How To Write Good Articles

Submitting good contents in various directories have proved to be a good way to generate good amount of traffic into your website, giving it a faster growth. It is the good content that can pillar the growth of the online business, may it be an online brochure or press release or article or blog post. While dealing with the best way to write good articles, it is required to evaluate the main problems of writing good articles. The main problem however, is the lack of confidence and considering yourself to be not a bad writer. This is the one of the chief constraint of coming up with good content. The second serious problem is that sometimes people cannot select a proper topic and third salient problem is not being aware of the correct procedure and postulates of writing good articles.

Well said an ancient Chinese proverb that "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire". If you have never written articles before, you can try out writing something now. Try taking out the artist that is hidden with you

Here are some very important tips as to how to write good articles:

Selection of Topic: If you are not provided with the topic, then select the one from your field of interest. If you are good at training dogs you can start writing about how to train dogs and how to communicate with dogs. It's not a big deal, as you already know what to write and what are the steps involved. Just be at it and write something about what all you know.

Now let's suppose that you are provided with the topics to write on. Half the battle is won! But some very significant points have to be considered. Start off with making a good research work on the topic over the net.

Research: Make some careful and serious research work on the subject that you are going to work on. The key to the success is to put some necessary information about the subject - some information that people would like to have. This is an awesome way to increase the stick time of the visitors to your copy. Take down the points that you want to write on and arrange them according the importance.

Word Limit: The standard word length is around 500 - 600 words or a visitor would far rather read an article of 700 words if it gives helpful information in abundance. But no one will read a puzzling 1000 word article that doesn't say something very important.

Title: Title is the first line of the article. So it has to be attractive enough to grab the visitors' attention. A good title should create an eagerness in the visitors to start reading the article. This way reading every single line the reader should feel an urge of reading the next sentence. Remember unless a title is keyword rich, the purpose is not actually served. So try to come up with a title that has at least one keyword. But more than two keywords in a tile may be a mess.

Write for the audience: There's point attracting the mass, who are looking for the discounted sport shoes for the upcoming soccer tournament, if you are running a pet business. Develop the content of your article for the people who are looking for a dog or a cat. Here's where the importance of selecting a topic lies.

Parts of Article: A good article should contain three essential parts - Introduction, Main idea (body) and Conclusion.

Introduction - Start off writing with an effective introduction that should map out what actually follows. This strategy is most effective across all types of writing, whether it is a press release or a advertisement. Tell them what actually you are going to tell them.

Main idea -- This is the main body of the article that should contain the detailed discussion of points that you got while researching on the subject. Most important points should be discussed prior to the less important ones. By this way you can increase the visitor's stick time to your article.

Conclusion -- As for the conclusion, it is just as important as the introduction of the article. Your conclusion should be effective enough to leave a final and long lasting impression on the readers' mind. It's the rule of thumb that you should not add anything concluding. Make sure that the conclusion is in the same style as the introduction, telling the entire thing in gist.

Subheadings and quotes: If you want to come up with different ideas and thoughts, the best way is to use subheads and incorporate different thoughts within a single copy. On the other level, sub headings help the readers to find detailed information quickly. Use of quotes sometimes proves to be a great way to come up with an interesting write up, if used in proper places. But remember that too much use of quotes may spoil the entire essence of the article.

Keywords stuffing: By using appropriate keywords you can gain free and easy exposure on the Internet. The Internet users across the world look for information by typing specific words in the search engines. So it is of prime importance to incorporate these buzzwords properly in your content. If not done so, there are chances that the readers will be lost on someone else's copy. Keywords can be categorized into three categories, viz. primary keywords (most typed words), secondary keywords (second most typed words), and tertiary keywords (less searched keywords). The primary keywords should be used as densely 5 - 6 times in the article. The secondary keywords should be used at least 3 times and tertiary at least 2 times in the articles. Although the least typed keywords the Tertiary keywords has a special significance as the competition for such buzzwords are very low.

Grammar: Correct use of grammar is what is of prime most significance when it comes to any form of writing. Your write up need not be a Pulitzer award winning piece, but must be understandable to all. So use of simple words and simple sentences is highly appreciated.

Following these simple tips you can try out writing articles. As a beginner you can start off with something that you can write on. Just don't worry about the keywords. This would come automatically as you mature. Little bit of research on keywords would be required, concentrate on your writing as you are a first time writer.

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How to Make Money Off Blog Advertising

As more and more people begin to recognize the revenue potential within the world of blogging, even the smallest bloggers are looking for ways to capitalize on their blogs reach. The most obvious way is to incorporate blog advertising into their site. But not all advertising opportunities are the same. Here is a review of the most popular formats, and the pros and cons associated with each one.

Google Adsense

Almost everyone is familiar with the small contextual ad blocks you see on the sidebars of many websites. They list offers that are directly relevant to the content of the website o which they are featured. In return for posting these ads, webmasters are rewarded with a small compensation each time a visitor clicks on the ads. While this is certainly one of the easiest ways to make money from your blog, the relatively low payouts per click can take time to accrue. On the flip side, because they are easy to integrate and track, they can be the preferred solution for bloggers with limited time to devote to research and testing.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing offers provide bloggers with a way to earn commissions on each sale they generate for a third-party website through the posting of banners and websites. Some the best programs can generate impressive returns when creatively integrated into your blog. The key to success in affiliate marketing is to test a number of different advertisers and experiment with creative ways to present their products to your readers. Although this can involve a significant amount of testing, the returns are normally much higher than with Adsense-type advertising.

Direct Advertising

For bloggers seeking a reliable and consistent revenue stream, direct advertising offers the best opportunity. A high-traffic blog can charge upwards of a $100 per month for dedicating a small banner space to a particular client. Multiply this by five or six available slots and you can build an impressive income that is not affected by the tendencies of traffic numbers and reader interests. Of course you will first have to build a stable reader base that can offer good exposure for the advertiser, and it will take some time to find interested parties. For these reasons, direct advertising is not suitable for everyone.

Making money off blog advertising is not incredibly difficult, but it does require a bit of strategy to maximize its potential. Using the points listed here you can determine which outlet is best suited for your blog. No matter which direction you choose however, it is important to experiment with all of them. You don't want to leave revenue on table only because you were too lazy to try something new.

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Adsense Marketing Secrets

Adsense marketing can be very profitable if you know how. I have been earning money from adsense marketing for many years now. When I first got started I only had the skills to earn a few dollars, but now I have the ability to earn tens of thousands of dollars from adsense marketing. Adsense marketing is probably the laziest way to earn money on the internet. You do not need a list and basically once your website is up and running you basically set and forget it only to collect your checks at the end of the month.

I am going to go through some of the basic things I did to some of my web sites that increased my income from a few dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. The first thing is the placement of your Google Adsense adverts. You need to place it near the top so that people will notice it. If you have it right at the bottom very few people will actually click on it. You also need to make the advert not look like an advert. For example make the background the same as the background as your web site. For most sites this would be white. You need to make the color of the advert text the same as the text on your website. This makes it look like content. Also if you can use blue this helps to increase the conversion rate as people are conditioned to clicking on blue hyperlinks. Using a 336 by 228 will make your adverts look like content and also increase your click through rates.

One of the useful methods of increasing your Adsense marketing income is to track all your clicks. You can do this by creating Adsense channels and then you can see where all your clicks are coming from. This is very useful as you will be able to see your top performing pages and your worst performing pages. This allows you to have a look at your worst performing pages and improve them. Also you would like to do keyword research and find long tail keywords with very little competition that pay reasonably well. This allows you to create additional pages of content optimized for those specific keywords that will generate more Adsense clicks and money. Now if you produce thousands of these pages you could easily be earning thousands of dollars from Google Adsense. This is a very tedious process. Making money on the internet requires hard work and discipline. There is no magic formula to do it and you need to apply these techniques consistently on a daily basis.

Using these adsense marketing tactics you have the ability to earn tens of thousands of dollars from Google without having to create any sales pages or building a list. Actually the only thing you need to do is create a good content web site and drive traffic to it and start collecting your checks from Google.

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Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

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Business Development Tips For Small Advertising Agencies

Advertising agencies are independent companies that help in marketing and advertising the products/services of other businesses. Advertising agencies address a client's promotional needs based on objective market studies, trends, and advanced sales techniques. They first study the client's product or service and then determine the best way to promote it. The look and tone of an ad campaign is dependent on the demographics and the target audience.

Tips for advertising agencies:

1. Advertiser-advertising agency relationship. It is very crucial for an effective and successful operation. It pervades the entire task of marketing communication and full knowledge of the product. The mechanics of developing the ad campaign is very complex. It depends a lot on the mutual trust and faith between the ad agency and the client.

2. Marketing objective of advertiser. An advertising agency should have a correct idea of the client firm's marketing and communication objective: how the client company proposes to position its brand, how it structures its distribution and pricing, which niche market it wants to capture, and the audience it wishes to target. This paves the way for an effective ad campaign.

3. Information on the advertiser. It is essential for the advertising agency to have relevant information about the client firm, insider knowledge of its product, market, target consumer, competition and channels of production. Full collaboration between the two helps in media selection, theme development, message construction, and copy development for a final ad campaign. This makes for an effective campaign development.

4. Professional expertise - An advertising company should acquire professional expertise in advertising matters and all aspects of marketing as well. This makes for a comprehensive and effective campaign covering all dimensions of marketing. A good campaign not only earns big revenue for the client company but also establishes the advertising agency's marketing credentials.

The advertising campaign:

1. Starting the campaign. Begin in a manner that hits the target audience without attracting the attention of bigger competitors. This gives a bigger client base instead of just one big client ad. Start with small companies on smaller media like an ad placed on an airport trolley. This low-priced product on a low-priced medium gets more viewing than a high-priced prestigious billboard. An attractive company logo with eye-catching color scheme draws a consumer's attention.

2. Media. A shopping center, local community centers, car parks, kiddy cruisers, railway and bus stations, and the Internet are the best small media for advertising a product. Advertising agencies use assorted media to promote their client's business. Radio, TV commercials, websites, newspapers, magazines and even infomercials are the chosen media. The agency prepares slogans, brochures, and descriptive copy for sales material, press releases, social programs, and products to advertise the client's product/service. Some also plan events, provide booths at conventions, and give away promotional items to promote the market for a client's business.

Design elements based on gender and age of target audience make for a creative advertisement campaign. It ensures success and revenue for the advertisement company and the client.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners" to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

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How To Make Money Online And Blog For Cash

If you are trying to make money online and you are not properly using your blog then you are missing out on a great opportunity and making a ton of cash!

Free Advertising for Making Money Online

In the first place, your blog provides you with free advertising. You can post your ads there and you are not going to charge yourself. You can also talk about your product or service and how much people need it. Your blog can be a major factor in how you make money online.

Search Engine Rank

Secondly, a regularly updated blog will show up higher in search engine results than a stale blog. If a potential customer gets 100,000 search results, where do you want to be? In the top ten or bottom ten? Of course you want to be in the top ten. If you write search engine-friendly blog posts and update frequently, you can make more money online by simply being in a better search engine spot.

Generate Income Through Ads

Thirdly, a blog can generate income through ads. Some blogs generate more income than others but this can be another chance for you to gain some extra cash. You can allow banner ads, Adsense ads and other forms of advertisements on your blog. Sure, you want to make money online by selling your product or service but if can make money off others' ads on your blog, are you going to turn it down? When you are trying to make money online, take the money where it is.

How To Blog for Cash

Fourthly, there are companies that will pay you to write a blog post about them. Most of them require non-paid content before and after the paid blog post but if you are updating your blog properly, that will not be a problem. Sometimes these paid blog posts pay extremely well and sometimes they pay just a little but when you want to make money online, you know that everything adds up.

Finally, you can link to other bloggers who run home-based businesses and learn about what they are doing. Maybe you will see mistakes in their tactics and learn what not to do or maybe you will read about success stories and learn what to do. Either way, you will learn something!

Get these free tips on how to make money online and learning how blogging for cash can generate a six figure income at home.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carael_Knight

The 3 Basics Benefits Of The Funded Proposal System Used In Network Marketing

A funded proposal is basically a way for you to generate income from your prospects, even if they never join your primary business. The beauty of a funded proposal is it allows you to generate leads of an exclusive quality that you can't buy from any lead company. A funded proposal is not magic but it definitely bridges the gap between you finding the best quality prospects in an economically advantageous situation. The funded proposal is a smarter more leveraged solution than making poor use of your valuable time calling a bunch of leads or hosting home meetings. It is the process of selling an inexpensive,but useful product/info on the front-end to cover your advertising expenses, and then back-ending the real product or 'opportunity'. For me a funded proposal is worthless if the main program doesn't convert... because it won't last. Using a funded proposal is a great way to create an Automated Online Marketing System if you can find the right product with the right profit margin and no back end products that build someone elses list or line someone elses pocket. . Lets take a look at the 3 basics benefits of the Funded Proposal System

1. Marketing

Marketing a funded proposal retail product should be an automated process no different then placing ads for leads, but this time people will pay you to become a lead. Marketing a low-priced item,an fast-selling, high- demand information and solution will get your new partners EARNING immediately, creating confidence and momentum in your Team. The system works every time no matter what network marketing company, if any, you are working. By using a Funded Proposal system, you and your down line have all of the free training they need to be able to build your businesses by using Internet Marketing techniques. A funded proposal will help you in building your network marketing business by putting you in contact with people in your target market, which are other networkers. This money will be used to further your marketing and advertising efforts. You must look beyond "talking to your friends and family" if you want to build a huge self-sustainable Multi Level Marketing (MLM) Business. In this day and age you are faced with the two challenges of not having enough money to advertise and not enough qualified prospects to share your business with. A funded proposal will help solve these major problems associated with marketing and building an online network marketing business.

2. Money

A network marketing Funded Proposal System will allow you to advertise your business endlessly for free by receiving retail sales which you will make money back on that you can put right back into your advertising again. Fact: Ninety-Five percent of leaders who fail at network marketing are spending all their money on advertising their MLM business instead of retailing a network marketing Funded Proposal System that will produce advertising dollars for them. There are 2 things that are going to make you money marketing an MLM company online. First is the funded proposal and second the big money earner is your primary MLM company.This money will be used to further your marketing and advertising efforts. You make money even before business starts -the process of selling an low ticket item at the front end- whether they join you or not. Remember that a funded proposal is a system of doing business where you generate money to fund your advertising on the front end and introduce the prospects to your opportunity on the back end. Make sure to distinguish what your opportunities are, whether it's a "money making opportunity" or a "business opportunity". A business opportunity is intended to create a large ongoing income, but may not give you the immediate satisfaction of a money making opportunity. I would recommend getting involved with something that incorporates both the money making and the business aspects of generating income.

3. Leads

The beauty of a funded proposal is it allows you to generate leads of an exclusive quality that you can't buy from any lead company. With this type of system, you can create a front end profit margin that will shield you from what stops most network marketers in their tracks, which is running out of leads and the marketing budget to keep their MLM business a float for the long haul. This way you don't have to waste your valuable time sifting through hundreds of leads just to find the right ones. A funded proposal is a smarter more leveraged solution than making poor use of your valuable time calling a bunch of leads or hosting home meetings. Providing your prospects with a Funded Proposal System allows them to create high quality leads and a front end income. Let's face it, when you buy leads from a broker you are buying low quality, used goods. If you are ready to stop PAYING for leads, and start having your leads PAY you, the Funded Proposal System is the way to go. Not only will you be getting paid but you will also be creating a MLM Leads list you can rely on.

Conclusion:

With a Funded Proposal System you can actually make money while generating leads for your business. Imagine never needing to another nickle to advertise your business again and actually start making money while adding hundreds of qualified leads/customer to your prospect list each and every month. Don t you think it is time for you to stop spending money on advertising and start generating FREE Leads for your business and hundreds of dollars in additional cash flow.Once I learned what a funded proposal was and that people like OPRAH use it, I was convinced that it was time to stop working from home for no pay and earn what I was really worth.

James B. Byrd is a mentor with a servant's heart. He is published author, Dale Carnegie graduate, an accomplished public speaker, a network marketer, life coach.

For more information, articles and resources, please feel free to visit the links below.

http://jamesbbyrd.com
http://jamesbbyrd.com/blog
http://www.allaboutyouandsuccess.com

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Blogger Profits - 7 Steps to Earn More Money From Your Blog

Are you dreaming of profits from your blog online? Anyone can accomplish this, but it does take a bit of planning. If you take the following steps, you can earn more money from your blog, and still write what you want to write about. With a few additional tweaks, your blog can have dynamic impact on your bottom line.

Step 1. Hot Topic

Find a niche that just suits you to a Tee. You'll want a topic with staying power, one people search for on the Internet, and one with primary keyword phrases. Be sure it's a topic you want to write about, because you'll want to add those phrases often.

Step 2. Sell Ads

Create a sidebar where you can market ads for other people's sites, blogs, or businesses. It can market buttons, text ads, or banners that rotate frequently for minimal fees. Add in some affiliate link buttons and banners and you've got a great source of passive income.

Step 3. AdSense

When you already have a sidebar for ads, it's easy to add in a Google AdSense Bar. Contrasting colors or blended colors work best. Just define your AdSense bar and give it appropriate sizes, then adjust it to fit your site. Keywords determine the topics of the ads on AdSense.

Step 4. Guest Articles

Guest speakers draw traffic, just as a speaker for a dinner sells seats. Invite prominent bloggers to post on your blog for maximum traffic generating power. Invite them to talk on your topics, or include their topics for a wider audience.

Step 5. Post FREQUENTLY

Yes, dear that means every day. If you've got readers coming by to see what's new and you don't post anything, they'll stop coming by. So post frequently and let your readers know they can depend on you to post something every day.

Step 6. Dare to be Controversial

It's okay to edge in on political discussions with an opinion if it suits your topic. Share your thoughts, drop a few names and bring traffic to your website. Post a few controversial comments and see where it takes you. Of course, be considerate of your advertisers and don't go overboard with your thoughts.

Step 7. Affiliate Marketing

Add in click links to affiliate sites, a banner or two, perhaps a few text links, and some buttons that offer your readers options they might not see otherwise. Perhaps you could even write an article or review of offers that are particularly appealing to your market?

Are you ready to make some bucks with your blog?

Jan Verhoeff promotes marketing with blogs. Get into the blog-o-sphere with power-charged marketing blogs and updates at http://janverhoeff.com including a FREE Subscription to Jan's News & Updates. You'll get free information for your business online.

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Promotional Mugs For Advertising

Every company needs a good marketing plan so the business can be pushed forward to such an extent that clients are hunting you down, this obviously will take a lot time and no doubt a lot of money, but by doing a little bit every day things will soon grow. A great way to get your logo noticed is by having some promotional products printed with your company name, or if you want to push the boat out a little further, hire a designer to draw you up some creative and original artwork for your business, a lot of promotional product supplier will now help with any artwork issues and design work.

One of the best promotional products to test the water with is the promotional mug, there are so many styles, sizes and colors to choose from that a lot of thought is needed before jumping in and buying the first mug you see or like. A standard shaped industry standard mug such as the Sparta is a great if your wanting to give away large numbers in a huge marketing campaign as these are generally slightly cheaper than some of the other styles, although they are cheaper they do not lose any of there impact and many a office in the UK has at least one promotional Sparta mug in the cupboard. Something a bit different would be a tall latte mug, slightly more expensive but will definitely grab the attention of anyone especially if you have had some really good artwork produced.

Another reason why mugs are such a good idea is down to the large print areas, which due to new print techniques means any artwork can be reproduced on the mug to dazzling effect. Even a photograph can now be added to promotional mugs without loosing much of the quality of colour.

Whatever mug you go for it will undoubtedly get plenty of use as just about everyone like a hot drink be it tea or coffee, because of this whatever logo or artwork is printed on the mug it will get plenty of exposure for a long time to come, giving your sale that extra boost and also creating brand awareness.

David Hartley is one of the managers at the fastest growing promotional product suppler in the UK http://www.giftexposure.co.uk They are now recognized as a leader in the promotions industry due to David's forward thinking customer focused approach.

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Proven Strategies For Increasing Sales Leads At Exhibitions And Trade Shows

Exhibitions allow your company to interact with your target audience face-to-face in a very specific environment. How do you stand out? What's more, how do you get the best return from your marketing spend by exhibiting, or is it simply a PR exercise?

Exhibition marketing strategy

Although you cannot guarantee the quality of any exhibition, you can, like all marketing activities, control how you choose to take advantage of the opportunity.

With appropriate planning and goal setting, you will not only establish specific targets, you will be able to identify your prospects, sell relevant benefits and increase your return.

Planning

Set specific goals

By analyzing your target audience, you will know how to message your exhibition stand and who to approach before, during and after your exhibition. The more specific and realistic your goals, the more likely you will achieve them. But, make sure you delve deeper when identifying your prospects:

- Do you want to generate 200 sales leads? Or, more specifically; - 50 sales leads of people looking to spend in the next six months? Or; - Meet 25 qualified new prospects at senior purchasing level in IT for companies with 500+ seats?

Attract your target market

The theme of your exhibition campaign should be targeted towards your specific target market. The messaging in this is very important, ie. financial directors will have different priorities when assessing your product or service compared to a sales director.

You have your brand and brand guidelines, but your exhibition theme needs to engage your specific audience. This includes the design of your exhibition stand, the imagery and words you use and your handouts; even the type of person manning your stand and their sales pitch will need to be appropriate.

Cohesive branding

Once you have established your target market, you can begin to understand what will engage them.

You can utilize your current sales process. What questions and credentials are asked of you when you do a sales pitch? Can these be created into collateral to pass out, pre-qualifying your company to a lead?

Production time guidelines

Conceptual design, development and artworking is as easy as you make it. With a clear brief, your design agency has more chance of delivering concepts that target your requirements.

Allow for at least two weeks of initial creative. Then you will also need time for development and artwork creation - anywhere between 1 and 3 weeks depending on how you drive the project, client-side, and how reactive your agency is. Then follows production times:

- Stand build takes about 2-3 weeks, depending on complexity. - Allow 2 weeks for the production of a pop-up stand or banner stand. - Simple brochures or leaflets can be produced in a matter of days, a more complex piece may take a couple of weeks to print and produce. - The same goes for promotional gifts and clothing. Allow 2-4 weeks production time.

Organize backwards and leave extra time. You book your stand well in advance, why not start production early?

Prepare your exhibition staff

People like people like people, and exhibitions are a great way of connecting directly with a prospect. The staff manning your exhibition stand need to understand the specific goals of the event, potential questions that may arise from a visitor and who to target.

Maximize the effectiveness of results by pin-pointing strengths and weaknesses of your team and applying roles in the process. If you incentivize your staff, do so in a way to encourage teamwork, rather than aggressive, competing sales people. It's about company performance, not individual commissions.

Market your attendance

Use your existing marketing databases to let contacts know that you are attending an event. Contact local and trade press with releases about your appearance. Is there anything you can utilize to add more appeal, such as a new product launch?

Up-front incentives

Can you create a reason to motivate people to visit your exhibition stand? A competition or prize draw can achieve this, but does it fit in with your brand values and target market? Is there a better way of achieving the same thing?

Stock up and organize

Make sure you prepare for different eventualities. Do you have enough stock? Top up on hand-outs, refreshments, and any other items you may need, including spares leads and batteries... what's the worst that can happen? Plan for it.

Also, on your feet for most of the day, you may welcome areas for rest, away from the glare of the delegates on your stand. How will this be planned? You don't want resting staff sitting with their feet up, eating a chocolate bar, when a top prospect may pass at any time.

The Exhibition

The day has arrived and you have a great exhibition stand that should attract the right prospects. The marketing messaging is spot-on, your sales objectives are clear; your staff know their goals and are motivated. It's now down to the people on your stand.

Get the most from your people

You need to keep the initial positive feeling as the day wears on. You may get tired, get a few knock-backs, but you need to ensure there is support for the whole team. A highly motivated, well-informed team differentiates you from other exhibitors. Regular briefings and teamwork are a must. Share goal progress and feedback from interactions to help refine your sales process. Keep the energy up and the attitudes positive.

Optimize your attention

You need to ensure that you maximize sales opportunities. To do this you will need to identify your prospects and spend the appropriate time to filter these as genuine sales leads.

Attract and engage

Your appropriate marketing messages should filter out casual visitors and draw relevant people in, but you do need to attract people yourself.

You can use an outgoing member of your team to leave your stand and approach people all over the exhibition. Use the strengths of your team to bring people in to your space.

Don't be scared to reject visitors if they are not relevant. You are there to sell, not advise people who do what you do. Politely filter out wrong-fit visitors: They still have the power of word-of-mouth and you don't want them doing this negatively.

Focus on the benefits your product or service has to offer the prospect directly. You should have demonstrations and marketing material that answers the questions of your prospects, based on your targeted sales pitch. If you end up with an interested prospect, close in on them gently, taking appropriate contact details.

Ensure you take good notes that you will remember when you get back to the office. Remember a few off-topic details so your follow-up is more personal. If you need to ask a question again to make sure you have the details correctly, do so. It shows you are interested as you focus on your prospect.

People like people

Firstly, you need to make sure you are approachable. If your team are huddled negatively discussing a recent visitor to your stand, your stand won't exactly be inviting.

Also, remember that not every person clicks personally and rapport during sales is essential. Establish between your team who works best with which kind of person. If you make contact with a prospect on your stand and your discussions aren't going well, don't be afraid to bring in a more relevant colleague.

Earn media coverage

Pre-invite key journalists to visit your exhibition stand and encourage your marketing team to the event to help market your company on-site. Keep a good supply of your literature in the show press office and work with the show organiser to improve your profile. And, when the press visit your site, make sure someone is available to speak to them.

Keep it all business

A friendly environment on your exhibition stand may encourage people to drop in and stay chatting. Do you really want that?

Current customers might expect your undivided attention if they appear, but unless they're your main reason for attending, try to set aside specific times for them, ideally in a hospitality area on or off the stand.

Networking with existing contacts is part of the appeal of an exhibition, but you'll want to keep it under control.

Focus on your key goals

Remember, you are at the exhibition to achieve specific business goals and not every visitor is the right-fit. Keep your eye on the prize, your strategy in focus and you will engage with the right people.

After the exhibition

Away from the glare of the lights and the buzz of the exhibition, it's back down to business. Now is the time to follow through all of the new sales opportunities you've generated. This is where some companies squander the benefits they've worked so hard to achieve while others capitalize on them and turn them into profits.

De-brief the team

When you get back to the office, sit down with the stand staff, your marketing team and key managers. Do an assessment of what worked and what didn't. Discuss suggestions for improving performance at future exhibitions.

Measure your results

Now is the time to measure your success against the specific, measurable goals you set yourself before the event. Dissect the event in terms of effectiveness to help plan future events and determine future development of your techniques.

Successful sales teams follow lead-tracking up to a year later to track the new contacts right through to the bottom line. Only then can you determine the value of the exhibition for your company and whether your marketing budget was well spent.

Follow up all contacts

Every visitor to your exhibition stand should receive a timely follow-up, ranging from a simple thank-you letter to a visit, phone call or information pack, depending on the quality of the sales lead. To your prospects, the days and weeks following the exhibition define who most wants their business.

Send a generic mailing to all show visitors

You may not be able to meet every visitor at an exhibition, but you can contact them afterwards. Most event organizers make the visitor lists available for free or for a one-time rental fee. A quick 'Sorry we missed you but did you know...' can create a few new leads and at the very least, give your business additional profile to an industry audience.

Follow through on press releases

Call all the editors you mailed your press releases to or who visited you on your exhibition stand. Ask if there's any more information they might need.

A phone call at the right time could mean a solid mention in a post-show review in the trade press.

Making the most of exhibitions

Exhibitions can be effective and by planning a few simple activities before, during and after each event, they work even harder for you and your marketing budget. Being able to get face-to-face with prospects in an industry setting can act as a quick route to a genuine sale.

Craig Killick is a founder of The Escape - A UK Design Agency.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Killick

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