How To Get Free Advertising By Participating In E-mail Discussion Lists

Posting messages to e-mail discussion lists is a great way to get free advertising. An e-mail discussion list is a group of people connected together via e-mail that can communicate with one another. When you post a message to a list include your signature file at the end. Your sig file should be no more than 5 to 6 lines. Include an attention getting sentence why they should visit your web site or e-mail your auto responder. Try to select list's that are archived because your signature file will be viewed for years to come.

E-mail discussion lists are highly targeted. There are thousands of discussion lists with thousands of different subjects. You can usually subscribe to these lists by sending an e-mail or by filling out a web form. You want to subscribe to one that would be related to your target audience. If you are selling books about marketing, you would want to post to lists were business people and marketers would congregate.

Before posting to any e-mail discussion list, read the FAQ or rules first. They will tell you what kinds of posts are allowed. Read the messages for a few days before posting your message to see what type of messages are being posted. If the list is archived you could read the older messages. If you want to make sure, you could e-mail the list moderator. Never post messages that are unrelated to the list's subject.

There are many different types of messages you could post to the e-mail discussion list. You could post an informative comment or article that would interest the other list members. Post a question on the discussion list that you would like answered. You could answer another person's question on the list. When you post and answer questions you will become know as an expert and meet other experts on the list.

How To Beat Your Competitor by Joint Ventures

A joint venture is when two or more businesses join together to
work on a project for a set period of time. Doing joint ventures
with other businesses can increase your chances of beating
your competition, increase your sales and increase your profits
quickly. Plus:

-you can save money when businesses share operating costs

-you can get referrals from other businesses

-you can save valuable time when businesses share the workload

-you can offer your customers new products and services

-you can gain new business associates

-you can save money by sharing advertising and marketing costs

-you can get free advice and important information from other
businesses

You can find businesses to joint venture with online or
offline. I try to find businesses that have the same target
audience, but are not direct competition with my business.
Here are a few ways to find joint ventures online:

-subscribe and participate in e-mail discussion groups, online
forums and newsgroups that deal with your target audience

-subscribe to e-zines that deal with your targeted audience

-note on your Web site or e-zine that you are interested in
doing joint ventures

-search in your favorite web directories and search engines to
find businesses to joint venture with online

Once you find a business simply e-mail them your proposal.
Tell the business owner the benefits of the joint venture.
Explain to him or her why it would be a win/win situation for
both of your businesses. Give them a lot of compliments about
their business, Web site, products and services. Using all three
methods above will greater your chance of constructing a
profitable joint venture.

How To Generate Highly Read Article Ideas

1. Participate in chat rooms related to your targeted
audience. Watch what questions people are asking
and ask others what information they're interested in.


2. Examine what information is being broadcast on
tv, news and talk shows. That information is usually
hot topics.


3. Hang out in similar message boards. People leave
questions for information they're seeking. That is a
strong indicator of subjects to write about.


4. Survey your web site visitors or current customers.
Ask them what type of articles they would like to see
published on your web site or in your e-zine.


5. Regularly check your site's guest books. People
sometimes leave questions or comments that would
help you generate high readership articles.


6. Check online bookstore's best sellers list. They're
very good resources for finding winning topics and
ideas to write about.


7. Use the time of year to come up with good topics.
You could relate your content to the holiday, season,
things that happen years ago during that time, etc.


8. Join some related e-mail discussion lists. Explore
the question being asked and the subjects people are
discussing.


9. Relate your article to a current fad that's going
on in your specific industry. The topic is usually
interesting to your target audience.


10. Make a file of visitor or customer questions you
receive via e-mail or phone. Usually, others have the
same questions, but never ask.