Article Marketing & Online Marketing Strategies from IdeaMarketers - Where Your Ideas Shine

What Marathons Can Teach You about Your Business, Part 1

I finished walking my first marathon in San Diego a week ago. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. But it was also an amazing accomplishment.

One thing that struck me while hoofing it toward the finish line was the similarities between running a business and running a marathon (or in my case, walking a marathon). I'll cover 5 altogether -- 2 this week and 3 next.

1. It's all about the mind. There was a quote posted around 18, 19 miles that said, "I run marathons because after mile 20, it's all about your mind." Or something like that. (My cognitive skills were fading at that point.)

Read Michele's entire article What Marathons Can Teach You about Your Business, Part 1

Michele PW, our official Advertising/Marketing Online Expert

What is an AutoResponder? Do I Really Need One?

Most people are familiar with autoresponders that send out those automated "I'm away" or "I'm on vacation" messages. In fact, most web hosting and email providers refer to these autoresponders as "away" or "vacation" settings within their email programs. These are good for a quick one shot automated reply to let someone know that you got their message or that you are away and will be returning to reply later.

Setting up these types of autoresponders is usually pretty straight forward. A quick glance through your email settings or your web hosting control panel are usually all that is required to activate them.

Read Brian's entire article What is an AutoResponder? Do I Really Need One?

Brian Rooney, our official Autoresponders Expert

The Marketing World Is Changing!

In the last five years marketing has changed tremendously. With the onset of the internet and now social media sites, the marketing world has literally turned upside down.

Interestingly enough, marketers were not the ones to initiate these changes. The change was set into motion by consumers.

Consumers became tired of aggressive, directive and interruptional marketing tactics. They became tired of companies telling them what to buy and how to spend. Consumers wanted to take part in the buying decision.

Read Jessica's entire article The Marketing World Is Changing!

Jessica Swanson, our official Shoestring Marketing Expert

How to Actually Make Money in Network Marketing

Most people that I know who are, or have been in network marketing, never seem to make a dime! Others (myself included) make a small fortune. If you're not doing VERY well with your business, and you're honestly putting in the effort, let me explain to you how to turn things around!

First of all, you need to make sure that you have the right product. That's the biggest mistake I see those who're failing make. At the same time, I see many marketing the same products that I do, not having the same success. So that's only one piece of the puzzle. Still, it's a very important piece of the puzzle.

Read Willie's entire article How to Actually Make Money in Network Marketing

Willie Crawford, our official Joint Ventures Expert

Membership Websites that Make $100,000 or More Every Month!

Besides selling products through eCommerce solutions (which can be highly effective and profitable), you can create extraordinary money making websites - these online money making applications can easily make you a six-figure income every month! The two eCommerce automated systems are membership/directory websites and eLearning websites.

Membership Websites as Online Money Making Systems for Generating Ongoing Revenue

Membership sites can be enormously profitable ventures. The source of revenue might be from the visitor who pays to access a membership directory, gains access to valuable resource information or subscribes to an online publication. Sometimes the visitor visits the site for free and searches for members within a directory who pay to be listed.

Read Ruth's entire article Membership Websites that Make $100,000 or More Every Month!

Ruth Kuttler, our official E-Business Expert

Sources for Copyright Free Clip Art

Looking for places to find copyright free clip art for your business products or online ventures? Why pay for subscriptions to expensive clip-art sites when you can find thousands upon thousands of images for free use -- even commercial use? Uncovering these free images sounds like an easy task until you begin the search process. Let's look at some ways to find the exact copyright free graphic for your project.

Type in "free clip art" in a search engine, and you can come up with thousands of sites, some of which only point you to other sites and have no real clip art on them! Finding just what you need for a project can be frustrating!

Read Lisa's entire article Sources for Copyright Free Clip Art

Lisa Preston, our official Writing for Entrepreneurs Expert

Reasons To Use Email Marketing

More and more businesses are turning to Email Marketing. In today's economy, it is more important than ever to make sure that any advertising money spent results in good return. Email Marketing has been proven to be tremendously cost-effective and efficient.

Recent figures from the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) indicate that email marketing is now overtaking direct mail in terms of volume.

Regardless of the size of your business, you should consider using email marketing to begin reaching more prospects, attracting more business, and improving customer retention.

Read Brian's entire article Reasons To Use Email Marketing

Brian Rooney, our official Autoresponders Expert

Marketing Through Massive Visibility

We live in a world where our potential clients and customers are barraged with thousands and thousands of ads every single day. The competition is fierce, the climate is noisy and it's not going to lighten up any time soon.

So how can a small business owner, on a shoestring budget, even compete? The answer is simple: repetition through massive visibility.

Research suggests that we are exposed to over 4,000 ads each day. As a result of "advertising overload", our brains are forced to filter out and ignore most of these ads.

Read Jessica's entire article Marketing Through Massive Visibility

Jessica Swanson, our official Shoestring Marketing Expert

Cinnamon Rolls, Breast Cancer and Your Business -- How Doing Good Can Grow Your Business

It can make good marketing sense to partner with a nonprofit or a cause.

Consider what my marathon friends did when they were raising money to participate in the 3-Day Walk (you walk 60 miles in 3 days to promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for research). They approached a local restaurant called Backburner, which was famous for their cinnamon rolls. For a week, every time someone bought a cinnamon roll, they donated $1 to my friends for their walk.

I personally hadn't heard of the restaurant, but when I found this out, my husband and I went and had breakfast there (complete with a cinnamon roll of course!)

Read Michele's entire article Cinnamon Rolls, Breast Cancer and Your Business -- How Doing Good Can Grow Your Business

Michele PW, our official Advertising/Marketing Online Expert

How To Actually Get Paid For Social Networking

It's no secret that the fastest growing web properties are the social networking sites. Sites like Twitter, FaceBook, and Sokule are all the rave.

Part of the reason that these sites are so popular is that the Internet can be such a lonely place. People who run online businesses from home-based offices, as I do, sometimes want to just reach out to others who understand their world. So they drop by social networking sites "just to visit."

Marketers like me look at these sites with millions of users and wonder if they can't be used for something more than just socializing. We wonder if they can't have a business application as well.

Read Willie's entire article How To Actually Get Paid For Social Networking

Willie Crawford, our official Joint Ventures Expert