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Recently, I stumbled upon a simple way to hit the target on my Internet marketing strategy for driving potential web traffic to my site. For me, this was an incredible “Ah Ha,” because I am not a “techie” and my sales strengths are building relationships and understanding numbers. The Internet by its very nature provides an immediate obstacle to building relationships, but offers opportunities to gather and analyze numbers. And this is where many small businesses and even some larger businesses fail to capitalize upon this potential business strategy in their Internet marketing efforts.

Every day I receive at least one if not several articles about article submission as a marketing strategy to increase web site traffic. And yet, not one of these articles discusses if these articles are meeting the needs of potential readers. One senses that if you write enough articles or white papers (quantity), you will increase your business (quality). This reminds me of the old saying “Build It and They Will Come.”

So how do you truly know what articles are being read when you use a paid article distribution service and more specifically what topics are generating the greatest interest? Even though my practice focuses on education and training through organizational and leadership development, I recently authored an article “How to Gain Web Traffic Through 9 Simple Tips.” This article was my sharing of my recent experiences through the advice of two marketing experts (www.hodgecomunications and www.leaders-perspective) as I actively worked one goal within my strategic plan to increase traffic to my web site.

This article was first posted on 08/27/05 at www.ezinearticles.com and then submitted to a paid article distribution service www.articlemarketer.com. I was quite surprised when reading the “time viewed” through my free membership and monitoring page at Ezine Articles. Using my most frequently viewed article “Work Ethics - A Paradigm Shift” posted on 04/20/05, I then checked the average daily views through an excel spreadsheet that I had created for all submitted articles. What I discovered to my amazement was that the web traffic article was receiving almost 15 views a day while the other article received around 3 views a day. To ensure that this wasn’t an anomaly, I reviewed other daily view rates and learned that no other article was even close.

Wow! With 38 articles in the distribution highway, one article was out performing the other 37 by almost five to one. Remember the Parento Principle: 20% of your efforts account for 80% of your results. For someone who continually advocates if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it, I then realized that this adage also applies to writing articles as well as to watching the statistics from my web site. Since this article was distributed, my daily web visits have increased 50% in just 6 days.

Is this article solely responsible for this increase? Absolutely, not. However, given the measurable increase in traffic, the number side of my brain began to click in. I began to wonder if I concentrated my activity during the next month on articles focusing on Internet marketing and web traffic would I continue to secure a daily view rate of 15 or greater for those submissions? During the next 30 days, I hope to have a measurable answer to that question and please feel free to contact me if you wish to know the answer as well.

If you also want to hit the target on your Internet marketing activities or as some might say, work smarter not harder, can you answer these 5 simple questions:

(1) What are your average daily view rates for your articles?

(2) Are your articles within a specific topic area or a variety of topics?

(3) Have you avoided topics that fail to demonstrate your expertise?

(4) What is your strategy for tracking your article submissions against your daily web traffic?

(5) Do you know for your efforts which specific topic generates the most daily views?

With the Internet being a major source of information, writing articles is a definite strategy to drive traffic to your web site. However, given the amount of time it takes to write a quality article, it does appear to make sense to leverage that time to secure the greatest results possible.

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. CEO of ADVANCED SYSTEMS located outside of Chicago, IL, is the Learning & Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business & education experience, she helps her clients to double their performance. By uniting systems, strategies and people to create loyal internal customers, Leanne delivers ROI solutions in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation within a variety of industries including education, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capacities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please contact Leanne at 219.759.5601 or visit http://www.processspecialist.com if you are seeking to connect your passion to your purpose to double your performance for unheard of results.

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Often there can seem to be very little difference between two marketing campaigns. However the difference between average marketing and profitable marketing is immense. Here are my 7 tips for ensuring success from your marketing campaign.

Promote to the right audience.

If your campaign is to succeed it must be aimed at the right people. That is people that are willing and able to respond. In other words they have a need/want for your product/service and the money and authority to buy it. You need to know exactly who you are after and make sure the promotional medium you use is correct. So if you’re selling something to Accountants then you need a list of Accountants to make your offer to. Makes sense right.

Minimize risk for the customer.

A potential customer will not buy from you if they believe the risk of doing so outweighs the return they will get. Or if they are unsure that you will deliver what you have promised. So ask yourself what can you do to let the customer know that the risk is firmly stacked on your side and they really have nothing to lose? Answer this question and do it to maximise results from your campaign.

Set up a follow-up system.

Rarely will you make a sale the first time you come into contact with a potential customer. Stats show you may need up to 7 contacts before they buy. So you must have a follow-up system in place for your campaign. Get their email address and permission to stay in touch and make sure you do. Follow-up with useful information for them and you will increase your sales.

Make an irresistible offer.
You want people to buy right? To make sure they do your offer has to be great, in fact it should be irresistible. As a guide it should sound almost too good to be true but not too good, people are sceptical. More than likely each customer you get will buy again from you in the future so make their first purchase a small step and stack the deal in their favour. For example ‘get your first bag of Jim’s Choice Coffee for just $1 (normally $8.50) if you buy today’.

Know the lifetime value of a customer.

Acquiring a customer can seem expensive but it’s not if you consider what a customer is worth over their lifetime with your business. Let’s say Jim’s Choice Coffee keeps a customer for 3 years and the customer buys one bag of coffee a month from him. That’s 36 months times $8.50 a bag - $306 over their lifetime with his business. See how it makes sense for him to offer a bag for $1 to start that $306 relationship.

Track your progress.

You have to know the numbers on your campaign. How many enquiries? How many sales? What was the value of each sale? Did you make a profit on the campaign? Will you make a profit over the lifetime of the customers? You need this information to know whether the campaign was successful. Also if it’s a long term campaign these figures can tell you if you need to make changes along the way.

Analyse and repeat or improve.

Once you have your figures you must analyse the campaign. If it’s profitable you should keep running it. If it’s not you need to find out why. Was it the offer? Was there too much risk for the customer? Was the advertising medium wrong? Didn’t you follow-up properly? What went wrong and how can you fix it to make the campaign work. Make changes and try again. Keep trying till you find the winning formula. Marketing is trial and error but making sure you analyse and learn as you go.

So what’s your next marketing campaign going to be? Apply these 7 tips and reap the rewards. Good luck.

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Women in the U.S. with fledgling Internet marketing businesses can obtain government assistance online to help their business grow.

Sometimes it seems that the world of Internet business is an entirely separate world from that of brick-and-mortar business. However, to the government all legitimate small businesses are equal. There are a wealth of publicly funded resources available to the female online entrepreneur. The question is, how to find them?

A good place to start the quest is at the Small Business Administration’s “MyBIZ for Women” site (http://www.sba.gov/women/). If you are just starting out in business they have materials that can help you focus your business plan and keep realistic expectations. If your online venture is getting serious and needs to grow, there are links to sources of funding from various loan programs. You may be able to find one that fits your situation.

Another excellent resource for women’s business information is the National Women’s Business Council (http://www.nwbc.gov/faq.html), with up-to-date news on programs for women in business. Examples include mentorship programs where women can gain business skills from experienced entrepreneurs, and certification programs that let you prove your business is woman-owned to help obtain funding.

The Department of Labor also maintains a website dedicated to “Women Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century” at (http://www.women-21.gov/). While it doesn’t appear to be the “one-stop shop for resources” that it’s front page claims, there are some very useful articles and links to be found within.

According to the S.B.A., woman-owned small businesses are being started at twice the average rate for all businesses! If you’re an American businesswoman looking for a little support, you may be surprised at the amount offered by Uncle Sam.

Daniel Detlaf is a lifelong student and one-time Day Trader with a few things to say about internet marketing. Visit the home of his ebook “Make An Honest Living” at http://www.makeanhonestliving.com.

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