Posts by David Cross
Why testimonials work so well
What do you do if your prospect knows nothing about you, as is often the case? How can you sway or “nudge” their thinking about your business, products, or services? You do it by including plenty of testimonials in your marketing materials. Testimonials overcome a prospect’s skepticism (“Who the heck are you? And why should…
Read MoreMake Mine Thin Sliced
My wife strode across the yard from the chicken coop, clutching our sharpest kitchen knife. A rivulet of red ran down her forearm. Her hands were stained crimson, and a solitary feather stuck to her palm. “Hi, Honey!” she chirped. “I was just seeing whether the new chicks liked strawberries.” Assumptions, I am reminded, are…
Read MoreLearn How To “How To”
One of the most daunting things about starting your own Internet business is the idea of creating regular, unique content for your website. You can raise your eyebrows and sigh. It’s okay. But you are going to need this fresh content if you want to get anywhere with search engines. Plus, your site visitors will…
Read MoreTurn Your Hobby Into a Business
Setting up an e-newsletter or blog starts with a subject you love, a simple website, and some useful content. But unless you want your newsletter to be nothing but a hobby, you’ll want to find ways to generate income from it. You can create your own information products – e-books, special reports, teleseminars, and more…
Read MoreThe 3 Basics You Need to Start an Email Newsletter
An e-mail newsletter is one of the best ways to make almost any business at least twice as valuable, to generate substantial cash flow, and to double or triple profits. It’s also the perfect way to turn an interest or hobby into a moneymaking venture. And starting one is much easier than you might think.…
Read MoreHow to Prevent “Scope Creep”
You receive an invoice from your website or software developer. You query a charge you didn’t know about. The developer tells you it relates to a new feature they developed… one that you asked for.
Read More8 Simple Steps to Making Your Website More User-Friendly
The most important function of your website is to allow your customers to place their orders and receive the products or services they’re interested in. So make it as easy and hassle-free as possible.
You know how frustrating it is when you have to make a U-turn or take a detour when you could have been given fair warning beforehand. Don’t make your customers jump through unnecessary hoops to complete their purchases.
Read More10 Simple Ideas to Help Your Business
“How is the job hunting going?” I asked my friend Jane. “Well, nobody EVER hires during the holidays, so there’s no point in looking. Actually, I’m kind of hoping I can get my unemployment benefits extended.” If my dad had heard that, he would have had a fit. He strongly believed that having a job…
Read MoreGet Out There and Sell Yourself!
In tough economic times – like right now – you may have fewer new customers or your existing customers may be more cautious about spending. Worse, you may feel that there’s nothing you can do.
As unfair as it may seem, you’re on your own. Nobody is going to give you a bailout, nobody owes you a thing, and you have no right to anything except that which you create.
Read MoreMust Read – Changing the Channel
“My first ‘online business’ was in 1989, using bulletin boards. People consider me an ‘expert’ at online marketing now, but really it’s because I’ve made and learned from many, many mistakes along the way.
“If I’d only had and followed the advice in Changing the Channel all those years back it could have cut short my own and my clients’ paths to success, both online and offline. What Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby have done in this incredible book is crystallize decades of classic marketing and online wisdom and experience into a practical, easy-to-repeat formula that anyone in business – from a small startup to a large corporation – can follow.
Read MoreA Word Is Worth 1,000 Pictures
For almost a month, “Alma” went back and forth with her Web developer on which illustration to use on her company website’s homepage. Should it be the lavender flowers? The bluebell-carpeted scene of springtime in the woods? Or would the photo of the healthy-looking young yoga instructor best convey what the site was about?
Read MoreDear ETR: “How can I cut back on Gmail spam?”
“In your article about getting rid of excess spam, you stated that Google’s e-mail service has excellent spam filtering. I disagree with that. I use Google’s Gmail. I receive between 200 and 500 spam messages per day, and several arrive in my inbox. I am very careful what I click into, and certainly never spam, yet I get an irritating amount of Gmail spam.
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