In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Five Steps To Lasting Business Success by Wanda Loskot

3) CLASSIFIEDS Traffic Builders Business Opportunities

4) FREE Resources Recommended Reading

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MARKETING MINUTE: Lights, Camera, Action..... Who Did You Invite to Your Web Site's Debut? by Diane Leonte

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

Pro-motion Answers for the "Pro in Motion" by jl scott, ph.d., Director, IAPO

Q. Do we really have to put up with ezines sending "solo ads" and extra mailings? Isn't there something we can do about that? (Anonymous)

A. Let's think about this logically. I subscribe to TIME MAGAZINE - and I pay for it. Yet, TIME makes their money mainly from advertising. They routinely send me extra mailings with special offers - in addition to the regular ads in each issue.

If I don't like it - they are not going to give me my money back. In fact, I would be lucky if I could make them stop sending the magazine before the subscription ran out.

Online ezines are published to build a mailing list. This is no secret. Most publishers don't do all that work out of the goodness of their hearts. They are in business! The subscriber base is a controlled list of possible buyers for whatever product/service the publisher is marketing.

For the most part, publishers try to give good - and valuable - content. Very few charge for their ezines so this information is FREE to the subscriber. Can you imagine what you would have to pay for the information you receive in a free ezine if you purchased it in training courses?

As a publisher, I have repeatedly refused to accept "Solo" ads to send to my readers. I only send out extra mailings if I believe it's something my readers really need to know about. However, I have no problem at all with publishers who DO accept solo ads. Advertisers want these ads because they are more likely to be read than a small 5 line ad in the middle of an ezine.

A couple of minutes of my time to read an extra ad sent by a publisher who is providing me with valuable information and/or entertainment every week is a small price to pay for what I'm getting without charge.

Putting out a good ezine every week is a LOT of HARD work! Expecting an ezine publisher to teach us and/or entertain us - then complaining about the occasional extra ad (or even "too many" ads in an issue) is like the people who go to a free Happy Hour buffet - eat $20 worth of free food - then complain because they have to serve themselves.

Ezines were not designed for the sole delight of the subscribers who receive this information for free - then complain about it. They were not designed by publishers to have something to fill up their time - make them crazy - and give them a lot of guff.

An electronic magazine - as with any print magazine - is a vehicle for profit. The trade off with a free ezine is MORE than fair to the subscriber! You get the free information - the publisher gets the exposure for advertising. Extra ads are part of the deal unless otherwise stated.

Is there anything you can do about it? Yes - there is. Learn to live with it or stop taking the gift of the free information the ezine offers you.

* To submit questions to "Pro-motion" mailto:Questions@IAPOnline.org

jl scott, ph.d., Author Copyright © 2000, All Rights Reserved

dr. jl scott is the Director of the International Association for Professionalism Online (IAPO) http://www.IAPOnline.org - and also the publisher of MONDAY MEMO! - the ezine dedicated to upgrading Professionalism on the Web. For your FREE subscription: mailto:MondayMemo-subscribe@topica.com

Five Steps To Lasting Business Success

(c) Wanda Loskot

Everyone asks these days what does it take to succeed in business and many great articles have already been written on this subject. I can't resist adding my own simple formula for success. It works like a charm, guaranteed!

1. Love Your Customers ---------------------- I don't mean *like* - I mean really *love*. There is a big difference between liking and loving, don't you agree? We like almost everyone - but we love only special people. Loving someone means going out of our way to help them. And it means finding a pleasure in seeing them succeeding.

Of course it starts with developing the ability to love ourselves. So, it is very important to have a healthy self-esteem - work on it. Also, one of your main goals should be becoming a generous person who finds pleasure in being a contributor. Become a giver!

2. Find Customers You Want To Love ----------------------------------- Let's face it - there are some people you don't want to see near you or your business, let alone have a loving relationship with them! Not everyone who wants to buy something from you is able to recognize and appreciate the high quality of service I am talking about.

Marketing skills are important not only to find a high NUMBER but also to find high QUALITY of buyers. Searching for people in specific demographics, who are most likely in need of what you have and who are financially qualified to buy it is very important - but not enough. Define also a profile of your *ideal* customers and make sure that your marketing message is appealing to them.

Look for people who share your own values. They will not abuse your generosity and they will most likely become your loyal referral sources. They are also a pleasure to work with :-)

Effective marketing will allow you to "skim the cream" and leave the whiners, complainers, psychos and other difficult people to your competition!

3. Find Out What Your Customers Want ------------------------------------ Sounds very basic - doesn't it? Yet so many business owners miss this part entirely!

Once you have a relationship with people who are >a< pleasure and fun to work with, engage in ongoing communication with them to find out their needs. Very often their needs are not very obvious - sometimes people are not even aware of what they want or need. If you help them figure out what it is - and especially if you help them to find it - you will have many friends (and customers) for life!

4. Give Them What They Want --------------------------- No, you don't need to actually *produce* everything they want, but even if it is something you don't offer, you can help your customers find it elsewhere. You can even generate additional income by helping solve problems with other people's products and services. Isn't this a great win/win/win scenario?

BTW. If you know of someone who is starting a business on the Internet, recommend my "Internet Success Boot Camp". You can become my affiliate (it doesn't cost anything) and earn substantial referral fees! For details go to http://InternetSuccessCoach.com/af

5. Deliver Consistently Awesome Value -------------------------------------- When people with high values get a superb quality service or products from you, products that solve their problems and make them happy, they LOVE to reward you handsomely for your efforts. Honest people expect to pay their share and they often ask for more!

Giving people consistently more than they expect compels them also to tell others about you - and that helps you grow your business even more!

Isn't this all simple? Simple is not the same as EASY. You still need a full array of skills to accomplish all this - but this is all it takes to succeed. Guaranteed! ---------------

Wanda Loskot is a personal business coach - are you ready to get paid what you're really worth, doing what you LOVE? Experience http://loska.com and read Wanda's newsletters: -> "Success Connection" - mailto:newsletter@loska.com -> "Internet MasterMind" - mailto:I-MasterMind@loska.com

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Good news! Take advantage of your preferred subscriber status with a rate of 50% off the regular rate of $10 per issue for YOUR best 5 line ad (65 characters max per line). As loyal subscribers, you can still place ads here at half-price or $5 per issue. For a limited time. If you have more than 5 lines, just add $5 ($2.50 for subscribers) per extra 65 character line per week.

First, e-mail your ad copy to... mailto:webmaster@netcheckspayroll.com If you're paying by check, print out a copy and mail the print-out, with check or money order to: NetChecks, 42263 50th St West, Suite 614, Quartz Hill, CA 93536. If you prefer to use a credit card, go to <http://netcheckspayroll.com/bcwadrates.html> to order your ad space on a secure server. If you have any questions, please call (877) 438-7821.

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Recommended Reading ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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"We all have ability. The difference is how we use it."

- Stevie Wonder, singer, songwriter

Questions to Ponder

What are my most prized abilities?

Which abilities do I use completely?

Which abilities do I neglect or not use?

Copyright the Discian Group from the Powerquotes ezine. See http://discian.com/powerquote.htm for more information.

Lights, Camera, Action..... Who Did You Invite to Your Web Site's Debut?

by Diane Leonte

Your Web site is finally ready to be published. You have reworked the design, the content, the colors, the navigation, the keywords, the title, and the description until you were satisfied you have an award winning web site to showcase your product or service offerings.

Now it's time to prepare the invitations, or rather the AD Copy.

The next step is without a doubt the most critical in your entire marketing plan.... who will you send the invitations to? In other words who are you addressing your Ad copy to?

Is your invitation list made up of a carefully selected well thought out targeted niche audience? If not, scrap the web site and all the work you have done up to this point and go back to the drawing board. Begin again this time by defining....

*Who Your Customer Is?

*Who has a need or desire to buy your product or service?

*Who can afford to buy what you are selling?

If you do not do this step, you will be fighting an uphill battle. Everything you do in your marketing plan must flow from the definition of who your customer is, whether it is your sales letter, your web site design, your ad copy, which ezines you advertise in, what classifieds you place you ads in, how often you advertise, what time of the year you advertise, what color you use on you web site... EVERYTHING!

*How do you get to know who your customer is?

*Where will you find them hanging out?

*What type of advertising will you use to attract them?

*How much are they willing to pay for your product or service?

The best way I know to accomplish this market research is....

to simply become your own customer.

Do you own, use, and endorse what you are offering for sale to your customer? If not, buy it, use it, evaluate it and decide if you think it is a quality product that you would feel good about recommending. If you can't do this, then dump the product or service and find one you can feel good about and go sell it.

Now that you know what you are going to offer for sale on your web site, put yourself in your customers shoes and go surfing for your product or service offering on the Internet.

What keywords are you going to enter in the search criteria for the Search engines? What ezines and newsletters will you subscribe to and read to find what you are looking for. What discussion groups and forums do you like to hang out in?

How many web sites are offering the product you are looking for? Is their a large swing in the price range? Who is offering a guarantee? Who is offering a bonus? Which web master makes it easier to purchase the product? Which web master will deliver it sooner?

Do you see how getting to know who your customer is will help you design your marketing with them in mind. Using this tactic will deliver to your web site the customers who want, need, and are willing to pay the price you are asking for what you are selling.

Your customers will come to your web site and buy from you when you when you begin addressing all of your advertising to meet their needs, not yours. You may attract less visitors, but you will have more visitors who will buy from you.

Why do you need visitors at your web site who are not interested in your product? The visitors that come to your web site to collect the freebies you advertised can only distort your traffic statistics, and lead you to believe that your product is more appealing than it actually is.

Stay grounded in your target audience and you will be profitable.

Aim everything you create to market your product or service to meet your customer's needs. If you do this right your web site will have Standing Room Only.

Now go out there and "bring down the house" ======================================================

Diane Leonte is a Business and Personal Coach, Webmaster of http://wealthinmind.com and Publisher of the "Achieving Success & Wealth" newsletter: mailto:subscribe@wealthinmind.com. "Are You Are Ready To Get What Matters Most To You?, If Not Now....When?"

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