Way back when, website owners depended primarily on search engines for their survival. Today, the advances in technology have made the marketing game more competitive than ever. This article sums it up pretty well.

As a web site marketer these days, in the 21st century, you have to work harder than ever to stand out from the pack. Everybody's sending out ezines. Nearly all of us hold teleseminars.

Add your ezine and teleseminar and you're joining a parade down Main Street. Sometimes you can generate leads even more effectively if you also run through the alleys and knock on back doors.

Often these back-door "sneaky" strategies seem too easy to be effective. But simplicity can be deceptive. You need to plan carefully to avoid wasting time. Used incorrectly, the back-door approach can backfire. You have to play by rules that change overnight and that aren't easy to figure out.

Strategy #1: Contribute to a discussion list related to your topic.

For lead generation, join a group whose membership matches your target market as closely as possible. Choosing the right group can be challenging. For example, you may be eligible to join a forum after attending a workshop or purchasing a manual. Or you may pay to join a mentoring group. These groups create forums and discussion lists directly related to your interests, but moderators tend to be extremely cautious about self-promotion.

You can also search through yahoo or google for groups. For example, you can search on "professional women discussion list" or "work at home dads discussion list." Some websites feature lists of discussion groups, often arranged by topic. Searching through listings takes time but, with patience, can produce some good results.

Tips:

Once you join a forum or discussion lists, it's a good idea to "lurk" for awhile. Get a sense of the group's mood and style. Introduce yourself. Evaluate your responses. If you sense a lack of interest (and occasionally even hostility), consider withdrawing from the group.

The challenge is to draw a fine line between contributing proactively and becoming a nuisance. Success depends on finding just the right blend of asking questions and providing expertise.

Example 2: Write reviews for online bookstores.

As an avid and eclectic reader, I began writing reviews for one of the online bookstores. Originally, I was just having fun and actually felt guilty for taking time from my "real" work. I wrote about everything: mysteries, business books, nonfiction.

To my surprise, these book reviews began to attract subscribers, clients and invitations to be interviewed by professional reporters and writers. Recently one of my reviews was quoted in a blog, giving me valuable (and totally unexpected) publicity.

When these readers came, they were highly motivated. Unlike readers of ezines, they were prepared to pay or resources. After all, bookstores don't give away books! I suspect many hold a credit card in one hand as they surf with the other.

Tips:

Choose best-selling books related to your topic -but not exclusively.

Write carefully, using correct grammar and style. I've found that I get the most response by being edgy but thoughtful, and not too long or too short.

Follow the guidelines concerning what you can disclose about your business. Your review can be edited or removed entirely if you appear to be selling or if you use inappropriate words.

Bottom Line: Often we find our most successful back-door strategies by accident. But applying those strategies callsapplyin for planning, flexibility and responsiveness to change.

About the Author:

FREE 7 Best-Kept Secrets of Websites That Really Attract Clients: My Special Report gives you insider tips to convert tire-kickers to buyers and earn money while you sleep. From Cathy Goodwin, The Content Strategist, at Website Marketing Strategies.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directlyis a recent release that discusses in detail new marketing and PR strategies today. From the review:

Though it may not yet have affected the value of 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising, PR insider Scott argues that understanding the growing irrelevance of marketing's "old rules" is vital to thriving in the new media jungle. Already apparent in newspapers and magazines (with sharp downturns in circulation and ads), radio (on the losing end of the iPod revolution) and direct mail (digitally replaced by spam), the imminent fall of traditional mass media marketing means new opportunities for legions of smaller companies and independent professionals who need to reach niche markets cheaply and effectively. The way Scott sees it, this is also good news for consumers: the online culture of integrity and information tends to produce quality content for less, as opposed to the vapid, one-sided and pricey advertising of print media and television. Scott provides the technical novice a thoughtful and accessible guide to cutting-edge media arenas and formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing, without neglecting the fact that technological wizardry can't substitute for a well-thought out marketing program. Besides emphasizing fundamentals like defining one's audience, Scott also drills home the ethos and etiquette of the web, encouraging content that's both useful and unobtrusive. This excellent look at the basics of new-millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition.