How would you like to be able to keep growing your business no matter what the economy does?

Sign up for expert online copywriter Michelle Salater’s Online Business Marketing Bootcamp for Beginners, and she’ll show you everything you need to know to go where the customers are—online—and grow your business by maximizing your marketing efforts.

And do it in any economy. 

Over the course of 8 weeks, you will work one-on-one with Michelle as she shows you the same tips, tactics, and strategies she used to take her own business from flat broke to so busy she has to turn customers away…and she did this all within one year.

 

Because Michelle really wants to help you grow your business online without struggling so you can skyrocket your sales in 2009, she’s offering a $200 Early Bird Discount to those who sign up before January 4, 2008 (midnight PST). 

 

— https://www.marketingonlinebootcamp.com/

Now is A CRITICAL TIME for businesses to invest in their marketing. And the best way and most cost efficient way to do this is to market online.

A 2001 McGraw-Hill study found that aggressive recession advertisers / marketers increased their market share 2 ½ times the average for all businesses than in post-recession.

How would you like to increase your market share 2 ½ times?

If you’d like to skyrocket your online sales, increase website traffic, and save thousands of dollars by implementing online strategies on your own, NOW IS YOUR TIME to sign up for Michelle’s Online Business Marketing Bootcamp for Beginners. The course begins January 21^st.

She can’t make it any easier for you than the 3-payment option she’s made available and the Early Bird Special (save $200) that ends at midnight January 4, 2009.  

Remember, this special offer won’t be available after January 4…

–https://www.marketingonlinebootcamp.com/

Message from Michelle

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I went to visit the family in Southwest Missouri and had a blast–can you tell from the photo?

I’m back in Charleston and busy ramping up my marketing efforts for my Online Business Marketing Bootcamp for Beginners. There’s no better time than right now to start growing your business online. And the good news is that there’s still time to take advantage of my Early Bird registration special. I’m only taking 15 people, and we have a few spaces left–once the 15 spaces are filled, registration will close. Start your 2009 off with a bang and sign up today!

I’m sure many of you are unwinding from last week’s festivities and getting ready for the New Year, so I thought I’d keep this issue of Your Business Marketing Solution light and fun and share with you some of my favorite companies of 2008. My favorite list is comprised of individuals and companies that I have done business with–in some shape or form–over the past year. No matter the connection, I am grateful to everyone on the list for touching my life. Thank you!

I invite you to visit their sites, sign up for their newsletters, or pass on their information to anyone you know who might find it useful.

Here’s to a fabulous and prosperous 2009! Happy New Year!

Teleseminars & Events:

Online Marketing Bootcamp – Don’t Miss the Early Bird Special

Join me for my 8-week Online Business Marketing Bootcamp for Beginners, and I’ll show you everything you need to know to grow your business online and maximize your online marketing efforts.

Take advantage of my EARLY BIRD SPECIAL good through December 31, 2008, and SAVE $200. Register Today.

This class will teach you everything I used to take my own business from $0 to the point that I am turning away customers…in less than a year. What are they saying about a bad economy?

For a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional to do it for you, you’ll learn the
exact same strategies, tactics, and tips that my clients and I used to build our businesses–using nothing but the Internet to market and attract tons of prospects.

During this intensive bootcamp, I’ll show you step-by-step strategies to:

Because I want each participant to succeed and because I’m offering one-on-one coaching with me, I’m only taking 15 people.

Dates: Every Wednesday, Starts January 21st and runs through March 11th

Times: 7 – 8 pm Eastern / 4 – 5 pm Pacific

Don’t wait to register—once the 15 spaces are filled, registration will close.

Learn more here: ONLINE MARKETING BOOTCAMP FOR BEGINNERS

Feature Article:

Michelle’s Favorite Businesses of 2008 – Must Read Resources Guide

Below is a list of companies that I’ve worked with over the past year. Some of them have referred work to me, others I’ve worked closely with, and some work for me. I am truly grateful to those mentioned for helping me build my company and am so blessed to know them.

My favorite-things list is also a great resource guide. I’m supposed to be a wordsmith, but all I can come up with is this: These people rock.

Please, visit their websites, check them out, and pass along their information to anyone who can use their services.

Business Coach

Julio Blanco, Envision Lifeworks LLC
www.EnvisionLifeworks.com

Julio Blanco is a coach for conscious entrepreneurs and owner of Envision Lifeworks LLC. Julio champions conscious entrepreneurs to align their business with their purpose and to achieve the abundance they desire on own their own terms.

Virtual Assistants

Rachel Muraca
www.rachelmuraca.com

Rachel Muraca works with a variety of small business owners to help propel them to the success they’re looking for. Her focus and goal when working with clients is helping them to build a strong foundation and set up systems to be efficient and effective in growing their business.

Carolyn Berg, CyberOffice Solutions, LLC
www.cyberofficesolutions.net

CyberOffice Solutions, LLC offers administrative services to small business owners and solopreneurs. Administrative services include, but are not limited to, database management, ezine management and distribution, website maintenance, online business management, customer/client relations, and much more. Carolyn Berg, owner and founder of CyberOffice Solutions, is a Virtual Assistant who has enjoyed many clients in varying industries such as entertainment, coaching, education, and IT and has been in the administrative field for over 10 years.

Web designers and developers

Blue Ion
www.blueion.com

Blue Ion is a marketing company that develops digital branding and sales, and service applications that create energy around brands. They start with compelling brand stories and then bring them to life through immersive experiences. And whether it’s a website launch, an online advertising vehicle, or an email campaign, they approach each and every project with creativity and dedication.

Colophon New Media
www.cnmwebsite.com

Colophon New Media specializes in designing, building, hosting, and maintaining powerful websites for small businesses. Utilizing the latest technologies and trends, they custom-build each site according to the unique specifications of your business and give you the power to control your web content.

Zafari, Inc.
www.zafariinc.com

Zafari, Inc., is an award-winning marketing, PR, web, and graphic design firm in Charleston, South Carolina. Zafari offers a variety of services from branding and corporate identity / logo design, to website design and development, as well as mixed electronic media presentations, advertisement design, brochures, and trade show exhibits.

Studio Blur
www.studioblur.com

Studio Blur is a small firm with a drive to work with clients who understand the web. Owner Eric Jennings works closely with clients to take an idea and create a vehicle that helps the client achieve his / her goals.

Bella Fiore Art & Design
www.bellafiorei.com

Bella Fiore Art & Design is a web and print design firm founded in the belief that form should not simply follow function, but rather should lead function, giving way to the greater influences of arts in commercial media. Bella Fiore Art & Design works with clients to provide the best possible solution for their marketing objectives and is dedicated to seeing their clients succeed.

You and Me Enterprises
www.youandmeunlimited.com

You and Me Enterprises delivers interactive, user-friendly, enjoyable websites. Since September 2000, they have offered clients high-quality products and services that help them enhance and streamline their businesses. By intermixing old-fashioned, time-tested marketing / advertising principles with the latest technologies available in digital media advertising, they deliver custom web projects that have the capability to reward again and again.

Whole Web Impact
www.WholeWebImpact.com

Heather Floyd and Whole Web Impact help soleproprietors get more clients and more visibility from their websites and online marketing via web development and personal consulting. Heather also publishes a weekly ezine, Web Impact,and blogs at HeatherFloyd.com.

My A+ Clients

Clients who impressed me with their passion for what they do and who went above and beyond to market their companies:

Charleston Style Concierge
www.charlestonstyleconcierge.com

Charleston Style Concierge is a personal styling company committed to making women and men feel more confident and stylish by giving them the tools to develop their own personal style. And do it on any budget.

Hills of Africa Travel
www.hillsofafrica.com

Hills of Africa Travel specializes in customized African vacations. They offer spectacular adventures with personalized and customized service, guaranteed to provide you with the experience of a lifetime. Whether you’re taking a romantic honeymoon safari, a fun-filled family safari, or have always dreamed of experiencing the natural beauty of Africa, Hills of Africa Travel will provide you with the perfect African vacation.

My Team

A special thanks to my awesome team for helping me achieve my goals this year. Thank you to my amazing copywriters Melody Brooks and Brittany Urbach; my super-fabulous editor (and mother) Penny Salater; and my wonderful virtual assistants Carolyn Berg and Rachel Muraca. Ladies, I couldn’t have done it without you.

Tip of the Month

Don’t stop marketing in a recession! In a study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research found that the business that maintained or increased their advertising during the 1981-82 recession actually showed, on average, significantly higher sales growth numbers than those business that decreased or eliminated their advertising budget.

When the economy is in crisis, it’s not the time for you to sit back and coddle your money to the point of suffocation. It’s the time to invest in your business and stand out above the competition.  

While competitors cut back spending, you have a great opportunity to rise above them. The economy will eventually rebound, leaving your business at the top of its game.  

It’s important to strategically spend money during this time. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend a ton. Just know what to spend it on.

Focusing on customer behavior will ensure your marketing campaigns are worth the money. These tough times are a great opportunity to come out ahead of competitors by placing your focus on customer behavior. Be careful, but don’t be frugal. 

Provide customers with something of value to sell to them. Consumers don’t ever stop buying. They may cut back but never completely stop. They become more choosy than they may have been in a booming economy, which makes focusing on the value of a product in tough times an important aspect of selling your products / services.

 

Sell benefits to your consumers, not features. The more benefits customers see from your products / services, the more likely they’ll buy from your company as opposed to a competitor who has cut back on his marketing campaign. You’ll stand out to potential clients and bring in competitors’ clients as well.

 

Investing money into marketing campaigns to rewrite web copy, revamp web design, and rework selling points can take you way beyond your competitors. While they’re cutting advertising expenses, you’re strengthening yours, increasing SEO, staying up-to-date, showing customers you have a fresh outlook.  

 

Focus on customer satisfaction and customer service. Show them you’re there when they need you and you’re worth the money they’re investing into your products / services.

For more helpful tips on marketing in economic crisis and to learn about our many marketing services, visit Michelle Salater Writing and Editorial, LLC.

The number of internet users has dramatically increased in recent years and is still climbing. More people are using RSS readers to provide them with new articles, blogs, website updates, and more from their favorite sites.

RSS feed stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is a file containing a brief amount of information (a headline and synopsis) and a link to the full content on the website / blog. Voluntary subscribers to the website / blog RSS feed will receive this information through their RSS readers. Some examples of RSS readers are My Yahoo, NewsGator Online, and Bloglines.com.

If a website has an RSS feed, it will alert people who have subscribed to it with links to new articles, information, and blogs, which have been posted on the site at that time. This saves people the time and aggravation of going through all the websites they enjoy to search for the newly added elements.

If you know you have a great site with useful information and excellent products / services to offer, then it’s important to recognize all the ways in which you can help increase traffic to your site and reach out to thousands of potential clients.

Bottom line: having an RSS feed on your website / blog will greatly benefit your site.

* It will bring people up-to-date on your achievements, tips, hints, industry news, and express your expertise to clients.

* Viewers who love your site will subscribe to your RSS feed and click on fresh updates from your site on their RSS reader, increasing traffic to your site.

* Newly added information will reach thousands of potential clients and increase SEO.

Increasing targeted traffic to your website can cost a small fortune. But it doesn’t have to if you know the right tips, tools, and strategies to get a significant amount of targeted traffic that you need right now. 

·       Post comments on blogs, forums, and discussion boards related to your target market. It would be highly beneficial for you to join a discussion board / forum related to your industry in order to post comments, get consumer feedback, and be introduced to new industry information you may not already know. Posting relevant and helpful comments can increase your credibility and lure more readers to your website link. After every comment, include a link to your blog or website to increase targeted traffic.

·       Social bookmarking is a great way to increase targeted traffic. Bookmarking your online articles and website on a site, such as Digg, under specific categories allows you to reach out to your target market. It permits you to share your web content with others and allows them to vote on its content. If it becomes popular among viewers, it will be voted to the front page of the bookmarking site and be viewed by thousands of potential clients.

·       Utilizing RSS feed and email lists allows you to reach subscribers interested in what your company has to offer. RSS feed and emails are similar since they’re both sent to subscribers, providing them with updated information. RSS feed makes it easy for subscribers to be alerted immediately and allows them to click on the link to your website. Using these combined marketing strategies will increase your client base and will likely ensure an increase in visits to your website.

·       Exchange links with others to increase targeted traffic. If your link can be found on a handful of sites, it can dramatically increase the number of clients visiting your site.

·       Online Article Directories allow you to place niche-oriented articles into specific categories. Your target audience is more likely to be searching for articles in a specific category. For example, if your real estate company writes an article for ezinearticles.com and submits it under the Real Estate category, you’ll receive viewers who are specifically searching for Real Estate articles. This will eliminate viewers who are not in your specific target market.

For more helpful tips on marketing in economic crisis and to learn about our many marketing services, visit Michelle Salater Writing and Editorial, LLC.

Message from Michelle

A troubled economy doesn’t mean your company will fail.

In fact, quite the opposite. It’s an opportunity for your company to flourish.

Three months ago, I stopped watching the news, reading the newspaper, and listening to talk radio. This wasn’t easy; I’m a news junky. But I stopped because the negative messages were weighing me down to the point I wasn’t sleeping at night.

I know that many of you are experiencing the same thing I was. You’re worried about the economy. Scared for the future of your business. Nervous about what 2009 will bring.

Funny thing happened when I began shifting my focus from the negative to the positive–abundance began to pour into my life in ways I’d never imagined. Worrying about whether or not clients would be calling me because of the tough economic climate got me nowhere and no clients.

That is, until I stopped focusing on the negative news. When I shifted my focus, I started to see how economic obstacles were actually beneficial to my company because they forced me to reevaluate my services, my target market, and my marketing campaigns. After developing a stronger focus, the improvements made my business more successful and increased customers and profits.

This issue’s feature article covers ways you can use this economic downturn to your company’s advantage.

Feature Article:

How to Market in an Economic Crisis

When the economy is in crisis, it’s not the time for you to sit back and coddle your money to the point of suffocation. It’s the time to invest in your business and stand out above the competition.

Some businesses may think reassessing and changing business activities means tons more money out of their budget. This isn’t always the case. It’s important to strategically spend money during this time. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend a small fortune. Just know what to spend it on.

While competitors cut back spending, you have a great opportunity to rise above them. The economy will eventually rebound, leaving your business at the top of its game.

One way to market during tough times and to ensure your marketing campaigns are worth the money is to focus on customer behavior. Right now is a great opportunity to come out ahead of competitors by placing your focus on customer behavior.

Want to see more marketing articles like this one? Visit Michelle’s marketing blog, Sumer Blog.

Tip of the Month

According to a McGraw-Hill study of businesses during the 1981-82 recession, companies that maintained their marketing levels had a 275 percent increase in sales, while those that didn’t had increases of only 19 percent. A recession is the perfect time to invest in business marketing and stand above the competition. One vital part of thriving in a recession is to go where the buyers are–online.

Keeping your target market interested in your website can be a tricky task, but when done correctly, it can attract thousands of potential clients, increase sales, and improve business recognition. There are several elements for an effective website—elements that can create extraordinary benefits for your company.

It’s imperative for any business website to keep information and aesthetic elements fresh and updated.

No one likes to visit a site that appears neglected.

Website appearance and web copy can sometimes be a consumer’s first impression of your company. It’s important for customers to associate attentiveness and success with your business. You can establish this by keeping up with industry news, site content, and site graphics on the company website.

If customers see a website that is frequently updated, they’ll most likely make the assumption that customers will be tended to as well. It’s essential for all companies to show the customer you’re there to provide constant company updates, great customer service, and dedication to customer satisfaction. Another way to express this is to have an area on your site committed to frequently asked questions by customers, testimonials, and business contact information.

One of the greatest chances you have in keeping the attention of website viewers is through compelling and concise web copy. Address your target’s need immediately, and assure them you’re there to help. Provide them with direct benefits they’ll receive from purchasing your product / service. Your customers’ needs and how your company meets these needs should be captured in engaging and informative web copy presented on your homepage. The marketing message must capture their attention and persuade them to take the next step in purchasing from your company.

For more helpful tips on marketing in economic crisis and to learn about our many marketing services, visit Michelle Salater Writing and Editorial, LLC.

Bountiful Business –

The Spiritual Art of Business Success

 

                                             * * *

Join Julio Blanco and Andrea Costantine for a F*REE Tele-Seminar, Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 6 p.m. EST, where they will divulge the success habits that you must acquire if you want to create a more successful business, work less, and have more ABUNDANCE in your life and business!

 

You will learn about the PROVEN principles and AMAZING techniques that will propel you into ATTRACTING exactly the business you desire.

 

You will not want to miss this opportunity to hear not one, but TWO incredible coaches combine their insight and expertise to bring you a powerful and value-filled F*REE tele-seminar on the habits you need to develop right now to increase your income while WORKING LESS!

 

Click here to register: https://www.courageousliving.org/bounitfulbusiness.html

 

 

One of the greatest benefits of in-store selling is your ability to communicate one-on-one with consumers. Face-to-face communication is an excellent way to observe a customer’s body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. Selling on the internet is the opposite and, as a result, often poses challenges to companies that are used to doing business in person.

It’s important to anticipate customer objections, questions, and comments when creating an effective website to simulate the immediacy and success of in-store selling. Since your website is working for you 24 / 7, it’s essential to ensure its result-driven capabilities.

Here are some elements of a successful business website, sure to bring in new customers as well as repeat customers:

·       Navigation must be simple and user-friendly. Viewers will get discouraged easily if they click on tabs that are ambiguous and roundabout. Navigation needs to be straightforward and clear without trying to be overly unique.

·       When customers send emails or comments to you, be timely with your response (usually within 24 hours). It will show customers your dedication to your company and to their satisfaction. The sooner the response the better.

·       Intriguing graphics and captivating web copy will keep the viewer interested and eager to continue searching through your site. Express your company’s personality and professionalism through website graphics, colors, wording, lines, and images.

·       Keep your website constantly updated and give viewers a reason to come back. Provide them with new information, products / services, news, and more. A fresh website will be much more successful than a stale one.

·       Make purchasing online for customers easy, safe, and quick. Assure customers your website has a privacy policy, allowing them to feel more secure to purchase products online.  

When customers buy from your company’s website, it’s impossible to answer questions, objections, and concerns immediately. The key to a successful website is anticipating where customers are looking on your site, what they click on the most, and what they avoid.

Understanding customer behavior is just as important on the internet as it is with in-store selling.

Google Analytics is an excellent tool for understanding online customer behavior. This free online tool offers exceptional benefits, sure to provide you with helpful information that will enable you to turn your business website into a successful selling machine. It will provide you with customer behavior data, allowing you to create more successful marketing campaigns, advertisements, and customer profiles. The benefits are endless and sure to drive your company to greater success.

Google Analytics is free and is a powerful tool for website and business owners, advertisers, and publishers. It allows you to compare segments of traffic, such as “visits with conversions” and “paid traffic.” You can also come up with your own segments with their segment builder. Google Analytics makes it easy to compare past and current segmented data.

You’ll be able to see where customers come from and the actions they take on your website by using Google Analytics. With the use of its motion charts, custom reports, benchmarking, ecommerce tracking, and much more, you’ll be able to improve marketing strategies, increase conversions, and boost online sales. Google Analytics is simple to use and a great way to keep data organized and easy to access.

Want to increase your web traffic and get more customers?