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Check Under the Hood!
by Mike Banks Valentine
Taking the car in for a routine service call can be so
frustratingly time consuming and upsetting! I will sometimes
put off that trip for the regular oil change or the simple
tire rotation for too long because I'm certain there is going
to be something else wrong with "Old reliable". She has a few
miles on her now and I just know the mechanic will pop up
from under the hood, as I return to pay for my tune-up, to
tell me that I have to replace the timing belt. O.K., go
ahead and do it and call me later to tell me when I can come
in and pick it up.
Well, guess what? While he was working on that, he found a
crack in the water pump and needed to replace that, then he
discovered oil in the water and found that the head gasket
had blown and had to fix that. Now he'll have the car for two
days before I can have it back and the costs are adding up
faster than I can calculate them! Man, if I had just waited
to go in there, it would have been allright for a few more
weeks. AND THEN IT WOULD HAVE DIED ENTIRELY!
You know what's coming don't you? Keep your website tuned up
and do regular maintenance to avoid costly repairs and big
overhauls.I've known for months that I should be adding a
section to WebSite101 on how to set up and implement an
ezine and haven't done it because it leads to further work.
Specifically on the site navigation and links structure.
Then I'll notice that I need to add another page to discuss
promoting and marketing your ezine and another to list the
names of ezine directories and other publishing resources
such as list servers and advertising resources.
I now know I'll have my work cut out for me for the forsee-
able future in designing those pages and several more to
discuss that increasingly important web marketing standard,
Ezines and newsletters. Well to make up for my laziness, I
will send you elsewhere to find this important information
so you don't have to wait for me. Last week I railed against
the lowlife types that use Unsolicited Commercial E-mail or
Spam sent indescriminately to every e-mail address that they
can get their sweaty little hands on.
Why do they do it? E-mail marketing works. It's that simple.
That is why advertisers pay good money to place ads in ezines
with substantial mailing lists of targeted prospects. Makers
of dog biscuits know that they will find 1000 potential
buyers of Bow-Wow Biscuits on the Bow-Wow Bulletin weekly
dog-lovers list. They will pay a premium to reach that very
targeted list of people that they KNOW are potential regular
customers for their product.
On the flip side of that, it's the classic win-win situation
since it is those same dog lovers who're actually INTERESTED
in the advertisers product! Your web site caters to a very
clear and specific group of people, whether it is dog lovers
or small business webmasters. You should take advantage of
having that group of interested buyers gathered in one place
reading your complementary businesses advertisements. Dog
collars, dog houses, dog toys, dog kennels and dog groomers
will all be interested in advertising to *your* readers.
`There are many good resources for the development of a
quality ezine. Here are a few to get you started:
1) Lifestyles Publishing at: http://www.directoryofezines.com/
Offers a place to list your publication or a way to
purchase advertising with targeted prospects of other
publications.
2) Ezine University at: http://www.ezineuniversity.com
Offering advice for getting started with your ezine and
resources for increasing your circulation along with
articles posted by successful marketers of ezines.
3) ListChannel list server at: http://newslettersender.com
Get started with those while I go do a little web site
maintenance and install a few accessories to keep my motor
running smoothly at WebSite101. Don't forget to change your
oil and rotate your tires.
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WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet
Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet
http://website101.com/arch/
e-tutorial online at: http://website101.com/shortcourse.html
By week's end you're ready expand your business to the web!
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