Did you ever see the movie Terminator 3 by Arnold SchwarzeneggerRemember when the machines took over the controls and began toterminate society as we know it
This is exactly how it feels every Summer for many business owners.
As if your computer somehow sneaks in during the middleof the night and takes over by putting a Closed for the Summersign on your business.
You wake up on July 1 wondering where all the customers are.
My business is no different.
Ive just learned to expect it every year and I do somethingabout it before I can be sabotaged.
So, when the beginning of June comes around, I start ramping upfor the Summer months to keep business steady and even on theincrease.
And, heres what I do:
1) Find something in your industry thats timely and write anarticle about it. Im doing just that with this article as anexample. The fact that sales slump for more small businessowners in the Summer than any other 2-month time of the yearis timely since July is right around the corner.
The article doesnt need to be extensive, maybe 600-800 words,and write as if youre just talking to a friend sitting nextto you.
2) Create a signature line at the end of your article thatinvites readers to visit your web site. Use mine below asan example to write your own.
3) Send your article to your clients or customers by e-mailor even regular USPS. They will appreciate hearing from youand they will be thankful for the timely courtesy.
Plus, any time you can get your name in front of an existingcustomer, you stand a chance of getting additional businessjust by simply reminding them youre still around.
4) Get your article posted on other peoples web sites andin their on-line newsletters. This might sound like old hatif youve been doing business on-line for a while, but the factis that people still turn to the Internet to find information.
5) Submit your article to other peoples BLOGs. BLOGs areeasy to find because web site owners are always adding themto the front page of their sites so that you cant miss them.
The challenge of owning a BLOG is contributing to it everyday. Its easy to do for the first couple of weeks but thenthat dedication slips.
So, approach a BLOGger with your article and suggest theyinclude it to their BLOG if they ever get in a bind andcant make a posting of their own one day. Chances are,youll see your article posted within the week!
6) Submit your article to RSS feeds. RSS stands for RealSimple Syndication, which essentially means you add yourarticle to the list once and it will appear on potentiallyhundreds of other peoples web sites. Search Google forrss articles submission to get you started.
7) Have something ready on your web site to inspire anynew visitors to get more involved with your business. Imnot saying put the hard sell on them. Just offer someway for them to discover more about how you can help them.
Provide more articles for them to read. Maybe add a sound fileor two. Have a newsletter subscription area. Offer a freetele-seminar or webinar. Be creative but captivating. Havea definite answer to the question, How can my new website visitors benefit from being on my web site for anothercouple of minutes
Follow these seven steps and theres a good chance you willnot only increase your web site visitors with targeted traffic,but that visitation could happen more quickly than you mightexpect.
So, dont allow your potential sales for this years Summer months to be terminated before they even have a chance to happen.
Take action this week and July and August could turn out to betwo of your best sales months yet.
Marty Dickinson started the company HereNextYear in1996 and has helped hundreds of small business owners to use the Internet to increase sales through web site designand on-line promotion. He is also a national speaker andauthor of the book, Winning the Internet Dogfight. Visit ,for more timely tips by Marty.
Ever hear about an idea that is so simple yet so powerful, you wonder why you hadnt thought of it before
Heres one: Content Exchange
Instead of the tired, increasingly ineffective reciprocal link exchange, webmasters are becoming very innovative in getting great links to their sites in other ways.
Everyone is concerned about, or should be, their site growing and changing over time. Search engines need to see updates to keep you ranked well. It is an ongoing battle to add new pages of good content you can rely on to keep your visitors clicking, joining, and buying.
Instead of simply asking for a bland link from a sites infrequently visited link directory, be bold and set up Content Exchanges with other sites in your niche!
What is a Content Exchange
Simply, it is exchanging article and other content with another webmaster with a resource link at the bottom. Much like article syndication, but you are making one-to-one deals with other sites to swap whole pages of content, thereby building each others sites whenever you write new articles.
Set up 10 exchanges with other sites and you have 10 new places every time you write an article to syndicate your content. Plus invaluable targeted incoming links.
You also have 10 new people building YOUR site and adding content every time THEY write new content as well.
Double Bonus Over Regular Link Exchanges
Imagine for a moment what 10 new pages of content would be like for your site each month. Working with your exchange partners, you can have them pay particular attention to keyword density in their content to get their pages ranking higher on the engines.
You can also do a short review on top of each new page to change the content entirely in the eyes of the search engines and avoid a duplicate content penalty from certain engines.
What would this simple example produce for you in one year
10 exchange partners writing one article ONLY per month would produce 120 new pages of content for your site.
120 new links would be produced for your site. Plus any links from other publishers who find your free-to-use content on partner sites and use it on THEIR sites! (This happens all the time with my articles.)
120 new pages to put your advertising on and get into the search engines.
It is simple, effective, tested, and it is a tool I use to get more incoming links and traffic along with syndication to major directories.
Try it and see what it does for your business.
Copyright 2005 Jack Humphrey
by Jack Humphrey
Jack Humphrey is the managing partner at and author of Power Linking at