I never paid much attention to thinking like a marketer when I started my business initially; it took me a while to fully understand how important it really is to effective internet markteting and actually making sales.

Now if you have an internet business or are thinking about one, that might seem like I'm stating the obvious but it's not something most people automatically think about when starting a business.  That's probably because most people never take the time to understand what that really means…       

Instead of wrapping yourself up in what to sell, building your site or figuring out how much money you will make, first begin to focus on what it takes to think like a marketer. 

Why is this important?

Because effective marketing is precisely how you are going to make sales, and lots of them.  You want to go beyond just selling stuff online, you have to market to people in such a way that they want to buy from you; and buy over and over again.

Salesmen are some of the highest paid individuals in the business world, that's because if they don't make the sales nobody gets paid.  If you don't focus on this aspect of your business first it's sort of like putting the cart before the horse.

So how do you think like a marketer?

I spend time watching commercials.  Huh … watch commercials?  Yep, stop looking at those ads as annoyances and begin to think about what might make someone buy the product being advertised?  What makes the ad peak your interest or not peak interest?

Try looking at various products on the market and try to figure out what makes them appealing.  Analyze why someone might want to buy it.

Think about what a sales process might consist of.  What's the step-by-step action you might have to take before someone buys?

Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes.  What would get you to buy a specific product?  Free gifts, discounts, trial offers are all common lures to get people to buy but there are a lot more creative avenues if you really think about them.

Do you know the reasons why people buy?  Emotions are a big reason and directly appealing to an emotion is almost a sure way to make a sale. 

Here are some things you should consider when you see an ad or a product:

• Understand what an ad is actually saying
• Understand how the ad making money
• Think about how an ad makes you feel?  Anxious, Secure, Scared.
• When you buy something think about why you are actually buying it.
• What caused me to want to buy this product?

These are all good marketer exercises. Get in the habit of looking at things with these questions in mind. 

To expand on this topic, these are excellent books to get a hold of.  You can also get these books from your local library, but picking up just one of them goes a long way in conditioning you on how to naturally think like a marketer.

Secrets of closing the sale by zig ziglar

How to master the art of selling by tom hopkins

How to sell anything to anybody by Joe Girard

The irresistible offer by Mark Joyner

Once you become aware of how things are being sold and the techniques used, you'll immediately notice the sales opportunities and it will soon become second nature to you.

Have fun with this.  Before you know it, you'll be a natural at making sales without even thinking about it.

It took me a long time to actually begin using ezine advertising for my business but once I begain cranking out ezine ads I soon came to realize that ezines are actually one of the most effective and affordable forms of website advertising for promoting your products and services and encouraging traffic to your web site.  
 
The number of ezines published on the net has exploded from several hundred in 1996 to literally thousands of publications today that cover a range of topics so they're a pretty good form of advertising for any online business.

You can find ezines that sell ads for as little as $8 an ad, however solo ads generally pull the best resonse. Top sponsor ads on the other hand allow you between 5 and 8 lines of copy and are included in regular ezine issues near the very beginning of the newsletter.

Here's a breakdown of the ezine advertising options…  

Classified Ads
Most classified ads are the cheapest type of ezine ad. Classified ads are usually about 2-3 lines and are typically placed at the end of the ezine.  For classified ads be sure your ad is in an ezine that has at least 30,000 subscribers or more otherwise your may get little response.

Sponsor Ads
These are the next most expensive ads, but they yield a much better response. Sponsor ads can be placed at the top, middle or bottom of an ezine issue and will allow more text in your ad.  Sponsor ads are a great way to test your ad before placing it as a solo ad.

Solo Ads
These are the best of all ezine ads because they will be sent exclusively to everyone on the mailing list and they get full attention of the subscribers, that's because a solo ad is sent just as it says, 'solo'.  There are no articles or other ads included.

A Solo ad is more expensive but you'll enjoy about a 20%-30% response rate.

So how do you find a good ezine to advertise in?

If I find an ezine that looks good, I simply subscribe to it.  This gives me the best feel for how the ezine works.  If I as a subscriber, like the publication, chances are others will too.

Here are the things I look for after subscribing:

1. First of all find an ezine that is targeted to your specific products.  Selling advertising for your pet care supplied in a fashion magazine is not likely to bring you much interest.

2. Once you find an ezine that relates to what you are selling check to see if the ezine has a website and if it offers opt-in subscriptions?  A publication that has a separate website is a good indication that the publication is a legitimate business and that they are serious about what they do. 

Look to see that they also have a clear opt-in form on the site.  After you subscribe to the ezine, be sure they send you an email that confirms your subscription.  This indicates that their readership is highly targeted and interested.

2.  Does the ezine accept all three levels of advertising, classified ads, Sponsor ads and Solo ads?
 
3. Check for an article archive and for how often they publish.  This shows you how long the publisher has been in business but it also shows how often the publications are published.    If you begin receiving ads on a daily basis, that's a good sign that viewers may be desensitized to this ezine and its messages. A weekly or bi-weekly publication is preferred.

4. How large is their subscriber base?  This is important primarily if you'll be doing classified ads for which you'll want a reader base of about 30,000 or more.  In general a good customer base should be at least a 1000 or more.

5. Test the publisher by asking questions.  Their response will indicate how helpful they are and how interested they are in your business.

Now let’s write your ad…

1. Create a captivating headline
Write a headline that gets attention and at the same time draws the reader into the body.  If you can think about who your customer is it will help a lot in determining what benefits appeal to them and why they would want to purchase.

2. Outline the benefits of your offer in the body.  Emotionally connect to the reader with benefits that appeal to their wants and needs. 

3. Create a call to action Tell the reader what to do next.  Things like 'click here' or 'take a look now'.  This step is even more effective if you create a sense of urgency — give them a reason to act immediately.

4.  Keep it short
Most ezine ads vary between 25 and 50 words, including your URL. This means that you have limited space to create maximum impact.

5. Test & Tweak
Create 5-10 variations of your ad. Test different headlines, bodies and different calls to action. This will help you see which ads get the best results.  When you know you've got a winning ad it will continue to work for you over and over.

6. Run ads multiple times
Running an ad once won't give you enough information about how effective it is.  The more the ad appears, the greater the likelihood that the ezine reader will take notice. Over time, you will begin to see which versions of your ad are more effective.

Writing ezine ads takes time so don't expect to crank out perfection right out of the shoot.  Remember to get into the head of your readers, figure out what it is they 'really' want in terms of making their life easier, getting it done faster, saving them money, making them look better, etc.  Then attach a sense of urgency to it. 

Writing an effective ad whether in an ezine, magazine or on your own website, writing copy that sells gives you a huge sales advantage over the competition. 

For a great reference I really liked the 'Copywriter's handbook' by Robert Bly.  Definitely a good read and it has everything you'll need for writing competitive ads that get the clicks.  

If you're marketing online, you might find that not everything you do or everything you promote brings in a steady income. 

Some months may be good, some months may be not so good, some products do well, and some don't. Every month can vary, there is one old standby that consistently bring in steady income for me – it's my AdSense earnings.  Every month I get a steady consistent income. 

That's because I have cool strategies I've learned, and no, they aren't my own strategies, for heaven sake my strategies were pulling my down, nope I listened to Joel Comm and purchased 'Adsense Secrets'.   It's amazing how just one subtle yet simple adjustment can increase earnings by 50%, and in many cases even more.

What's really cool is that Joel has just released his 2008 ver 4 of Adsense Secrets. Previous versions sold for $97 but now he's practically giving away for $9.95. 

I was puzzled at first at the low cost and thought perhaps he lowered the quality of the book but that wasn't the case at all, I did figure it out though  

If you purchase Adsense Secrets you'll be getting a small sales pitch for some other products Joel is marketing, which by the way are some excellent products so you may want to take a peek, but the additional sales page you are presented with is a small price to pay for getting the latest and greatest version of Adsense Secrets for $9.95. 

I also purchased my copy yesterday, read through it yesterday afternoon and already made a few AdSense changes last night, it's still too early to tell but I did notice this morning as I checked my Adsense earnings that they were UP!  

So it's already obvious to me that for $9.95 even just one good tip could boost my monthly income which makes it totally worth it to me. 

It's hard to say how long Joel will continue to offer Adsense Secrets for $9.95 but I wouldn't wait, he could end it at any time. 

===> Download your copy of Adsense Secrets today

In an effort to find an online business that works, people often find themselves getting involved with programs that never make them any money at all, in fact it will cost them a great deal of money.  

Programs I'm referring to specifically are the Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) programs and various pyramid scheme marketing. For most people, these programs almost never make them a cent.

Here's how the average program works…

Upon sign up there is generally a large membership fee, anywhere from $900-$1000 or more.  The fee is said to include marketing materials and expert training but in reality the materials are generally very poor and vague and the 'expert training' can be short lived or non-existent.

Once you join and pay your membership fee, it becomes your job to sell the program to other people; the money made from those sales is passed up to your sponsor or the person that recruited you.  At some point in the recruiting process you will get to keep the money from your recruits, depending on the program, you may have to bring in several recruits before you see any money.  The ability to recruit members and continuing to recruit members is the challenge for most people.  Often time’s they then turn to selling the products that the program promotes, but this can also be a challenge because the products are often sold cheaper elsewhere or even free.

Even though these programs are frustrating and anger many people, they are still legal and legitimate marketing schemes.  The problem is that they are preying on the individual that is lured into the promise of earning thousands of dollars a month when in fact it is virtually impossible for anyone to make money at them.  The only ones really making any money are those that started the program at the very top. 

For the most part, the chances of earning what they boast in one month are extremely rare.  So, for the average inexperienced online marketer looking to start an internet home business –  it's pretty much a scam.

These types of schemes and MLM's can be easily spotted if you know what to look for.  Here are things that raise red flags for me:

• A hugely hyped up sales page boasting luxury cars, mansions and how much money they are making.  In some cases there are more enticing pictures and videos than actual useful information about the program. 
• It takes you more than a minute to figure out what they're actually selling, the value provided for the membership or how the plan actually works.
• The refund policy has a very small timeframe or non-existant.  Some programs say they'll offer a refund within 3-5 days but it takes longer than that to even get a program going, so you're likely to go beyond the three days and of course then you've lost your refund and in many cases monthly or maintenance fees are not refundable.
• There's no product being sold or if there is, the product costs more than it would anywhere else. Also watch out if the product is only slightly or vaguely mentioned. 
• There is little to no information about the company mentioned and what is mentioned is vague.

If after that you still feel the urge to take on one of these programs, please do your homework.  Take a look at review sites and research them carefully.  Take some time and make posts in forums asking if anyone has been involved with the program and what their experiences are.  Be careful of people trying to recruit you, ask them to give you real figures and go with your intuition on how legitimate their answers are.  I also recommend doing a 'review' search on your favorite search engine by entering "program name review". 

If you want more information on MLM’s and pyramid marketing schemes, here's a website that has some consumer guides and actions as well as some legal information.   http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/

The bottom line is these programs have no end user value, they only work as long as new members are recruited and if you closely follow any of them you will see that each program only lasts a few years until they begin to fizzle out.

There are hundreds of these programs out there and unless you love working at them and/or have a special talent for recruiting lots of people, I'd avoid them.  Instead find a business model that appeals to you, learn about it and put it into action.  For the amount of money paid into some of these schemes you could have purchased a web host, domain name, a website builder, a training guide or two and you would still have money left over …and you would be earning some money!  

For in-depth step-by-step help on internet marketing and creating an online business that makes you money instead of costing you money study  Internet Marketing Explained by a recognized internet marketer, Armand Morin.

I write a lot about the new web 2.0 technology and WordPress blogging because it's the hot topic for site builders, but the fact of the matter is, creating a WordPress site or blog might me more of a challenge for new site builders, and perhaps even experienced ones. 

I have to admit, I've created several WordPress blogs but without my Staticblogging guide I'd be having a much harder time at it, but that's where SBI (SIte Build It!) is a much more appropriate solution.  You don't need any other tools; you have everything you need from your website, to your host, to your domain name to all the training necessary.

So yes, I could go on about the hundreds of SBI! features and benefits but it's way more fun watching these videos of people who use and love SBI! It kind of puts it all into perspective on how using Site Build it is not only easy to use but doesn't require the technical know-how that building a WordPress site takes, and I can assure you, it's every bit as good.

==> For More about Site Build It, read my personal Site Build It Review.