In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Five Sales Truths To Maximize Your "Fifteen Seconds of Fame" by J. R. Beach

3) CLASSIFIEDS Traffic Builders Business Opportunities

4) FREE Resources Recommended Reading

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE: On Your Way to Freedom by William N Hodges

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. I suppose this might be a gripe instead of a question! I've been trying to contact the owner of an affiliate program to ask a question about the product. I keep sending email but I don't get any response. How do these people make any money when they won't even respond to their affiliates? (Joy)

A. Actually Joy, you have two questions in included in your gripe! <G> The first question is - why do we become affiliates for program owners who won't give us several ways to contact them? And, the answer is - I don't know - but we should stop it immediately!

First of all, not answering business email is the height of unprofessional behavior! I know it gets rough to find all the time we need sometimes and I've been guilty myself of letting lower priority email wait a few days. However, any email from a customer, or an affiliate, should be a TOP priority!

I can't say it enough times! Do NOT join any affiliate program where you aren't given a physical address - and a telephone number - right on the web site! As an affiliate who is making money for these people, you have a perfect right to have communication access to them. In the case of affiliate programs, I'm even more adamant than usual that a telephone number should be provided to all affiliates.

The second question is - should we join affiliate programs if we don't know everything about the product? The only way to find this out is to buy the product ourselves!

I know that some online "gurus" claim that the only good affiliate programs are the "free to join" ones. They seem to think it's unreasonable to ask an affiliate to buy a product before they sell it.

I believe it's unreasonable - and dangerous - to sell something we haven't used first-hand. Do we KNOW what that e-book teaches - or only what we've been told? Do we KNOW if that software works or are we going to 'assume' that it does everything it's touted to do? Do we KNOW if that web host is dependable and helpful to their clients or are we without clue that they don't even have 24/7 tech support?

If you haven't bought the product - just remember - when you sell a product, you are endorsing that product. Your reputation is on the line right along with the affiliate program owner's. Choose carefully those with whom you associate your good name!

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

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

SELLING ON THE INTERNET Five Sales Truths To Maximize Your "Fifteen Seconds of Fame"

By J. R. Beach

How long does it take to make a first impression? On the fast-paced internet you're likely to get less than 15 seconds. That's all they'll spend on your opening page unless you grab visitors with something that interests them. You must provide them with value for their time or they'll click elsewhere in a split second.

And if you've spent effort and dollars to attract visitors, you don't want to lose them in the time it takes to back out of the driveway. After all, if you've got something to sell, you're not looking for "hits", you're looking for sales. The only item someone will buy in fifteen seconds is a face-value ticket to the Super Bowl.

You'll want to consider these five Sales Truths and how they can help you maximize your site's 15 seconds of fame.

SALES TRUTH # 1 People buy only from companies or individuals they know, like and trust.

So, in order to buy from YOU they must know, like and trust you. Is that a lot to do in fifteen seconds? Yes it is. In fact, it's impossible. So what can you do? Simply develop a main page that grabs visitorsâ attention and makes them want to read more. Make them want to spend more than 15 seconds to investigate your offer. The headline must be compelling, telling them quickly what's in it for them. Then, your text must interest them and deliver the benefits you've got for them.

SALES TRUTH #2 Contrary to what many believe, people buy what they WANT, not what they NEED.

If you question that, let me ask you this: who makes more money, the guy who sells Mercedes automobiles or the guy who sells bread or milk? Nobody needs a Mercedes. They could just as easily drive from point A to point B in a much less expensive car. But they WANT a Mercedes because of how it makes them feel. There's the key. People buy because of how your product or service makes them feel. You've got to write text that appeals to emotion rather than logic.

SALES TRUTH #3 People will only buy your product or service when the benefits outweigh the cost. People buy for a number of different reasons (see Sales Truth #5 below) but they will buy only if you convince them that the benefits your product offers are greater than the money they will have to part with for those benefits. In other words, if they believe their stack of money is bigger than your stack of benefits they won't buy. Your stack has to be larger than their stack.

SALES TRUTH #4 People want value for their money, but they also want value for their time.

If you want them to spend time on your site, you've got to make sure they believe it is time well spent. How long they'll stick around depends on two things: content and ease of navigation.

SALES TRUTH #5 Products or services people want fall into three categories.

Products or services people buy generally involve items that 1) save them time, 2) save or make them money, 3) provide them with convenience.

Showing prospects how your product or service does one or more of these is key in persuading visitors to stick around and find out more (as well as being key to making the sale). A corollary to this: people buy because of fear of loss (if they don't take action they could lose something they've got) or hope of gain (that they'll be richer, more attractive, more popular).

So, if you want to sell on the web, these Sales Truths can help you define your course.

It starts with the design of your website and includes every method of communication you use-headlines, body copy, e-mail, autoresponder messages, classified ads-everything.

Now stop reading and take action. Do it right. Do it now. Do it right now.

------------

Mr. Beach is a corporate marketing veteran and netrepreneur. His award-winning site, BUSINESS-OPP.COM, specializes in locating scam-free and guaranteed business opportunities on the internet. To see his recommended opportunities, get free marketing resources, free marketing reports and a great free marketing e-zine, visit http://www.business-opp.com

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"All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath - so what does that make today worth?"

- Og Mandino, author

Questions to Ponder

What is today worth to me?

What will I do today to make my day more valuable to myself and those I love?

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

On Your Way to Freedom

Copyright 2000 William N Hodges, used by permission. <Bill@BillHodges.com>

The keys to life are in your mind. When you choose to use those keys to unlock your potential and start the engine of discovery, you begin to travel the road of enlightenment. The enlightened man or woman can see the opportunity that is presented to all of us to have a rich and fulfilling life.

A rich and fulfilling life may not always be a safe and comfortable life; on the contrary, it may be fraught with danger and challenge. One of my favorite authors, H.G. Wells, had the following to say about breaking out of the prison of inaction that binds most of us to a pattern of inaction;

"But when a man has once broken through the paper walls of everyday circumstance, those unsubstantial walls that hold so many of us securely prisoned from the cradle to the grave, he has made a discovery. If the world does not please you, you can change it. Determine to alter it at any price, and you can change it altogether. You may change it to something sinister and angry to something appalling, but it may be you will change it to something brighter, something more agreeable, and at the worst something much more interesting. There is only one sort of man who is absolutely to blame for his own misery, and that is the man who finds life dull and dreary. There are no circumstances in the world that determined action cannot alter, unless, perhaps, they are the walls of a prison cell, and even those will dissolve and change, I am told, into the infirmary compartment, at any rate, for the man who can fast with resolution."

If you find life dull and dreary, today is the day to plan a prison break. You can unlock your mind by getting rid of the bars you have created over the years to keep others out or keep you safe, which have, in turn, imprisoned you.

Most of the bars are built of fear. Fear is one of the strongest bars that will contain our minds and stop us from acting and trying new adventures. Fear comes with a multitude of faces, each more ugly than the first. Here are some of the more prominent fears that will keep us imprisoned. The most prominent fear is the fear of people who are not the same as us. Maybe they have skin of a different shade or maybe they speak with an accent. Could be that they are of a different religion or have a strange or foreign code of conduct.

It might be that the way they dress or wear their hair is unusual to us. Many will avoid people who fall into any one of those categories, not because they know them to be bad people but because they are different. If you are ever to unlock your mind and experience life to the fullest, you must push yourself to know, not shun, those who are different. It is those very people from whom you will learn many of life's great lessons. Remember, you cannot tell a book by its cover or a person from surface appearance.

Probably the next most debilitating fear is the fear of being laughed at or viewed as different. I think it would be impossible to count the number of people who ended up in a prison of their own making, serving a life term, who could have been very successful and led a happy and satisfying life, had they not been afraid of looking silly, or being different. It is your life and you hold the keys. If you conquer these fears you will be on your way to freedom.

*****

Bill Hodges is nationally recognized speaker, trainer, and columnist. If you enjoyed this article, you will enjoy his book Within Your Reach which contains 60 such articles on positive thinking available either in print or a three cassette audio tape. If ordering from your local bookstore, reference ISBN#0-9622717-0-5, or you may order directly by sending your check for $4.95 USCurrency plus ($1.50 USA $3.00 Other)for the printed book or $20.00 plus ($3.00 USA $6.00 other) for shipping to Hodges Seminars International, PO Box 89033, Tampa, FL 33689-0400.

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