Netaim - Internet Association of Information Marketers

Tom Antion's Holds Netaim Teleseminar on June 29

2006-06-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

Tom Antion is having a teleseminar with the 'Internet Association of Information Marketers' on Thursday, June 29.
The teleseminar will teach beginning, intermediate and advanced internet marketing techniques depending on the level, according to Antion.
The timings for the three levels are different.
Teleseminar Details
Key Persons: Tom Antion and members of 'Internet Association of Information Marketers'
Topic: Marketing Techniques at three levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced
Day/Date: Thursday, June 29
Time: Different timings for different levels
- 1:00 pm EST - Level One
- 3:00 Pm EST - Level Two
- 5:00 pm EST - Level Three
Fee for the teleseminar:
- $15 monthly for Level One membership
- $33 monthly for Level Two memberships
- $50 monthly for Level Three memberships
Register for call details.
We have monthly teleseminars with Tom Antion, thus a monthly fee must be paid.
ALL registrants have a chance to sign up for a contest to 'Tom Antion's retreat center!' (Worth $5,000)
For more information contact us at (305) 534-8846 eMail: Gayle@netaim.info
Link
Go to Net Aim.

Tom Antion Holds Netaim teleseminar May 25

2006-05-22T16:30:00.000-04:00

Tom Antion is having a Teleseminar with the Internet Association of Information Marketers on Thursday, May 25 that will teach Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced internet marketing techniques (depending on level). Those who wish to sign up may sign up at http://www.netaim.info/membership.htm. We have monthly teleseminars with Tom Antion, thus a monthly fee must be paid.

Teleseminar Details
Tom Antion
Day/Date: Thursday, May 25
Time:
4:00 pm EST Level One
2:00 Pm EST Level Two
12:00 n EST Level Three
Fee for the seminar:
$15 monthly for Level One membership
$33 monthly for Level Two memberships
$50 monthly for Level Three memberships

"ALL registrants have a chance to sign up for a contest to Tom Antion’s retreat center!”

For more information contact us at (305) 534-8846
Email: Gayle@netaim.info

Create an Online Media Room By Joan Stewart

2006-05-01T17:17:00.000-04:00

Bart Baggett wants media people everywhere to know that he hasappeared on some of the top TV talk and news shows in the U.S.and in prestigious magazines like Biography. So in the media roomat his website, under a button titled "For the Media," hereprints the logos of media outlets where stories about him haveappeared. What a great way to establish instant credibility.
Bart is a handwriting expert and has appeared on more than 1,300TV and radio shows. Is it any wonder? He does a great job lettingthe media know how he can help them. His media room also featurespress releases, including two that are tie-ins to Valentine's Dayand National Handwriting Week in January.
He also gives the media ideas on how they can dovetail stories onnational news events to his areas of expertise. For example, onCNN, Bart analyzed the handwriting in letters sent during theanthrax scare. In other media outlets, he analyzed TimothyMcVeigh's prison letters and showed how McVeigh's handwritingrevealed a callous character.
There's lots more you can learn by visiting Bart's site. Heoffers punchy testimonials from media people who love him. Hesupplies a list of questions for radio and TV interviewers. Andhe gives specific instructions on easy ways for TV and radio showhosts to obtain handwriting samples from their audience membersso Bart can analyze them on the air. What media person wouldn'twant to interview him?
Bart says he used another publicity trick that paid offhandsomely. When he was interviewed by Biography magazine, hesent the magazine photos of what he looked like as a child. Ifmagazines print childhood photos of celebrities, he reasoned, andthey print his, he too will be viewed as a celebrity. Sureenough, the magazine did. And he got more space that he wouldhave gotten had he not sent the photos.
If you want media people calling you for interviews, you mustbuild a compelling online media room and media kit. More thanever, media people often check out sources’ web sites beforecalling the sources. They want to see if you’re worth the phonecall. They want to find out if you’re media-savvy. And sometimesthey want to see what other media have interviewed you. If no oneelse has, why should they bother?
You'll find hundreds of tips on how to build an online media roomand media kit in the one-hour tape or CD called "Electronic MediaKits: How to Create Them, Deliver Them and See Instant Results,"in which I interview publicist Bev Harris. of Talion.com. Itcomes with a doanloadable handout of my favorite online mediarooms built by Fortune 100 companies down and sole proprietors.

How to Use the Internet for Free Publicity By Joan Stewart

2006-04-03T15:27:00.000-04:00

The Internet is one of the cheapest ways to market your business and obtain free publicity, as long as you're willing to spend the time it takes to spread your name far and wide.

Your task is easier if you have your own website. But even if you can't afford that just yet, you still have many options:

Become an active member of forums or discussion boards. Blatant commercialism is discouraged, but hang around some of these forums long enough, offer free advice and before long people will be asking what else you know–and possibly what kind of product or service you sell. See Secrets for Getting Through to the Media Online.
Start blogging. Anyone can create a blog for free, and blog postings get better search engine rankings than articles at a website, like this one.
Check out the website of the media outlet where you want to be mentioned. It might have contests, special offers, guest books or other features designed to find out more about you.
Many newspapers and magazines feature "hot websites." Ask them to visit yours.
Write articles for electronic newsletters and magazines. In exchange for your article, most editors will let you write a generous tagline telling readers what you do and how to contact you. See Special Report #6: How to Write How-to Articles That Position You as an Expert.
If you don't have the time to write articles, subscribe to other people's free newsletters. Give the editor free advice, tips and nuggets of helpful information for their newsletter, in exchange for using your name and e-mail address.
If you publish your own electronic newsletter, make sure you register it at Ezinelisting.com and at Ezine Universe, two of the largest databases for electronic newsletters.

Need more help using the Internet for free publicity?

See Special Report #17: Powerful Ways to Promote Your Website to Draw Traffic and Boost Sales

Customer Feedback: Everyone has an Opinion - USE IT! By Tom Antion

2006-02-22T16:33:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been in a department store and known exactly what you were looking for but couldn’t locate any staff to help you find it? Think of your website as your very own department store, and your contact numbers, email addresses, and FAQ’s navigational buttons as your staff. Without these handy interaction tools, your purchaser will get frustrated and E-shop somewhere else.
It is important to provide your customers with ways to ask questions or give feedback. We are a curious bunch of people in this world; everyone has an opinion and thinks someone should hear it. So give them the opportunity to voice their feelings on your merchandise, encourage dialogue with your customer and then use their opinion to better your product.
A speedy response is important to keeping the sale, whether it be a question, comment, or criticism, respond to your customer in a timely manner to let them know that what they say matters.
Your staff should show a great desire to help your clients with their questions; this is an easy way to turn an inquiring customer into a buying customer.
Being attentive to your clients needs will also reduce the number of returns on your product.
Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

Self Publishing

2006-01-25T15:41:00.000-05:00

This section concentrates on self-publishing because that's totally under your control, it's fast, and its the only way I know to get an 80 percent or better profit margin. When you self-publish, you become a book manufacturer.

Virus Protection

2005-12-21T17:07:00.000-05:00

First of all, what is a virus? A virus is a computer program that is written by someone either wanting to be cute, or more maliciously, wanting to do real damage. It can be distributed either online or via computer via computer disks. In many cases, the virus replicates itself on its way to delivering its dastrdly deed.
That deed could be something as simple as making a pop-up say, "Bill Gates is a jerk" or something more insidious like erasing your entire hard drive or worse.
Viruses can't damage hardware. You don't have to worry about your screen blowing up or your hard drive being physically damaged. Viruses only damage software and data files, which are usually much more valuable to you than hardware anyway.
What do you have to do to protect yourself from viruses?

Backup: if you backup your files regularly, viruses will have little chance of doing great damage to you and your business. Good backups allow you to simply rid yourself of the virus and restore your files to the way they were before you got the virus.
Antivirus software: McAfee ( http://www.mcafee.com ) and Symantec ( Http://www.symantec.com ) are favorites that make virus software. Have your computer advisor, or someone familiar with each program, suggest which one might be best for you. And don't think these are the only programs available. I just like you to stick with well-supported programs. Keep in mind that you need to continually update these programs weekly, or even more often. It does little good to have there programs if they are even a month old because new viruses are being indentified all the time. Also, having them and using them regularly still won't guarantee you won't get a virus. You could get a new one before the virus companies realize it exists. so, virus software is not substitute for backups.
Beware of downloads: Only download material from sites that you feel are trustworthy. This is a judgement call in some cases. you can generally trust large, well-known companies.
Beware of attachments: Don't open e-mail attachments unless they are scanned and found free of viruses. Just dont do it, also train your employees on this issue. Pay special attention to attachments that are typically known to carry viruses like .exe, .vbs, .bat, .pif, and .scr files.
Scan floppy disks: A friend might give you a floppy disk with a program or data files. Be sure to run it through your virus program before you attempt to use it. Your firend may not even know a virus is on the disk.
Scan everything else: Even programs downloaded from the internet can carry viruses.
Isolate infected computers: If you have several computers in your home or office, remove them from your network and do whatever it takes to quarantine or remove the virus. You dont want to let one bad apple spoil the branch
Do your windows update: Windows computers are attacked all the time. Microsoft sends you "Windows Updates" designed to make your computer run better and safer and you should use them. Some times you'll have to do a quick update everyday. To set your computer to recieve the updates in Windows XP click "start", then click "help and support" then click "windows update"

If you faithfully do these things, you should very little trouble with viruses.

Links

Anti-Viruses
Symantec Norton Anti-virus http://www.symantec.com/
Mcafee Anti-virus www.mcafee.com

Backing up
Symantec Norton Ghost http://www.symantec.com/
Symantec Roll back www.symantec.com

Windows Update

www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Netaim www.netaim.info

Coupons & Rebates By Tom Antion

2005-11-23T16:18:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true, coupons are not just for newspapers anymore. Not to be a downer, but I personally hate the things. I can’t imagine ever voluntarily wasting a perfectly good Sunday morning, getting paper cuts from cutting out the darn things: but to each their own. My opinion aside, there is no question that coupons and rebates are an effective sales technique. Printable coupons can be added right onto your website and cash rebates can be offered on your products (EVERYONE loves getting cash back.) The process of putting the little guys on your site is very simple and will definitely help boost your sales.
The shopping system I use, http://www.KickStartCart.com, has a coupon module that generates coupons and discount links. This module automatically deducts discounts when someone purchases a product through those links. E-coupons are a great way to make your customer feel like they “one upped” everyone else who paid full price. Coupons and rebates are excellent tools to get yourself noticed because there are not too many sites that really use them. This sales tactic is sure to get you noticed and appreciated. A customer that saves money with you, is one who will shop with you again, if you ask me

Keep It Simple, Stupid: The Beauty of a Clean Cut Website By Tom Antion

2005-11-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

Don’t knock it; “Keep It Simple, Stupid” is a great rule to live by. Nobody likes a website to “yell” at them, with blaring colors and flashing lights. Too many buttons will turn customers off. I had this problem with my homepage at http://www.antion.com. A colleague of mine, who makes a lot of money, pointed out the cluttered look of my site. I had worked so closely on every detail of the page; that I couldn’t see it for what it was anymore.
I set out to simplify my site, first by removing the banners and combining my navigational buttons. The goal was a clean looking homepage, so possible customers would not get frustrated or confused and click away.
I also eliminated many of the choices on my site, narrowing it down to two groups for my main clientele, “Need a Speaker” or “Be a Speaker.” The concept here is to make it simple for my customers to locate what it is they are looking for. Reducing the choices on my site will save customers from having to wade through all of my stuff. This would do nothing more than waste their time and reflect poorly on me and my ability to help them.

Pamphlets and the Money They’ll Put in Your Pocket

2005-11-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

People are making a fortune on pamphlets. If you go into an airport you can purchase a pamphlet for around $6.95, and it probably cost under fifty cents to produce. It blows my mind to think that little folded up booklets are the sole reason that some people are rich today. It’s crazy.
I know a woman who is selling one of these little books on how to design cool business cards. Her pamphlet consists of 100 tips and a bunch of folded white paper. Her price? Five bucks a pop. Pamphlets are great because the production cost is cheap and they can be sold in bulk to companies who will give them away as a goodwill item. They are also an impulse buy based on cheap price and good information. Be sure to focus more attention to your bigger sales. Pamphlets can be given away if they are distracting customers from your more expensive packages.
A friend of mine has a book, not a pamphlet, but not a textbook either. He sold the rights to his creation, and did not even have to print or ship it; they handled everything. A couple hundred thousand copies later, he has a big chunk of money in his hand and he hasn’t lifted a finger since he wrote it.
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Internet Association Of Information Marketers
Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

Delay From Hurricane Wilma

2005-11-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

Please pardon our absense, we were affected by hurricane Wilma.
We are now back in business.

Trust, the Key to Success By Tom Antion

2005-10-17T15:11:00.000-04:00

Not everyone is comfortable putting their personal information online. It is up to you to make customers feel at ease while they do business with your company. This means boasting your reputable name on your site with the Verisign Banner or the Better Business Bureau seal. These are not just added accessories to make your site look pretty this is your good name hard at work.

You’d be surprised how easy it is to turn someone into an e-shopper. The security of a shopping cart allows customers to know instantaneously that everything is OK and that their credit card number is in fact not lost in cyberspace. When gaining the trust of a potential customer, it is important to go the extra mile. I e-mail my customers numerous times to make sure they are happy with their product, and to ask about their success. All of this may seem time consuming, but it is worth it. My clients have come to expect reliability and honesty from me, and I would have it no other way.

Even if you do all of the things I have outlined to build up this trust, your good name can be lost immediately with the sale of one shabby product. Your business is your top investment so it is important to make sure there is plenty of value in everything you produce.

Here are a couple sites where you can be rated and/or apply for a seal of approval:

http://veribiz.com/
http://www.internettradebureau.com/
http://www.e-safecertified.com/
http://www.truste.com/
http://epubliceye.com/

How to Get Your Video Production Right the FIRST Time By Tom Antion

2005-10-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

I’ll cut to the chase. To make your video look right, you have to wear makeup. Sorry guys, be macho if you want, but when you have a five o’clock shadow after you just shaved, don’t say I didn’t warn you. The harsh lights used in studios penetrate several layers of skin that would appear a lot healthier if you had just put on some powder. It gets worse… baldness seems to be highlighted by cameras for some reason, get over it and put on some makeup. Don’t forget your nose and forehead, and always reapply during a break; you’ll thank me later.

While we’re on the vanity of things; clothes. Don’t wear gaudy prints, black, red or white. When you review your video, you want to see yourself rather than your outfit.

OK, now that that is out of the way, onto cameras. You’ll want preferably three cameras to ensure you have captured your speech and your audience from all angles. In order for your video to be of the best possible quality you’ll want to use Beta Cam, mini DV, or at the absolute worst, SVHS or HI8. Also, to have your video look great you should use professional operators and a director if they are using multi-cameras and a control room.

Lighting is the most important element when planning a video production. I have videos that were shot on poor quality cameras, but look great thanks to the right lighting.

If the organization is doing the editing, be right there in the suite as they do it. Ultimately, no matter what you have bartered, this is your finished copy and you should have a say in what is cut and what is not.

Lastly, scatter microphones throughout the audience. This will allow you to hear real reactions without the filters of lapel microphones.

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Internet Association Of Information Marketers

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

Ten Tips Articles By Tom Antion

2005-10-03T16:01:00.000-04:00

“Ten Tips” articles are the easiest piece to write because they are made up of only an introductory paragraph, your Ten Tips, and a conclusion. Print editors love these because they can easily be shortened if there is a lack of available space.
Your articles can be used in book chapters, on websites, in E-zines and anywhere else you would like to put them. If you publish an article in a magazine, that publication now holds some or all of the rights to your work. Compiling many articles into one book works well, but what happens if other people own the copyrights? Read on.
First off, there are many rights involved with publishing your work. I only give up all rights if it is a big magazine, and in all other cases, I give up what I absolutely must in order to still get published. If you have an opportunity to be published in Newsweek or some other large publication, that is a far bigger deal than having to rewrite a portion of your book. So don’t give up all of your rights unless you absolutely have to. Especially be sure never to give electronic rights to a print publication unless you receive some money for it.
For other information on publication rights check out these sites:
http://www.authorsguild.org Do a search on this site for the keyword “rights”
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec97/cew3.htm A Novice Writer’s Guide to Rights
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Internet Association Of Information Marketers

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

Search Term Suggestion Tool By Tom Antion

2005-09-21T15:53:00.000-04:00

Overture.com offers a cool function to assist you on your quest to find unique keywords. This tool can also tell you how many times a particular word has been searched within the last 30 days. If you were to enter the word "presentation," the tool would tell you that it has been searched 954 times in the past month. The tool will then display variations of the word that have been searched in the past 30 days. These numbers only reflect the searches done through Overture.com and its affiliates.
I noticed that the more specific the search, the less often it was looked for. A narrower search is obviously done by individuals looking for a more particular thing. This tells me that if I create pages in my site based only on general terms, I will inevitably bring more traffic into my site. Unfortunately, some of that traffic will quickly click away, but others will have found exactly what they were looking for: me.
The search term tool is also good for checking to see if a keyword or keyword phrase is being used. It is very discouraging to kill yourself getting a high ranking on a keyword that no one uses. So why not go in there and play around until you find something that suits your topic area.
Overture also has deals with other major search facilities. If you are willing to bid amongst the three highest bids, Overture puts you as a "sponsored or paid listing" on their other search engines. This is a quick and easy way to get a high search result.
Overture.com is currently the largest and most successful paid search engine out there. However, search engines and directories are changing so rapidly, that it is impossible to ever really be up to date. That is why I recommend book-marking http://www.searchenginewatch.com and http://www.searchengine-news.com/ in order to keep up on the latest developments. You will also receive a free E-zine filled with current headlines and facts to help keep you in the know.
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Internet Association Of Information Marketers
Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

How to Make a Website (Minus the Headaches) By Tom Antion

2005-08-29T14:15:00.000-04:00

There is nothing wrong with making your own website if you are looking to save some money. Be prepared however, for your finished product to resemble an after school project; cutesy, homemade touches and all. It is pretty hard to make your own website and have it look professional; but, there is an easier way that will leave you with fewer headaches in the long run.
You must first do some web research. Click around and find websites that have the look you are going for. Make some notes and jot down what it is you do and do not want representing you. You should also start thinking of some keywords that will help people find you if they were to type them into a search engine.
After you have a rough idea of what you would like your site to look like, you should contact a professional who will take care of all the hassles that come with making a webpage. I recommend contacting Global Presence in Tucson, Arizona, http://www.saeler.com; they do great work and pay special attention to detail.
Your website will be created so that you can make changes when and if you see fit. To do this, you should purchase a web authoring program, and learn how to properly navigate the system to make revisions on your site. After the site is up, you only need to know how to do 4 things in order to keep your site up to date.
1. Be able to add a new page, complete with all of the navigation buttons from previous pages.
2. Have the ability to add text.
3. Be able to add a graphic.
4. Know how to make a hyperlink.
These are 4 easy steps that will be repeated numerous times throughout your website’s existence.
Not everyone uses the same browser, so your webpage may look very different from one computer to the next. To get a quick look at how your site may appear on other browsers, go to http://www.anybrowser.com/. When choosing a font, use something standard like Times New Roman; one that virtually every computer has. A good resource to help guide you through all of your website problems is Robin Williams’ (no, not that Robin Williams) book, The Non Designers Web Book.
*Remember to keep your site simple, so that customers don’t get confused by all the buttons, and click away.
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Internet Association Of Information Marketers

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

What's All This I Hear About Firewalls? By Tom Antion

2005-08-15T16:03:00.000-04:00

At this point, if you've got the whole "turning the computer on" thing down; you are ready to learn about firewalls. Whether you use your computer for business or pleasure, it is important to have a firewall. If you use a high speed Internet connection like Cable modem or DSL, you are at a MUCH greater risk for someone to hack into your computer, ultimately giving them free rein to meddle in your files and your life.
A firewall basically limits access to your computer from the Internet; it does not protect your website (that is the responsibility of your webhost.) When you first install a firewall, it will alert you many times about possible threats to your computer. This means that an automated robot or someone who needs a life; is attempting to gain entry onto your computer. Chances are good that big time hackers will not bother with files belonging to someone with a small business, but the 8th grader down the street just might.
Begin by downloading a free firewall; you can visit http://www.firewall.com/ for more information. I got my free firewall at http://www.zonelabs.com, and it provides a decent amount of protection for beginners. As your business grows you will need to upgrade your software. Many sites sell firewalls for a fee, but I think you’ll agree you’d rather pay the cash than lose your hard drive.
Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'Em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

Merchant Accounts By Tom Antion

2005-08-09T17:13:00.000-04:00

To make money at this Internet game you have to have some way to take credit cards. You must have a way to capture a sale immediately when you create the impulse to buy in your customer. You don't even want your prospect to have to get up from their computer. Anything that distracts them could translate into a lost sale.

One of the most important ways to grab the sale NOW is to have your own Visa/MasterCard/AMEX merchant account tied to your shopping system. It used to be really tough to get a merchant account, especially if you work out of your home. Now, you can't turn on your computer without 200 ads hitting you in the face from companies wanting to give you merchant account status. . . .Well “give” is not exactly the right word. . . . It's going to cost you.

If you scroll half way down the page at http://www.KickStartCart.com you’ll find one that is relatively inexpensive and compatible with KickStartCart.

You'll run into all kinds of deals where people will want to lease you card swiping equipment . . . unless you do a ton of back-of-the-room business and have a staff to help you, you will never see a credit card. All the sales are either via Internet or telephone. Sometimes a fax will come in. You simply don't need a card machine. I've actually taken an order on my cell phone while on the plane before we took off. [NOTE: In case you were wondering, I took the order on an airsickness bag.] J

Get firm numbers on up front fees, monthly fees, credit card percentages, and per transaction costs. While you're at it, find out exactly what a transaction is? Does calling for an “authorization only” constitute a transaction? Does doing a return equal a transaction? All these fees add up, but you’ll consider them chump change when you start doing lots of business.

The big three that you need are Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Sometimes you can throw in Discover Card as well if you feel like it. I've never lost a sale that I know of because I only take three credit cards.

One of the places I've heard you can get merchant accounts is at the big warehouse store, Costco. I don't know the details, but apparently if you shop there, they have a program to get you a merchant account. It's certainly worth checking out. Just make sure their “online gateway” is compatible with http://www.KickStartCart.com . You should always choose your shopping system first because it will be the most important part of your system when it comes to selling more and automating your business. You then find a merchant account that’s compatible. Don’t do it the other way around just to save a nickel or two on your merchant account. If you do, you’ll pay for it dearly when the free shopping cart they give you is a piece of junk.

You must sign up with American Express directly. You can do it on line at http://www.americanexpress.com/homepage/merchant.shtml

Assistance on securing merchant accounts
http://www.KickStartCart.com (scroll half way down the page)
http://www.acceptcreditcards.com

Link Considerations By Tom Antion

2005-08-02T13:56:00.000-04:00

Since everything you do on your website eats up a little or a lot of your time, it makes sense to evaluate the potential payback from your efforts. You want to get the most bang for your buck. Here are some things to consider when working with links:

Will the link be permanent? A permanent link will be far more valuable in the long run for both potential clickthroughs and link popularity evaluations. The exception would be a prominent short-term link to a high traffic site like CNN that could send tens of thousands of visitors to your site. Don't waste your time on Free-For-All Link deals. These are places where anyone can place a link. Search engines look unfavorably on them.

A few links from really high traffic sites will most likely produce more for you than lots of links from no traffic sites.

When granting an outbound link you will get more mileage out of the link if it goes to a specific related site. Outbound links to unrelated sites could hurt your overall ranking. But if it's an unrelated site that is giving you a reciprocal link, it is still very valuable to you. You will not be penalized because it is unrelated.

link to your site with related text located near the link will get more clickthroughs than a link by itself.

link buried among many others will not get many click throughs, but will still be valuable for link popularity reasons. Don't turn such a link down, but try to negotiate for a top or exclusive position in your category.

A Links in articles about the same topic get lots of attention and a good click through rate.

22 Questions to Ask Before You Use Any Shopping Cart System By Tom Antion

2005-07-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

Many seasoned professional speakers agree that you can make more money selling your knowledge in the form of products than you can speaking.

You can use traditional methods to sell products such as direct mail, catalogs and advertising. However, if you have a great online presence, the entire world is your marketplace at a fraction of the cost of most traditional methods. To easily sell to this worldwide marketplace, you need a great shopping cart system.

Choosing a shopping cart system is perhaps the most important single decision you'll make in your online marketing career.

This is because:

You're stuck with the decision for a long time.

If you buy into a system that isn't adequate, it can cost you money--big money- because it won't maximize the amount of money spent by each visitor.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of off-the-shelf, free and alternative products out there vying for your money, time or both. And most of them are junk.

Don't suffer like I did I learned the hard way. When I started on the Internet I couldn't find a decent shopping cart program, so I took one that was highly recommended by my ISP (I now know the only reason they suggested it was because it made them the most money. They didn't care if it was the best one for me or not). What a headache! The system wouldn't do anything but take the order, but you had to have a PhD in computer science to work on it.

Here are 21 questions you absolutely, unfailingly must ask anyone trying to sell you a shopping cart. If you don't hear positive answers to the majority of these questions, put your wallet back into your pocket and evaluate the next option. Don't get stuck with a crappy shopping cart, even if they give it to you free.

If you have a poor shopping cart, get rid of it. I know that hurts, because you may have spent lots of time and money getting it going, but a bad one will cost you many thousands of dollars by waiting to replace it later rather than sooner.

Oh, and one more thing: if you hear the shopping cart programmer answer one of the questions below by saying, "Well, we could make it do that," run away even faster, because you're going to get stuck with a big custom programming bill with no guarantees that the cart is going to work the way you expected.

Every question below is very important when it comes to having a quality shopping cart system that gets more money out of the same number of visitors.

1. Will it calculate shipping and tax?

2. Does it handle specialized shipping like FedEx and UPS?

3. Will it automatically deliver hard goods and soft goods (e- books and other digital products) in the same transaction?

4. Does it offer customizable "Return to Shopping" pages without needing custom programming? This is important so you can send your customers to the most likely product they will buy next. Standard carts just send customers back to the main catalog, which forces them to search for related products. This is both irritating and time-consuming. Any delays in finding what they want could mean a lost sale, when they finally throw their hands up in disgust and move on to your competitor's site.

5. Does it offer customizable "Thank You" pages based on what the customer just bought? These are pages where savvy marketers put affiliate links and other offers specifically related to the customer's interests. When a customer clicks on one of these links and buys something from someone else, you get a commission.

6. Does it deliver receipt and confirmation e-mails automatically? The customer wants to know immediately that the order went through. If he or she is unsure, you are going to have to field many wasted e-mails and phone calls letting the customer know everything is OK.

7. Does it allow multiple order and dropship e-mails? In many cases, several different people in your organization and/or outside your organization need notice of an order. Again, you don't want to have to do this manually.

8. Does it have a Web-based administration page so you can work on your cart from any computer that has Internet access?

9. Does it include encryption technology and a secure server? Many companies make a fortune by sucking you in with a cheap or free cart and then make money on selling you an overpriced secure server.

10. Does it deliver easy output to your accounting software? You want to be able to import and export data easily between the cart and whatever programs you have that need to share the customer and sales information.

11. Does it have its own associate/affiliate program or is it easily compatible with other major brands of associate software? An affiliate program lets other people promote and sell your products on their Web sites. You don't pay them unless they sell something. When I tried to get an associate/affiliate program to work with my old cart, it cost me six months of down time and untold amounts of money lost because it wouldn't work. The associate program people blamed the shopping cart people and vice versa. But ultimately I was left holding the bag.

12. Does it have integrated up-sell modules? The ability to offer more related products to customers making a purchase makes me a small fortune each month. We call it, "Do you want fries with that?" If you don't have this ability, you are leaving many thousands of dollars on the table from people who would have spent more if your cart just gave them the chance.

13. Does it have an integrated sales and prospect database? In the old days I would have to print out orders and then retype them into ACT or some other database program. A good shopping cart system eliminates all this hassle and potential for error and gives you instant access to your sales reports and clients.

14. Does it have broadcast e-mail capability? Good shopping cart systems are able to manipulate your customer database instantly and send e-mails to any segment or sub-segment of your clients and handle unlimited e-mail magazines. Again, in the old days I would have to be genius enough to pick out segments of the database, export them to a file, import them into a mail program and then an hour later send the darn e-mail. Now this is all done in a few seconds.

15. Does it have mail merge capability? The e-mails sent are personalized to the recipients in any number of ways. Their names can be popped in to the subject line and in various portions of the body of the e-mail. You can merge "what they bought," "when they bought," "where they live" or just about anything that will make them feel the e-mail was just for them. Virtually all studies show that mail merge gets a much higher response than plain broadcast e-mail.

16. Can it handle coupons and other discounts? You can make a deal with Joe Blow that everyone coming from his Web site gets an automatic discount -- either a percentage or dollar amount. This makes Joe look great to his visitors and makes more sales for you. Here's a secret: Joe is your affiliate and makes money on the sale too, so he's got a great incentive to keep your discounts and coupons in front of his visitors. Good shopping cart systems can automate all of this and also handle any quantity discounts you offer.

17. Can it work for multiple Web sites with no extra fees? When I first started I had to get a separate (and expensive) license for each site and a separate merchant account too. Not only was this a great deal of expense, the hassle with installation every time you wanted a new site to go up was enormous. Modern carts can sell bras on one site and bibles on another, and no one knows the difference. The carts run on their own servers so there is no expensive installation and set-up is immediate.

18. Does it have unlimited and fully integrated "sequential" autoresponders? This is one of the most powerful features when it comes to Internet marketing. This feature follows up automatically over and over again to your clients and prospects to provide them customer care and to sell them more products and services. You can even provide free or paid e-mail courses, and each part of the course is delivered automatically.

19. Does it have ad tracking tied into actual sales? Simple ad tracking can be had all over the 'Net, but it is pretty much worthless unless it is tied to actual sales. This is called the "conversion ratio." Your cart system should be able to tell you how many people clicked on a particular promotion and how many people bought. This is the only way you can determine if an ad paid off. Good carts will also automatically split test one of your sales pages against another and tell you which page sells more. You keep the page that sells more and get rid of the page that sells less.

20. Does it have a pop-up box builder? Even though many people hate popup boxes, they work. I use them judiciously to make all kinds of offers, and I have the sales figures to prove they get more money out of the same number of people. If you know how to use them properly, no one gets upset.

21. Does it have a printable off-line order form? Believe it or not, many people are still afraid to put their credit card numbers into a Web site. I still get lots of fax orders and phone orders. If you want to maximize your sales, your cart must take these kinds of orders easily.

22. Does it provide free training? You'll need training in both the basic set up of using your shopping cart and determining your online sales strategy, so that you maximize the amount of money spent by each customer.

You may not understand what all the above questions mean right now, but I can assure you they are important in putting more money into your bank account. If you want to know even more about this subject, you can download a free e-book, How to Pick a Shopping Cart System That Makes You Money at www.public- speaking.org/ebook.htm.

What shopping cart system do I use? I have my own private label called www.KickStartCart.com.

Sales Exit Strategies By Tom Antion

2005-07-27T16:27:00.000-04:00

Smart Internet marketers make money coming and going . . . That is when their visitors are coming and going. Obviously when your visitor comes to your site you want her to buy. Not so obviously to the new marketer is the fact that an enormous amount of money can be had from people leaving your site if you know what to do.
The beauty of many exit strategies is that the person has already decided NOT to buy and by using these techniques you get them to change their mind.
Here are some exit strategies:
a Sell down technique: I use this technique to offer a cheaper price when someone is leaving my sales page without purchasing. I actually call the pop up box they get a "Pick Your Price" deal, but in actuality I have pre-selected three cheaper price points for them to pick from. "Almost" everyone picks the cheapest price, but some lovable souls choose from some of the higher priced options. The product they get is the same. This technique is best for digital download products like ebooks because you don't really have any cost of goods sold.
A Finance option: This technique has meant several hundred thousand dollars to me. When a person leaves one of my sales letters without buying, a pop up box is displayed that gives them a chance to finance their purchase. This technique is best suited for more expensive products you are willing to finance for the customer. To automate the entire deal including the additional payments the customer will make every month, you need a shopping cart with "recurring billing". Http://www.KickStartCart.com has this.
I frequently test different selling methods for my big-ticket products so I can't swear you'll see an example of the finance option when you visit and then leave the page below, but you might: http://www.Antion.com/public-speaking.htm
a Thank you page selling: A thank you page is the page that pops up right after someone has purchased something from your shopping cart. What a great place to keep on selling! Remember, the person still has that old wallet out. You can have links on the thank you page to your other sites or products. This is also a perfect place to put affiliate links to others who will send you a commission if your customer clicks through and buys something from them.
Good shopping cart systems let you make custom thank you pages based on what the customer bought. This is especially great because you can customize the thank you page links to offer your customer something complimentary to what was just purchased. This is smart selling!
A Co-registration: Is a process of signing up ezine subscribers for other publishers. The other publishers pay you for each subscriber that signs up through your site (The opposite of this is how you can build your subscriber list fast by having other websites sign up subscribers for you.)
Basically you use an exit pop up that offers the other publisher's ezine and you track the subscriptions using your http://www.KickStartCart.com or some other mechanism.
A Confirmation page selling: I don't know whether this is technically an exit strategy or not, but I don't care. It works.
When someone fills out a form or signs up for your ezine a confirmation page usually appears that lets them know the information they put in the form has been accepted. This is another great time to sell something.
When someone signs up for Great Speaking ezine they get the confirmation page which says something like, "We've received your subscription. Your welcome letter and bonuses will be emailed to you shortly. In the mean time, read this special report on the business of professional speaking." This "special report" is my long advertorial type sales letter for my "Wake 'em Up Video Professional Speaking System."
The bottom line on all these exit strategies is to turn your visitors into as much money as you can. It costs you one way or the other to get visitors to your site, so you may as well get that money back and then some by selling them coming and going.

Picking a Web Host By Tom Antion

2005-07-22T15:57:00.000-04:00

Here is a checklist of points to consider when selecting your web host.

Avoid freebie hosting and hosting offered by your ISP (they do too many things and have too much demand on their bandwidth to do a super great job at web hosting). Get good solid hosting because you will be crying big tears if your site loads as slow as molasses or never loads at all.

If you are using Microsoft Front Page to create your website, do they have Front Page Extensions installed to make all the different parts of Front Page work?

Do they give you auto responders? (Available in the shopping system http://www.KickStartCart.com )

Can they handle multimedia and CGI scripts (common gateway interface) :? Do you have full access to the cgi-bin? You may want to have things like Real Audio and Real Video. Or you might want to put some custom functionality in it, like a 'recommend me form,' or something like that (also available in http://www.KickStartCart.com ). If they can't handle it, you can't have it on your website.

How about backups? Do they have a reliable system? How often do they back up? How long will it take to restore your site from backup if something goes wrong? [NOTE: This doesn't relieve you of the necessity of doing your own backups.]

What statistics packages do they make available to you? Do they just have a bare bones package, or maybe none at all? Do they make really advanced packages available? Do they have "real time" statistics? Is there a monthly cost for the advanced packages? Do you have access to the "raw server logs"?

What kind of connection do they have to the Internet? Do they have superfast T-1 or T-3 lines or something slower?

Are there limits on file transfers? Will you have to pay more soon after you sign up and your site starts getting busier?

Do they have secure server capability for your e-commerce efforts? [NOTE: This may not matter if you have a top notch system like http://www.KickStartCart.com that provides you with the secure server.]

How much space do you get? How much does extra space cost as your website grows? My site has grown to nearly 200 Mega Bytes in 2.5 years.

Do they provide web-based administration. This allows you to operate your server from a webpage with no technical experience.

Do they have complete email services like Pop 3 mailboxes and the newer IMAP? Do they give you unlimited email aliases?

Do they require a long term contract. Avoid them if they do. What will you do if their service is poor?

What is their uptime? A good web host should be up and running 99.9 to 100% of the time.

Is their tech support any good? They should have support by phone and email 24/7. . . .You might want to test them out on this before you sign up.

Watch out for ripoffs. You should never pay extra for autoresponders, email aliases, CGI bins, statistics and POP mailboxes

Here's a directory of web hosts: http://www.webhostdir.com/

How to Create and Distribute an E-Course By Tom Antion

2005-07-15T15:05:00.000-04:00

E-courses are credibility tools and they are also great sales tools. You can easily create a course in your field of expertise and either sell it as a product, or give it away as a give-before-you-get sales tool.
If it's a free course, you give good information, but you don't give all the information. It's designed to be helpful to people and not a blatant sales pitch, but if you gave them everything, there would be no reason to buy anything from you. If you are selling the course, make it very comprehensive and don't hold back. You want the recipients to really feel like they are getting value.
E-courses are even easier to create than E-Books. You don't have to do any fancy formatting or heading tags or conversions or anything. You just create it in plain text E-zine Fashion.
Here's a checklist to create the course:
a Pick your topic.
A Gather your material into related sections. Each section will be one lesson in the course. Five sections means five days to the course. If your material is complicated, you could do one lesson per week, but on a free course I would recommend against it because it will take you too long to get people to buy.
A Write a welcome and introduction to the course along with a list of all the upcoming lessons.
A Don't skimp on any of the lessons. People can unsubscribe from this and either ask for their money back, or just disappear from your list and then you won't have a chance to sell them anything.
A If it's a free course, you should weave subtle hints into the course that make people want to know more.
A Once the course is written, set up an account with one of the sequential autoresponder companies. If you have http://www.KickStartCart.com you can do unlimited numbers of these courses with no extra expense. Each company will have its own set of instructions for setup, but basically you'll cut and paste your email after it's created into their system so they can send them out upon request.
Don't forget what you learned about putting hard returns at the end of each line of your course or use an inexpensive program like Text Pad to do it for you. If you don't, you will likely have a lousy looking E-course.
A Now, promote the course to your distribution list, put it in your handouts, mention it at your programs, and put a notice about it on your website. Generally, tell people about it anyway you can. I put it out to a list of about 11,000 and got over a 10 percent response in the first three days. Those 1200 or so people spent about $7000.00 with me after taking their "Free" course.

Sales Exit Strategies By Tom Antion

2005-06-23T14:44:00.000-04:00

Smart Internet marketers make money coming and going . . . that is when their visitors are coming and going. Obviously when your visitor comes to your site you want her to buy. Not so obviously to the new marketer is the fact that an enormous amount of money can be had from people leaving your site if you know what to do.

The beauty of many exit strategies is that the person has already decided NOT to buy and by using these techniques you get them to change their mind.

Here are some exit strategies:

a Sell down technique: I use this technique to offer a cheaper price when someone is leaving my sales page without purchasing. I actually call the pop up box they get a “Pick Your Price” deal, but in actuality I have pre-selected three cheaper price points for them to pick from. “Almost” everyone picks the cheapest price, but some lovable souls choose from some of the higher priced options. The product they get is the same. This technique is best for digital download products like ebooks because you don’t really have any cost of goods sold.

a Finance option: This technique has meant several hundred thousand dollars to me. When a person leaves one of my sales letters without buying, a pop up box is displayed that gives them a chance to finance their purchase. This technique is best suited for more expensive products you are willing to finance for the customer. To automate the entire deal including the additional payments the customer will make every month, you need a shopping cart with “recurring billing”. http://www.KickStartCart.com has this.

I frequently test different selling methods for my big-ticket products so I can’t swear you’ll see an example of the finance option when you visit and then leave the page below, but you might:
http://www.Antion.com/public-speaking.htm

a Thank you page selling: A thank you page is the page that pops up right after someone has purchased something from your shopping cart. What a great place to keep on selling! Remember, the person still has that old wallet out. You can have links on the thank you page to your other sites or products. This is also a perfect place to put affiliate links to others who will send you a commission if your customer clicks through and buys something from them.

Good shopping cart systems let you make custom thank you pages based on what the customer bought. This is especially great because you can customize the thank you page links to offer your customer something complimentary to what was just purchased. This is smart selling!

a Co-registration: Is a process of signing up ezine subscribers for other publishers. The other publishers pay you for each subscriber that signs up through your site (The opposite of this is how you can build your subscriber list fast by having other websites sign up subscribers for you.)

Basically you use an exit pop up that offers the other publisher’s ezine and you track the subscriptions using your http://www.KickStartCart.com or some other mechanism.

a Confirmation page selling: I don’t know whether this is technically an exit strategy or not, but I don’t care. It works.

When someone fills out a form or signs up for your ezine a confirmation page usually appears that lets them know the information they put in the form has been accepted. This is another great time to sell something.

When someone signs up for Great Speaking ezine they get the confirmation page which says something like, “We’ve received your subscription. Your welcome letter and bonuses will be emailed to you shortly. In the mean time, read this special report on the business of professional speaking.” This “special report” is my long advertorial type sales letter for my “Wake ‘em Up Video Professional Speaking System.”

The bottom line on all these exit strategies is to turn your visitors into as much money as you can. It costs you one way or the other to get visitors to your site, so you may as well get that money back and then some by selling them coming and going.

Autoresponders By Tom Antion

2005-06-08T13:00:00.000-04:00

Another thing to use is called an autoresponder AKA "infobot" or "email on demand." Many of the places that host your website give them to you for free. I get thirty of them for free just from my hosting service. Here's what they do for you: If I told you to send an email to mailto:sponsor@antion.com , well, guess what? I'm not going to have anything to do with it. You're going to get an email back from my website giving you the details on advertising in Great Speaking ezine. So this is an extremely valuable time and money saving tool. It only takes a few minutes to set up once you know how to do it. Each system is different so I can't tell you exactly how to set one up. Once when I was promoting a big benefit seminar, I simply said, "For details send an email to Cystic" . . . It was Cystic Fibrosis, so I used "mailto:cystic@antion.com" and within a few minutes the person had their information being sent to them automatically. All that happened behind the scenes while I was sleeping. These are the ways you can automate your promotions and keep them selling for you. You will not be sitting here in front of the computer all day long. Autoresponders are a great way to get the information out to your market.
If you have the shopping cart system http://www.kickstartcart.com/ , you have unlimited regular autoresponders and sequential autoresponders (advanced autoresponders that follow up with multiple emails).
It's a good idea to have a copy of the original email sent to the autoresponder forwarded to you. Some people don't understand exactly what to expect from the autoresponder and they put a message inside the body of the email. If you don't at least take a peek at these emails, you may accidentally ignore a question from a prospective customer.
Autoresponders can handle many more emails than you could ever process manually. Also, you can send a ten-page email just as fast and easily as sending a two paragraph email.
Don't forget to let people know that you won't sell or give away their email address to other parties. It's ok for you to send them a follow up email, but people really don't want to be spammed because they took you up on your offer for information.
When writing the messages that will go out on your autoresponder try to write them in such a way that you don't have to change them too often. If you do this, the autoresponder will work quietly behind the scenes with little or no attention.
The first place I would check for autoresponders is the place that hosts your website. Many of them give them to you and you don't even know about it so you may have them already. If not, just type in "autoresponder" in any search engine or see the links listed below. They are cheap, like a dollar a month, but most of the time they're just given away free. And that's not a dollar a month per message. It's a dollar a month total. It's so dirt-cheap that it's ridiculous if you don't take advantage of it for your regular information that is repetitive. Of course, your http://www.kickstartcart.com/ shopping system has them included for free.
How to pick an autoresponder
a They must be automatic. The person sending an email to the autoresponder should not have to type anything specific into the subject or body of the email for it to work. Many people would misspell whatever they were supposed to type and the autoresponder would not work.
A You should be allowed an unlimited number of hits to the autoresponder.
A You should be able to make an unlimited number of changes to your return message and you should be able to do this yourself any time day or night.
A You should be able to capture the email address of the person requesting permission. [NOTE: This doesn't mean you have the right to put their name on your E-newsletter list.]
Sequential Autoresponders
The way I do it now is with http://www.kickstartcart.com/ because it is totally integrated with my shopping system and the autoresponders can be tied to a specific purchase which is an extremely powerful sales and customer service technique. The way it works is that when someone buys a product they automatically subscribe themselves to follow up emails. The emails can be used to give additional tips on how to use what they bought, or to sell them more products. The customer can unsubscribe themselves anytime if they don't feel your emails are of value.
Companies that have Sequential Autoresponders
http://www.kickstartcart.com/ http://www.aweber.com/?23558 http://www.getresponse.com/ http://www.biz-e-bot.com/

22 Questions to Ask Before You Use Any Shopping Cart System By Tom Antion

2005-05-03T16:39:00.000-04:00

Many seasoned professional speakers agree that you can make moremoney selling your knowledge in the form of products than you canspeaking.
You can use traditional methods to sell products such as directmail, catalogs and advertising. However, if you have a greatonline presence, the entire world is your marketplace at afraction of the cost of most traditional methods. To easily sellto this worldwide marketplace, you need a great shopping cartsystem.
Choosing a shopping cart system is perhaps the most importantsingle decision you'll make in your online marketing career.
This is because:

You're stuck with the decision for a long time.
If you buy into a system that isn't adequate, it can cost youmoney--big money- because it won't maximize the amount of moneyspent by each visitor.
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of off-the-shelf, free andalternative products out there vying for your money, time orboth. And most of them are junk.
Don't suffer like I didI learned the hard way. When I started on the Internet I couldn'tfind a decent shopping cart program, so I took one that washighly recommended by my ISP (I now know the only reason theysuggested it was because it made them the most money. They didn'tcare if it was the best one for me or not). What a headache! Thesystem wouldn't do anything but take the order, but you had tohave a PhD in computer science to work on it.
Here are 21 questions you absolutely, unfailingly must ask anyonetrying to sell you a shopping cart. If you don't hear positiveanswers to the majority of these questions, put your wallet backinto your pocket and evaluate the next option. Don't get stuckwith a crappy shopping cart, even if they give it to you free.
If you have a poor shopping cart, get rid of it. I know thathurts, because you may have spent lots of time and money gettingit going, but a bad one will cost you many thousands of dollarsby waiting to replace it later rather than sooner.
Oh, and one more thing: if you hear the shopping cart programmeranswer one of the questions below by saying, "Well, we could makeit do that," run away even faster, because you're going to getstuck with a big custom programming bill with no guarantees thatthe cart is going to work the way you expected.
Every question below is very important when it comes to having aquality shopping cart system that gets more money out of the samenumber of visitors.

1. Will it calculate shipping and tax?

2. Does it handle specialized shipping like FedEx and UPS?

3. Will it automatically deliver hard goods and soft goods (e-books and other digital products) in the same transaction?

4. Does it offer customizable "Return to Shopping" pages withoutneeding custom programming? This is important so you can sendyour customers to the most likely product they will buy next.Standard carts just send customers back to the main catalog,which forces them to search for related products. This is bothirritating and time-consuming. Any delays in finding what theywant could mean a lost sale, when they finally throw their handsup in disgust and move on to your competitor's site.

5. Does it offer customizable "Thank You" pages based on what thecustomer just bought? These are pages where savvy marketers putaffiliate links and other offers specifically related to thecustomer's interests. When a customer clicks on one of theselinks and buys something from someone else, you get a commission.

6. Does it deliver receipt and confirmation e-mailsautomatically? The customer wants to know immediately that theorder went through. If he or she is unsure, you are going to haveto field many wasted e-mails and phone calls letting the customer know everything is OK.

7. Does it allow multiple order and dropship e-mails? In manycases, several different people in your organization and/oroutside your organization need notice of an order. Again, youdon't want to have to do this manually.

8. Does it have a Web-based administration page so you can workon your cart from any computer that has Internet access?

9. Does it include encryption technology and a secure server?Many companies make a fortune by sucking you in with a cheap orfree cart and then make money on selling you an overpriced secureserver.

10. Does it deliver easy output to your accounting software? Youwant to be able to import and export data easily between the cartand whatever programs you have that need to share the customerand sales information.

11. Does it have its own associate/affiliate program or is iteasily compatible with other major brands of associate software?An affiliate program lets other people promote and sell yourproducts on their Web sites. You don't pay them unless they sellsomething. When I tried to get an associate/affiliate program towork with my old cart, it cost me six months of down time anduntold amounts of money lost because it wouldn't work. Theassociate program people blamed the shopping cart people and viceversa. But ultimately I was left holding the bag.

12. Does it have integrated up-sell modules? The ability to offermore related products to customers making a purchase makes me asmall fortune each month. We call it, "Do you want fries withthat?" If you don't have this ability, you are leaving manythousands of dollars on the table from people who would havespent more if your cart just gave them the chance.

13. Does it have an integrated sales and prospect database? Inthe old days I would have to print out orders and then retypethem into ACT or some other database program. A good shoppingcart system eliminates all this hassle and potential for errorand gives you instant access to your sales reports and clients.

14. Does it have broadcast e-mail capability? Good shopping cartsystems are able to manipulate your customer database instantlyand send e-mails to any segment or sub-segment of your clientsand handle unlimited e-mail magazines. Again, in the old days Iwould have to be genius enough to pick out segments of thedatabase, export them to a file, import them into a mail programand then an hour later send the darn e-mail. Now this is all donein a few seconds.

15. Does it have mail merge capability? The e-mails sent arepersonalized to the recipients in any number of ways. Their namescan be popped in to the subject line and in various portions ofthe body of the e-mail. You can merge "what they bought," "whenthey bought," "where they live" or just about anything that willmake them feel the e-mail was just for them. Virtually allstudies show that mail merge gets a much higher response thanplain broadcast e-mail.

16. Can it handle coupons and other discounts? You can make adeal with Joe Blow that everyone coming from his Web site gets anautomatic discount -- either a percentage or dollar amount. Thismakes Joe look great to his visitors and makes more sales foryou. Here's a secret: Joe is your affiliate and makes money onthe sale too, so he's got a great incentive to keep yourdiscounts and coupons in front of his visitors. Good shoppingcart systems can automate all of this and also handle anyquantity discounts you offer.

17. Can it work for multiple Web sites with no extra fees? When Ifirst started I had to get a separate (and expensive) license foreach site and a separate merchant account too. Not only was thisa great deal of expense, the hassle with installation every timeyou wanted a new site to go up was enormous. Modern carts cansell bras on one site and bibles on another, and no one knows thedifference. The carts run on their own servers so there is noexpensive installation and set-up is immediate.

18. Does it have unlimited and fully integrated "sequential"autoresponders? This is one of the most powerful features when itcomes to Internet marketing. This feature follows upautomatically over and over again to your clients and prospectsto provide them customer care and to sell them more products andservices. You can even provide free or paid e-mail courses, andeach part of the course is delivered automatically.

19. Does it have ad tracking tied into actual sales? Simple adtracking can be had all over the 'Net, but it is pretty muchworthless unless it is tied to actual sales. This is called the"conversion ratio." Your cart system should be able to tell youhow many people clicked on a particular promotion and how manypeople bought. This is the only way you can determine if an adpaid off. Good carts will also automatically split test one ofyour sales pages against another and tell you which page sellsmore. You keep the page that sells more and get rid of the pagethat sells less.

20. Does it have a pop-up box builder? Even though many peoplehate popup boxes, they work. I use them judiciously to make allkinds of offers, and I have the sales figures to prove they getmore money out of the same number of people. If you know how touse them properly, no one gets upset.

21. Does it have a printable off-line order form? Believe it ornot, many people are still afraid to put their credit cardnumbers into a Web site. I still get lots of fax orders and phoneorders. If you want to maximize your sales, your cart must takethese kinds of orders easily.

22. Does it provide free training? You'll need training in boththe basic set up of using your shopping cart and determining youronline sales strategy, so that you maximize the amount of moneyspent by each customer.
You may not understand what all the above questions mean rightnow, but I can assure you they are important in putting moremoney into your bank account. If you want to know even more aboutthis subject, you can download a free e-book, How to Pick aShopping Cart System That Makes You Money at www.public-speaking.org/ebook.htm.
What shopping cart system do I use? I have my own private labelcalled www.KickStartCart.com.