By Diane Thomas
Marketing your product, book or service can be a very daunting
task. If you are like me you receive many emails daily telling
you the only person to listen to is "Joe Guru". He has the
products or information you must have - he is the expert in the
field - and on and on. Unfortunately, there are now a bazillion
"Joe Guru's" hawking all sorts of marketing information and
products. So who do you listen to, who do you believe in, what
products really do work?
Let's start at the very beginning. Common sense - if it (or
he/she) sounds too good to be true it (he/she) is. I have
purchased some of these products and read a lot of this
information. Has it helped me. Some of it has, most of it has
been a waste of time and money.
To begin with, becoming an instant millionaire, or having your
book on the top ten list in less than a month is not likely,
so save your hard earned money. Sounds great, but will most
probably not happen. The methods online are different, but you
aren't any more likely to become an overnight success online
than you would offline.
Hard work, determination and staying power is what will
ultimately bring you success.
When I started online, I had absolutely no idea of what needed
to be done. I had a vision, but no means of executing it. I
was very fortunate because after a couple of false starts
(which I won't go into here) I found a program that gave me
the start I needed. Not only did I put up a website, knowing
nothing at all about HTML, Java or any programming language.
I built a business doing what I wanted to do,
I can now boast that I have 95 pages ranked in the top 10 with
the major search engines. 72 of which are in the top 5 and 36
are ranked #1. eBook Crossroads is also ranked in the top 2%
at Alexa. So how did I do this with no technical knowledge -
and not much money?
I came across a program called Site Build It! by Ken Evoy. Ken
is not known as one of the top gurus (although he has become
one of the most respected authors and marketers on the Internet).
He does not send hype emails - he teaches and he tells you like
it is! He has grown Site Build It! from a limited web hosting/
building program to an all inclusive, very sophisticated,
business building program. Everything you need to build your
business, be it selling a book, providing publishing services,
selling motorcycle accessories or real estate, you will find
in this program.
I can't say enough wonderful things about SBI! - because I
don't believe I would have a successful online business today
without it. You can find more information on this great program
here:
http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/sbi-reference.html
There are other excellent programs and books out there as well.
Here are a few resources that, in my opinion anyway, really
are what they are cracked up to be:
The most important marketing tool you need is a website that is
search engine optimized. Yes, this is a marketing tool -
because if no one can find your website, you won't sell that
great product, service or book. 1st Search Ranking, run by
Sumantra Roy (again not a "guru" but one of the most respected
search engine positioning specialists on the Internet) is the
best service I have found. You can check it out here:
http://tinyurl.com/4rg7u
Copy writing expertise is something we all wish came naturally,
unfortunately most of us need help in this critical area. Yanic
Silver, a copywriter by trade, put together a book of sales
letters for your advertising campaigns that you can simply
insert your particulars and viola an instant sales letter. You
can find this unique resource here:
http://tinyurl.com/5bqvb
Another must have are autoresponders. AWeber has a quality
service, one of the best online. You can find it here:
http://tinyurl.com/5qdcs
Implex's Get Response is a really good autoresponder service
as well. Click here to check out Get Response:
http://tinyurl.com/6xn3k
Another great product from Implex is
the HyperTracker for tracking your sales campaigns. This
program will show you in real statistics which ads, visitors
and products are productive and which are not. You can find it
here:
http://tinyurl.com/3ud8u
Lastly, one of my favorite books is Make Your Site Sell, by
yes, none other than Ken Evoy. This is simply "the best"
marketing ebook for selling yourself and your products online.
If you don't read anything else, you should read this book!
http://tinyurl.com/7xhbh
This is certainly not all there is to eMarketing, but these
few resources should give you some No-Hype help in choosing
marketing products that will really work for you.
©2005
About the Author
Diane Thomas is the editor of
eBook Crossroads.com specializing in resources for writers, publishers
and promoters of eBooks and Audio Books. She publishes a monthly ezine,
the eBook Crossroads Insider, offering articles, tips, contests, free downloads
and much more!
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eBook Crossroads Insider.
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