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Web Marketing Strategies For Home Business Promotion
Wed 9th Feb.'00
In this issue (Part 2):
1. VOTING BOOTH
==>This week's quick poll and last week's results.
2. FEATURE ARTICLE
==>"How To Increase Your Profits With An 'Upselling Offer'"
By Bob Leduc.
3. TIDBITS
==>Business news and other snippets to keep you informed.
4. INFO SECTION
==>Subscription details. Join Biz Bits FFA!
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know how to sell on the Net... It's about getting the order!
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=====================
+ VOTING BOOTH +
=====================
This is the place where we take a quick poll for a snapshot of
the Biz Bits family's position on a given topic.
This week:
Do you think the Internet is a generally secure environment in
which to divulge personal information?
YES! >>>> mailto:yes+nowsell.com
There are some isolated problems, but it's generally safe!
NO! >>>> mailto:no+nowsell.com
Most definitely not!
ERR? >>>> mailto:err+nowsell.com
I'm not sure... depends...?
*** Add any additional comments in the body of your vote mail ***
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Do you find Biz Bits useful?
Then share the wealth and forward a copy to your friends!
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Last week:
Do you find the appearance of Biz Bits bland?
YES! >>>> 33%
Oh boy is it bland!
NO! >>>> 67%
It looks just fine to me!
ERR? >>>> 0%
I'm not sure... depends...?
[Azam: Since the majority find the appearance OK I won't be
rushing to change anything. However, knowing that some of you do
find it a bit bland, I will keep it in mind for future
modifications.]
=====================
Voter Feedback:
YES!
Yes I find it very bland and hard to read.
Arnold J Harriett
[Azam: Thanks for your comment Arnold. Bland I can understand,
but I can't see how it can be hard to read. Unless of course your
email program can't accept a width of 65 characters per line.]
==+==
But all ezines are bland and Biz Bits is no better OR worse than
the norm. It goes with the territory. Only alternative is HTML
which, Microsoft ezines apart, never seems to work.
David Deeson
[Azam: Thanks David - is that supposed to make me feel good? .
I personally hate HTML newsletters and unless there was
overwhelming demand, it's not an option I would consider. The
technology just isn't quite 'there' yet. If I wanted something
'fancy', I would prefer PDF. It's a shame the reader isn't
standard on PCs as it is on the Mac. On the down side though, the
file size is bigger than HTML.]
==+==
NO!
No, I think your newsletter is great!
I do have a question, though. If we are giving the public a
choice, should we really give them the negative choice first?
Some people are lazy and will pick the first one just to vote.
(Sorry, this comes from personal experience.) Maybe the choices
could be changed to: "Which sections do you think are exciting,
most informative, bland, not interesting at all?" "If I was
going to remove a section, which section would you want removed?"
"What would you want it replaced with?" (This gives people a
focus so they can feel they are contributing.)
I hope I've been of help. Thanks,
Jan
1000s of FREE hits and you could win 1,000,000!
http://www.bannerco-op.com/ljtinch
[Azam: Thanks for your question and the thumbs-up Jan. I
appreciate both. Regarding your first point, either a positive or
negative bias would be equally bad from my perspective. I'm not
seeking approval, but opinions. Whether the 'Yes' answer would be
considered a positive or negative response has generally varied
with the question asked, and I have not noticed a preponderance
of 'Yes' votes (this week's results are a good example).
Making the vote more involved is fine on occasion (the vote 2
weeks ago was along the lines of what you are suggesting).
However, this format actually requires more effort on the part of
the voter. I would limit it's use to special occasions, rather
than risk 'voter fatigue'. If some people are too lazy to click
on the correct link as you suggest, then they are probably even
less likely to do this. From my perspective, I want to make the
whole thing as quick and easy as possible, so that more people
vote. Giving set choices is the best way to do so. The option of
including additional comments enables the voter to qualify or
expand upon their choice.
If the vote was an open question requiring a written response, it
would reduce the number of votes I receive. Only a percentage of
the votes that come in each week contain any written comments. It
would therefore be safe to assume that most voters who hadn't
added their comments, wouldn't have voted if they had to write an
answer themselves (as in "What would you want it replaced
with?"). The other point about such a format is that results
would be extremely difficult to collate and present. Nevertheless
it was a good question Jan, and serves to highlight some of the
factors that need to be considered.]
=================================================================
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Learn the Insider Internet marketing secrets that can explode
your online profits. One of the hottest selling Internet
marketing courses on the Net today. BRAND NEW UPDATE 11 JAN 2000
Secrets To Making Money On The Information Super-Highway:
http://www.aismedia.com/secrets/index.htm?MC10749xBB01
=================================================================
=====================
+ FEATURE ARTICLE +
=====================
------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR PROFITS WITH AN "UPSELLING OFFER"
------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 By Bob Leduc
The cost of finding new customers or clients is a big
expense for most businesses. "Upselling" those new customers
maximizes your return on that expense. It's a simple
approach any business can implement quickly and get
immediate results.
Upselling is a procedure designed to get more money at the
point of sale. You implement it by offering your customers
or clients an upgraded product or related item at the time
they are making their first purchase. Customers will never
be more receptive to an attractive offer from you than when
they're paying you money. You personally experienced
upselling if you ever called to order a product advertised
on a TV informational. The order taker automatically offered
you an additional related product at a special discount only
available if you ordered it now.
Many businesses avoid upselling because they're afraid the
customer may get irritated and not buy at all. I've found
the opposite is true. Customers appreciate your
thoughtfulness in offering them an added benefit they didn't
know about. Some business owners have told me they don't
upsell because it's not feasible in their business. They
really believed that until I described the upselling offers
used successfully by some of their competitors. Every
business can implement a successful upselling program.
WHAT TO OFFER
A new distributor for an MLM company called me recently. She
wanted advice about how to increase her profit margin on new
sign ups. I suggested adding a training manual as part of
the initial package for all of her new distributors. She
took my advice and personally collects the payment for the
manual. She instantly pockets a 60% profit on the cost of
the manual in addition to the commission her company pays
her for each new distributor she sponsors. Plus, each of her
new distributor gets a valuable training tool.
Think about your business. What else can you offer customers
or clients while they're making their first transaction with
you? Can you offer them...
** A discount on a related product or service?
** A volume discount if they buy more now?
** A special priced combination package including the
initial product or service?
Your offer should include preferential special pricing. Most
customers will accept your upselling offer when it's a good
value and the price is no higher than 60% of the cost for
the initial product.
HOW TO PRESENT AN UPSELLING OFFER
Upselling has none of the characteristics usually associated
with selling. It's so easy that I've seen even unskilled
order takers achieve high acceptance rates by reading
printed scripts. Upselling is simply offering a suggestion
to an already receptive buyer to enhance the value of his or
her purchase.
Present your upselling offer casually, as almost an
afterthought. For example, if you were speaking with your
customer in person or by phone you might say: "Your website
will be up in 48 hours. If you'd like, we can double your
server space, include unlimited autoresponders and a
shopping cart for secure credit card orders. The regular
price for all of this is an additional $40 per month. But
I'll give it to you for just an additional $25 if you order
it today." You can make this same offer on paper or post it
on a website. It doesn't have to be verbal to be effective.
Most businesses I've surveyed report acceptance rates
between 40% and 60% for their upselling offers. This is a
big increase for so little effort. Plus, the profit from the
upselling portion often exceeds the profit on the initial
product or service because there are no additional expenses
involved.
If you're not making upselling offers to every new customer
or client, start doing it now. It's an easy way to boost
your profits fast with little effort and no expense.
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales
personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales
Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business
owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With
Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information...
Email: BobLeduc+aol.com Subject: "Postcards".
Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time)
Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133
*****************************************************************
=====================
+ TIDBITS +
=====================
Discover Financial Services Launches Discover Desk$hop Virtual
Credit Card Powered By Trintech's Netissuer Technology
Discover Financial Services announced the launch of the
innovative Discover Desk$hop virtual credit card, which provides
Discover Cardmembers with one-click access to their online
account, a convenient drag-and-drop mechanism for shopping on the
Internet and real-time available credit balance information.
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/Technology
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
LAWMAKERS CLASH OVER NET TAXES
The Senate hearing divided Republicans, with Michigan Gov. John
Engler championing states' right to apply existing sales taxes to
online transactions, while Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci
predicted that elected officials' "if it moves, tax it"
philosophy might backfire: "Oftentimes when you tax it, it won't
move." No clear outcome emerged, but Sen. Spencer Abraham
(R-Mich.)offered an overview: "More than any politician or think
tank, the Internet is going to drive tax reform in this country."
No Party Line When Issue Is Net Taxation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/
Sales Tax Revenue Lost to E-commerce
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/
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ANTI-CYBERSQUATTING STREAMLINED
For the first time, a federal judge used a provision of the
anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act that allows a suit to
proceed against domain name registrants who cannot be located or
who refuse to relinquish disputed names. The judge, in
Washington, D.C., agreed with Bell Atlantic that about 20
defendants must give up names such as bellphones.com even though
Bell attorneys had been unable to serve them with court papers.
Bell Atlantic Wins Landmark Cybersquatting Ruling
http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/143306.html
First Appellate Ruling on Federal Anti-cybersquatting Law
http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/practice/techlaw/news/
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DEEP LINKING ON THE BLOCK
An informal investigation of eBay by the Department of Justice
targets the battle between the auction powerhouse and two sites
that search for goods up for bid online to let customers compare
auctioneers. Bidder's Edge and Auctionwatch.com both combine
listings from eBay and rival auction sites, a practice eBay has
combated by seeking to block others' search agents and by suing
Bidder's Edge. The larger issue of deep linking to a site's
content, bypassing its home page, could get an airing.
Fed Antitrust Officials Probing eBay
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,9508,00.html
EBay Faces Antitrust Charge in Countersuit by Bidder's Edge
http://www.digitalmass.com/news/daily/0200/0208/ebay.html
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List-Universe.com Email Ad Network Doubles to Five Million
Opt-In Members
List-Universe.com Corporation http://List-Universe.com, The
Email List Owner and Ezine Publisher Resource Network, announced
today that its List-Universe.com Ad Network's membership total
has exceeded five million opt-in subscribers. These subscribers
are part of more than 400 email newsletters owned by more than
100 email publishers who have made their advertising inventory
available to List-Universe.com advertising clients.
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multimate.net's IR Wireless: The First WAP Solution For IM
Connectivity, Email Notification And Site Announcements
multimate.net became the first company to deliver a WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol) instant messaging and communications
platform as a completely integrated component of its custom
community solution Instant Rendezvous.
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/release_clickthrough
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WebSideStory Lets Webmasters Share In Ad Revenues
WebSideStory announced that Webmasters can now earn cash for
using the company's popular HitBox technology. Previously,
webmasters displayed banners advertising the HitBox.com community
in exchange for the free analysis service. Now they can choose to
display third-party ads on their sites and share in the revenues.
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/release_clickthrough
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ActivMedia Research: Today's Online Shoppers Turn To Brands They
Know
Online markets for Fashion & Style products (F&S) awoke in 1999,
and promise to have a fabulous season in 2000. An influx of
traditional mainstream shoppers to the Web in the past year has
been encouraged by arrival of traditional mainstream marketers
who are no longer merely testing the potential for online sales.
Companies like JC Penney's just closed a $100 million e-commerce
season for 1999, up 370% from 1998's meager beginnings.
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/release_clickthrough
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Software Dominates Digital Delivery Now, Future
Digitally-Downloaded Product Delivery Forecast 1999 and 2004
1999 2004
Software
Online sales $1,240 $3,290
Download sales $87 $1,316
Percent downloaded 7% 40%
Music
Online sales $848 $4,286
Download sales $1 $1,072
Percent downloaded 0.1% 25%
Video Games
Online sales $25 $366
Download sales 0 $51
Percent downloaded 0 14%
Books
Online sales $1,202 $3,279
Download sales $12 $426
Percent downloaded 1% 13%
Video
Online sales $326 $1,743
Download sales 0 $126
Percent downloaded 0 1.5%
All Categories
Online sales $3,641 $12,964
Download sales $100 $2,891
Percent downloaded 3% 22%
All sales figures are in millions.
Source: Forrester Research in http://www.thestandard.com
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SEEKING AOL
When French media company Vivendi joined forces with U.K.
mobile-phone company Vodafone this week, there was more at stake
than the proposed joint venture. Both companies want to involve
another European powerhouse in their partnership, hoping AOL
Europe will come to the table. Vivendi has said it would like to
acquire the 50 percent stake in AOL Europe that Bertelsmann
currently owns. Industry observers ruminate that Bertelsmann's
stake may be available because its partner, AOL, is teaming up
with so many Bertelsmann competitors. Vivendi and Vodafone
announced their joint venture last Sunday - a plan called MAP,
which would deliver content through mobile phones and pay
television. http://www.cnnfn.com/2000/02/02/europe/vivendi_aol/
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
EUROPE GETS THE NET
The newest numbers for Net-connected Europeans have reached 43
million, compared with 102 million Americans. International Data
Corp. predicts that by 2002, the number of European and American
users will be about the same: 136 million users each. Source
http://www.thestandard.com
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INSTINET IPO
Reuters is getting ready to offer shares of its electronic
brokerage business on the public markets. The company will be
discussing its Internet strategy for the coming year early next
week, and is expected to announce a flotation of the Instinet
trading arm. Another move, according to the London Guardian, will
be the advancement of the Greenhouse Fund, which invests in
Internet companies and technologies. Greenhouse was founded in
1994, and is valued at more than $1 billion. Reuters bought
Instinet in 1987, and the trading arm has become the largest
communications network for equity orders in the U.S. Analysts say
a float of the network could ensure its ability to reinvest in
infrastructure and thus to continue to dominate the market.
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/business/0,2846,131909,00.html
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TAX TRAUMA
Leading U.S. companies called on the European Commission this
week to rapidly redesign the EU's indirect tax system, in order
to eliminate the disadvantage faced by European companies
engaging in e-commerce. The EU's indirect tax system is based on
the value added at each stage in a manufacturing, service or
marketing chain. The value-added tax, or VAT, in the EU ranges
from 15 percent to 25 percent. Direct e-commerce sales to a
consumer leave no record for the tax authorities, so the VAT goes
unpaid. This makes it harder for domestic EU firms to compete
with companies that can offer tax-free goods.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/
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ShipSave.com Introduces the First Internet-Based Virtual
Rate Analysis and Negotiation Service; UPS and FedEx Users
can Receive Lower Rates
ShipSave Consulting, LLC, today expanded the reach of its UPS and
FedEx shipping consulting services with the introduction of their
Virtual Rate Negotiation Services. UPS and FedEx users will
receive a free analysis of their current shipping rates through
the Internet at http://www.shipsave.com. Former Carrier Account
Representatives will tell shippers how much they could be saving
with their current carrier, and offer guidance through the entire
rate negotiation process with UPS or FedEx.
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Mobile VestVan Available On Site To Help Americans File Taxes
Online
Hear about the new national program that enables any taxpayer to
prepare and file this year's tax return online for free. See and
try out the mobile VestVan tax filing center available to
citizens in the Washington area this week only, as the VestVan
begins a national tour to help Americans prepare and file '99
returns electronically.
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/
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NIELSEN//NETRATINGS: AVERAGE INTERNET USAGE
January 24-30, 2000
Activity for the average Internet user.
+----------------------------------+---------+---------+-------+
| | Current | Last | % |
| | Week | Week |Change |
+----------------------------------+---------+---------+-------+
|Number of Sessions per Week | 6 | 6 | 0 |
|Number of Unique Sites Visited | 6 | 6 | 0 |
|Page Views per Week | 210 | 207 | 1.5 |
|Page Views per Surfing Session | 35 | 35 | 0 |
|Time Spent per Week | 3:09:50 | 3:03:28 | 3.5 |
|Time Spent During Surfing Session | 0:31:15 | 0:30:52 | 1.2 |
|Duration of a Page Viewed | 0:00:54 | 0:00:53 | 1.3 |
|Average Click Rate for Top Banners| 0.34 | 0.32 | 6.3 |
|Active Internet Universe (actually| 55.4 | 56.3 | -1.5 |
|surfed) | million | million | |
|Current Internet Universe Estimate| 122.8 | 122.7 | 0 |
|(had access, but did not | million | million | |
|necessarily go online) | | | |
| | | | |
+----------------------------------+---------+---------+-------+
Source: NIELSEN http://www.netratings.com
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TV Program Sets Back E-Commerce by Years
A popular South African program caused untold damage to the local
e-commerce industry last night through airing an insert
suggesting that credit card details given over the web can be
easily accessed by all but the most inexperienced hacker.
http://sa.internet.com/InternetNews/NewsArc/00/0200/13.htm
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Online Travel Market Flying High
The marriage between the Internet and travel consumers has never
been stronger, and brick-and-mortar travel agencies are paying
the price.
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/travel/
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Three-Way Venture
VerticalNet Europe BT, VerticalNet and Internet Capital Group
Tuesday inked a $227 million deal for the alliance to develop a
business-to-business trading community for the European market.
http://www.internetnews.com/intl-news/article/
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MICROSOFT
Judge Restricts Microsoft's Use of Java
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1530859.html
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PRIVACY FIRST
California Woman Sues DoubleClick over Privacy
http://www.digitalmass.com/news/daily/
DoubleClick's Legal Troubles Deepen
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/
Amazon, Alexa Unit Face Privacy Lawsuits And FTC Inquiry
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/
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WEB TV SITE ORDERED SHUT
A federal judge issues a restraining order against a Canadian
webroadcaster. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-1535528.html
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E.U. TOO
The European Union hopes a new .eu top domain name will get
speedy approval from ICANN.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,9240,00.html
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=================================================================
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when a bunch of highly-successful webmasters and marketers have
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=================================================================
OK, that's it for part two! Below you'll find the INFO SECTION.
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Biz Bits is Copyright © 1999 Azam Corry. All Rights Reserved.
No part of Biz Bits may be reproduced in whole or in part without
written permission, though it may be freely redistributed in its
unedited form. All guest articles are copyright their respective
owners and are reproduced with permission.
Biz Bits is an internationally registered weekly publication.
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February 2000
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3rd pt1 - Fast manual SE submit, Competition winners, Sell,
3rd pt2 - Vote, How To Convert Hits Into Sales,
10th pt1 - Hack Attack, Free ebooks, Rapid SE submit,
10th pt2 - Vote, An 'Upselling Offer', News,
16th pt1 - Updates and Metas, Domains, Best Affiliate program of '99,
16th pt1 - Vote, Marketing Strategy, News,
24th pt1 - Free Course, Keyword tools, Win $10,000!,
24th pt2 - Vote, Ten things to consider, News,
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