The bottom line is that there are plenty of really talented people out there who will never be heard from because they dont understand even the most basic principles of marketing. Marketing isnt often taught in Fine Arts courses because the instructors, by nature, are better at teaching the craft than they are at marketing themselves in the craft. Most marketing experts havent fine tuned their artistic talents enough to have a product worth marketing.
So the good news is that it is easier for a talented artist to learn the principles of excellence in marketing ideas and services than it is for a marketing genius to develop the passion and skill sets needed to produce good and, sometimes, great art.
Your website looks good and is ready to be shown to the public but now youll have to begin your marketing phase.
The first thing youll want to do is start writing internet articlesfor free! They dont have to be long or profound, they just have to be written well, stay on subject, be controversial and have great titles that search engines will latch onto and deliver people into your funnel.
Go to http://ezinearticles.com, sign up for a free membership and start writing short articles about what youre interested in. Also, make sure the meta tags on each page of your website have 101 keywords and phrases to attract search engines. Also, make sure that you have a text table of contents on each page of your website as well as the cool flash buttons. Make sure every page has a title and that you register your site with http://dmoz.com.
Next, start a blog at http://blogger.com (its free) and start blogging about your subject and your art. Talk about which phases your are in certain projects and make sure to include plenty of juicy tips and advice for people interested in art (do you see that you are truly building your online brand into an expertise here).
Next, go to http://aweber.com and sign up for a newsletter database subscription ($20 a month). Put forms and links on all of your websites and send an initial message to your warm e-mail market to join your subscription list. Send a weekly newsletter to your subscriberskeep them entertained and keep them interested and with patience and time your audience will grow into thousands. These thousands know tens of thousands and this circle of hundreds of thousands of possibilities will keep you working for the rest of your life if you choose to work that long.
Beyond this, there is pay-per-click advertising you search out proper keywords and buy time with them in certain search engines as well as affiliate programs where other people market your services for you and you give them a percentage of whatever business they bring. But lets focus on the cheaper foundation first.
This is a guaranteed method of success if you are willing to put the time into it and you must first decide whether you want to go all the way or not because success and happiness begin at the crown of the head where spirit meets mind meets body. Success or failure is a choice we make each moment and determine the nature of our experience of reality. I have been extremely impressed with your talent and with your professionalism in our exchanges so farI believe in you and in your future and I am willing to invest my time and limited resources (for now at least) into helping you achieve. But all that doesnt matter if you havent invested yourself and your success 100%.
There is no going back from here, my friend. Onward and upward!
Joshua Minton is President of an Internet Publishing and Business Consulting Corporation called Family Bliss Enterprises, Inc. He is also author of two novels, several short stories, poems and articles on art, philosophy, politics, sociology, science, popular culture, business, health insurance administration, internet marketing, blogging and personal success.
You can reach Josh by e-mail at or by signing up for his weekly newsletter off or by sending a blank e-mail to .
I think we all cringe and dread when we open our mail box and see that dreaded Refund Request in the subject line. And I guess we dread it for a number of reasons.
1. We know that that person got the use of our product and didnt have to pay a cent for it (and it can be a disturbing thought but it does happen some people are just habitual refunders)
2. Advertising isnt cheap and when youve paid to get that customer in it can feel like a beat around the head when you not only refund the money but it often incurs a fee for the refund purchase, so now youve just paid that customer to have your materials
3. Organizing a refund could be time spent better doing other things
The best thing you can do for yourself and your company is to keep a cool head about it. Getting all nancy about it even if it is a habitual refunder can do more damage for your name in the long run.
Im sure were all aware of the statistics of if someone has a bad experience with your business they will tell 11 people about it, if they have a pleasant experience they will only tell 3 people about it.
Well I think those numbers are a little higher on the internet. People have access to forums, emails, websites etc.. etc.. They will take neither pity nor a second thought to run off to these places and give your name a real bashing if you handle the refund request in an unprofessional manner. Once they head to these type places on the internet you can pretty much be assured they will be telling a LOT more then just 11 people. One bad review is all it takes to lose business.
Thankfully most people in the world are decent and wont take advantage of you or your company and sometimes the best mind set to have is believing they have a genuine reason for requesting the refund. And sometimes not all business is lost even if someone has requested a refund, if youve dealt with it professionally and their motives for the refund were of good intentions (maybe that wasnt the product they were interested in) you could still stand a chance doing business with this person down the track with another offer of something thats more suited to them.
Joanne King - http://www.joesy.com/
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