Press releases are a great way to jump start interest in your business but only if you can convince the media that what you’re releasing is worth printing or broadcasting. For a business news release to succeed there’s one factor guaranteed to get attention: money.  Specifically, how your business can help people SAVE money.

For instance, if you operate a Bed and Breakfast website, focus your press release on how much money people can save on hotels by staying at your B & B instead. Offer actual figures comparing rates at local hotels and your establishment. Then explain all the benefits: quiet, family atmosphere, free breakfast, etc.

Proving that your business can help consumers economize is a very effective way to get attention with your press release.

Many small business owners assume they need to resell PLR articles as fast as they buy them before moving on to the next best thing. Unfortunately, they’re missing out on the true benefits of finding great PLR. Here are some of my favorite tips to help you get the most bang for your buck by recycling PLR content:

Extract a blog post - Any PLR article can be broken down into a blog post. Any article, actually. If the plr content has several bullet points - each bullet point can be extracted, expanded upon, and added to your blog.

Create an article - Likewise, blog posts can be molded into a full length article and syndicated through any article directory that accepts repurposed PLR content. Just add an introduction, a conclusion, and a headline that grabs attention.

Create a mini-course - Extract several related blog posts and combine them to make a mini-course based on a specific topic. Use the viral giveaway (mentioned below) as a free gift to entice people to subscribe to your new course.

Generate free, viral giveaways - These valuable reports can help spread your name, product or affiliate links, and web site addresses across the Internet. Viral giveaways can help you build lists of targeted prospects in addition to branding you as an expert for the topic they cover.

Develop a unique product - Don’t fall into the trap of using the PLR as it is. Instead, put your unique thinking cap on and design a product that’s exclusively yours. Expand on the text portion and rewrite it to weave in your personality. Think about recording the PLR articles to attract auditory learners. Later, produce a home study course with video.

Offer a better deal - When someone buys your product, offer them the choice to grab a silver or gold version. You can do this at the checkout, the product download page, or even from inside the product they just purchased! The silver version could offer a reprint license for $67-$97 and the gold version could offer your entire sales funnel for $147, (which includes your giveaway, mini-course, blog posts, etc.) and allows buyers to mimic your success.

Recommend resources - Inside your product (as well as your mini-course and free viral giveaway) you’ll want to promote your affiliate links to other affiliate programs. This gives you the ability to earn extra money if anyone buys one of the products you’re promoting.

The great thing about this system is that it’s easy to duplicate with any type of PLR content. Once your sales funnel is in place for the first product, repeat the process to continuously build your information empire.

This is a better system for getting the most mileage from your PLR content. While others are using the same boring PLR, unchanged from the original batch, you’ll be reaping the biggest rewards because you recycled PLR to deliver entertaining and informative content. And this, my friend, is what targeted readers truly desire!

Copyright © Bonnie Gean, All Rights Reserved

Quality PLR content is the key. Visit http://www.PLRproductions.com to learn how you can get professionally written PLR by Bonnie Gean, and benefit from content you don’t have to write. WARNING: This small investment of your time will repay itself many times over!

I recently dropped by a website that sells products to a 25 - 45 year old demographic. The site’s copywriting was consistent with this goal… grown up and informative.

But the website design was sending out a completely different message. All the graphics were cartoons in bold primary colors! The main image was a couple of cartoon teenagers. And the youthful word “hip” was featured prominently in the site’s name and domain. This conflict between image and message can confuse and/or turn off potential customers.

When creating your online presence - be sure to offer your visitors a consistent message about your products and who they are intended for… a message that unites your textual content, design, colors, and images.

You may be pleasantly surprised at the results this simple change can make to your bottom line.

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Many website owners tackle writing their own content at least once before throwing their hands up in the air. And the page that most often makes them cave is the About Us page.

It’s hard to write well about yourself and the company you created. But it’s important that your About Us page communicates exactly the right message. Because this is the page your most skeptical prospects will turn to before doing business with you.

They may have already decided they like your product or service. They may think the price is fair and your policies reasonable. But before they click on “Buy now”, they want to know that the company they’re buying from is reliable and experienced, and that it is run in a professional and decent way.

Your About Us page can be a true confidence-builder and deal-closer. Strike the right note when preparing it and it can be a formidable asset to your company and your conversions.

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Search engine optimization is an important part of nearly every business marketing strategy these days. And, as you know, Google dominates the search engine playing field, conducting about 80% of all searches.

Understandably, the online marketing world is fixated on Google. But what happens if you get caught up in one of Google’s unpredictable fits? You played by the book, but suddenly your site is nowhere to be found. Or your page rank has inexplicably tanked. It happens and when it does, there’s not much you can do about it.

So before it happens to you, diversify now. Get over your Google obsession and start using other marketing means: press releases, articles, paid ads, directory listings, blog submissions, PPC ads, etc. Check your rankings at Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, AOL, and MSN… they can drive a significant amount of traffic to you.

Putting all your eggs in the Google basket guarantees that business will suffer if your rankings ever get “scrambled”.

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Many business website owners have a links or resources page to help improve their search engine rankings.  And most of them try to list sites that are relevant to their target audience; but not always.

One very candid webmaster wrote this on his links page:

“The links on this page are for improving search engine rating only. I do not endorse any of them. They are not in any way related to this website.”

Honest but not very helpful.

When you create a resources page for the search engines, try to make it useful to your human visitors too.

Two reasons why you want to do this:

• You’ll be helping your visitors by referring them to important, relevant resources, and that reflects well on you.
• You’ll be helping your rankings because the search engines prefer links from pages whose content is related to your site content.

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Imagine a clothing store. You walk in the door and can see the clothing way at the back, but in order to reach it you have to pass through a complicated maze, with twists and turns that make you lose your way. Finally, in frustration you climb over the wall and run for the exit, never to return.

Just like in that imaginary store, people will exit your website without making a purchase if they find it confusing. So give them good navigation, clear and compelling copy, and a user-friendly shopping cart.

If you’ve been marketing online, you’re probably using a signature file to describe your products or services and it’s found at the end of every email message you send out. But email isn’t the only way a signature file can be put to work for you.

Today I’d like to talk about several other uses for your signature files and what I’d like you to do is choose one or use them all to attract additional targeted traffic to your website.

1. Discussion Forum Signature
2. Inside Your E-book
3. Article Signature
4. Collaborative Venture
5. The Free Tip Sheet

[See post to listen to audio]

I’d love to hear your comments… please feel free to let me know how you use signature files to generate traffic to your website. Thanks!

Targeting seems to be a big buzzword in business these days. What does “target your buying audience” really mean and how do you go about actually doing it? To target means to zero in on a select group of consumers that are more likely to purchase your product or services. It means understanding the dynamics of your product and the type of person who would be best served by owning it.

Everyone in the world is not going to be interested in what you’re offering. By accepting this true statement from the start, you will save yourself from wasting time or money and achieve much better results with your advertising campaigns.

Why is that?

Well, if you spend considerable amounts of time trying to convince uninterested consumers to buy your product, you’re missing the greater opportunity to sell the people who are interested in making a purchase. So, focusing on those who are interested is tackling the prospect. Focusing on the entire marketplace is merely presenting your offer. One brings money from sales into your pocket, while the other wastes hard earned dollars. Which would you prefer?

Let’s use an example of baby clothes. Certainly the entire population is not interested in baby clothes. A better target to aim for would be the female gender. But then again, not every woman is expecting a baby either. So you narrow your focus down to married women. A little better… but there are certainly a great share of married women that have either finished having their babies or are simply not interested having babies at all. Then the most obvious focus would be pregnant women or new mothers. That’s targeting your real buying audience. Narrowing your focus is the name of the game. This is the one area of business when having a narrow mind will actually be profitable for you!

Looking For Prospects

So, how do you find them? Those people in your narrow niche group that would love to be presented with your product or service? You must get into their minds. Try to think how they think. Let’s use the pregnant woman scenario again. Who will she be associating with? What will she be doing? Where will she be hanging out? When will she be available?

• A pregnant woman sees an OBYN, so handing out flyers to these doctors to give to patients would be valuable.
• The expectant mother will shop the baby sections at stores, so selling wholesale to these outlets would be a possibility for you to consider.
• She will go to the hospital to have her baby, so give something to place into the “going home pack” that will direct her back to your business.
• The new parent will want to learn about raising children, so advertise in a parent magazine or guide to reach her.
• She will most likely join online groups that support parenthood, so join the groups and be helpful.

Get the idea?

You must think like your target market and mine this audience out of the masses in order to communicate with them. The more helpful you are in making their lives easier, the more profitable your business will become. Just remember to narrow your focus to strengthen your reach. You’ll gain much better results from your advertising campaigns and uncover your real buying audience in the process.

What do you think? Please comment and tell me, thanks!

You can hire a public relations company to organize a marketing campaign to build community awareness about your company or if money is sparse, the following low-cost techniques can be implemented:

1. Sharing with your community
Sharing what you know is an effective way to build your credibility. Your goal is to become the contact choice when people within your community need help. Whether they are in need of finding a good press release service or the best place to consider a mortgage—you’ll be the person who supplies this information to them.

On the Internet: You could offer a database filled with valuable web sites essential for business success or other links similar to your type of industry.

2. Offer free workshops
In this information age, people love to receive advice, especially when it pertains to their needs. If you sell custom gift baskets or own a yarn emporium, why not offer “craft” workshops after normal business hours? If you’re a commercial printer, you could offer a free brochure design workshop or teach business owners how to properly convey a business identity through logo design.

On the Internet: You could offer a weekly teleseminar tailored to your specific community.

3. Give away something valuable
We expressed how to share information in order to build trust, so why not give away an item to help people improve their lives? If you sell lawnmowers, you can give customers a lawn-care or gardening booklet. If we revert back to the commercial printing business, you can give customers a design booklet, a typeface guide or an instruction manual on how to design print newsletters.

On the Internet: You can provide the same valuable information by publishing an e-book and making it available as a free download from your web site. Provide permission for other web masters to place the book on their web pages and watch your credibility rise with each download.

4. Be a good neighbor
You may be able to attract the attention of the media by presenting a special promotional event to raise money for a charitable organization. Plan the event to include the local businesses within your community and offer a golf outing, car wash day, or talent show for your neighbors to enjoy.

Contact food vendors and arrange for them to participate and agree to donate a portion of the proceeds to charity. Consider sending the collected money to Jerry’s kids, the Cancer Society, or the local women’s abuse center.

What local newspaper is in your area? Prepare a press release and send it to the editor. You’ll never know if they’ll pick up the story unless you try!

On the Internet: Attract a crowd by offering a web site hunting spree or contest that involves donating $1 of your proceeds to charity for every click to a certain page on your web site. This allows your community to receive pleasure in participating, as their click means a local charity will receive funds, and it’s a great way to bring awareness to your products, programs, and services.

Successful entrepreneurs put a lot of hard work into building their credibility within the community, and with good reason. Rather than try to build trust with mere words, they let actions speak their loudest voice!

How do you build trust with your customers? Feel free to comment below.