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21 Free or Low-cost ways to Promote your On-line business
After developing my product, having not much in my cookie jar to spend on promotion, I researched and found a lot of very effective promotional ideas that brought me success with my personalized cartoon business.
1) In the beginning...
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"How Your Customers Find You!"
The movie, "Field of Dreams", starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, made this line famous: "If you build it, they will come." That idea worked great in the movies but it is a whole different ballpark when it comes to a web site or an email...
Interviews with Well-Known Ezine Writers #1: - Bob Leduc
MS: Bob, how important have Ezine Articles been in achieving your success in online business?
BL: Very important! Most of what I learned 6 or 7 years ago about doing business on the Internet came from articles written by others...
Online Success- Just $100,000 will get you started!
I can't believe the amount of people who say that they are 'entrepreneurs' with their own 'online business', but who treat it just like a 'hobby' or a 'game' to fit inbetween their other leisure activities. Before the advent of the Internet, a...
RSS - How to Promote and Profit From Your Feed
Let me ask you three questions to get you thinking. Does your website offer an RSS feed? Are you promoting your feed effectively? Are you seeing an increase in profits as a result of offering a feed to your visitors? I'm going to outline several...
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Profit from Your Idea
Idea planning to come up with a moneymaking concept is much like creating a painting or writing a book. It starts with a blank canvas and visualization.
Brick by Brick
Write down the seed of your idea in one sentence. Describe three ways in which this idea could generate a profit. Ask yourself if this product, plan, or service will meet a need? Who will use it?
Use an exploration tool such as the following to brainstorm your idea:
Stick in there. Gather in a room with a blank wall or a whiteboard and give each participant a set of sticky notes. Then state your goal or idea. Let's say the goal is to generate ideas for XYZ Division to increase productivity levels. Have everyone write down three to five solutions and stick them on the board.
The facilitators should then designate three appropriate categories, such as Immediate Action, Pre-Planning and Not Appropriate - or something similar - and have the participants come up and arrange the sticky notes into the appropriate categories. This is an excellent technique for finding out what everyone is thinking.
Hammer It Out
In this phase you'll produce a plan for implementing your idea. The following processes will help you define the practical details to address.
Strategy definition. From the analysis you did in the structuring phase above, you'll be able to identify the resources you will need to implement these ideas, such as manpower. Does the idea create a viable solution? Is it unique? Can you move quickly with it?
Resource
planning. List all the resources you'll need to develop the idea into reality. Visualize its completion. How will you get there? Using the answers to the questions you asked in the definition phase above, set a timeline and a strategy for implementation and put this plan into an outline format or a project planning software tool. Or do another brainstorming session.
Will It Fly?
How will you know your idea planning has been successful? From the work you did in the building phase above, you should have enough information to come up with the following:
A value proposition. What benefit will your idea bring to your potential customers? To your company?
A format description. Just by pulling together the basic structure of your idea, you'll be able to consolidate it into a format that describes the idea in detail.
A promotion strategy. Your previous work will help you identify the steps you need to take to promote your idea, and you can brainstorm strategies that will do the best job. This part takes thought, research and focus.
Remember, right around the time you have an idea, someone else will have the same one. Who will be the first to develop it -- and sell it?
About the Author
Diane's online specialty is digital marketing. She is CEO of LocoNotion Idea Studios, Inc. (http://www.loconotion.com, a web development firm. She has years of prior experience in broadcast media, but has spent last nine year working online. She is located in corporate headquarters, Seattle, Washington.
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