Questions to ask: Does my email ask the reader to do anything? If not, why am I sending it?

2. Say it up front. M. Night Shyamalan is paid to surprise folks. We are paid to not surprise our boss. Whatever the purpose of your missive, say it in the first line. Mystery and story are great ways to entertain and teach, so unless you’re looking for a job doing that, spit out why you’re writing up front.

Questions to ask: Can the reader tell from the subject line and first sentence what I’m writing about without going further? If not, why are you insisting that they guess?

3. Assume nothing. Does the reader need to know that the project won’t succeed if the subway workers strike, that everything depends on a category 5 hurricane not happening in the next 100 years, or that if Lehman goes under the entire firm will implode? Let the reader know what thinking has gone on behind the scenes. And when following up, don’t assume everyone remembers everything you’ve said. If you’ve got any worries that an acronym, term, or reference is going to elicit a confused moment, just explain it.

Questions to ask: Am I relying on what the audience knows or what I think they ought to know? Am I hiding anything from the reader unintentionally? If so, why do I want to surprise them later on?

4. Do the thinking. How many times have you gotten an email that says, “What are your thoughts?” followed by a forwarded chain of messages. That’s the writer saying, “I can’t be bothered to explain my reasoning or what I want you to focus on.” When you write, make sure you’ve explained what you’re thinking and what you want the reader to spend time on.

Questions to ask: Is my email giving my opinion and options for the reader to respond to? If not, why am I making them try to read my mind?

Comments on this article can be found on harvardbusiness
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/silverman/2009/03/4-tips-for-better-business-wri.html

Find more interesting articles on this subject at
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org

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Another Inspirational move to start your day. Credit goes to Ted Chung for this great Master piece.

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Online and offline networking differ significantly. Depending on your business, you’ll want to focus your attention on the one most conducive to gaining new and keeping your present clients or customers. The business world travels on relationships and a business successful in nurturing them will be successful.

Few businesses thrive in a vaccuum. Relationships with fellow business owners can provide fresh insights, leads, and a little comic relief when it’s needed. You can begin network online by searching for trade and business association websites, blogs, and other sites frequented by business owners and your potential customers. Look for those online sites that you’re interested in and assume that others wearing your shoes would travel to the same spots. Get involved. Use the chat rooms and other online opportunities such as contributing information and articles, question and answer forums, and sponsorship, to touch base with others and find common ground. Our society has accepted the validity of online relationships and friendships between people who never actually meet in person are common.

You can also make contacts by sponsoring the websites your colleagues and customers are visiting. Local newspapers, radio stations, chambers of commerce, and community groups set up sites where you might be able to advertise for free or contribute small articles. Anything to get your name in the spotlight is a good way to network. As people get to know you, you’re the person they’ll call.

Finding offline ways to network with others is going to require a little more time and money. Trade shows, conferences, chambers of commerce, and other community business associations are great places to meet people. Join the organizations and go to the meetings.

Never forget that customers are networking, too. They’re looking for the best pricing they can find. Make yourself highly visible at events and you’ll draw in some potential business.

Networking offline means hitting the road. Talk to people at the conferences and trade shows. Exchange phone numbers and emails and make sure you do follow-up calls when you get home.

Be active in local social groups. As potential customers learn to trust you, this trust will carry over into your business.

Getting the word out about your business is critical. The amount of money spent on advertising by major corporations is a testament to that fact. Small businesses can’t afford to sink thousands of dollars into a magazine ad or radio spot, so an alternative way to promote your small business needs to be found. Networking is the answer.

Networking online and offline is one of the most important things you’ll ever do for your business. Your success depends on it.

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Inspirational move to kick start your thoughts. Credit goes to Ted Chung for this absolutely beautiful movie

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So, why should you offer free shopping? Well, now only is it becoming the norm for many US retailers, but recent surveys have touted that nearly 75% of all shoppers said they were more likely to purchase items from a shop if free shopping was an offered benefit. Nowadays, to get a customer to purchase items online, it needs to not only be an easy as pie experience, but the price needs to be right or people will run to other websites or to other stores. Thus, free shipping keeps the price down for the customer and could end up building up a customer’s loyalty to a E-Commerce owner. 

Additionally, free shopping increases customer satisfaction, and this in turn can improve a shop’s word of mouth advertising and the likelihood that a customer will return for a repeat purchase. a ForeSee Results study said that free shipping or deliver options increased by as much as 5%, especially when the free shipping came with no strings attached. 
Offering free shopping during the holiday season is especially important because this is when people are shopping more than ever before and when the majority of purchases are made. Thus, free shipping can ease the burden on a buyer’s shoulders and it can ensure that a customer buys more in one’s store than they might normally buy (i.e. they figure they might as well if there are no shipping costs). 
Once a person sees that your shop offers free shipping, they will be more likely to return for more products and will tell their friends and family members about the feature. Thus, in a world where more and more people are entering into E-Commerce, free shipping can set you apart from your competitors.

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Use Colors to Attract

It is advisable to use pastel with bold colors combined for the graphics. Make sure that the colors complement each other like green with red for Christmas themes, blue with orange and yellow with purple. These are complementary colors that most brochures are digitally printed and designed by graphic artists. 

Contents it Should Cover

A good newsletter should have an introduction to briefly state the main points and then followed by explanatory paragraphs subsequently. You can also repeat the key words in the remaining paragraphs to state a point. Better still, include some contests or free gifts that people may get if they decide to join or pay for the product. Everyone likes a free gift and this is to dangle the carrot in front of the readers so that they may become potential clients and buy from you. 

How it is sent

A newsletter can be sent by using an autoresponder that can be set to weekly, daily, biweekly, etc. There are many free autoresponders out there where you can do a Google search to look for one. Also, there are paid autoresponders with more features for you to customize such as adding your own Google Adsense contextual advertisements to the readers. 

Effective Online Marketing Tool

A good newsletter is an effective online marketing tool to have. For instance, when a visitor comes to read your web page and decided to subscribe your newsletter, he may forget about the information that he has read. But with the use of a good newsletter, he can be reminded of the advantages and benefits of using your product or buy that digital info product via the internet. Therefore, it acts like a good salesman for you.

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There are countless opportunities online to make money, but most of them have start up costs. When you are first starting out, money is usually scarce, plus there is the worry of being scammed, too. Being able to start internet marketing with out any start up costs, makes it a very do-able opportunity. 

For those of you that are unfamiliar with internet marketing, let me explain it a little. I usually compare it a little to a car salesman. A car salesman sells someone’s cars for them in trade of a percentage of the total sale. When the customer comes and purchases a car, he will get paid. Internet marketing is the same type of concept, but the product could be anything, not just a car. 

You may become an affiliate for just about any product that exists, or you could make your own product to sell, for example an e-book. Next you will be given a special affiliate link, that lets the customer purchase under your wing. Allowing you to make a commission. Most companies offer to pay a commission of at least 50% of the total purchase price. 

Next you would need to advertise that special affiliate link. When people click on that link, and buy what ever it is that you are selling, you will make a commission check. This is a very fast way to generate a significant amount of money, in a small amount of time. 

Internet marketing can be done with out a website, too! A free way to advertise your link, and sell your product with out a website could be through article marketing. 

The easiest way to do this is to write an article using a few keywords that are related to your product. Every hundred words you write, you should include your keyword. 

Remember not to make your article a sales letter. The link that they are clicking upon will take them to the sales letter. You want to write an informative article related to the product that you are selling. It really is that simple. Internet marketing is really that simple, and it has been known to make some people into millionaire

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