Logoworks have started a web site that offers articles and tools for small businesses.

Let's get back to basics and look at the difference between features and benefits.  Most first-time marketers and small business owners don't know the difference and focus a lot of attention on money-stealing features instead of money-growing benefits.  So what's the difference?

The junkmail that you receive is just tipping over with treasure for you to use in your company.  It's being sent by people who want to make money and they'll only keep sending them if it's working so -- guess what? -- the same tactics will work for you and your small business as well!

Keep the junkmail you receive and, when you get a chance, look out for these things...

1.  Titillating Titles Tell Tons!

All effective marketing and sales-pieces start with an amazing title that connects to your subconscious and pulls you in to read the rest. 

I'm going to be a bit different now and, instead of giving you my 2c on marketing, I'm going to give you someone else's!

These are some amazing resources that have helped me do amazing things with my marketing. You will absolutely love them!

A lie often feels better than the truth.  That is particularly true when you run your own small-business and things aren't going right.  It's just so much easier to make something up than to admit that you made a mistake.

Stop everything you're doing right now and take a deep breath. Think back to the last time you made a lot of sales in one day. Remember the excitement you felt. Concentrate on the adrenalin that was flowing through your body. Think about how great you felt and how badly you wanted to show everybody what you had done.

"Writing a marketing tip every day is more difficult than it sounds. I often find myself quickly bashing some words together at around 11 each night so I've renamed this page to 'My Free Marketing-Tips Blog'. Now if you didn't already know, most small businesses get their initial clients from referrals. Here's a great article on how to make even more money from referrals!" -Norio

Small businesses that are starting out usually don't have a lot of money to spend on advertising. Instead, they must find cheap ways to market themselves to the world.

One cheap way to do this is by offering a free service in return for each client's contact details. It's important, if you decide to do this, to give a valid reason as to why you are doing it. You should be honest. If you choose to make something up, your clients will probably see right through it.

"This article is a bit late because my internet connection went dilly last night. You can expect 2 articles today to make up for that!" -Norio

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Online buyers are looking for information before they buy. If you can teach them something while they're on your web site, you'll have their business. If you can make them think of you as the expert in your field, then you have their business for life.

Accepting credit cards is a vital part of any online business. Although South Africa is far behind the rest of the world, offering EFT as your only form of payment is no longer enough. With that in mind, it's important for you to know what your options are. Here is a short outline of some companies in South Africa that offer online credit card processing.

How do you create a product that has people beating a path to your door to buy it? Most people think that you have to come up with something completely new and amazing, when all you really have to do is create the next "sliced bread".

"A lot of people are wondering, "What is RSS?". Well here's your answer. Please remember to subscribe to my RSS feed. (Look for the link on the lower-right side of this page." - Norio

"Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays aren't great days for writing so I decided (earlier today) not to write on these days but to rather showcase somebody else's article. Today's article is from Bill McRea and, although it's not a particularly beefy article, the idea behind it is very important." -Norio

Marketing an online business is quite different to offline marketing. Once you know what some of the differences are you can figure out more effective ways and means of marketing your business online.

Small-business owners, who work in an office or at home, quickly forget that there is a whole, real world out there. It's so easy to get caught up in what you're doing and what is going on in the office that you forget about the real people out there who could use what you're selling.

Passion is the secret to all success. Without passion, you'll quickly grow bored of any thing you do. And once that boredom sets in it's not so easy to get rid of it.

Think of the things that you enjoy doing. Make a list and then brainstorm all the problems related to those things.