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Marketing Articles by Bill Daugherty
16 Articles.

Bill Daugherty is editor and publisher of the
marketing and free advertising ezine "E-Power
Marketing."

Visit his free ad site at:
http://www.adsgalore.bizland.com

Visit Bill"s latest project at:
http://powerpromotion.net/website/07030/

To contact Bill mailto:bill@epower.zzn.com

---------------------------------------------------

Does Your Web Site Need A Tune Up?
By Bill Daugherty

Your web site may contain flaws or glitches
that are driving your visitors away! Such a
thought is enough to give the most laid back
webmaster a migraine. How can you uncover
and fix any problem areas that may be lurking
in the dark recesses of your site? Relax gentle
readers, there is a simple answer.

All you have to do is follow a few basic
guidelines that all web sites should adhere
to and you can be assured that your site is
in tip-top shape. It's not unlike giving your
automobile a little tuneup.

1 - Slow Loading Pages

Nothing drives a visitor away faster than
having to wait around for a web page to
load. Most experts will tell you that 8 seconds
is the maximum load time for your pages, and
anything slower needs some attention. But,
this doesn't take into account the visitor's
modem speed. Here are the results from
a load time check I had conducted recently
on the first page of one of my sites.

--------------------------------

This diagnostic checks how fast your page
loads up under 6 common modem speeds.

Connect Rate Connect Time
-------------- ---------------
14.4K 10.12 seconds
28.8K 6.05 seconds
33.6K 5.34 seconds
56K 4.41 seconds
ISDN 128K 2.04 seconds
T1 1.44Mpbs 1.00 seconds

LOAD TIME CHECK.......................EXCELLENT
-------------------------------

I have included these results so you can
see the difference in load time for various
modem speeds and use it as a guide
instead of the 8 second benchmark you
are often given. Please note that the page
tested has very few graphics. A page with
more graphics will load slower, but may
still load in an acceptable time.

Slow load time is usually caused by either
too many graphics or by graphics that are
too "fat." You can have those "fat" graphics
optimized by an experienced HTML
programmer. If your problem is too many
graphics, you need to eliminate a few.

2 - Typos and Spelling

Typos and misspelled words can severely
undermine an otherwise great site. Check
and recheck every page for these errors.

3 - Navigation

Broken or missing links are all too common
on many sites I visit. So, double-check all
your links and make sure they are functioning
properly. Those 404 messages are a big-time
turnoff, plus it means part of your site is
inaccessible.

If you have a lot of links on a page, arrange
them in neat rows with uniform spacing
between each.

It is critical to have all links clearly identified.

4 - Design

Your color choices are a matter of personal
taste. But try to avoid using too many colors.
This can give your site a carnival-like effect
that leaves your visitors tired and dizzy. As
a general rule you shouldn't use more than
four colors.

Too many different fonts on a page can also
have a negative effect on your design. When
I look at a page that somehow just doesn't
look quite right, but I can't put my finger on
the problem, it usually turns out to be the
font(s).

Animation is great, but too much movement
is distracting.

Don't load your pages with too many banners.
One or two at the top or bottom should be the
limit.

This concludes your web site's tune up.
These guidelines are by no means an
exhaustive list of all the problems and
errors that can plague a web site. But,
it is an effective checklist of the more
common flaws, and it will serve to greatly
improve the performance of any web site.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Daugherty is editor and publisher of the
marketing and free advertising ezine "E-Power
Marketing." Visit his free ad site at:
http://www.adsgalore.bizland.com

Visit Bill"s latest project at:
http://powerpromotion.net/website/07030/

To contact Bill mailto:bill@epower.zzn.com
--------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

How To Install Pop Up Windows
by Bill Daugherty

This is a marketing device that will blow
your socks off! Its click through rate will
beat all of your banners, buttons and text
links put together and then some. It's called
a pop up window and it is super easy to install.

Pop up windows are those little (sometimes
not so little) windows that suddenly pop open
when you are either entering or leaving a site.

They are extremely powerful marketing devices
because they cannot be ignored. Your visitor
must take some action when that window pops
opens. Even if their first reaction is a move to
close the window, you have captured their
attention for a second or two. If your message
is strong enough, that second or two is all it
takes to get a click through.

Like to put one on your site? No problem.
Installing a pop up window is an easy task
even for the HTML challenged. Just follow
this simple two step process.

First - you need to place the message you want
to appear in the pop up window on a page of
your web site. Make sure this message is the
only content on that page.

Second - copy and paste the following code in
between the <body> and </body> tags in the
code of the page you want the window to pop
open from.

-start of code-
<script language="JavaScript" for="window"
event="onload()">window.open
("http://www.yourwebpage.com", "myannouncer",
"scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,height=230,width=380")
</script>
-end of code-

Be sure to replace the "yourwebpage.com" part
with the address of the page you want to appear
in the pop up window.

You can change the size of the pop up by
changing the height and width attributes.
You may have to play around with this a
little before you get it exactly right.

The above code will cause the pop up to open
when a visitor enters your site. You can change
it to open when they leave your site by changing
the "onload()" to "unload()" in the "event="
attribute.

Wasn't that easy? You have just added a very
powerful marketing tool to your site.

The uses of a pop up window are limited only
by your imagination and marketing aptitude.
They are commonly used for:

- Announcing special promotions

- Signing up subscribers to your ezine

- Promoting your opt in mailing list

- Promoting your other sites

What ever you end up using your pop up for,
it will be a strong addition to your marketing
arsenal.
__________________________________

About The Arthur: Bill Daugherty is the
editor of the acclaimed marketing ezine
"E-Power Marketing." Subscribe free at:
http://www.adsgalore.bizland.com

See Bill's latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com

To contact Bill mailto:epower@www.com
__________________________________

----------------------------------------------

The Art Of Writing Powerful Classified Ads
By Bill Daugherty

One powerful little classified ad can make you
a fortune! It will sell your product or service
for months, even years, to come in any
advertising venue you choose. On the other
hand, a weak ad won't produce enough income
to justify the time it takes you to write and
submit the poor little thing.

Writing great ad copy may be an art form, but
it's an art that can be easily learned with a
little guidance and a little practice.

So stop wasting your time writing useless
weak ads. You can write powerful ad copy
every time if you will follow three simple rules.

Rule #1
The headline of your ad must catch the
reader's attention instantly. Surfers scan
ads at near the speed of light and your ad
is competing with a lot of other ads and
information for their attention. The headline
of your ad must bring that surfer to a
screeching halt.

Rule #2
The body of your ad must not only hold
the reader's attention, it should get the
reader excited about your product or
service. You want your visitors eager
and ready buy your product or service
before they reach your site.

Rule #3
The ad must target potential customers for
your product or service. What's called a
blind ad may draw a lot of visitors to your
site, but few will buy, and we are looking
for buyers, not "tire kickers." Right?

To illustrate just how strong an ad can be
when these three rules are followed, I am
going to show you two ads written for the
same product. Let's say I have just gotten
the resell rights to a new Ebook about
how to write great classified ads.

This first ad will demonstrate a weak ad for
this product and doesn't follow the three
rules for writing powerful ads.

Learn To Write Better Classified Ads!

Great new Ebook "How To Write Ads
That Sell," by John Doe. John is one of
the leading authorities on online advertising
today and he can help you write like a pro!
Goto:(myURL)

This ad does satisfy the third rule by
targeting potential customers for our product,
but it fails miserable in all other aspects.
That headline isn't going to grab anybody's
attention. And the body of the ad is not
only boring, it is trying to sell the steak
instead of selling the sizzle. People are
not interested in your product or service
per se, they are only interested in what the
product or service will do for them. How will
they benefit from using your product or service
That's the key to writing powerful ads. You
must sell the sizzle, not the steak.

Now let's look at an ad for that same Ebook
that does follow our three rules.

Powerful Ads That Will Make You Rich!

You are only minutes away from creating
powerful cash generating ads that will make
your hit counter explode and your sales
skyrocket - I Guarantee It !
Goto:(myURL)

This is a much better ad. It follows all
three of our rules. It has an attention
grabbing headline. The body of the ad
talks not about the product, but the end
result of using the product. And our
entire ad targets potential customers
for our product. See the difference?

It's just as easy to write a powerful ad as
it is to write a weak one when you know
and follow these three simple little rules.
And remember, you will improve as you
write more and more ads.

I wish you all the best in your classified
advertising campaigns.
--------------------------------------------------

Bill Daugherty is the editor and publisher of the
marketing and free advertising ezine "E-Power
Marketing." Subscribe free at:
http://www.instantez.com/ezine.html

Visit Bill"s latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com

To contact Bill mailto:bill@epower.zzn.com
--------------------------------------------------

Those Search Engine Blues
by Bill Daugherty

A Webmaster's life isn't easy. Everyday seems
to bring a new challenge, a new problem to solve
or some struggle that makes you want to pull
your hair out. But, nothing can be as frustrating
as trying to get a decent ranking on one of the
major search engines. Those search engine
blues can be hard to shake.

You submit your site, then wait weeks for the
search engine "gods" to render their decision.
More likely than not, their decision is to either
not list your site at all or to give it a ranking so
low that a surfer needs deep diving equipment
to find you. It's enough to sent you running for
a giant size bottle of Prozac.

Your first reaction will probably be to throw your
hands up and say the heck with those search
engines, who needs them?

Don't make this mistake. We all need our sites
listed on search engines. More visitors can be
gained through search engines than all other
marketing venues put together. Nobody can
ignore this vast source of potential customers.

So what can a poor beleaguered Webmaster do?

Most of us turn to the search engine gurus at
this point. We follow their advice on how to make
our web sites search engine ready. We insert
META tags into our site code. We struggle to
add just the right description and keywords so
the major engines will find us worthy of a high
listing. When all the i's have been dotted and
all the t's crossed, we submit again and wait.

Five or six weeks later we discover that once
again, the "big boys" have found our site lacking
in some way or another. It's back to the drawing
board. We read somewhere - to get approved
for a decent listing we need to build some
"gateway pages." This only takes a few days to
a few weeks to figure out and accomplish, but then,
at last it's done and we submit once again.

And once again, five or six weeks later, we
find that we still can't be found on any of the
major engines we have submitted and resubmitted
to and we feel totally defeated. Now what?

You have three options at that point.

Number one - You can keep on trying. Who knows,
maybe eventually you will get it right. Stranger
things have been known to happen.

Number two - You can hire a search engine
specialist. They do exist and I have heard
that some of them are very, very good. These
high priest of the search engine world can get
you a nice high ranking and keep you there.
I have also heard that their fees are very, very
high. Of course, it may be worth the money.

Number three - You can turn to the pay-per-click
type of search engine.

The frustration of trying to get a decent ranking
on the traditional engines has given rise to a
new breed called the pay-per-click. It only takes
a few minutes to get listed on these guys. You
open an account, make a deposit of from $10
to $25.00 ($50.00 is now the required amount on
GoTo.com) and then you list your keywords.

Your ranking under each keyword is determined
by how much you are willing to bid on each
listing (bids can be as low as 1 cent on most
of these sites, 5 cents on GoTo.com).

The great part is you only pay for results. Plus,
all of the pay-per-clicks I have seen, have a
members area where you can log in and check
on the amount of traffic each keyword is delivering
to your site. If any of your keywords are not
producing, just change it to what you think will
be a better choice.

As you can see the pay-per-clicks do cost a
little money, but it is money spent on results,
not on speculation. Here are the URLs of a
few you should check out if you are thinking
about exploring this avenue.

http://www.GoTo.com
http://PowerSearchExpress.com
http://www.SearchFeed.com
http://SearchHound.com

Regardless of what you decide to do about your
quest for a high listing on search engines and to
rid your life of those search engine blues, don't
ignore them. They are too important to keep out
of your marketing mix. If your decision is to keep
on banging your head against the "big boys," God
love you, I admire tenacity. I just don't have the
time for it. But, let me know how you do.

___________________________________

Bill Daugherty is the editor of the Web marketing
ezine, "E-Power Marketing." You can subscribe at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com

Visit Bill's latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com

Contact Bill at: mailto:epower@www.com

Dear Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

My partner and I have a website that puts
together all kinds of tours of Mexico for
people. I think we have great products
at great prices. We have a great website
that cost us a lot of money to have designed.
There's just one problem, we are getting
very little traffic. So, I'm sure you can guess
that we aren't making any money.

It is our understanding that search engines
can bring a lot of traffic to a site, but that
hasn't been our experience. We have listed
our site with several of the pay-per-click
engines and we have a top listing with all
of them with the key phrase "Mexico Vacation
Tours." But we are only getting a few hits
a week. We don't know what's wrong.

Signed,

Defeated

--------------------------------------

Dear Defeated,

I am surprised you are getting any hits at
all. Your key phrase is too narrow for most
surfers to find.

You need to list your site under the keywords:
travel, tours, vacations, Mexico, Mexico
vacations, Mexico City, Mexico City vacations
and several other keywords and phrases along
those lines. I wager you can come up with forty
or fifty good listings for your site, if you put your
mind to it. Just be sure each keyword or phrase
is relevant to your site.

When you list a site with any search engine,
the key (no pun intended) is to come up with
as many words and phrases that a searcher
would possible use to find a product or service
like yours. The more keywords you are listed
under, the more traffic you will draw.

Now, go back to those pay-per-clicks and add
as many new keywords and phrases as you
and your partner can come up with and I can
assure you that your hit counter will jump
overnight.

Best wishes,

Mr. D

--------------------------------------------------------------

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com
Mr. D and his staff review all questions but,
we can't guarantee yours will be published
--------------------------------------------------------------
You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com

See his latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com
--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

Signed,

Defeated

--------------------------------------

Dear Defeated,

I am surprised you are getting any hits at
all. Your key phrase is too narrow for most
surfers to find.

Now, go back to those pay-per-clicks and add
as many new keywords and phrases as you
and your partner can come up with and I can
assure you that your hit counter will jump
overnight.

Best wishes,

Mr. D

--------------------------------------------------------------

See his latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com
--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

I have owned my own business for 8
years, but I am new to this Internet stuff.

My question is about all these free ad
offers I see everywhere on the Net. Are
they for real and if so, what's the catch?

I know nobody gives away something
for free unless there's something in it
for them. Just what does the people
who offer these free ads get out of it?

Signed,

Suspicious

--------------------------------------

Dear Suspicious,

Those free ad offers you keep seeing
are for real.

Offering free advertising is a powerful
way to draw a lot of traffic to a site. After
the traffic reaches the site, there are
several ways the site owner can benefit.

1. The site may contain several links and
banners that offer products or services
the site owner is selling.

2. The free advertising product may offer
an upgrade to a pay version. Most visitors
will only use the free version, but some
of them will be willing to pay for the more
powerful service.

3. In most cases, the free advertiser must
agree to receive an email confirmation
from the site owner. This email will of
course contain one or more ads for the
products or services the free advertising
site owner has for sale.

These three methods of using free advertising
to make money is by no means exhaustive, but
I think you get the idea.

Best wishes,

Mr. D

-------------------------------------

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com
Mr. D and his staff review all questions but,
we can't guarantee yours will be published
--------------------------------------
You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com

See his latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com
--------------------------------------

Ask Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D

I have heard that to make it on the Internet,
a business must have a high ranking on the
search engines. I have submitted my
site to several of the top ones, but I never
get a high ranking. In fact I don't even think
I get ranked at all on most of them.

What can I do?

Signed,

frustrated

_________________

Dear Frustrated,

I know how frustrating it can be trying to get a
decent ranking with any of the major engines.

Your first reaction will probably be to throw your
hands up and say the heck with those search
engines, who needs them?

So what can a poor beleaguered Webmaster do?

And once again, five or six weeks later, we
find that we still can't be found on any of the
major engines we have submitted and resubmitted
to and we feel totally defeated. Now what?

You have three options at that point.

Number one - You can keep on trying. Who knows,
maybe eventually you will get it right. Stranger
things have been known to happen.

Number three - You can turn to the pay-per-click
type of search engine.

Your ranking under each keyword is determined
by how much you are willing to bid on each
listing (bids can be as low as 1 cent on most
of these sites, 5 cents on GoTo.com).

http://www.GoTo.com
http://PowerSearchExpress.com
http://www.SearchFeed.com
http://SearchHound.com

Best wishes,

Mr. D

-------------------------------------

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com
Mr. D and his staff review all questions but,
we can't guarantee yours will be published
--------------------------------------
You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com

See his latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com
--------------------------------------

Ask Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

I recently joined a banner exchange. This is
my first venture into banner advertising and
I was shocked to see my banner getting a
measly .3% click-through rate.

Is this a normal ratio or do I just have a
lousy banner?

Signed,

Clickless In Seattle

_____________________

Dear Clickless,

Back in the good old days (three or four years ago)
it was easy to get surfers to click on banners.
Today that has changed dramatically, banner
advertising has hit hard times.

But even in today's climate, a .3% click-through
rate is extremely low. I haven't seen your banner,
so I don't know if it is lousy or not. But here are
some tips to follow when creating your banner.

* The text should consist of only a few words that offer a
clear message.

* Choose your color scheme with great care. Make sure
your text color contrast well with your background color.

* Animation is great, but don't make it too busy.

* The two most important words you can put on any
banner are "Click Here."

Now for a look at banner placement strategy:

Some banner exchanges allow you to target the type of
sites where your banner will appear and some do not. If
your exchange doesn't offer this feature, switch to one
that does.

Banner advertising may never again enjoy the strength it
had in the good old days, but you can get the most out of
your banner advertising by following the guidelines above.

Best wishes,

Mr. D
___________________

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com

You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com
--------------------------------------

Ask Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

Like most of the world, I was shocked and
sadden my the terrible events of Tuesday
(09/11/01). I don't live in the U.S., but you
don't have to be American to grief over
the senseless loss of life that occurred in
New York and Washington. If you are a
Human Being, you must be both hurt and
outraged by this awful human tragedy.

To show my support of the victims and
their families, I want to donate a percentage
of my Internet profits to help relieve all the
suffering these poor people must be going
through. Can you tell me where my money
could be donated to do the most good?

Signed,

Grieving in Montreal

__________________________

Dear Grieving in Montreal,

We, the entire world, have been grieving
since those horrific acts of terrorism. It's
hard to believe the world has come to this.
But, it has and we have to deal with it.

Your offer of a donation will be greatly
appreciated by any number of worthy
organizations that are helping the victims
and their families. I have listed several
below.

NY Firefighter's Fund
http://store.yahoo.com/firedonations/

American Red Cross
http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-wtc1/

Salvation Army
http://store.yahoo.com/salvationarmy/

There are many other organizations,
but these were three that came to mind
and their URLs were handy right on the
Yahoo website.

In such times of great sorrow, we all
need to pull together and help our
brothers and sisters that are in need.

God bless the human spirit.

Love to all,

Mr. D
___________________

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com

You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com
--------------------------------------

Ask Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

I have a great website (a lot of people have said
so). But, I am having a hard time getting visitors.

This is probably a common problem, but I do
have a few bucks to invest in some marketing.
I just don't know when to put the money for it
to do me the most good. I have done some free
ads, but I don't have a lot of time to spent on this.
Should I just try some different things or should
I hire an expert to guide me?

And please tell me where to find an Internet
marketing expert. Also please tell what they
will charge me.

Signed,

Ready To Market

----------------------------------

Dear Ready To Market,

If you don't have much time to spend on
marketing your site, you do need to hire
someone to do it for you. Advertising is
the fuel that keeps your business going.
Simply stated - no advertising, no business.

To find a firm that can do the job for you,
just go to a good search engine and enter
the keywords: "Internet marketing firms."
You will find hundreds of listings.

When you start visiting these firms you
will find some that specialize in various
aspects of marketing, but some offer a
complete marketing plan. I recommend the
complete package firms.

Understand that is not a one shot deal.
To make your ebusiness successful, you
must have a continuous marketing effort.

What will it cost? That is impossible to
answer. I suggest that you determine a
monthly advertising budget you can afford
and find a firm that will work with you
within that budget.

Best wishes,

Mr. D

---------------------------------------------

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com

You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com
--------------------------------------

XML Is About To Rock Your World
by Bill Daugherty

Envision a world in which you buy a new
home appliance and it introduces itself to
all of your other appliances and they figure
out how to work together. Went you start
your movie player it orders the lights to
dim, the microwave to pop the popcorn
and the telephone to hold all your calls
until the movie is over.

This may sound like something out of a
science fiction novel, but it is just around
the corner thanks to an extensible markup
language called XML. It sounds like your
t-shirt size, but it is a powerful new addition
to the e- world and it is going to rock your
world good.

A relative of HTML, XML promises to
become the common language for PCs,
Macs and any other device that has a
computer chip. The possibilities are
endless.

This common language for all devices will
make it possible to have networked cars
and offices.

Automobiles that have all the components
talking to one other and making adjustments
based on the data received. Offices where
all the machines, not just computer terminals,
will be able to work together in a coordinated
manner that will make the whole system many
times more powerful and productive that the
individual machines working alone.

XML and the Internet.

The Internet became what it is today because
HTML was accepted as a universal language
for displaying images and text. The impact of
XML will first be seen in the great improvement
it will bring to search results on search engines.

Today's search engines produce a lot of
irrelevant results. That's because, to a search
engine, a word or phrase is just a pattern of letters
without meaning. XML will eliminate a lot of this
"garbage" search results by labeling content
more thoroughly.

This may all sound like something out of the
distant future, but it will become our reality
in the near future. The most amazing feats
resulting from XML are those that we can't
even image yet. The future will be an exciting
time to live and XML will play a large role.

----------------------------------------
Subscribe free to Bill's Internet marketing newsletter at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com

Visit Bill's latest project at:
http://www.instantez.com

You can contact Bill at: bill@epower.zzn.com

Ask Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

What do you think is the single most important
key to success with an online business? I am
having a hard time getting my business off the
ground.

Signed,

Frustrated

----------------------------------------------

Dear Frustrated,

Several years ago, the founder of Wrigley Chewing
Gum was on a flight from New York to his home in
Chicago. The passenger in the next seat recognized
the chewing gum tycoon and asked him a question.
"Mr. Wrigley, I know your company enjoys over 90%
of the chewing gum market. Yet, last week I read
where you are increasing your advertising budget by
over 30%. With such a large share of the market, why
do you continue to spend so much on advertising?
Why not save that money or use it for something
else?"

Mr. Wrigley replied, "how fast do you think this
airplane is flying?" The man answered,"oh, I guess
about 600 miles per hour." Mr. Wrigley responded.
"I think that's fast enough, don't you?" The man
agreed that indeed, it was fast enough. "Well then,"
asked Mr. Wrigley, "why doesn't the pilot turn off
the engines and save all that expensive jet fuel?"

The reason I started my reply to your question
with this little story, is to illustrate just how vital a
consistent flow of advertising is to any business.
It doesn't matter if that business is online or offline.
It doesn't matter if that business is a small one-person
operated web site like yours or a giant like Mr. Wrigley's.
To be successful all businesses must advertise,
advertise, advertise. It is the most important key
to success.

Best wishes,

Mr. D
---------------------------------------------

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com

You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com
--------------------------------------

Ask Mr. D
by Bill Daugherty

Dear Mr. D,

I have joined several affiliate programs. I am
marketing these programs by placing a banner
ad for each on my website, but my visitors
are not clicking on them very much. Do you
have any suggestions as to how I can improve
this situation? These are really good programs
and I am sure I can make a lot of sales if I can
just get people to take a look at them.

Thanking you in advance for any help you
can give me.

Signed,

Hopeful

___________________________

Dear Hopeful,

I hope you aren't pinning your hopes on
banner ads. Banners have become one
of the poorest forms of Internet advertising.
They look nice on your site, but visitors
ignore them like the plague.

The first thing you should do is replace
those banners with text links. Text links
are headline ads that are hot linked to
the site they are advertising. This change
will greatly increase the number of clicks
to your affiliate's sites.

Second, increase the traffic to your site.
All sales numbers are related to amount
of traffic you can generate. The more traffic,
the more click-throughs, the more sales.

One last thing, don't spread yourself too
thin. Trying to promote too many programs
dilutes your efforts and can cause you
to fail on all of them. You said you have
joined several programs. Cut the number
back to the best three and devote all your
marketing efforts on them.

Best wishes,

Mr. D
___________________

Do you have an advertising or marketing
question you'd like to see published in this
column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com

You can visit Mr. D's website at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com
--------------------------------------

Why So Many Dotcoms Fail
By Bill Daugherty

The World Wide Web is booming. More and
more people are logging on and they are
spending more and more money, yet 95%
of all ebusinesses fail. What is causing so
many failures? I'm sure the reasons are
many and varied, but most of these failures
can be linked to three major causes.

The Wrong Marketing Mindset

Many newcomers to E-Commerce try to
market their ebusiness as though it is a
local brick and mortar business. Marketing
an online business is not as simple as hanging
out a sign, placing an ad in the Sunday paper,
taking a listing in the Yellow Pages, handing
out a few flyers and then rely on word-of-mouth
to carry the business forward. The web is a
whole new game, played on an entirely
different field and with different rules.

Internet marketing must be directed toward
a global consumer base and the advertising
must be designed to catch and hold the
consumer's attention in a nanosecond as
they are surf from site to site.

Instead of getting listed in the Yellow Pages,
you must get listed in all of the major search
engines.

Instead of placing ads in the local newspapers,
you need to place ads in ezines and on classified
sites.

Instead of neon signs and billboards, you need
banner ads on as many sites as possible.

And so on, I think you get the picture.
E-Commerce is faster paced than offline
businesses and it requires a marketing plan
that matches this pace. You have to learn
and adjust your marketing mindset to these
new rules.

Dysfunctional Web Sites

I define dysfunctional sites as any site with a
design flaw or chronic technical problem that
renders it either difficult or impossible for the
consumer to use.

For example: Last week I visited a site that sells
marketing software. I liked what I saw and decided
to purchase one of their products, but I could not
find their order page. I clicked on link after link
without success. After several frustrating minutes,
I left the site without buying. How or why anyone
would make it so difficult for their customers
to make a purchase is beyond me. Maybe they
don't realize it so hard to find. Could they have
forgot to include one? Whatever the reason, this
is a major design flaw.

Many design flaws are not as flagrant as the
previous example, but are still put offs to potential customers. Like a site that is
difficult to navigate or has a color scheme that gives the visitor headaches. Examine your
site carefully and see if you can spot any of these flaws.

Technical dysfunctions such as excruciatingly
slow loading pages and sites that experience a
lot of downtime are a turn off to your potential
customers as well. Down time is the fault of our
web server and beyond your control, but if the
problem is chronic, you need to change servers.
Those slow loading pages can be either your
server's fault or they may be a design problem.
Find out which it is and correct it. It hurts your
business.

A Lack Of Commitment

Many online entrepreneurs don't give their
business ventures enough time to succeed. They
set up shop, toss out a couple of ads and if the
money doesn't start to roll in right away, they
discard it and move on to try the another venture
which will also fail if they make the same mistakes.

A business, online or offline, takes time to grow.
Sometimes, make that most of the time, you have
to make adjustments in your original business plan.
Don't be so quick to give up. Perseverance is the
"secret" to many success stories. And if your
business does fail, search out the reasons and
learn from them. But, never give up without a
fight.
--------------------------------------------------

Bill Daugherty is editor and publisher of the
marketing and free advertising ezine "E-Power
Marketing." Visit his free ad site at:
http://www.adsgalore.bizland.com

Visit Bill"s latest project at:
http://www.epower-profits.com

To contact Bill mailto:bill@epower.zzn.com
--------------------------------------------------