In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Slow Down to Speed Up by Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D.

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MARKETING MINUTE: Search in Vain? by Kai Merriott

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

The author of today's Marketing Minute offers us some sobering thoughts about search engine results and how we fit in (or not) to the massive indexing of commercial web sites. Larry Dotson has a few more ideas for time well spent on promotion:

Cross Promote Online For Maximum Profits (c) 1999 L.D. Publishing By Larry Dotson

Cross promoting is when two or more businesses promote their products or services together. I try to find businesses that have the same target audience, but are not in direct competition with my business. Doing cross promotions with other businesses increases your profits, sales, and beats your competition.

You can find businesses to cross promote all over the Internet. Participate in e-mail discussion groups, online forums and newsgroups that deal with your target audience. Subscribe to e-zines that deal with your targeted audience. Note on your Web site or e-zine that you are interested in cross promoting your products and services. Search in your favorite web directories and search engines to find targeted businesses.

Cross promoting has many benefits. Save money by sharing the advertising and marketing costs. Save time when both businesses share the workload. You can offer your customers new products and services. Get referrals from the other business clients. Receive valuable information from the business.

Once you find a business you would like to cross promote with simply e-mail them your proposal. Tell the business owner the benefits of the cross promotion. Explain to him or her why it would be a win/win situation for both of your businesses. Give them a lot of compliments about their business, Web site, products and services. Using all three methods above will greater your chance for a profitable cross promotion. Good Luck!

Anyone may republish this article without permission if the resource box is included. ---- Written by Larry Dotson, Owner Of L.D. Publishing 30 FREE Internet Marketing E-books ! Go to: http://www.ldpublishing.com

Slow Down to Speed Up by Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.

When it comes to time management the general rule is that you must slow down to speed up. On one level most people seem to know this. We say things like, "I need to work smarter." Or "The hurrier I go the behinder I get." Yet when it comes to actually applying the concept of slowing down to work faster, we often forget or even talk ourselves out of it.

First lets review why slowing down to go faster works. The simple reason is that we are talking about thinking, and humans can think really fast. So fast that most of the thoughts we have we are not even aware of having. This may sound strange, but it isn't. Imagine learning to drive for the first time. It was really hard because you had to think about everything you did. Now you can drive with one knee while you drink coffee and talk on a cell phone. (It's not safe, but you can do it.) All kidding aside, it is very practical for you to be able to drive without thinking much about it. It is the same with tying your shoes, taking a shower, eating, and dozens of other things you do that don't require much mental effort because you know the routine so well. You are on autopilot when doing these tasks and using "automatic" thoughts.

For the most part these automatic thoughts make life easier. The problem occurs when your automatic thoughts are not doing the best job for you, but you don't know it because you don't "think" about them. Since your automatic thoughts are handling things, you just don't see that any change is needed. It is for these times that you need a system in your life that asks the question, "Could I be working smarter?" You might do this with notes to yourself on the refrigerator, reminders in your calendar, or hire someone to ask you the question. The key is to just know the fact that you use automatic thoughts, but because they are automatic you will need to be reminded to take a look at them every once in a while to see if they are doing the best job for you.

All time and goal management systems are different ways of getting you to slow down and analyze what you are doing. You have probably tried more than one with varying amounts of success. The thing to remember is that if you decide to change what you are doing you are going to have to learn some new automatic thoughts for the new routine. While you are learning the new ones the old ones are going to automatically take over and start running the routine every chance they get. Don't be hard on yourself when this happens. Just remind yourself of the new thoughts you want to use and get going again. If it helps, think of changing cars on a trip. You started the trip in a slow car and you decided to change to a faster one. But to change you had to stop the old car, get in the new one, then take some time getting up to the maximum speed of the old car. Only then are you ready to go faster than you were in the old car.

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Dr. Polk is a goal and time management coach, writer and speaker. Need more time to write? More time for fun? Drop me a line at mailto:doc@timedoctor.com or visit http://www.timedoctor.com.

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Questions to Ponder

What am I waiting for?

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Search in Vain? by Kai Merriott

Flick through any marketing book, and they will have long sections on search engines. Surf the Internet, and you will find millions of sites devoted to the subject.

It is commonly agreed that Search Engines have their uses. Browsers can find your site, if, say, for some reason they have an incomplete URL. You can also get traffic from the odd surfer that taps in a keyword relating to your product or service, providing your site is listed high.

As every online marketer knows, only the first twenty or so sites listed will experience any traffic. It's a harsh reality that the thousands of other sites relating to the specified keyword get little or no traffic from this activity.

Therefore, instead of advising people to focus their efforts on more productive marketing activities, many so-called marketers tell you devote your energies on this one process. Cue long paragraphs on META tags, keywords, Search Engine "loopholes" and optimisation.

I also think that search engines work more effectively for some businesses than it does others. Obscure businesses that sell "Five Legged Androids from Mars" would probably benefit from this activity, since the keywords would be so unusual. Therefore, the number of listings will be minimal.

However, if you work in "Advertising", then the likelihood of your businesses featuring high in the Search Engines from such a popular keyword is marginal.

I think that Search Engine submission is a huge paradox, and it's unusual for so many marketers to be so preoccupied with it.

So how is it a paradox?

1) If you are a massive online multi-national corporation that everyone recognises, then you may have the resources to spend a lot of time on search engine submission.

But I think if you are a well-known name, why would you bother? The chances are, people will enter the company name in the major Search engines, and whizz straight to your site.

2) If you are a mid-sized company selling a non-unique product online, then it is likely that, unless you have spent all your time concentrating on Search engines (which is unproductive in the long term), you will feature somewhere beyond the "top twenty" ranking.

It generally makes little difference if you are featured at #100, or at #1000 - the traffic generated with these listings will be practically nil.

3) If you are a small company with limited resources, then you may be under the false assumption that this is the cheapest and most effective way to get hits. Forget it! Firstly, you will have no chance against the large corporations who employ people to maximise their ranking.

Secondly, it takes a lot of time to research each search engine, and find the best way to be listed high on each one. Also, don't believe the Web sites that appear to have done this work for you. As time progresses, search engines get wise to their techniques, so this information tends to date very quickly.

Therefore, for small and mid-sized businesses, it is far better to be proactive and maximise your promotional efforts into strategies that really generate traffic.

Even if, for some reason or another, you do manage to get your site listed at the top of the rankings, you can guarantee it will be short-term. There will always be a company who will eventually knock you off the "top spot".

Also, if you think of Search Engines in terms of numbers, again you can determine their uselessness:

There are around 50 search engines that have any fraction of worth. Which means, if you add the top twenty listings of each search engine together, you have 1000 companies.

Do you think your company will feature anywhere near this "top 1000" companies in the world? Unless your name happens to be Bill Gates, then I doubt it very much.

I think we should take away the importance that is so heavily laid on Search Engines. Instead, concentrate on:

1) Promoting your brand name.

2) Making your Web site fast, professional-looking and easy-to-navigate.

3) Finding your customers, don't wait for them to find you.

By being heavily involved in these basic activities instead of wasting valuable time trying to feature at the top of the search engines, you'll find quality traffic pouring into your site.

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Kai Merriott Internet Marketing Programs plc "The Most Comprehensive Business and Marketing Program on the Internet" http://www.internetmarketprogram.com

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