Here are six things you can do to promote your site free of charge , or on a small budget.

1. Article marketing: This is one of the best methods for promoting your site. You can write your own articles and submit them manually. Personally, I recommend that you use SubmitYourArticle. They offer a service that allows you to automatically rewrite and post different versions of your articles to each article directory on their list.

2. Forum participation: Sign up to as many forums as possible that are related to your niche and post regularly in them. Don't forget to add a signature link to your website! Be sure to post valuable content.

3. Blogging: Write, ping and bookmark 1 x blog article per day.

4. Comment on blogs: Find blogs that allow comments that link back to your site and comment on the posts. Be sure to post valuable content.

5. Website directories: Register your website on as many directories as possible.

6. Social Bookmarking: Organize a cooperative in which each of you bookmarks each other's blogs, articles and fresh website content.

David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com

Labels: article marketing, free website promotion

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If you have been building an Internet marketing start-up for any length of time you will be acutely aware of the importance that is placed on building your list of opt-in subscribers.

The oft-repeated mantra that "the money is in the list" is now something of a cliche, but no less true for that.

A cliche is a truth that is mentioned so often that it loses its bite. Most seasoned Internet marketers are aware that the same seems to be true of their mailing campaigns.

New subscribers start off curious, or even eager to receive your mail, but gradually the repeated mailings grow stale, sere and tedious. Eventually, to cite another cliche, the last straw breaks the camel's back and the subscriber clicks the "unsubscribe" link and is gone!

But how often is "every time" and is there a limit as to how often that should be? Of course, it needn't be like that. There are several newsletters that I am pleased to see land in my inbox EVERY TIME! They offer excellent, stimulating, insightful content almost every time... That is the subject of today's guest article, by Bob Bly. Bob Bly is an independent copywriter and consultant specializing in business-to-business and direct marketing. He has been a consultant by such companies as Sony, Chemical Bank, J. Walter Thompson, Westinghouse, and Prentice-Hall. He is also the author of more than 50 books including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Direct Marketing, and Keeping Clients Satisfied. So, without further ado, over to Bob Bly...

"If a fellow wants to be a nobody in the business world, let him neglect sending the mail man to somebody on his behalf."

Charles F. Kettering

By Bob Bly

The other day, one of my online subscribers, CR, complained about a famous Internet marketer. "I unsubscribed from his list," she told me haughtily. "As soon as I joined, I got e-mails from him once or twice every day - and there's no one I (or anybody else) need to hear from that much."

This begs the question: How frequently can you e-mail your online subscribers? Or, said another way: How much e-mail is too much? People have lots of opinions about this issue, which they support with arguments that are both passionate and logical. The problem is: Their opinions are wholly subjective. The fact is: There's an easy way to objectively and accurately determine the optimal e-mail frequency for your online subscribers. How does it work? Well, every time you send another e-mail blast to your list, a small portion of your subscribers will opt out. Why?

They decide that your content is no longer of value to them... or you are doing too much selling... or they don't like your style... or you are e-mailing them too often.

The "opt-out rate" - the percentage of online subscribers who unsubscribe from your list per e-mail blast - is a Web metric that you can measure. A 0.1 percent opt-out rate means that if you have 10,000 online subscribers, 10 unsubscribed after getting your most recent e-mail.

When your opt-out rate is around 0.1 percent or less, you can rest assured that you are not sending too many e-mails to your list too often. If you were, the opt-out rate would be higher.

But when your opt-out rate gets above 0.2 to 0.4 percent, you are losing subscribers at too rapid a rate. For instance, if you have 10,000 subscribers and you're losing 100 subscribers every time you send an e-mail to your list, you have an opt-out rate of 1.0 percent. That's much too high.

You should measure and keep track of your opt-out rates with every e-mail you send.

Adjust your e-mail frequency, ratio of sales pitches to content, message length, and topics until your opt-out rate hovers around 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent or less.

Then watch what happens if you increase the frequency of your e-mails - if, for instance, you go from one e-mail per week to two.

If you get a sharp upward spike in the opt-out rate - double or more - your subscribers are telling you they don't want to hear from you that often. And you should probably drop the extra e-mail.

On the other hand, if you add an extra e-mail per week and the opt-out rate does not rise significantly, you are safe in continuing at the higher frequency.

But should you?

Yes.

We have lots of preconceived notions about what our market wants - and doesn’t want. And one of those preconceived notions is that people don’t want too much e-mail. But when the opt-out rate is low, your subscribers are telling you they DO want to hear from you often via e-mail.

That's important, because the more times you can reach out to your list with a valuable offer, the more money you make online.

My colleague Amy Africa, a top consultant in business-to-business (B2B) e-marketing, says that one of the most common online marketing mistakes is not e-mailing your list frequently enough.

And if you are making that mistake... you are leaving money on the table.

[Ed. Note: You can make sure that you're giving your customers exactly what they need AND that you're making the most money you can. The best way to do it? Master one vital skill. Learn how from two experts.

And be sure to sign up for author and copywriting master Bob Bly's Direct Response Letter. Do so today and get over $100 in free bonuses.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

===
David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com

Labels: e-mail marketing, email subscriber list, mail frequency, mailing online subscribers, opt-in list, opt-in list marketing

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That's it! I've had it up to here with you lot! Week in and week out I point out how good it is to GRASP THE NETTLE and act decisively in your own favour by mastering the net and working at home on your own Internet business.

And what happens?

Next to nothing!!

At least 95% of you continue your sluggardly existence and do nothing (while the other 5% grasp all the rewards)!

You are a SHOWER!

Idlers one and all.

If you are not going to get up off your lethargic couch, GRASP THE NETTLE then you can jolly well go and EAT THE NETTLE instead!

And see if I care.

So there!

Then perhaps you will realize how much better it would be to put on your gardening gloves and grasp that nettle good and proper!

Still not convinced?

Oh well, check out this crazy link and you'll soon realize how much better it would be to GRASP THE NETTLE than to swallow it!

You see, it is that time of year where, down in the lovely West Country of Great Britain, where the people are all as mad as hatters, they hold the annual World Nettle Eating Championships.

To fully appreciate the event, check out the video. One of the contestants has some interesting stuff to say about goal setting, so take note all ye idlers, layabouts and giver-uppers:

"I think it's all about small targets. I think you've got to break it down to stalk by stalk... I think if you just think about... that bunch of nettles, mentally, you'd be shocked, so I'm going to take it almost leaf by leaf..."

So, what can the nutty nettle eaters down in Wessex teach us about Internet marketing?

Quite a bit, actually:

• Set big goals ("Eat 60-feet of nettles in an hour!")
  
• Break it down into smaller incremental steps ("Take it leaf by leaf!")
  
• It is better to wear gardening gloves ("Be prepared!")
  
• It is good to grasp the nettle ("Take action to achieve your goals")
  
• Grasp the nettle, but don't eat it. (Don't blindly swallow every offering that comes your way lest you get stung!")
  
• Well, if you're really going to eat your nettles, make sure you win! (It takes work to succeed, but grasping -or even eating - the nettle has it has its rewards...)
  

David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com

Labels: goal setting, internet business, master the net, working at home

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As part of my commitment to Internet marketing success I am a fully paid up member of Success University. For the first several months of my membership I did virtually ZERO marketing of the business side, BUT I STILL GOT INCREDIBLE VALUE FOR MONEY.

Here's an example.

This month, I "saved $14,550" and ended up exchanging email and cooperating on a joint publicity project with America's Most Dynamic Olympic Speaker, Ruben Gonzalez into the bargain!

First, let me tell you a bit about Ruben.

When Ruben Gonzalez was in the third grade he realized he wanted to be an Olympic Athlete. A few years later, he was so inspired by Scott Hamilton's performance in the Sarajevo games, that he made the "incredible" decision to start training for the Olympics.

Ruben's decision was, by most people's estimation, "incredible" because, as he tells it, he was nothing more than a 21 year old second-eleven football (soccer) player who was supposedly "too old" to start a new sport and get to the Olympics.

But, he did just that. Ruben took up the luge, a notoriously crazy sport in which you hurl yourself down a bobsleigh chute at about 85 miles per hour on nothing more than a glorified sheet of fibreglass.

He survived training, and never quit when everybody ahead of him did, and is currently training for his FOURTH Winter Olympics in 2010.

===
Ruben Gonzalez and Success University

I had never heard of Ruben Gonzalez until the end of May this year when the monthly Success University CD and DVD package landed in my post box.

Yes, every month I get TWO excellent motivational presentations from two or three speakers chosen from a list of over 50 of the most amazing minds on the planet who collectively have helped millions of people achieve astounding levels of success.

Anyway, this month's DVD presentation was by Ruben and, although I seem to say this every month, it was "definitely one of the best and most inspiring presentations I've received from Success University so far...

The DVD runs for almost an hour, and when I looked up Ruben on the Internet I discovered that he charges $15,000 per presentation. So I figure that Success University just saved me $14,550 (Ruben's presentation minus my monthly full membership fee).

If you'd like to save yourself a similar amount, visit Ruben's website and watch the video, ==> http://www.olympicmotivation.com/

===
"Working With Ruben!"

I signed up to Ruben's newsletter at http://www.olympicmotivation.com/7.htm and when the first email arrived, I replied to it and mentioned that I'd used his DVD in a couple of my "English presentation" classes at a women's college where I teach part time here in Hiroshima.

To tell you the truth, I expected little more than a standard auto-responder response, but within five minutes I had a reply from Ruben, telling me about his recent trip to Japan to give one of his presentations. We got chatting and before I knew it we were cooperating on a bit of mutual publicity.

I'll post a link to the article when it comes out. Also, if you are one of the people involved in the Success University article marketing co-op that I organize on the PipsPowerGroup forum, you'll receive a copy of the article to modify and distribute.

Need I add that this is the kind of great value that you get for your membership of Success University? I'd never have met Ruben had I quit SU without looking at the great success mentoring curriculum they offer.

It is great to be able to say that I'm working with a three-times Olympian - but he's not going to get me hurling myself down a bobsleigh chute on a luge any time soon - even if my name is "Hurley"!!

David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com

Labels: luge, olympic motivational speaker, Ruben Gonzalez, success mentoring, Success University, Winter Olympics

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Here, rather late in the month, is my feature article for June 2008, posted on my website yesterday:

You're feeling excited because you've just set up your Internet marketing start up business. Unfortunately, your site fails to generate any sales and no traffic seems to be coming your way.

You notice that one of the Internet Marketing gurus has published a $144 Internet Marketing Course For Newbies. It promises to bring you success - and, although you flinch at the price you jump at the offer...

... read more

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If you are as disorganized as I am, or rather, keep all your notes in your noddle, as I do, then you've probably been in the situation where you've forgotten which directory you've submitted to and have wasted your precious time submitting to the same site again, or else you've failed to link to some good directories because you supposed that you'd already submitted your site to them but, actually, you hadn't.

If so, here is a site I found today that offers a free solution and might be worth checking out:

http://www.onewaytextlink.com/

Have fun - and don't give up submitting!

David Hurley
Grasp-The-Nettle.com

Labels: directory posting, one way text links

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A few months ago I received a success mentoring DVD presentation by Gary Eby called Leadership Business Strategies. During the course of the presentation Gary Eby says that "you can't have a testimony until you've had a test".

That thought has stuck with me ever since.

Today, I was writing an article about how South African golfer Retief Goosen missed the chance to win a golf championship by making two dreadful putts on the 18th hole, and how the next day he recovered his nerve to win the play-off, by two shots!

Anyway, writing about Goosen, who also recovered from being struck by lightning, burned and knocked unconscious during a round of golf, I was put in mind of what Gary Eby had said, and did a quick search on Google.

Here's what I found - a well written article by Sondra Whitt reminding us that each of us is a maker of her own fortune," - or, for the Latin scholars among you:

Faber est suae quisque fortunae

So, without further ado, over to you Sondra!

It's Choice Not Chance That Determines Our Destiny
By Sondra Whitt

As we go through life, we all experience pain, hurts, adversity, wounds - sometimes self-inflicted, sometimes inflicted by others. The wounds that we suffer may be physical, emotional, spiritual, or financial. They may be small wounds that we can easily recover from or so devastating to us that it takes weeks, months or even years to fully recover. People respond in different ways to these wounds. Some people are so hurt and broken that they give up, surrendering to bitterness, self-pity and victim-hood, while others grow stronger and become better people because of the adversity and struggle they've fought their way through.

In Lefthanded Soldiers, author Gary Eby writes that when our "right arms" have been hurt, we can become "lefthanded soldiers," instead of letting circumstances defeat us and leave us bemoaning our lives, getting bogged down in the "what ifs." What if we had gotten married, what if we hadn't? What if we'd taken that other job? What if we'd gone to college? What if we hadn't been so trusting? What if we hadn't made that risky investment? What if we hadn't been in the wrong place at the wrong time? The list could be endless. "In the real world - most of the time - it's the size of your mess that determines the size of your message," writes Eby. "Where would Abe Lincoln have been without the Civil War? Where would John Kennedy have been without the Cuban Missile Crisis? David needed Goliath to become King.

You cannot wear a victor's crown without having fought a few battles! You can't sing before you talk. You can't run before you walk. You can't have a message until you've had a mess - and you can't have a testimony until you've had a test." In the song Eby wrote about being a lefthanded soldier one of my favorite lines goes like this: "Heaven's cup sure is sweeter once you've tasted hell."

It reminds me of a passage in Libba Bray's book A Great and Terrible Beauty where Miss Moore, the art teacher at an exclusive girls' school was instructing her class one day as they painted a still life of a bowl of fruit. Gemma was struggling to get the shine to look right on her apple and Miss Moore showed her how adding a little brown shadow around the outside curve of the apple fixed the problem. Cecily wondered why Gemma couldn't just add more white to the apple to create the shine. "Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right," said Miss Moore. Gemma's decision to call her painting "The Choice" generated a heated discussion between her and Cecily about Eve's choice in the Garden of Eden - and whether or not it was actually her choice or was the serpent's irresistible temptation - and therefore, his fault. Although she finally conceded that Eve did choose to give into temptation and eat the apple, Cecily was sure she'd do better. "She lost paradise in the bargain. Not for me, thank you. I'd stay right there in the garden." "That, too, is a choice," points out Miss Moore. "A much safer one," states Cecily. "There are no safe choices, Miss Temple. Only other choices," says Miss Moore. "Every choice has consequences."

We make choices every day. When we don't like the consequences of those choices, we're faced with another choice - that of changing direction, making a new choice and enjoying different consequences or staying stuck where we are. "Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside!" affirms Eby. "The willingness to change can be inspired by others but change itself is a personal choice. It is 'Choice' not 'Chance' that determines your destiny."

Sondra Whitt is a founding partner of Purpose Unlimited, whose purpose is to transform lives, leaders and organizations through the power of purpose. She has a masters degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and consults, coaches, writes and speaks on personal and organizational development. More information about the products and services offered at Purpose Unlimited that will help you reach your full potential, discover your purpose, or find freedom from what's holding you back from doing so, are available at http://www.purposeunlimited.com/ On the site you can also sign up for our weekly ezine, access past issues, or get free reports on motivation, change and leadership.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sondra_Whitt
http://EzineArticles.com/?Its-Choice-Not-Chance-That-Determines-Our-Destiny&id=963222

Labels: Gary Eby, success mentoring, Success University

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