Derek Gehl’s latest ‘Marketing Tips’ newsletter featured article titled “Turbo-Charge Your Business with These Top 5 Cutting-Edge Strategies” is reprinted here. [Article]


Derek Gehl’s latest ‘Marketing Tips’ newsletter article is reprinted here.

Turbo-Charge Your Business with These Top 5 Cutting-Edge Strategies

Happy New Year! Now that all the holiday celebrations are over, it’s time to take stock of the major online developments that happened last year, so you can start off 2007 on the best possible foot!

In this newsletter, I’m going to review the five hottest strategies I told you about in 2006, so you can put them to work for your business — and get the leap on your less ‘Net-savvy competitors!

Specifically I’m going to show you how to:

* Seed the Web with articles that will drive swarms of eager buyers to your website

* Segment your list to laser-target your subscribers and generate tons more sales

* Create “win-win” business relationships to increase your profits without a ton of work

* Establish your expertise to instill confidence and encourage sales from new visitors and existing customers

* Network your way to top search engine placement

So let’s jump right in and take a look at how you can rev up your business for the year ahead…

Top Strategy #1: Write articles that will increase your website traffic by 100%
— OR MORE!

Writing short, targeted articles and distributing them to the far corners of the Web is an incredibly effective way to boost your rankings in the search engines, increase your website traffic, and establish your credibility!

And best of all, it’s EASY!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Use Wordtracker (www.WordTracker.com) to build a list of keywords related to your business. Ideally your keywords will have a good number of people searching for them, but not too many sites optimized for them.

(For more about using Wordtracker, check out my two-part blog post at http://blog.MarketingTips.com/derek.)

2. Write a SHORT, informative article (no more than 400 words!) for each of your top keywords. The keyword you are highlighting should appear in the title and in the first 90 characters of your article. And it can’t hurt to plug it into the last paragraph as well.

3. Write a short, credibility-building “About the Author” blurb that you can tag onto the end of your articles — and make sure you include a link back to your website.

4. Submit your articles to directory sites with a high Google PageRank. You can find a list of the top directories in Issue 129 of “Marketing Tips” at:

www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters

5. Repeat weekly or monthly for best results!

For more information about this traffic-generation strategy, check out Issue 129 of my newsletter at:

www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters

Top Strategy #2: Segment your list to laser-target your customers’ desires…
and increase your revenue by up to 781%!

Segmenting your opt-in list simply means dividing your subscribers and customers into smaller, more focused groups, according to factors such as:

* Whether they’ve bought something from you
* Which products they’ve bought
* What their specified interests are
* Where they live
* Their age group
* And so on

You then create different mailout promotions for each group that specifically targets their particular needs.

By following this strategy, you’re guaranteed to see better results with your promotions. In fact, a study from Jupiter Research found that business owners who segmented their lists according to what customers bought, where they clicked on the website, and other collected information improved their conversion rates by up to 355% — and increased their revenues by an amazing 781%!

However, the study found that only 11% of marketers actually use this kind of data to segment their list! That means if you start segmenting your list, you’ll get a definite edge on your competitors.

Here’s how you can put this proven technique to work for your business:

1. Sort your current opt-in list into highly focused segments — such as customers who have purchased specific products from you before, subscribers who have never purchased, new subscribers, or any other segments you can create based on the information you have about your existing opt-in list.

2. Then create different mailout promotions for each segment of your list, so that you target them with highly personalized messages that speak directly to their wants and needs.

The sooner you start segmenting your list, the sooner you can start enjoying increased conversion rates and profits! For more information about this strategy, check out Issue 134 of my newsletter at:

www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters

Top Strategy #3: Create profitable strategic alliances to unleash a FLOOD of
new profits for your business!

With the right business partner, you can put your products in front of new customers and get fresh new products to sell to your existing customers. You can expand your reach AND boost your profits — talk about a “win-win” situation!

In business, these kinds of partnerships are called strategic alliances or joint ventures.

And the great thing is, strategic alliances are ESPECIALLY effective for online businesses.

So do a bit of research and find a partner who’s right for you — and then hit them with an offer they can’t refuse!

Here’s how to start:

1. Look for potential partners by using the search engines. Check out any businesses that are trying to sell something to the same market as yours — something complementary but not competitive.

2. Use the Alexa toolbar (www.Alexa.com) to give potential partners the “once-over.” (Look for a good traffic ranking in particular.)

3. Create joint venture proposals tailored to your list of potential partners, and make sure you include details about how they will benefit from the relationship.

4. Contact potential partners personally — with a phone call or face-to-face meeting.

5. Be sure to look for offline partners, too!

Many established businesses have been able to expand their product offerings, skills, and expertise through profitable alliances. With this plan — so will you!

To learn more about how to make strategic alliances work for your business, check out Issue 128 of “Marketing Tips” at:

www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters

Top Strategy #4: Use testimonials to establish your credibility and win over
potential customers

Never underestimate the power of a good testimonial! Posting reviews and comments from satisfied customers on your website is a terrific way to increase your credibility in the eyes of visitors and encourage sales from first-time buyers.

An effective testimonial can convince your reader that your product really DOES do exactly what you promise — especially if you run a small business and don’t yet have a widespread reputation.

Here’s how to gather quality testimonials and benefit from them immediately:

1. If you already have some positive feedback from clients, ask their permission to include their comments on your site. Try to choose testimonials that are packed full of concrete benefits that tell your customers exactly what they can expect to gain from purchasing your product or service.

Every testimonial should also have a first name, last name, and location — they help prove the recommendations are coming from real people.

2. To encourage new testimonials, add a link to your site attached to a form that allows customers to give you their vote of confidence. For example, “Click here to tell us what you think!”

3. Create an autoresponder that contacts your buyers after they’ve purchased your product to ask them how they’re enjoying it.

4. When customers send you glowing praise in a letter or email, contact them and ask for permission to add it to your site.

5. If you don’t have any testimonials yet, offer your product free of charge to a group of customers in exchange for their thoughts on the product.

Once you’ve accumulated some good testimonials, include them on your site:

* Put your best testimonials on your homepage.
* Insert some testimonials in the middle of your salescopy.
* Create a page on your site that features only testimonials.
* Put testimonials on each page of your website.

It’s that simple!

For more information about increasing your credibility with testimonials, check out Issue 119 of “Marketing Tips” at:

www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters

Top Strategy #5: “Socialize” your way to improved search engine placement

Social media and networking sites such as MySpace (www.MySpace.com), Flickr (www.Flickr.com), and Digg (www.Digg.com) are some of the fastest-growing sites on the Web today… and they’re also a great way to improve your site’s search engine placement!

That’s because these sites all have high Google PageRank numbers — which means that if you can get links on these sites that point to your site, you’ll be able to improve your search engine rankings DRAMATICALLY!

Here’s how to get started:

1. Check out a few different social media sites to get an idea of what they’re all about. For a list of the top sites, check out my blog at:

http://blog.MarketingTips.com/derek

2. Choose one or two sites that interest you and start participating in discussions and posting your new content. Just remember, these are social sites — so be sociable, not “salesy.”

3. Create a profile of yourself to include with your posts — and make sure it contains a link back to your site.

4. Create some content to post on the sites you are interested in — such as a short article, list, or entertaining video — and then give it a snappy, attention-grabbing headline.

Here are some content ideas to get you started:

o Compile an entertaining or informative list related to your industry.

o Take existing content from a newsletter or blog and re-purpose it for social media sites.

o Create a funny compilation video.

o Post an interactive product demonstration.

5. Tag your submissions with keywords that describe your content. This will maximize the chances that other site members will find you and add you to their favorites — boosting your popularity and the number of people who view your content!

6. Invite all your friends to go online and vote for your links.

Derek Gehl

Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he’s used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Derek Gehl for granting permission to reprint the latest article.

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