Internet Marketing: Mistakes to Avoid

Lauren

Mommy's Helper - Mom's Market Ezine
Issue #135
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006

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Editor's Rambling:
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Note from Anita

Boy oh boy has it been H-O-T around here! Between today and yesterday we?ve hit some all time high temperatures that have sent a lot of people running indoors to soak up the air conditioning (including myself). It?s even too hot to swim ? now that?s hot if you ask me.

Now, I?m the last person who would ever want to admit this but, the end of summer is right around the corner. Soon enough the kiddos will be back in school and it?ll be back to business as usual. Is your website ready? Are you ready for the influx of business? More than likely you?ve taken a bit of a breather for the past couple of weeks ? now it?s time to start to think about getting back into the swing of things.

Till next week...

~Anita DeFrank
Mommy's Helper

Note from Kara

Summer colds are never fun, and somehow I've latched on to the mother of all summer colds. Think of it this way - every serious cold symptom possible I had all at the same time for almost a week straight. Sore throat, ear aches, cough, stuffy nose - the whole works. Just absolutely draining and at times very painful.

Luckily the cold I believe is on it's way out, and all I'm left with is a stuffy nose. Hurray! Unfortunately, I've got an entire summer to cram in within the next 2 1/2 weeks. Iowa State Fair, Adventureland (a local amusement park), and a trip to the local pool. This in between two different school registrations all before school starts on August 21st. Busy, but fun!

On the work side of things, I've been just been trying to keep up. A new free ebook will be released this week (be watching our blog for details!), and "boring" work on Idea Queen is still in progress. Nothing much new to talk about, just be watching our blog for new releases and updated websites!

See you in two weeks!

~Kara Kelso~
Mom's Market

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Article
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Internet Marketing: Mistakes to Avoid

A well-planned marketing strategy helps you achieve newer heights in doing business online. However, even in the best of strategies we often make those mistakes, which do not work in our favor. It is better to recognize these mistakes and avoid them while making online marketing strategies.

1. Not focusing on the right market

Picking the right market is the most important part of a marketing plan. Right products for the right markets is the motto you should always practice. A very good product placed in a wrong market can lead to a disaster. Employ some tools to select the right market and also invest time in searching for the most suitable keywords that fit the market.

2. Dropping your present customers from the marketing plan

One fatal mistake made by some planners is to just focus on acquiring new customers and ignoring the existing ones. If you do this your old customers will desert you in no time. When you include your current customers they will pass on the good word about your website and products to their friends. That is the time you benefit by getting new customers virtually free of cost.

3. Be careful with hard sell

Hard sell never sells! It only turns off some otherwise keen customers. Dont make the mistake of making every webpage sell to the customer. Instead concentrate on making it interesting and useful to the visitor. Visitors should feel happy in making the decision to buy. Any ad copy that forces a visitor to buy loses him for you for all time. Ensure that your web pages present the details in a sober/matter of fact manner, with sophistication so that the customer buys your product and leaves satisfied. Remember that selling is an art. Practice it judiciously and pleasingly.

4. Offering no content

Too many web site owners get very excited with the idea of online business and forget to place interesting content on their sites that can keep their visitors attracted to their site. While making money is vital, providing good information is even more important to build lasting goodwill of the customers. Focusing only on showing many advertisements on your site will not get you good results. Quality content is the only answer to this challenge.

5. Ineffective Web Site

Many webmasters feel that only a dazzling, flashy website is attractive to the visitors. This not necessarily true. There are different ways of ensuring that your website looks good. Use a catchy headline that draws the customers attention. Offer genuine customer testimonials which will help the visitors relate to the other customers and buy your products based on their recommendation.

Desmond Mantor is the Marketing Manager for Have Traffic that specializes in providing highly targeted traffic for commercial websites. If you are looking for traffic that performs better than pay-per-click visit http://www.havetraffic.com

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Childcare
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What is a Secret

As parents we have so much to worry about in regards to our children. We want to protect them from all of lifes dangers, yet we want to accomplish this without putting unnecessary fear into their lives.

When my children were small, we began talking about secrets. What is a good secret and what is a bad secret? This seemed to be a concept my children could understand, while accomplishing my goal of not scaring them.

Good secrets are things that you get to tell mommy or daddy. Such as we bought daddy a birthday gift. Today it's a secret but tomorrow we get to tell daddy. Another good secret is when the principal at school tells you there will be a party for your teacher but today it's a secret. Tomorrow however we get to tell the teacher.

As your children get a bit older, a good secret might even be your friend telling you she likes a boy. While your child may be asked not to tell the boy, your child could certainly tell you this secret.

So what is a bad secret? A bad secret is a secret that your child is asked to NEVER tell. A bad secret might be another child admitting they did something wrong and asking your child not to tell. It might also be an adult acting inappropriately with your child and telling the child to keep this a secret and not tell mommy.

My kids asked of course, "who will tell us bad secrets?". I began to tell them that bad people tell bad secrets, and quickly realized this is not true at all. Instead I chose to tell them that a bad secret can come from both a child and an adult who is doing something wrong. To this day I still believe that only someone doing something wrong will ask a child to keep a secret from mommy or daddy.

My kids and I spent many hours talking about secrets and that mommy and/or daddy must always be told secrets. I also assured them that they would NEVER get in trouble for telling mommy or daddy a secret. I can remember a few times, my kids slipping and telling a good secret when they weren't supposed to, but I kept my word and they never got in trouble. You see, I have often heard that someone acting inappropriately will say "if you tell your mommy, you will get in trouble". I never wanted my child to have a visual image of getting in trouble for telling mommy a secret.

Audrey Okaneko is mom to two girls. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

Article Source: Wahm-Articles

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Coffee Break
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Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

?Lisa Barker

The evidence was mounting. It was too much to ignore.

Wet towels on the floor in the bathroom. Dirty socks and underwear behind the bedroom door, mere inches from the hamper. Magazines, Barbie dolls, shrugged-off jackets and last Monday?s lunch leftovers were littering another bedroom floor. Books, blocks, Matchbox cars and two hundred ball-pit balls dispersed about the living room.

Crumbs littering the table, the bread bag left open, an empty milk carton in the fridge and peanut butter and jelly fingerprints on the walls were too much to ignore. It was time to face the facts.

?House trolls,? I told my husband.

?House trolls??

?Yes. Here.? I handed him the morning paper.

?Where?s the comics section??

?House trolls.?

He looked for margarine to spread on his toast. ?Are we out??

?House trolls.?

He grunted his agreement. At last I had his attention. A man just isn?t right without a good breakfast and a virgin copy of the morning paper to start his day. ?They?re grounded,? he said. When my husband makes this statement it?s final, but I protested anyway.

?Grounded? Do you know what that means? They?ll merely wallow in the rising filth in their rooms and I?ll be left to clean the entire house by myself.?

My husband looked pained. If house trolls can?t be trained with a good old-fashioned grounding what did I expect?

At dinner that night I issued the decree. ?There will be no more television in this house until the house trolls are exterminated.?

?House trolls?? Five expectant faces looked my way.

?Yes. They seem to be taking over the house. They?ve trashed the bathroom, they?ve redecorated your bedrooms and I?m not very fond of the veneer of grape jelly on the walls.?

?Oh. That again.?

By that afternoon they were looking peaked. Three days later they were gasping for air. One week later, there was some semblance of orderliness to their rooms and they all had severe facial tics, but I held out.

?Mother! We can?t take it anymore! Please, please, dear Mother, please allow us just ONE commercial!? I sang the theme song to their favorite show, but stood my ground.

Three weeks later, they had acquired new habits, the house trolls had completely evacuated and at last I plugged in the third parent. Immediately the children began to regain a healthy color.

If parents wish to regain control of the house, there?s no better method then nixing the TV. Sure, they?ll be a lot of yelling and screaming and moaning about, but once you and your spouse get over it, you?ll realize it?s not so bad for the kids either.

The severe facial tics will decrease as time passes. Only three teachers commented on it.

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LISA BARKER is a syndicated humor columnist and mom of five. Her latest book is ?Just Because Your Kids Drive You Insane ... Doesn't Mean You Are A Bad Parent!? See JellyMom.com for more information.

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Recipes
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CROCKPOT BEEF STROGANOFF

2 lbs top round steak, sliced thin across the grain
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 tsp thyme
3/4 cup dry sherry
3/4 cup beef broth (Swansons)
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp garlic salt

Put all this in the crockpot, stir well and cook on low for 8 hours. Turn heat to high and mix 1-1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup Wondra flour. Heat on high for 40 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

Do you have a favorite recipe to share?
Post them at Mommy's Helper Community!

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