by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen”

I’m guessing that right now there are several marketing tasks you’ve been putting off. Perhaps it’s revamping your website. Or sending out your first e-zine. Or getting listed in the search engines. Or putting together a media kit.

So why haven’t you done it?

Believe me, this is a battle I fight with myself too. But you know what I realized?

Procrastination is NOT evil!

Instead of seeing procrastination as a terrible thing, I now see it as a tool that helps me learn how I work best.

In fact, I’ve arrived at six different reasons why we all seem to procrastinate. Here they are, along with what you can learn from (and do for) each.

Reason 1: You are procrastinating because you don’t enjoy the entire task or job.

Solution: One of my life coaches told me several years ago that if I didn’t like doing something, I should “delete it, delegate it, or automate it.” What a great way to look at things! I’m a big fan of ONLY doing tasks I enjoy or am good at. The rest I outsource to people who are good at it and/or enjoy it.

Reason 2: You are procrastinating because you don’t enjoy a PART of the entire task or job.

Solution: If you’re putting off a whole project just because there’s one part you don’t want to do, figure out how you can get away without doing that part. Again, delete it, delegate it, or automate it.

Reason 3: You are procrastinating because you don’t know how to handle the task or job.

Solution: The answer will not drop in your lap. Get help — a consultant to teach you how, a book or home study course to show you how, or even better, outsource it to someone who can just do it for you.

Reason 4: You are procrastinating because you simply can’t find the time.

Solution: Schedule future time to do it, or get rid of other tasks to create the time you need. If you still can’t do this, then you need to find someone to do it for you.

Reason 5: You are procrastinating because you feel stuck.

Solution: You may just need to get momentum going. Give yourself permission to do just one small part of the project only. Or do the easiest part first. (That’s how I started writing my entire home study course.) This usually creates momentum, and you end up doing a lot more than you intended to!

Reason 6: You are procrastinating because you don’t really want to do what you thought you should do.

Solution: This means you may have the wrong objective or strategy in the first place! Is this something you really want to do, or do you just think you SHOULD do it? Or is it an old goal that doesn’t fit you or your business anymore? Your answer may surprise you. Let the goal go for awhile and see what happens. : )

Start Paying Attention!

Once you start paying attention to which activities you put off regularly, you’ll know sooner when to be stricter with yourself or find help to get those tasks accomplished in a more timely manner.

So take a minute and make your list right now of what marketing tasks you’ve been putting off! Don’t beat yourself up about it, just make a note and figure out how to get them done. (Or delete them and find an alternative to help you reach the same goal.)

© 2001-2006 Alexandria K. Brown

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 22,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

Whether you’re selling a product or service, the 10 tips below are your keys to writing great copy that communicates and persuades … to get results! These guidelines can apply to Web copy, e-mail, sales letters, brochures, direct mail, and more. As long as your goal is to elicit a reaction from your reader, you’ve come to the right place.

1. Be reader-centered, not writer-centered.

Many ads, brochures, and Web sites talk endlessly on and on about how great their products and companies are. Hello? Customer, anyone? Think of your reader thinking, “What’s in it for me?” If you can, talk with some of your current customers and ask them 1) why they chose you, and 2) what they get out of your product or service. TIP: To instantly make your copy more reader-focused, insert the word “you” often.

2. Focus on the benefits — not just the features.

The fact that your product or service offers a lot of neat features is great, but what do they DO for your customer? Do they save her time or money? Give her peace of mind? Raise her image to a certain status? Here’s an example: If you go buy a pair of Gucci sunglasses, you’re not just looking for good UV protection. You’re buying the sleek, stylish Gucci look. So that’s what Gucci sells. You don’t see their ads talk about how well made their sunglasses are. Think about what your customers are REALLY looking for.

Now, what does an insurance broker sell? Policies?

Nope — peace of mind. (See? You’ve got it.)

3. Draw them in with a killer headline.

The first thing your reader sees can mean the difference between success and failure. Today’s ads are chock full of clever headlines that play on words. They’re cute, but most of them aren’t effective. There are many ways to get attention in a headline, but it’s safest to appeal to your reader’s interests and concerns. And again, remember to make it reader centered — no one gives a hoot about your company.

Bad: “SuccessCorp Creates Amazing New Financial Program”
Better: “Turn Your Finances Around in 30 Days!”

4. Use engaging subheads.

Like mini-headlines, subheads help readers quickly understand your main points by making the copy “skimmable.” Because subheads catch readers” eyes, you should use them to your benefit! Read through your copy for your main promotional points, then summarize the ideas as subheads. To make your subheads engaging, it’s important to include action or selling elements.

Bad: “Our Department’s Successes.”
Better: “Meet Five Clients Who Saved $10K With Us.”

5. Be conversational.

Write to your customers like you’d talk to them. Don’t be afraid of using conversational phrases such as “So what’s next?” or “Here’s how do we do this.” Avoid formality and use short, easy words. Why? Even if you think it can’t possibly be misunderstood, a few people will still be confused. Plus, being conversational helps prospects feel like they can trust you more.

6. Nix the jargon.

Avoid industry jargon and buzzwords — stick to the facts and the benefits. An easy way to weed out jargon is to think of dear old Mom reading your copy. Would she get it? If not, clarify and simplify. (This rule, of course, varies, depending on who your target audience is. For a business audience, you should upscale your words to what they’re used to. In some industries, buzzwords are crucial. Just make sure your points don’t get muddled in them!)

7. Keep it brief and digestible.

No one has time to weed through lengthy prose these days. The faster you convey your product or service’s benefits to the reader, the more likely you’ll keep her reading. Fire your “biggest gun” first by beginning with your biggest benefit — if you put it toward the end of your copy, you risk losing the reader before she gets to it. Aim for sentence lengths of less than 20 words. When possible, break up copy with subheads (see no. 4), bullets, numbers, or em dashes (like the one following this phrase) — these make your points easy to digest.

8. Use testimonials when possible.

Let your prospects know they won’t be the first to try you. Give results-oriented testimonials from customers who have benefited immensely from your product or service. Oh, and never give people’s initials only — it reminds me of those ads in the back of magazines with headlines like “L0se 50 P0unds in 3 Days!” Give people’s full names with their titles and companies (or towns and states of residence) — and be sure to get their permission first.

9. Ask for the order!

Tell your reader what you want her to do — don’t leave her hanging. Do you want her to call you or e-mail you for more information? 0rder n0w? Call to schedule a free consultation? Complete a brief survey? Think about what you’d most like her to do, and then ask her. It’s amazing how many marketing materials I come across every day that don’t make it clear what the reader should do. If you wrote interesting copy, your reader may forget you’re trying to sell something. Tell her what to do, and she’ll be more likely to do it.

10. Have your copy proofread!

Good. Now have it proofread again. Don’t risk printing any typos, misspellings, or grammatical mistakes that will represent your company as amateurs. Hire a professional editor or proofreader to clean up your work. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impession! Oops — impression.

© 2001-2006 Alexandria K. Brown

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 22,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

Publishing articles, especially via an e-zine, is the ideal opportunity to showcase your business. By sharing your knowledge and expertise, you build credibility as an expert, while spreading the word about your services and products.

While I’m sure that sometimes you have dozens of content ideas, I bet other times you find yourself staring at a blank computer screen, grumbling that it’s publishing time again. Well, have no fear! Here are 11 quick (and good) content ideas for when you’re in a pinch.

1. Give real-life success stories.
Describe a problem you’ve solved for a client/customer, and use that as a springboard to offer more general advice. Show your readers how you’ve helped customers address challenges — “case studies” if you will. This positions you as the expert in your readers’ minds more than your coming out and saying so.

2. Think of three areas in which you’d like your clients to think of you as a resource.
Now develop content in those areas. For example, in my past life as a professional copywriter, I really enjoyed writing for Web sites. To help encourage my clients and prospects to hire me for these projects, I published several articles on how to write Web copy that sells.

3. Read industry publications for ideas.
Are there any hot issues in your field right now? The more controversial, the better. Don’t be afraid to offer your own opinion — your readers want to know it. After all, YOU are the expert in their eyes.

4. Jot down 8 questions your clients have asked you in the past.
You know, the ones they ask you over and over. Answer each in a short article. If you publish weekly, that’s two months’ worth of content, right off the bat! And if you can’t think of any questions, send all your current clients/customers a quick e-mail, asking them what topics they’re most interested in learning more about.

5. Learn anything neat lately from an industry conference, workshop, seminar, or insightful article?
No one says you have to reinvent the wheel of information! Pass on any gems of advice you’ve learned elsewhere — just give them full attribution. Or give your opinion of the event or article itself. Your readers will appreciate your frankness.

6. Offer a list of your top 5 or 10 tips on a certain subject.
It’s much easier to bang out a list of tips than to put together a real article. Of course, the tips can evolve into an article if you wish! Be sure to list your best tip first, or at least close to the top. (If you “fire your biggest gun” last, you risk losing your audience before they get to the good stuff.)

7. Interview associates whose expertise would interest your readers (while not competing with yours). E-mail interviews are incredibly easy to do. Just send your interviewee 3 to 5 questions via e-mail, edit their answers, and have them approve the final version. Be sure to give them a short plug in your e-zine as a thank you. (A one- or two-sentence description of their business and their Web address should be fine.)

8. Recommend books and resources that you use, and offer full reviews on them.
In one issue of my old e-zine, “AKB MarCom Tips,” I featured reviews of my favorite four copywriting resource books. I’m glad I also gave my Amazon.com associate links, because I ended up making some nice commission, to boot!

9. Invite clients or readers to write you with their own questions, and answer one in each issue.
Right after their question, publish the person’s name, business, and Web address, with their permission. They’ll enjoy the attention and free publicity!

10. Invite readers to send in profiles.
Ask them to tell you about themselves — their names, businesses, locations, and how they use the information gained in your e-zine. Feature one profile in each issue or one every few issues.

11. When all else fails, borrow an article!
There are dozens of Web sites offering hundreds of articles that you can use in your e-zine. The articles are free and available for you to use immediately. The only catch is you’re required to leave the entire article intact, including the author’s promotional information. One of my favorite places to search for articles is www.ezinearticles.com.

One last note: Keep in mind that if your e-zine’s main objective is to get you more clients and customers, you should NOT feature other writers’ articles more than once in a blue moon. Remember our main goal is to continually showcase YOU. : )

© 2001-2006 Alexandria K. Brown

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 22,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

Here’s a question recently sent in by Phylis. She wants to know if the information we offer can be used to promote her offline flower shop. (In a word: YES!) I’ve asked my Director of Mentoring, Ric Mazereeuw, to answer her.

Phylis asks:

I am the owner of a Flower & Gift Shop. I also have a website for the shop (adannas.com).

I have been subscribing to your marketing tips for the last few years but have not taken it seriously until now. I never considered my business an Internet business, but I’m beginning to think otherwise. (hope this is not a stupid question) Can the tips you offer be used for my business? If so, can you let me know exactly how?

Ric answers:

That’s actually an excellent question, Phylis — and one I’m happy to answer.

Here’s something I can’t stress enough: The Internet is a necessary part of any successful business nowadays.

Your store is a perfect example. You run a flower shop. In order to keep your customers returning to your store, you want to stay in touch with them. You need to communicate with them.

Well, the Internet is the ULTIMATE communication tool.

Here’s how you can use it: From now on, every time a customer buys flowers from you, you should collect five very important pieces of information:
Their first names
Their last names
Their email address
The name of the person they’re buying flowers for
The REASON they’re buying flowers
Let’s say one of your customers buys flowers for his mother on her birthday. About 11 1/2 months after that purchase, you send him an email reminding him his mother’s birthday is coming up soon.

Then you offer him a 25% discount off one of your nicest floral arrangements if he calls you to place an order in the next 48 hours.

Your phones will be ringing off the hook!

Not only will you be giving your customer a highly compelling reason to take you up on your offer, you may also be doing him a HUGE favor by reminding him his mother’s birthday’s coming up.

With that kind of customer service, you’ll really stand apart from your competitors.

Of course, once you have your customers’ email addresses, you can send them occasional promotional messages all year long. For instance, you can let them know when…
You have rare or hard-to-find flowers in stock
When you’re having an “end of season” or “clearance” sale
You’re running holiday specials (for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation, Secretary’s Day, and so on.)

You can even send them friendly follow-up tips after they make a purchase, telling them how to care for the flowers they just bought.

Again, it’s all about providing excellent customer service — so the next time one of your customers needs to buy flowers, yours is the first store that comes to mind.

Hope that helps, Phylis!

[Ed. note: Ric Mazereeuw is IMC's Director of Mentoring. To learn how you can apply for a spot in our Advanced Mentoring program -- and get "round the clock" advice from your own personal Internet marketing mentor, click here: http://www.marketingtips.com/advancedcoaching.]
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 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

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by Alexandria K. Brown

Can I share a secret with you?

Teleseminars are some of the easiest money I’ve ever made.

Chances are you’ve attended a teleseminar lately. Why not produce them yourself? These seminars by phone are fun and easy to do.

Giving FREE teleseminars is a fabulous way to promote your business, help your prospects get to know you better, increase your e-zine subscribers, and jack-up sales. For the first few years of my Ezine Queen business, I offered a free monthly teleseminar that gave people an introduction to what I teach (how to get business via an e-zine). These calls generated me tons of new e-zine subscribers and sales for my home study courses.

Giving PAID teleseminars promotes your business and generates revenues as well. I do one paid teleseminar at least every two months on a different marketing topic, and sometimes I invite a special guest. Even when I just started out, each of these events would gross me between $5,000 and $10,000.

You should also consider offering an “intensive” or “bootcamp” series of multi-week teleseminars. You can break up aspects of one topic or do a series on multiple, related topics. My former “4-Week E-zine Launch Telebootcamps” went for $497 and sold out every time.

To get started, you’ll need:

1. a bridge line. For less than 50 people, FreeConference.com has worked fine for me. (Yes, it’s FREE.) For more people or for paid events, I use a paid line such as from Black & White Communications, because they come with personal service and an operator if anything goes wrong.

2. an automated way for people to sign up. I use, LOVE, and wholeheartedly recommend 1ShoppingCart. It’s an online shopping cart program that comes complete with e-mail autoresponders and link tracking. It also lets you do coupon offers for special groups, and you can automatically track commissions for affiliates.

3. a way to record your teleseminars. You’ll want to provide the audio for people to listen to later online or you can make CDs. Record yourself with inexpensive software like Sony’s “Sound Forge Studio”, or hire someone to do it for you. I use www.AudioStrategies.com.

But there’s a LOT more to it…

- How do you get signups, especially if you have a small list?

- Where can you advertise your teleseminars?

- What days and times will get you more people?

- How much should you charge?

- How can you get expert guests on your calls for free?

- How should you prepare handouts and visuals?

- Do people really want CDs, or are they happy with online audio?

WHERE do you start?

To learn MY step-by-step formula for producing teleseminars that REALLY make you money, come to my next Online Success Blueprint Workshop. Along with teaching my entire internet marketing strategy, I go through my personal teleseminar processes in detail!

© 2004-2007 Alexandria K. Brown

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 21,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at EzineQueen.com

I want to share with you some research I’ve been doing and something that has intrigued me. I’ve named it a Lifestyle business because it takes into account your passion and lifestyle first and money second.

Everybody’s has heard the advice “Do what you love and the money will follow”. Well I’m not 100% sure that’s the case. I’ve yet to find someone who will pay me to eat sushi and pizza and play video games. That wouldn’t work because there is no value derived from watching me eat and play video games. Now with that said, you can do what you love AND provide value to others who love the same thing to profit from it. Otherwise there is no exchange of money.

Let me start with an example from one of my last vacations and then you’ll get a better idea…

For two years now I’ve gone away to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean to go play beach volleyball for an entire week. In fact, 50 other people from all over the world came to
join me. Actually one of my highlights from my trip last year was to play doubles with an AVP Pro, Adam Jewel, against Olympic gold medal winner, Eric Fonoi. We won!

It’s something called “Volleyball Vacations” (VolleyballVacations.com) put on by an AVP pro Albert Hannemann. AL-B’s been doing this for the last 8 years. He gets a couple buddies to come down for the week, play volleyball and party (sometimes not necessarily in that order). While the rest of us pay for the privilege.

AL-B partnered up with a travel agency to handle all the nitty gritty details and he just gets paid a certain percentage on every package sold. I don’t know the exact economics but I do know its some nice extra money for doing something you love and getting paid to vacation. A lifestyle business usually centers around something you love and would do regardless.

Here’s another ‘experience’ one…

Have you heard of the Baja 1000?

It’s an all-out endurance race of a thousand-mile (mostly) off-road race through Mexico, from one end of the Baja Peninsula to the other. A guy named Todd Clement started an adventure outfit called Wide Open Baja (wideopenbaja.com) after winning the grueling Baja 1000 in 1997. He recruited some other winners and seasoned guides to open a Baja racing adventure experience. Corey Rudl first told me about them and convinced me to go last July. I’m glad he did. It was pretty crazy. You get to drive these incredible Baja race cars on some of the same trails as the famous Baja 500 and Baja 1000 races.

This is trip is not for meek of heart or wallet. I believe it cost about $7000 (not including airfare) for 2 people for our 4-day trip. I’ve spoken to the guys at Wide Open because I’m always curious about business models and they run 2-3 trips a week from each location (they have 2 main ones of Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas for 4-day trips.)  And each trip is usually sold-out months and months in advance.

We had 10 cars in our group – sometimes there are more. But 10 cars x $7000 = $70,000/trip. Now of course, that’s not all profit and the cars are very expensive, there’s
maintenance, food, employees, etc. But it can add up to some good money – once again for doing something you love.

Racing is good one because lots of guys (and some gals) are very passionate about the sport. Of course, there are tons of racing schools around the country that cater to this and once again it isn’t cheap. There’s even a racing school that lets you drive F-1 race cars (basically jets on wheels) in Europe.

If you notice there’s something else that really drives these lifestyle businesses is passion. The more passionate the niche the great likelihood they’ll spend money for an experience. Plus, there’s also a social network around it. i.e. beach volleyball nuts get to hang out and party with other beach volleyball nuts.

Now that I’ve shown some “experience” lifestyle businesses let me give you another point of view and highlight some information product examples that I’ve discovered. Many of you should be familiar with information products ranging from ebooks to newslettes to DVDs, etc.

The first example is Robert Parker at erobertparker.com

If you’re familiar with wine you’d immediately know who Robert Parker is. His 100 point rating scale for wines can either make or break a wine. I’m going back a bit – but
this example is powerful. According to his bio, Robert fell in love with wine during a trip to France in 1967. Then in 1975 he thought about creating an “independent consumers” guide to wine. And finally in 1978 he plan became his wine newsletter called “The Wine Advocate”. He started off with 600 charter subscribers in August of that year. Now today – his subscription base has exploded to over 40,000 subscribers at $60/year. (hmmm…adds up to $2.4M to me.)

But that’s not all – his wine empire has spawned some spin- offs. i.e. his membership website at $99 (renewing annually), “Parker in your Palm” which is a listing of certain wine ratings that can be downloaded into your Palm Pilot, books, back-issues, wine events, etc.

My bet is there are lots of little niches out there where people would pay you for experiences. Sometimes there are even combinations like a wine tour with a bicycle tour. Or for instance golf with travel adventures-in-golf.com, etc.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing something in the extreme adventure travel business and maybe combining it with my passion for Entrepreneurship and business. I’d love to hear from you if you decide to launch a “Lifestyle business”. So keep me posted.

Copyright Yanik Silver

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Just 33-years old, Yanik Silver leads the “Ultimate Internet Lifestyle” of fun, freedom and financial independence funded by the Internet. He has shown thousands of others how to do the same thing…even though he’s a complete “computer dunce” and still doesn’t know how to put up his own website.

More information can be found at internetlifestyle.com
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by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-Zine Queen”

I admit that for some time I was resistant to doing any marketing via old fashioned snail mail. After all, email is FREE (at least for the time being). Why pay to print and mail anything at all? I mean, I’m the Ezine Queen – not the direct mail queen! And I was already making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year using the Internet.

Well, I can tell you I’ve changed my tune based on several mailings I’ve done over the past year. A test of sending out few simple postcards and one sales letter mailing helped me exponentially increase my response to two of my programs over the last several months. I’m now SOLD!

If you aren’t collecting any physical addresses right now from your clients, customers, and ezine subscribers, please get started now. Because not only will offline marketing supplement your online efforts immensely, but email deliverability gets trickier and trickier to maintain.

Email can (and will) change in the future. How, I can’t tell you. But the good old U.S. Postal Service will be around for a long, long time just the way it is. (And if YOU want your business to be around a long, long time, you’d better start getting those addresses now!)

Best of all, direct mail marketing will supplement your online efforts for even better results. It’s a no-brainer, folks. Time to get with it.

So, if you’re ready to venture into direct mail, here are a few dos and don’ts I’d like to share with you before you get started…

1. DON’T blow your whole budget on one mailing!

Imagine Nissan coming out with a new car and running ONE single television ad spot, never to be repeated. Ludicrous, yes? But many small business owners somehow think one mailing will do the trick. The biggest mistake most new marketers make when venturing into direct mail is doing ONE mailing, and judging the response solely from that. You should plan a campaign that involves at least three steps, and five to seven for best results. (If you want to keep it super simple, you can just mail the same darn thing repeatedly!)

2. DON’T do an expensive mailing your first-time out, even if you can afford it.

Why? I learned this the hard way when I did an exciting, pricey mailing without first realizing how many undeliverable addresses there were on my list. Remember that some people mistakenly mistype their addresses into your system, and people often move, sometimes with no forwarding address. I recommend doing an inexpensive mailing such as a postcard first time around in order to help weed out the undeliverables on your list! (Remember to include your return address so you’ll get these back.)

3. DON’T overlook how important your copy is in order to get attention and get response.

The great thing about mailing a postcard is the recipient reads what you have to say right then and there. If you send something in an envelope, it has to get opened first. That’s why master marketers recommend printing a headline or teaser on the outside of any mailing that’s done in an envelope. Example: “Look inside to learn 5 ways you can increase your sales by next week!” I say just do a postcard to keep it simple (and less expensive than doing an envelope mailing).

4. DO keep your graphics simple and attention-getting.

Don’t go crazy paying some designer thousands of dollars to create a mailing for you, when you can keep things simple and get just as good – if not better – results. I used to pay an artist beaucoup bucks on a regular basis to make everything I sent out looked picture perfect. Once I stopped that and started focusing more on the message, I started making (and keeping) a LOT more money. Remember it’s WORDS that sell, and the job of graphics is to get attention and support your message.

5. DO give them a reason to take action NOW (and not wait until later).

Include a deadline or expiration date on your offer, even if it’s for something free, or emphasize there are a limited amount of spots/products left. Of course this will all depend on what you’re offering, but you get the idea! You don’t want to risk the recipient putting your postcard or letter in the “get to later” pile (which never gets touched).

6. DO track your mailings carefully so you can judge your return-on-investment.

If you are driving people to a website to opt-in or buy something, make sure you give them a separate and simple URL (web address) that is ONLY for the purpose of this mailing. You don’t have to create a new website or anything, just make sure you can track it. For example, I bought BlueprintWorkshopPostcard.com and then had that redirect to a tracking link I set up using the easy ad tracker program in my shopping cart system. This way I could tell exactly how many people typed in that URL, AND also how many people also actually registered for the workshop from the postcard! (VERY valuable information.)

7. DO work with a vendor who can make this all EASY for you.

I tried several different companies this past year, and now I only work with and recommend TWO. For full-color postcard design, printing, and mailing, I use Modern Postcard. (They did all my postcards for the Online Success Blueprint Workshop, including design, printing, and mailing, with quick turnaround too!) For mailings with goodies (called “premiums”) inside them and more creative stuff, I use my friend Mitch Carson at Impact Products. He’s the consultant I pull in when I truly want to make a BIG impact in the mail!

© 2006 Alexandria K. Brown

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 21,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

• Alexandria Brown (aka: “The Ezine Queen”)
• Andrew Fox
• Craig Garber
• Dan Kennedy
• Darrell Price
• Ed Dale
• Frank Kern
• Jason James
• John Reese
• Jonathan Leger
• Mike Steup
• Patric Chan
• Peter Drew
• Shawn Casey
• Stephen Pierce
• Willie Crawford
• Yanik Silver

…plus MANY other top web marketers!

Now, you don’t have to subscribe to 900 email lists to keep “tabs” on what these experts are up to.

Just subscribe to our feed…and then visit the “Internet Marketing Archives Blog” any time you want to ‘spy’ on the gurus!