Sell Your Product Or Service While You Sleep

Sell Your Product Or Service While You Sleep
By Judy Cullins, Sat Dec 10th

Sell Your Product or Service While You Sleep: Submit ShortArticles to Multiple Web Sites Judy Cullins c. 2003 All RightsReserved.

Have you wasted valuable time and money on promotion thatdoesn't work? Have your announcements and releases been ignored?Have you been too quiet about getting the word out how yourproduct or service will help solve people's problems?

You have put passion and creativity into your business; now it'stime to put passion and creativity into promoting it! Since noone really cares as much about your products as you do, thentake time to learn this new, effective way to sell them. Knowthat the World Wide Web audience wants and needs yourinformation--your expertise, how-to's, your experience orentertainment.

If you are willing to take four-five actions each day to promoteyour products, you will have successful sales. Follow thesesteps to learn how to promote yourself on line and make bigsales:

Step One. Promote yourself through writing. Create several short"how-to" articles, short stories, poetry or humor, anywhere from75-800 words. Prepare several lengths of the same article. Forone eMagazine I submitted a seventy-five-word article on how towrite a short article. For a top business Web site, I expandedit to 800 words.

Step Two. Take responsibility for Online promotion yourself. Ifother marketing has been weak and sales were disappointing, youcan still create ongoing, lifetime profits. Online promotion isgreat if you are totally bashful or reluctant to "sell." Youdon't have to talk to anyone in person. You promote straightfrom your home or office. Now, that's convenience! Learn thebasics from teleclasses and seminars, from the Internet, andfrom professional networking organizations.

Step Three. Develop Internet savvy. When you don't take thisstep, you will hang back, and stay stuck in fear. Action spursyou on. Take a free community college course, or visit yourlibrary for help. In just three hours, I learned about searchengines, and other basics. If you are like me and are passionateto succeed, then hire a coach or virtual assistant from a localhigh school or tech school. Jump in and get yourself an emailaddress and try out surfing. You won't need a Web site rightaway, but if you want to be a market leader, you eventuallyshould have one.

Step Four. Visit the top Web sites in your field. Without them,your product won't get much exposure. Many authors report only afew sales from their own sites. High traffic web sites arealways looking for new material (your articles) to entice theirvisitors to come back, again and again. Notice their signals:"New material added daily." In turn, they will put your"signature" which includes the product name or service and theWeb address where it can be purchased. It doesn't have to beyour Web site.

With just one short article posted in an ezine, one bookcoachingclient received eight emails asking for more information. Theseresponses give the creator another chance at a sale, and to beknown as the market expert. Many product folks also have aprofessional service to offer. So when the person contacts them,they can mention these other services.

Step Five. Run a search on the top search engines to find thetop ten Web sites in your field. Alta Vista at:www.altavista.com or Google at www.google.com. Visit the Websites to see their layout and whether or not they have a regularezine that needs tips, excerpts, or stories. If their site putsup new articles up regularly, your information has a chance tobring you increased product sales.

Here's a great shortcut I use: Instead of searching for "productmarketing" or something that is very targeted, use the keyword"business" without the quotations. Type in "business" in theblank "search for" box, then search. You will have severalmillion Web sites that are about business. Now the fun part:replace the keyword "business" with two words: "submit article"then click on the box just below the "search for" box and clickwhere it says: "Search Within these results" Now, do that subsearch and you will be queued up to pages that allow you tosubmit business articles. You will hit business people who offerproducts and services and get a much bigger piece of the pie.

Step Six. Submit two to three article a week to the top ten Websites. Include your article description, its category, your Website key words, and an autoresponder link. This one techniquewill boost your Web site

URL into the top ten listed for all thetop search engines. This is a great way to optimize your searchengine placement without any cost.

Step Seven. Place your articles on as many Web sites aspossible. Now, you can be in control of your promotion, with farless effort, and get the respect, support and sales you deserve.Delegate some of this marketing work to your computer assistant.

Step Eight. Organize your research. Start a file called "Websites to Link With." If you don't keep track of your promotioncontacts, you will not be able to follow up.

Professional people always follow-up. They develop relationshipswith the people they want to do business with. Start acommunication sheet for these people either on your computer orin a physical file. For instance, for publishing sites, list thecontact person (Web master or content person), their email andweb site URL. Include your note to them. Keep track of what youoffer, what they like, what they take. Date your communications.Not everyone will respond, but with persistence, many will! Atthe end of your note, ask that they include a link back toeither your site or other sites where your products and servicesare offered.

If you're like me, and not a technical person, hire a person whocan do the research for you. Remember, people who visit topsites are looking for information and entertainment. They willappreciate your articles, may even pass them on to friends andassociates. Many will go to your site or other sites to checkout your products—even buy them. Web sites want yourinformation. It seems like a marriage made in cyber heaven.

About the author:Judy Cullins: 20-year author, publisher, book coach Helpsentreprenurs manifest their book and web dreams eBk: "TenNon-techie Ways to Market Online"http://www.bookcoaching.com/products.shtml Send an email toSubscribe@bookcoaching.com FREE The Book Coach Says... includes2 free eReports Judy@bookcoaching.com Ph:619/466/0622