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Further
Reading ...
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Are you maintaining your documentation correctly? - Mike Hayden
============================================================ Are you maintaining your documentation correctly? ============================================================ As I've said in many eZines, you must write stuff down. The other day, an...
Will Your Products Sell? Testing For HOT Online Demand - Jeff Smith
To be successful with your online business, you need to find ways to discover what people want so badly, they will pay almost any price. The goal is to create a swarm of interest, activity, exposure and demand for your product - but how do you...
How To Manage Your Cash Flow - Sue and Chuck DeFiore
This article is being updated. About the Author Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 17 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE...
How to Get from Market Niche to Passive Income in Three Easy Steps: Steps 2 & 3 - Make the Match - Kathy Gulrich
One of the surprising truths about marketing a product – a book, workbook, booklet, recording, etc. – is that the most effective marketing begins before you even decide which product to create. It’s easy to be successful if you remember the ART of...
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Ecards as a marketing tool
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Written By:
Dessy Oundian
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As any successful businessman will confirm, having a great product or service is just the beginning. After all, in this day and age, everything comes down to marketing. The more creative you are in your marketing efforts, the more successful your business is. There are many ways to promote your business without spending a fortune. In this article I will describe one of the most powerful tools on the Internet – ecards!
Ecards (electronic greeting cards) are a great example of efficient marketing on the internet. You have a service open to the Internet users. The ecards they send from your site invariably contain promotion for your company, products or services. They are advertising tools that are immediate, inexpensive, personalized and although sent via email, S.P.A.M.-free.
This form of Internet marketing is extremely effective. More than 50% of the U.S. population and 85% of all Internet users visit a greeting's site annually, according to research firm Jupiter MediaMetrix. Why not use even a small percentage of these potential clients to you advantage? OK, BlueMountain.com has more than 100 million unique visitors each year, but even with less numbers, the potential is there. Remember, with each sent ecard from your site you have at least two potential clients!
If someone utilizes the ecards service on average only twice a day, in the period of a year the service is advertised approximately 730 times. Multiply this number by the number of registered users and you get yourself a healthy advertising stream. Recognizing the huge potential, in 1999 Excite@Home Corp. paid $780 million for the purchase of BlueMountain.com. How much would you pay for that type of advertising?
No need to answer -- you can have an ecard site for a lot less. The concept is the same, and you can use it just as the big boys. You can build a database of qualified prospects and use ecards to:
- Promote - promote products and services
- Brand - create company awareness among your client base
- Invite - invite people to seminars and events
- Remind - send appointment reminders
- Inform - send Client appreciation memos, Recruiting/hiring notices, etc.
- Reference - send Birthday wishes, - continued below ...
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continued ...
Holiday greetings, Thank You's, etc.
OK, so now you know you need an ecard section on your site. What do you need next?
Content:
Custom content: If you have a larger budget you can have an well-known artist create custom animated ecards for you. On average, a Flash animated ecard costs $350.
Leased content: A much cheaper way to obtain high quality content is to use the services of a company like Cardsup Greetings (http://www.cardsup.com). Their ecards have been used by such sites as Yahoo Greetings, Regards.com, ecards.com, etc. For a very reasonable price you will get:
GREAT CONTENT for your existing web site, made by some of the best animators/cartoonists in the business.
TIMELY UPDATES -- you will receive monthly Flash ecards! Each month you will get from 5 to 30 additional ecards at no cost.
SCREENSAVERS -- you will receive all additional animations as screensavers too, and you will be able to sell them to your customers.
Ecards software:
There are a lot of very good ecard programs on the Internet. I highly recommend the following:
Web Hosting:
If you do not have a web host for your site, be sure to check out Fullservehost.com (http://www.fullservehost.com). They have plans for ecard sites owners that come with card software.
Dessy Oundian is a the marketing Guru behind etoon.com -- one of the largest searchable cartoon databases in the world. Find T-shirts and other custom apparel, get information about licensing our cartoons or send e-cards.
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| _Additional Resources ... |
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6 Reasons why a website is critical to your business - Jamie Kiley
Since I'm a web designer, I have a tendency to think everyone understands that having a website is important. Every once in a while, I have to remind myself that some people just haven't heard yet! Why is having a website such a big deal? Here are...
What is an Acceptable Response? - S Housley
Many online marketers work odd hours, with no beginning of the day and no real end. How does this impact support and customer service inquiries? Some small businesses are afraid to reply to customer queries off-hours, fearful that the message...
Give Candidates “A Day in the Life” - Head2Head
What sounds good on paper can sometimes be completely different in action. For candidates, this might mean a job that sounds very appealing until it's actually experienced. Finding out that your candidate doesn't really enjoy the work you've...
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