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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Creating a Sales Funnel for a New Product: Part I

Before you can even begin to create your sales funnel, it's critical to first research the market viability of your product idea.

If you're a true entrepreneur, you probably have a million ideas zooming through your brain at any given moment. When you get particularly excited about an idea, it can be hard to be objective about it: Is there really a need for this product? Will people pay for it? Is someone already making this?

Even (and perhaps especially) if you're part of the target market for your product, it can be really hard to separate yourself from your idea and to know if there's a genuine need for it.

It's easy to get so excited that you move right past the planning and research stage and right into creating and marketing your product. The problem is that this is a great way to waste a ton of time and money.

Fortunately, there are some easy ways to get a sense of the market viability for your product, even if you only have a small research budget.

(By the way, we've covered this topic briefly in the past if you're looking for even more tips for determining market viability).

Keyword Research

It's never an exact science, but researching popular keywords can give you an idea of how popular a product may be. If you've come up with a completely original idea, you're likely not going to be looking for product searches, but you can look for questions related to the problem your product solves.

Check out the Competition

If your product is similar to one that's already on the market, make sure you're doing some sleuthing - sign up for your competitors' mailing lists and follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Watching their social media interactions can be very telling. For instance, if you see a common complaint mentioned again and again on their Facebook pages, this gives you a pretty good indication of ways you can improve your product and increase its market viability.

Talk Directly to Your Target Market

Conduct focus groups, call up people you may know in your target market, send out surveys, ask questions or create polls on your Facebook page. Any way you can think of to ask people who are actually part of your target demographic. There's no substitute for going straight to the source.

Just don't assume that because someone indicates they think it's a good idea that they'll actually buy it. Surveys are a good way to get general information, but take them with a big grain of salt.

Look for Unmet Needs

Visit online forums in your niche to get a sense of any unmet needs in your niche. Again, this is by no means an exact science, but can give you a general idea of whether your product is actually needed.

Use Dry Testing

Perhaps one of the best ways to see if there's an actual need for your product is to use dry testing. Dry testing is the process of selling a product before it's been created.

While it can definitely give you a good sense of viability, BE CAREFUL. It can easily make people feel misled or duped if done incorrectly.

It basically involves creating a sales page, but instead of the "buy now" button leading to a payment page, it leads to a page that explains that "this product is not yet available. Get on our list to be notified when it's ready."' Be really careful not to string people along.

Once you've conducted some basic market research, it's time to start creating your sales funnel. I'll cover this topic in my next post, so be sure to watch out so you don't miss it!

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How to Brew Beer at Home

Many people don't realize how easy it really is to produce beer yourself, at your own home. For this reason, many people are missing out on a great opportunity to impress friends, family, and save lots of money. Brewing your own beer can cost as little as $6 a gallon! You can even bottle it yourself and sell it to make a profit.

One of the easiest ways to brew beer is by purchasing a kit that has all the tools you need. Most kits come with a brew keg and tap, as well as the ingredients (usually hops) and possibly containers. It really contains pretty much everything you need to get started! For that fact, it is definitely easy to get started and hard to stop. These kits usually go for around $20 to an upwards of a few hundred dollars. It really depends on how much beer you want to brew at one time, and how advanced you are.

By being able to brew your own beer, you will be able to create a delicious beer that tastes just how you like it, and in addition it's a great hobby to pass on and tell others about. Wouldn't it be nice to come home from work and have a nice ice cold beer, especially one that you have made yourself?

One of the key factors to take into consideration when brewing your own beer is that you need to make sure you follow the directions carefully and ensure that you are taking the correct measurements. Often times, if you measure the wrong quantity of ingredients just by a little bit, your beer can have a totally different taste than the last time you brewed.

If you are interested in taking up the hobby of brewing your own beer, than you should make sure to find a great source of information on how to do it. There are a lot of variables that come into play when you brew your own beer and you want to make sure that you have each one set correctly.

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The Different Types Of Internet Advertising

There are many different types of internet advertising available to businesses today. This type of advertising can be very broad reaching hundreds of people or specifically narrow capturing high potential customers of a niche market. Online marketing remains one of the best ways to reach customers and get your message to the masses. Here are a few types to consider when choosing to advertise online.

Banner ads are a great way to advertise online while paying a one time fee. Many ads are paid for upfront and remain on the web page for a specified amount of time. Some examples of these ads include floating ads and wallpaper ads. A floating ad is an ad that floats above the content of the web page. A wallpaper ad changes the background of the viewable content to your ad or logo. Pop up ads are also considered a banner ad, but might not be as viewable due to pop up blocker software.

Newer types of banner ads feature video and animation, instead of a static image. One type of this kind of ad is called a video ad and features moving video clips. Another type is a superstition ad that displays video using either flash or three dimensional content. These ads are more sophisticated and provide the target market with more of a television like advertisement.

Email can also be very effective in online advertising. Companies can display opt in options for customers through out their website. These opt in options are legitimate ways to obtain email addresses for this type of advertising. Once an email is obtained, companies can begin emailing newsletters and special offers to potential customers.

Social media marketing is on the rise and many companies are beginning to jump on board. The first way social media can be used is by advertising on the social media sites through banners. These sites continually receive heavy traffic and are often visited multiple times a day by the same person. This can also be a great way to target specific consumer groups.

The other way to utilize social media marketing is creating a presence on the social media site for your business, such as a profile or page. These types of pages make it easier to get a message out of a mass amount of people at little to no cost. Higher traffic numbers can be brought into your page by periodically offering specials. The cost effectiveness of this type of online marketing makes using social media a great way for small businesses to create an online presence.

The latest wave of online marketing is the use of mobile devices. Almost all mobile devices today have a way to quickly access the internet. Companies are beginning to take advantage of this by creating apps and mobile friendly websites. Both of these typically feature new products or weekly ads. Mass text messaging through the internet, similar to the emails previously discussed, are also being utilized today.

Internet advertising can greatly benefit a company's marketing potential. Most of the time, online marketing is very cost efficient, while still reaching a mass audience. These are just a few ways companies can utilize this special type of marketing. No matter which online outlet a company chooses, the benefits will far outweigh the cost.

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Why You Should Have a Mentor in Online Marketing

From day one, you want to get your business profitable as soon as you can. You have come to realize however that having a coach or mentor will get you there more quickly. Now, all you have to do is pick the right mentor, and the important thing is to choose a mentor who has achieved the kind of success you desire.

In order to make money online, it is wise to follow in the footsteps of somebody who is successful and do as they do. Why re-invent the wheel from scratch when you can follow a path to success that you know has worked for others previously?

However, all the information in the world is never going to help you if you never get to put what you have learned into action, and this is the step where many collapse into an unsuccessful stupor. To move past this phase, you need clear information and, realistic idea of exactly what to do with it. This why you need a coach or a mentor.

Mistakes can be spotted by a mentor or coach before you have noticed them. They have been down the path before you, and they know what potholes and bumps lie ahead. The advice they give is imperative if you want to learn how to make money online as quickly as possible. Your job is to emulate them. Don't get distracted in your desire to become an internet marketer. Many do 'fall off the wagon'. The hardest part will be to stick with it and do all of the steps without getting sidetracked. A mentor can help you keep on the right track.

Be aware that there will be so called gurus offering you the latest software. This software on many occasions can be outdated quickly. These multiple product launches only serve to distract you with their flashy videos, actors and sales letters. Honestly, it is best for the beginner to find one system or marketer that you trust and stick with them through to achieving your desired outcome. Jumping to the latest craze or fad wastes money and time and ultimately distracts you from your goal of achieving a living through online marketing.

Many marketers weren't born with brains 'hard wired' in the art of online marketing but struggled and made mistakes too. You can therefore reduce the timespan it takes to grasp the intricacies of the art of online marketing by taking advice from a mentor.

How To Remove Negative Reviews Posted Online

The Internet has long been a great source of information. For consumers these days, it has proven to be a valuable tool to help them not only save considerable amounts of money by finding deals online; consulting the Internet is also a good way to ensure that the products or services you buy are worth your money. Customer-generated reviews are a great way to gauge the quality of a product, and businesses can definitely benefit from recommendations as these can serve as free advertisements for the company. However, opinions posted online can also lead to a company's demise: a single negative review that has gone viral can affect public perceptions so badly that companies or individuals may eventually be forced out of business.

For business owners who don't know how to remove negative reviews posted online, there are several strategies that you can employ. The first is to simply ask administrators from the review website or the person who has created the review to remove the damaging post. However, take note that this method is not likely to be successful; product review sites often choose to keep negative reviews because these increase the authenticity of the site. Sensational reviews also serve as some of the most effective link baits for Internet users.

Another way to combat negative reviews online is by encouraging customers to write positive ones instead. One way is to direct customers to websites where they can write their comments. Do remember that this is not a surefire way to get positive reviews; after all, for every few satisfied customers, there is bound to be at least one who is not entirely happy with his or her purchase.

The last method for removing negative reviews posted online - and perhaps the most effective - is to conceal them from users' views. As mentioned earlier, a lot of people search for reviews online before purchasing a product, and it's important to note that most Internet users only check the first couple of pages of search results. This means that if you can populate the first few pages of search engine results with positive information about the company, then chances are people are not going to be able to find the negative reviews.

This of course, does not mean fabricating positive reviews in the hopes that these will dominate the search results - by all means, companies should never resort to creating false reviews as this can be far more damaging when the lie is discovered. Rather than creating contrived reviews, companies can employ methods such as search engine optimization, article and video marketing, press release writing, and link building to promote genuinely positive information. These tactics can help get negative reviews out of sight without making the company resort to untruthful means. Getting rid of negative reviews may be difficult, especially since Internet users can express their opinions anonymously. However, with perseverance and effort, along with the assistance of experts, businesses suffering from ruined reputations can still be saved.