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!
Gary Bencivenga's Bullets
Gary offers EXTREMELY useful, free "bullets" of information on marketing. This information can apply to just about any business and it's very unique. He doesn't try and lure you into anything -- just great FREE tips that you can use to bump up your marketing efforts a notch or 20!
Perry Marshall's "5 Days to Success with Google AdWords"
Perry is one of those great no-bull marketers! I love his writing style and he really cuts through the crap and gets to the "meat" of a subject. This link will let you sign up for his free 5-part AdWords course. He also offers a complete eBook on AdWords (which I bought -- it's excellent!) for people who are SERIOUS about AdWords.
MarketingSherpa.com's Newsletters
I subscribe to the "Best-of" newsletter (I think). The case-studies are very insightful and can quickly show you real-life results from tweaks to websites and email marketing campaigns. My particular favourite was one regarding an American bank but I can't remember which! You have to pay to see older-content. Visit often so you don't miss anything!
Yanik Silver's Instant Sales Letters
This guy is a salesman -- through and through! This must've been one of the very first things I bought online and it really helped me get my small business off to a decent start. The package includes a LOT of salesletters for every occasion and all you have to do is replace the words in red with your own specific information! I don't use them anymore (I write my own salesletters these days) but it really helped me start. Worth the $39.97, and more!
Guerilla Marketing Articles
Shame on you if you don't know who Jay Conrad Levinson is and if you don't know what Guerilla Marketing is! Jay coined the term when he came up with low-cost and, somtimes, no-cost marketing methods for small businesses to use. He is the father of virtually all online marketing and cheap marketing-methods known to mankind! This link will take you to a list of articles he has written for his site, www.gmarketing.com.
The Business Warriors (Small Business) Forum
Peter Carruthers crashed and burned in 1992 -- taking his family and assets with him. Since then, he decided to start this community to teach small business owners how to avoid the same fate. I joined in June of 2005 and, since then, they've helped me sell my car, make important labour decisions, review and test my new products and websites... and so much more! It's R171 a month which is nothing compared to the money I've made and saved just by being a member! (I now also help Pete keep the technical side of this community together. The man is a genius in so many ways!)
Sean D'Souza's Psychotactics Newsletter
Sean (no relation) is yet another marketing guru and genius. He has made it his life's mission to study and understand the human brain, in relation to business and marketing. What a powerful concept. If you could just understand why a prospect says no, you could be raking it in. I love Sean's articles and his surname is cool too! ;)
The 5000bc.com (Small Business) Forum
Although not as "vibey" as Business Warriors, 5000bc.com has a great forum called "The Cave" where small business owners from all over the world come to talk about marketing. Sean D'Souza runs this baby too and contributes some absolutely priceless marketing tips and information to his members. This one will cost you $189 for a full year. You can also subscribe quarterly at $29.93 per quarter.
Brad Fallon's & Andy Jenkin's Free "Going Natural" Videos on SEO
I've only watched the first video but it was awesome. I'm sure the 2nd & 3rd videos are great too but I'll leave that for YOU to decide.
WordTracker.com's Keyword Research Services
If you're not using WordTracker, then you're probably not serious about online marketing! That's the bottom line. WordTracker is THE leading keyword-research service on the internet today and it's helped me find some niches that otherwise would've been impossible to find. I've got a 1-year subscription because I use it everyday. Most people (including me) go for the 1-year option. It's the most flexible.
Pete's Weekly Business Idea
Most of the Business Warriors I know (mentioned further up on this page) found out about the community through PetesWeekly.com. It's a newsletter in which Pete helps small business owners think outside the box. Very inspirational, funny and insightful.
The 'Insider Secrets' to Marketing Your Business on the Internet
This is the reason I started this website a few months ago -- to promote this amazing course. It's easily the best marketing course available today. The techniques covered in the course are focused towards online marketing but some can even be used for most brick-and-mortar businesses. I've got the latest version and the bonuses alone are worth the initial outlay. (It's not cheap but it's worth every single penny!)
Gian Visser's Free 7-Part Internet-Marketing Course
Gian is the MD of Afrihost.com, the 2nd-largest hosting company in South Africa. He wrote an amazing 7-part course on internet-marketing which, incidentally, is how I learned about PetesWeekly.com! They say that birds of a feather flock together and that's especially true for gurus! If you don't get a popup asking you to sign up for the course, then clear your cookies and try again!
Chris Ellington's ArticleMarketer.com
ArticleMarketer.com is simply one of the BEST ways to get lots of traffic to your website! All you have to do is write a simple article (over 500 words) on your area of expertise, and submit it to ArticleMarketer.com. The system will automatically submit it to article-directories all over the world, ensuring that your website becomes very popular very quickly. I use them a LOT! (I have a lifetime subscription!)
PressPortal.co.za -- Free Press Release Submission in SA
One of the best ways to draw a SWARM of visitors to your website is to publish a news-worthy press release. This website allows you to upload yours for free. Mine was listed on Google within minutes of being accepted on the site. Very cool!
Implix's GetResponse Email Marketing Service
You really should be using email-marketing to its full potential. One easy way for you to do that is to offer a free newsletter with educational information about uses of your product! Remember to collect emails on your website's home page! GetResponse is one of the best tools out there and they have a lot of tutorials and documentation in their members' area.
Free Ad-Designing Service at AdDesigner.com
Most small businesses don't have a big budget (or sometimes, any budget) to spend on marketing. That's why it's great to have free tools like this around that you can use to design a banner for your website marketing. I've used it once before and the result was very professional.
That's it for now. I'll add some more resources sometime in the future. Subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you don't miss out!
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