Wed 5th Apr.'00
In this issue (Part 2):
1. VOTING BOOTH
==>This week's quick poll and last week's results.
2. TOOLS AT NOWSELL.COM
==>Useful tools to make your life easier from NowSell.com
3. FEATURE ARTICLE
==>"Be Smart - Learn From Your Business Mistakes"
By Kevin Sinclair, CPA.
Subscription details can be found at the end.
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X VOTING BOOTH X
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This is the place where we take a quick poll for a snapshot of
the Biz Bits family's position on a given topic.
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This week:
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Do you agree with Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling against
Microsoft?
YES! >>>> mailto:yes+nowsell.com
I agree!
NO! >>>> mailto:no+nowsell.com
I think it's unfair!
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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Last week:
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There are now several new new services that enable you to send
voice messages online and either talk one-to-one, or create voice
chat rooms with visitors to your own or other web sites.
Do you like the idea of these new services (from the standpoint
of either a surfer or webmaster)?
YES! >>>> 75%
I thing they are a great idea that will improve communication and
community online/are a good promotional/customer service tool!
NO! >>>> 0%
They are just a gimmick/waste of time/won't be popular/another
headache for webmasters!
ERR? >>>> 25%
I'm not sure... depends...?
[Azam: Not a single NO! However, there was a substantial drop in
votes last week, perhaps indicating a lack of information on the
subject.]
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Voter Feedback:
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YES!
Azam-
From the standpoint of a surfer, I think this is a great idea. I
personally do not have the capability of voice chat, but I have
taken advantage of the free online chat capability of HumanClick.
By having a real person to ask questions of, I have been more
likely to take advantage of what they were offering on their
website. I think the voice chat capability would improve on this
in a number of ways:
I would be more inclined to believe a "person" talking to me,
than I would someone just "writing" to me.
The voice chat capability would make me feel more like a part of
a community, than just receiving periodic email messages, or
digests of messages.
Tonal qualities of the voice are more likely to tell me if
someone is truly excited about a product or not.
Since the internet is a "gobal" community, it would do nothing
but benefit all of us. It would cost quite a fortune to
communicate via telephone with someone on the other side of the
world, but with the voice-chat, we can talk to others around the
world, for nothing more than our isp charges!
I personally think this is a great capability!!
--
Theresa Jones
Learn how to get paid to surf: http://surfmoney.gq.nu/
Already get paid to surf? Join my mailing list for tips:
mailto:subscribe_surfmoney+surfmoney.gq.nu
[Azam: Thanks Theresa. I share your opinions on the points you
mention. The benefits to the surfer are mirrored by those to the
webmaster. Face-to-face selling is the easiest way to make a
sale, since you can bring so much more into the process than cold
product features and generalized benefits. Next in line in this
regard is telesales, which though much cheaper, offers less scope
for leveraging the prospect's personal situation.
The hardest way to sell has to be online, where potential
customers are always in a hurry and your competitors are just a
click away. In many respects it's easier to sell via direct mail
than it is online: your sales copy is often read in a more
relaxed situation, may be put aside and receive a second reading
later when your prospect has 'more time', plus your competitors
aren't banging on the door!
For those that have the time or staff, these new technologies
allow them to move up into a new hybrid telesales/store assistant
environment, without the traditional cost of interaction at such
a personal level. No doubt about it - a sure sales booster once
surfers become comfortable with the technology.
As you say, it's great for community too. I personally love to
travel. It fascinates me and have been fortunate to have visited
some 18 countries. I get a real thrill knowing that you are
sitting reading this in all corners of the globe; from America to
Australia, Asia to Europe and so many other places in between.
To be able have two-way conversations with you all ... now that
would be wild!]
ERR!
Er....I am sure that eventually these will run well, and prove to
be useful. However, I won't have any interest in pursuing the
idea for quite some time, until they have time to iron the
"kinks" out!
People online have very short attention spans when something
doesn't immediately work!
Paula Bright
WHAT THE HECK IS HIP HOP COUNTRY?
Listen FREE now and find out! http://www.crazedcowboys.com
[Azam: A good point. However, as far as I can ascertain, things
seem to be working quite well. The only trouble is, none of the
companies offering these services cater to webmasters that are
Mac users!]
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X TOOLS AT NOWSELL.COM X
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*** Promotion Tools ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Keyword Research Tool
* Meta Tag Maker
* Free Automatic Search Engine Submit
* Rapid Manual Search Engine Submit Tool
* Position Analyzer to check site rank in the SEs
* Link Generators
* Multi Search Tool
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X FEATURE ARTICLE X
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--------------------------------------------
Be Smart - Learn From Your Business Mistakes
--------------------------------------------
By Kevin Sinclair, CPA.
We all make mistakes in business. The important issue is
that we learn from them and apply the lessons in both our
online and off-line business activities. One of my most
costly mistakes happened about twelve years ago in the
off-line business world. However, the lessons I learnt are
just as applicable online as they are off-line.
Having established a small mail order business part-time, I
decided to expand the business using direct mail techniques.
I had read all the books and attended a course and it seemed
like the best approach to achieve my goals. After
approaching various mailing list providers, I decided I had
found the perfect list to reach my target market.
Pricing was obtained from the list owner and he was happy to
provide me with small quantities of names initially so that
I could test his list. These tests were successful enough
for me to decide to undertake two large mail campaigns one
after the other. I was very confident that I would be
receiving countless orders and soon leaving my full-time
job.
Disaster struck with the first mailing and the second
mailing was too far progressed to stop. The initial sign was
a significant increase in the dead letter rate. Then the
quantity of orders was less than half what I expected. The
second mailing had similar results. I was significantly out
of pocket and I had to stay in my full-time job to repay the
debts I had created.
Shortly thereafter, I began to read reports that the list
owner was being investigated for fraud and other criminal
charges. All in all, a sorry state of affairs.
The key lessons I learnt from this experience were:
a) Always check the integrity of who you are doing business
with - especially if you have not had previous dealings
with them.
b) Never assume that limited test results will be duplicated
in larger scale tests.
c) Never over-commit to promotional activity - it is better
to grow slower than to lose your hard earned money.
d) The stated size and quality of a mailing list should be
regarded with caution.
e) Ensure you have sufficient profit margin in your product
to be able to survive should your response be very poor -
especially in direct marketing activities.
Today, the lessons I learnt are applied to my online
business activities in the following ways.
Solo mailings to lists of newsletter subscribers are done
with caution. Some list owners will inflate their subscriber
numbers to encourage advertisers to use their services. The
first thing I do is subscribe to the newsletter to see the
quality of content and what others are advertising via solo
ads.
Then I run a classified ad in the newsletter to test the
responsiveness of the subscribers. This also gives me an
indication of whether the stated size of the list is true or
not. I have had better response from a list of 20,000 than
what I received from a list of over 200,000. Many factors
can influence such a result.
While you should receive a far better response from solo ads
than CLASSIFIED ADS, it still pays to test wherever you can.
If a classified ad in the newsletter did not result in
responses, I would not advertise using the solo ads.
However, I might test a few different CLASSIFIED ADS to see
if the initial results were correct before moving on to
other possibilities.
It is worthwhile to ãdo the numbersä before spending on
advertising. While many marketing experts talk about the
Îlifetime value of a customerâ concept, those whose business
activities centre on promoting the products of affiliate
programs should regard this with caution. Instead, determine
how many must be sold so that the commission you receive
will cover the cost of your advertising.
The higher the percentage response to your offer you need to
cover your advertising cost, the greater the chance you will
make a loss. Do not rely on industry statistics or averages
to make your decisions. Keep careful records of your
activities so you know what works, what is to be avoided and
what to expect from future promotional activities.
Finally, exercise caution when considering safe-lists and
any type of email address lists that can be purchased. My
experience is that there are NO truly safe-lists available
other than having your own opt-in list. Any form of bulk
email to people who have not agreed to receive your message
will damage your business reputation and your prospects of
making a decent living on the Internet.
Article by Kevin Sinclair, CPA, of Be Successful! Business &
Personal Success Resources http://www.ksinclair.com/. He
is the author of 2 free ebooks: "Success Secrets" & "How To
Choose A Home Based Business". Kevin is also the publisher
of "Be Successful News" - a free ezine dedicated to your
online business success - to subscribe, send a blank email
to mailto:pbsr-subscribe+listbot.com
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OK, that's it for part two! Below you'll find the INFO SECTION.
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