When I first began doing business on the ... 1997, I believed a widely ... rumor thatall one had to do to become ... ... was to build a web ... after doing so an When I first began doing business on the Internetin 1997, I believed a widely circulating rumor thatall one had to do to become successful (and,wealthy) was to build a web site.Well, after doing so and, repeatedly, makingmistakes and failing, I quickly becamedepressed with online marketing. Beingaccustomed to accomplishing many, if not most,things I set out to do (except 8th-Grade Algebra),I figured I had finally met my match. I also figuredthat I must simply be the only person online notmaking a 6-figure income. Oh, the price ofnaivete!Fueling this idea, were ongoing unsolicitedEmails from others who, alternatively, statedthey were raking in hundreds of thousands ofdollars per year. Some were even willing to(and did) provide "checks" as proof! Today, I'membarrassed to admit to my naivete, as I nowrealize that, given the right tools, virtually anythingcan be fabricated online.In an effort to save you from emotional woes, orrelieve you of them if you have alreadyencountered them, I am going to provide you withinformation on how you can realistically garnersuccess online as I have now, successfully, threeyears later.And you, likewise, can use these same methodsto successfully promote any product, service, orinformation online as well. So, let's get started...1.Pre-Promotion Campaign - Prior to beginningyour active promotion campaign, initiate a pre-promotion campaign by joining as manyonline discussion lists relating to your area ofbusiness as possible.You should be able to easily find such lists at"Egroups.com" (http://www.egroups.com),"Topica.com" (http://www.topica.com), Listbot(http://www.listbot.com), or a few other lesser-known list groups.Next, place a reference to whatever you wish topromote, within your Email signature file so thatwhen you post notices, questions, concerns, oranswers to your lists, information regarding yourbusiness will automatically post along with it inyour signature file as well for others to see and,hopefully, acquire what you are promoting withinit.Your signature file reference should contain anattention-grabbing headline, along with a 4-5-linetext of information regarding your business.Review the "Help" section of your Email softwareor manual in order to learn how to set up yoursignature file correctly.2. News Releases - Pull up your favorite searchengine(s) and search for "news sites," "newsposts," or any related term. What you areseeking, are sites that allow posting of newsreleases and notices regarding your business,products, services, information, ventures, etc.These are very detailed and instructional on howto get your information posted within them. Oneof the most recognizable sites is the InternetNews Bureau, which requires a fee. However,there are other sites, many of which are free,as well.Also, forward news releases to the editors of anyonline ezines, as well as offline magazines, mostof which will have web sites as well. You can alsolocate most of these through search engines bysearching on the term, "ezines." Popular sitesfor offline publications include the AJR Newslinkat http://ajr.newslink.org, and Gebbie's Press athttp://www.gebbieinc.com.3. Articles - If you are familiar fairly well withvarious details of your business (and you shouldbe), consider the idea of providing tips,shortcuts, advice, and any additional helpfulinformation to editors of ezines and magazines.There are also databanks, whereby, you canlist your articles for other publishers and editorsto freely use with the condition that they maintainyour byline with your article to insure credit to you.One such databank is athttp://www.ideamarketers.com, and there aremore.Ongoing content is the primary need at anypublication. At the end of your article, include anotice that is commonly known in the publishingindustry as a "by-line." This is actually2-tools-in-1. First, the content of the article itself,then, the byline containing information regardingyour own business, product, service, orinformation.4. Search Engines - List, not only the main orhome page of your web site with the searchengines, but also your additional pages, as longas they are different and titled accordingly.Doing this, will dramatically increase the trafficto your site. In fact, at some point, you shouldexperience an increase geometrically.5. Announcement Sites - This is a 1-shotopportunity, so make it good. What you want todo at announcement sites, is to provide the mostattention-getting information you possibly can foryour venture, as you can, generally, only do thisonce for new start-up businesses. Two popularannouncement sites are the "What's New" andthe "What's New Too" sites.6. Announcement Lists - There also exists Emailannouncement lists, much like announcementsites, whereby, you can provide notices andposts regarding your product, service, orinformation.The main difference, however, is that asannouncement sites only allow for a 1-time post,announcement lists, contrastly, allow postingsperiodically and, generally, on a weekly ormonthly basis. You can also find these at theEgroups, Topica, and Listbot sites.7. Ezine Ads - Ezine ads are great, as long astheir publications contain high enoughcirculations to warrant the CPM (Cost PerThousand) readers. However, the drawback isthat many readers pass them by, naturally, havingmore interest in the content of the publication.Additionally, ads tend to get "lost" in publicationsthat publish a high number of ads in issues. Inmost cases in the offline-publishing world, anideal CPM rate is 10,000 readers per $1.00spent. Try for this same ratio in your Ezine ads aswell. A great resource for advertising in ezines isthe Ezine Directory (http://www.ezinedirectory.com).8. Publisher Swaps - This promotion method isexclusive to Ezine and newsletter publishers,and is, whereby, publishers trade ads with eachother to be placed in their respective publicationsin the effort of gaining new subscribers.Successful ad swaps can provide dramaticincreases in the subscriber base of your ownpublications. The Ezine Directory should providesome, if not all, information regarding it. Or, youcan use the directory's content to contactpublishers with a "swap proposal."9. Opt-In Direct Email - To "opt-in" means tovoluntarily accept information or notices viaEmail from outside sources regarding particularinterests that you have. There are, literally, millionsof people online who are members of such lists.As a business owner interested in promotingyour product, service, or information, you rentsuch a list from the opt-in service, providing yoursales letter or material to the service, thenallowing the information to be sent via Email bythe service to the list members you haveselected.This is the popular and preferred alternative tounsolicited bulk emailing or "spamming." Oncea list is mailed, your response is almostimmediate.The interested responders then purchase youroffer, or request more information, at which time,you should have an auto responder already setup to "feedback" more sales literature. An autoresponder is an automated Email address that,when accessed, returns certain pre-inputinformation.Once purchases are made, these particular listbuyers then become your own customers, andyou can usually provide them with similar follow-up products, services, or information in the futurewithout re-renting their name from the list. Themost widely known is Postmaster Direct athttp://www.postmasterdirect.com.These are the methods and techniques that Ihave found to be realistic, sound and, mostimportantly, successful. They are applicable toanything that lends itself commercially viable,whether it is a product, service, or information. Article Tags: Product Service, Signature File, Information Regarding Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com