What�??s all the excitement around passive income and what is an infopreneur? An infopreneur is an entrepreneur who makes money selling information on the Internet. Passive income is income that does not require your direct involvement. There is an initial investment of time in developing the product and there may be minor costs like the purchase of a domain name, but overall, the investment is minimal. Once you�??ve recouped your costs, the income generated from future sales of your e-Book qualify as passive income.

Many successful infopreneurs generate a great deal of passive income selling information online. The most obvious advantage of being an infopreneur is the low overhead and high earning potential. Once you�??ve written an e-Book, tele-seminar, e-course or other information product, it can be sold over and over again. It is even better than selling a traditional book because you do not have to print anything and you don�??t have to jump through publisher hoops. The costs to produce a piece of information are the same whether you are selling to one person or to millions.

The Internet has changed the way people look for and acquire information. For many the Internet is an overwhelming network of unimaginable volumes of information difficult to navigate and lacking in credibility. Infopreneurs wade through the myriad of information available on the Internet weeding out erroneous or outdated information and consolidating and presenting current accurate information in easily accessible and understandable forms.

About The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely
Heather and Laurie have combined efforts to produce “The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely” a guide to writing, publishing and marketing your own e-Book. The process is not as intimidating as you may think. This e-Book answers all your questions from idea to income!
For more information visit the Web site at http://www.penandpublishebooks.com.

About Heather Jacobson
Heather Jacobson is the author of Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer, and is also the publisher of the popular ezine, Marketing Made Simple, a bi-weekly publication filled with simple marketing tactics designed to enhance one�??s marketing efforts. An expert in implementing marketing campaigns for companies on a budget, Heather thrives on coaching others to achieve financial success. For more information, visit www.HeatherJacobson.com.

About Laurie Dart
Laurie Dart, owner of Writing Wisely is the author of The Everyday Guide to Writing Wisely. She provides writing and editing services to entrepreneurs and small business owners. To learn more about how you can improve your writing, visit: www.writingwisely.com.
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Specializing in Niche Markets has never been as crucial as it is today. Long gone are the days when you can target general, broad markets and make money from them.

To make money in today’s Internet Marketing environment, one must specialize in well defined niche topics.

Lets examine a few misconceptions when it comes to niche marketing.

Misconception #1: You do not have to be an expert in the Niche field you choose!

Everyone says you should only choose a Niche that you are an expert in…nonsense!

The Internet is so impersonal that you can easily appear as an expert and not know anything about that particular niche topic. The key is to appear as an expert. How? You can outsource, build niche sites with no interaction such as blogs, purchase resale rights to an ebook in a particular niche. You see, you can choose to profit from any niche you like.

Misconception #2: Choose one niche market and stick with it.

Not true! Once you establish yourself in one niche and develop a profitable system, choose another one and run with it. You can even choose a pen name if you like, it’s common practice to do so.

Niche marketing is a numbers game. Once you find a profitable niche put it on auto-pilot and choose another niche market to get into.

Misconception #3: The best way to make money in the niche game is to promote niche products as an affiliate.

Wrong again! Sure, becoming an affiliate and promoting niche products can be very profitable, but if you are doing this, you’re not maximizing your income.

You need to promote your own landing or squeeze page where you collect the e-mail address of the visitor, and then sending him or her to the niche product you are promoting. You should also send out an e-mail course with informative information pertaining to that particular niche market to gain the visitors trust. Since your subscriber now trusts you, you can recommend products in that niche again and again, knowing your recommendation holds a lot of weight.

Those are three popular misconceptions when it comes to niche marketing. Follow the tips above, and you will be more likely to succeed. Remember, it is important to find a profitable niche, set it up so it is on auto-pilot, then move on to the next niche.

Not all niche markets will be a slam dunk, so don’t get discouraged.

Even if one out of ten become really profitable, sit down and smile, you’ve hit the jackpot.

Steve Schwartzman is a veteran Internet Marketer and founder of the popular membership site Niche Time. He will take you by the hand and show you how to profit from at least 3 different niche topics each month, even if you know nothing about them! Build many e-mail lists and profit from them for years to come. Visit http://www.nichetime.com

Article Source: Article Hub

I’m guessing that right now there are several marketing tasks you’ve been putting off. Perhaps it’s revamping your website. Or sending out your first e-zine. Or getting listed in the search engines. Or putting together a media kit.

So why haven’t you done it?

Believe me, this is a battle I fight with myself too. But you know what I realized?

Procrastination is NOT evil!

Instead of seeing procrastination as a terrible thing, I now see it as a tool that helps me learn how I work best.

In fact, I’ve arrived at six different reasons why we all seem to procrastinate. Here they are, along with what you can learn from (and do for) each.

Reason 1: You are procrastinating because you don’t enjoy the entire task or job.

Solution: One of my life coaches told me several years ago that if I didn’t like doing something, I should “delete it, delegate it, or automate it.” What a great way to look at things! I’m a big fan of ONLY doing tasks I enjoy or am good at. The rest I outsource to people who are good at it and/or enjoy it.

Reason 2: You are procrastinating because you don’t enjoy a PART of the entire task or job.

Solution: If you’re putting off a whole project just because there’s one part you don’t want to do, figure out how you can get away without doing that part. Again, delete it, delegate it, or automate it.

Reason 3: You are procrastinating because you don’t know how to handle the task or job.

Solution: The answer will not drop in your lap. Get help — a consultant to teach you how, a book or home study course to show you how, or even better, outsource it to someone who can just do it for you.

Reason 4: You are procrastinating because you simply can’t find the time.

Solution: Schedule future time to do it, or get rid of other tasks to create the time you need. If you still can’t do this, then you need to find someone to do it for you.

Reason 5: You are procrastinating because you feel stuck.

Solution: You may just need to get momentum going. Give yourself permission to do just one small part of the project only. Or do the easiest part first. (That’s how I started writing my entire home study course.) This usually creates momentum, and you end up doing a lot more than you intended to!

Reason 6: You are procrastinating because you don’t really want to do what you thought you should do.

Solution: This means you may have the wrong objective or strategy in the first place! Is this something you really want to do, or do you just think you SHOULD do it? Or is it an old goal that doesn’t fit you or your business anymore? Your answer may surprise you. Let the goal go for awhile and see what happens. : )

Start Paying Attention!

Once you start paying attention to which activities you put off regularly, you’ll know sooner when to be stricter with yourself or find help to get those tasks accomplished in a more timely manner.

So take a minute and make your list right now of what marketing tasks you’ve been putting off! Don’t beat yourself up about it, just make a note and figure out how to get them done. (Or delete them entirely. : ))

© 2004-2006 Alexandria K. Brown

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Alexandria’s Small Business Marketing Blog.

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 18,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

The SKINNY on Newspapers

Using the paper is considered gospel by many people in business. Use it wisely and it can be a good tool.

Remember, newspapers are passive, non intrusive media. They tend to reach only buyers who are looking for the product. They are poor at reaching prospects before the need arises.

Think about it, there are few times you have been driven to go to a store to buy a product you never heard of because you saw an ad in the paper. You had to have an earlier impression about the product for the newspaper ad to point you to the location to buy it.

There are 4 ways to use the newspaper for advertising.

1) Display advertising from one column wide by 2 inches high to a full two pages, display ads can be so numerous the news stories have to be cut so both can live on the page.

There is usually no protection. Competiting store ads can be next to each other (next time you see the paper look for tire store ads on the same page).

When designing your ad, remember it’s all about them. Use a catchy headline and tell them what you will do for the. Forget about your picture or your “Number One in the District Award”. Good advertising “feels their pain”.

2) Classified advertising The effectiveness of classified ads varies by paper and by who wrote the ad and by what the ad is selling. Many classified sections have turned into giant car dealer pages and huge homes for sale sections complete with four color pictures.

The small, private, “gotta sell my Bow-Flex” ads can be lost in a giant classified section. Many shoppers and Nickle Savers have smaller, and cheaper, classified sections.

Some small business operators find success with a series of small classified ads. Small blurps tend to build “top of mind awareness”. A cheap way to keep your name out there.

3) Tabs and special sections Tabs, the cash cow for newspapers, are manufactured events designed to sell ads. Progress Editon. Easter Shopping Special. Dollar Days. You name it, there is a tab every idea.

Typically a tab is the regular paper page turned sideways (landscape) and folded in half.

Tabs get ad-on advertising dollars from existing clients and offer one time only exposure to those who don’t normally use the paper (i.e. the giant corporate ads in every Progress Edition). Most papers have so many tabs, they print an advertising calendar.

Understand them for what they are, vehicles to get extra bucks from you. If you want to be in one, rearrange your budget, don’t ad to it.

4) Inserts and stuffers Some Sunday papers weight 4 to 5 pounds each, mostly for the weight of stuffers and inserts. Usually reserved for national advertisers and big box stores. They print them and deliver them to the paper and pay a per piece fee to have them stuffed and delivered. For smaller businesses they become cost prohibitive. Better to stick with display ads.

Sunday papers have the biggest circulation, and ad rates are more expensive. Regional and national papers can be expensive, too. Local papers and shoppers are less expensive, but nonetheless can be a major part of a small business ad budget.

Newspaper advertising is sold by the column inch. Different categories of ads and section placement determine the rate and rates vary throughout the paper. Rates also vary with advertisers, depending on how many column inches they have agreed to buy in a one year period. The more the cheaper.

Plan your advertising well in advance and stick to your budget. Sell to needs, not ego and newspaper can be your buddy.

For more about advertising, get my article “What Does your telephone say about you?” MailTo:TelephoneSay@BigIdeasGroup.com
Mike McDaniel - EzineArticles Expert Author

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel, All Rights Reserved Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com BIG Mike is a Small Business Consultant, Professional Speaker and former Major Market TV News Anchor. http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

Subscribe to “BIG Mike’s BIG Ideas” Newsletter MailTo:subscribe-956603364@ezinedirector.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_McDaniel

If you’re not exactly sure what event marketing is, think of Earth Day, the Renaissance Faire, Woodstock, Shop Rite’s Can-Can Sale, President’s Weekend at Macy’s… and let’s not forget Valentine’s Day, that “Hallmark Holiday” disguised as a day of Love but really meant to boost candy, card, dinner and gift sales.

I’m going to be blunt with you here, hope you can handle it. Event marketing is not just an excuse to cheer about something. Your motive in “inventing” and promoting a market-driven holiday or celebration is to gain new visibility in your niche, drum up excitement with your target audience, and ultimately increase profits for your business.

If you’re still a little guy just yet, you may have to wait on those cash sales until next year when people know you better… but revenue earned by way of new customers who notice you during the event counts as profit and makes the event worth the effort in the long run.

Generally, your goal is this: Position yourself at the helm of the event and drive mass traffic to the event so that folks develop an association between the event and your brand.

Event planning is a highly effective networking strategy in itself. In promoting the event and encouraging participation, you will become acquainted with many, many new faces and forge more solid bonds with old faces. In coordinating the event, you will learn who the “ideal” colleagues are to work with, and how your strengths can best be leveraged while putting other people to work on the tasks you find more challenging.

You may wonder how on earth you could possibly execute an event “virtually.” The truth is… with so many active online networks and Power Groups forming, the internet is possibly the simplest and least expensive venue for your “invented event.” Instead of a convention center, you have a “home base” website. Instead of live public speakers standing on a rented out podium in a rented auditorium, you have virtual “spotlight guests” on your blog or website. Your event won’t require costly shipping of hard goods and transportation, because your “trade show booth” can be managed from a website that’s launched once and remains live all year to generate residual traffic and help you rank better for the following year.

Who might want to join you in promoting an event, and what type of holiday or celebration could work with your niche? Basically, the idea is to just zero in on what your audience would find most valuable and attractive, in the celebratory sense. Following are a few ideas off the top of my head, but I’m sure that you can come up with something fabulous to fit your market.

If you sell gourmet pies, you could invent “Pie in the Sky” or a Month-Long Virtual Bake-Off. Complimentary vendors who might join your celebration: gourmet coffee distributors, Longaberger reps, companies who sell baking and kitchen equipment, folks who run dessert websites, other pie sellers (sorry, in event planning, you often have to deal directly with “the competition” but it’s so much fun that nobody ever seems to mind.)

If you normally target the “alternative health” or audience of herbalists, a health fair has the potential to lure potential buyers in droves and get them on your mailing list. If your website is focused around writing or design, you can hold a contest to attract fresh talent. I’ve come across websites where designers are encouraged to “submit entries” which are then posted and judged, with prizes handed out. The creations are often very funny and a great way to scope out up-and-comers. Don’t forget: contestants should be encouraged to sign up for your paid memberships or at the very least get on your mailing list; otherwise the event is “virtually” pointless.

Planning an event on the internet requires someone with dynamic leadership skills, a good sense of timing, a solid “people network,” the ability to mesh with a variety of personalities, strong organizational skills, and of course- an expert handle on all the traditional means of online marketing.

Skills needed for proper event execution: website design, copywriting, email and list management, blogging, publicity, brand-building. If you possess these skills yourself, wonderful, but know there is an incredible amount of work involved, so getting backup assistance is imperative.

Necessary resources: web hosting, FTP (file transfer protocol), blog hosting, word processing, a good graphics program, numerous article marketing directories, several memberships to major web PR sites, a pdf creation tool, an advanced email management program (such as Microsoft Outlook), an online discussion forum, a subscriber sign-up form, file backup.

Want to witness event planning live in action? Please join me and my marketing friends for the First Annual Web Content Awareness Day, scheduled to launch on February 9, 2006 at http://WebContentAwarenessDay.com.

Sneak Peek: Visit the Countdown to Web Content Awareness Day Blog and learn how you can ride our wave of high web traffic!

http://wordfeeder.typepad.com/web_content_awareness_day/

Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

About the Author

You want killer content and you want it now. Dina at Wordfeeder.com is driving mass traffic to the first annual Web Content Awareness Day and she’ll drive it to your website next. Count on Dina to deliver laser-focused copy that will emotionally snare your readers. Convert visitors to subscribers… and subscribers to paying customers. Visit http://Wordfeeder.com

Using Public Domain information is an easy way to create products and then sell them in the form of ebooks, reports, or create content for your website. If you haven’t noticed, there are tons of ebooks for sale on eBay.

Some of these ebooks are just thrown out there at a penny. I believe a lot of these sellers are just looking to increase their feedback rating. But eBay states that you must make some money from your ebook, so you’ll often see shipping at .99 cents or something like that.

And then you’ll see other people who are selling ebooks that are actually getting good dollar value for their product. You can see that they spend more time creating a nice listing.

So how do you get in on this action? And you’re probably thinking, should I create my own information product, is it worth it? I’m here to say, yes go for it! It’s a great way to work hard, create the product and then profit.

So how do you get all this content? The Public Domain. Anything published prior to 1923 can be used. We’re talking about audio, music sheets, books, manuals, and so much more. There is tons and tons of information in there just waiting to be used.

You get to publish what you want (anything prior to 1923) and use it how you like, then you become the owner of this product. So you have the copyright, which gives you the right to sell it on eBay.

You can also use the content to create a website, or add to your current website. Build your website content quickly with articles and books from the public domain.

Take it another step further and check out this site for over 16,000 free ebooks. http://www.gutenberg.org/

With all this free content at your fingertips, you could easily create your first product and have it listed on ebay in no time at all.

About The Author

Vera Raposo has been making a living with online auctions since 1997. With thousands of completed auctions under her belt, Vera is now sharing some of her best auction strategies in a free 90-minute interview at http://www.auctionstrategists.com/special.

There�??s a buzz floating around the internet about a new web design software called XSitePro. Its target market? Affiliate marketers.

While I dabble in affiliate marketing, it is not my main focus, so at first glance I didn�??t think this program would be for me. However, my nine-year-old son, Matthew, was working on developing his own site, and I didn�??t have the time to create it for him, nor did I have time to sit there and teach him the basics of FrontPage. He�??s nine. I never thought this idea he had would come to fruition, but here he came with not only research, but excitement.

I began to look for a way he could build a site on his own. I once used a really great site builder through InternetBasedFamily.com, but the monthly fee was on the pricey side �?? more than I wanted to invest in my nine-year-old�??s venture. For all I know, this site idea could be like last year�??s wrestling. He was all geared up about it, so I went out and invested all this money in a singlet, shoes, and head gear. He never finished the season. It just wasn�??t his thing, and now we have all this wrestling gear that we�??ll never use again.

I went back to look at XSitePro. I watched the “7 Reasons Why You Need XSitePro Now!” video, and the program looked easy enough to use. I liked the fact that you could use their templates or build your own. I liked that if you wanted to change the layout of the page, you can do it in one place and have it change all your pages for you.

I downloaded the free trial and told Matthew to check it out. I printed out the user�??s manual that included easy, step-by-step instructions and screen shots and let him play. Sure he had questions, but in the end he had a nine page website built just by going through the tutorial. What�??s even better? He had nine optimized pages. He doesn�??t know about targeted keywords, but I can help him with that later on.

XSitePro is a very simple program to use. To add an article page, simply click on �??Add Article�?? and a box pops up for you to add your title, description, resource box, and any other additional information you have. Click okay, copy and paste your article, and voila! You have an article page. XSitePro even indexes them on your main page and automatically creates a site map for you, as well.

The same is true for product pages �?? very simple forms to fill out and the page is created for you. No html or design skills required.

Matthew can even add Google AdSense to his pages with out copying and pasting code. He simply right clicks, selects �??insert Google AdSense�??, chooses the color scheme and size of his ads, and hits okay.

After I saw how easy it was to use, and knowing that I could still put this program to use if his online venture falls by the wayside, I invested in XSitePro. Matthew now works on his site every night. I tinkered with it and put up a 45-page, content-based site in 3 hours.

There are two types of people for whom I would recommend XSitePro: affiliate marketers and those who have little web design experience but would like to set up a site of their own. It is half the cost of Dreamweaver and ten times easier to use. The best feature of this program? It comes with a 365-day money-back guarantee. You have a whole year to decide if you�??ve made a wise investment. I didn�??t need a year, only a few hours, and now I�??m XSite’d about the many things I can do with this program in the future.

And let�??s be honest�?�if a nine-year-old can operate it, so can you!

Click here to view the “7 Reasons Why You Need XSitePro Now!” video

Click Here To See What My Friends Are Saying About XSitePro

About The Author

© 2006 Heather Jacobson

Heather Jacobson is the owner of Valley Virtual Assistants, providing marketing support and services to entrepreneurs and small businesses. She is also a business coach with VATraining.com, speaker, and author of “Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer”. Heather has over 12 years of sales and marketing experience from multiple industries and uses this expertise to custom tailor the perfect marketing avenue for each client. For more information visit www.valleyva.net or www.inexpensivemarketingideas.com.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Heather Jacobson took her part time business into a full time business in less than a year while only spending $100 on marketing expenses. Learn how at www.10freetips.com.

I was brand new to this nice product marketing thing less than 2 years ago and I have to say that if you feel lost and overwhelmed I know exactly how you feel. (By the way “niche product” and “niche program” are one and the same - both things you are aiming to sell to your niche market) I made many mistakes and lived to tell the tale - and boy did it pay off!

I was the number one computer phobic, clueless dumbo when I first came across this way of doing business. All I knew was this seemed like a way to ditch my 9 to 5 job (that I’d been stuck in for 26 years!). So I took a deep breath and dived in.

If you are like me you will read everything you can find and soon learn that opinions are like rear ends - everyone’s got one. But I realized after a while that I kept coming back to some very basic ways go about marketing niche products - and it is these that are the key to your success.

1. Find a niche market

2. Find a niche program or product.

3. Sell the product to the market.

The first and maybe not so obvious is find your niche market. Notice I said first find your market - not your product. I remember frantically looking for great products I thought would set the world on fire. Guess what? No one else thought the same. Result - no sales. Eventually the penny dropped and I started finding the market first and then finding a product to match.

How do you find a hungry niche market? Find what they are typing into search engines. How? Well there are many great products to help. The one I use the most (Good Keywords) also happens to be free! Just go to Google and type in “Good Keywords Softnik Technologies” and you will find where to download it free.

A great place to find your niche products once you have established your hot market is Clickbank.com - If you are not a member then join now, and you will have access to over 10,000 digital products that cover every niche there is. And it is digital products that are easiest to start selling if you are new. Clickbank deal with all the order processing and delivery so you just have to concentrate on sendng your customers.

The established way to go on and sell your products is through pay per click advertising or having a website. Both these work but can be difficult to learn in the your early stages - and why make it difficult for yourself?

There is a 100% effective niche marketing strategy, almost “undercover” way to get to the top of the search engine rankings using articles about your niche products. It is a system put together by Nathan Stark and it enabled him to bring in over $3 million in sales in one year. This is something I was totally skeptical about - until I tried it! I have to admit you need to put in a bit of effort, but it soon became apparent that this new technique rewards you thousands of times over in the form of sales. For only 60 - 90 days work an ongoing stream of customers is created for life! Wow - was I taken aback!

I hope you pursue your niche product marketing business because I have to say, hand on heart, it is the best thing I ever did - but remember it’s not something for nothing. Do the basics right and you will be richly rewarded.

Gaz Hutchinson Internet Marketer

For details on Nathan Stark’s Niche Product Marketing System visit http://www.realmoneysite.com

About The Author

Gaz Hutchinson
I am an Internet Marketer living in England. For more details on my favourite program visit www.realmoneysite.com.
gazzie12000@yahoo.co.uk

Copyright ) 2005 Maryellen Malack
Red Rose Marketing, Inc.
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-10730

You’re excited. You have a great idea for a profitable online business. Maybe it is an original idea that has not been marketed online before. Maybe you have come up with a new spin on the ordinary. Whatever it is that has influenced you to start your online business, be sure that you have a plan before you begin.

This is not the time pick it up as you go. These are some to basic things that should be included in your business plan.
The business summary should give a brief description of the entire business and is an integral part of the overall business plan. After you have completed the business summary you should begin to list the objectives or the goals that you want to accomplish through the business. Next and perhaps most importantly, you should develop your marketing plan. The marketing plan will address all the specifics of the business.

When developing the marketing strategy you should consider the following:

The target market. The target market is the customers that you expect to see visiting your site. For example will your
product may be appealing to college students or those who are in retirement?

Consider the competition for your product when determining the marketing strategy. Choose a product that will be seen as unique and useful. Visit sites that are offering the same or similar products. Find out the cost, and how they are marketing their product. Finds out the pros and cons of their business and try to improve your product based on their flaws.

Research the various methods for advertising online. You should become educated about search engines and how they work since each one is different. Also be sure that you know how to submit your site to search engines. You should be prepared to spend a small amount of money on advertising, but the profits that you will gain from the advertisements will prove to be money well spent.

Think about pricing. Again, look at the competition and see what similar products are selling for. Pricing can play a big role in the success of your product since selling a product well below the average price may lead customer to think that there is a problem with the product or that it is not of the best quality.

However, pricing items too high could also detour customers.

Determine the shipping method. Be sure that you know how products will be shipped so that you can have shipping details clearly posted on your site. If you are shipping things of great value, you should consider providing shipping insurance. Also think about shipping outside the country that you live in.

Think about the different methods of payment that you will accept. If your business does not accept credit cards, you should be ready to give up half if not more of your sales. If you decide to accept credit cards will you use a merchant account or will you use a third party credit card processing center? Both will help you get started and the third party processing center will handle all of the business so you dont have to. You should decide which you will use and also if you will accept checks or money orders. It is essential to have a secure server when taking credit cards.

These few things will help your online business to become a great success and also provide you with peace of mind knowing that you have thoroughly thought about and planned for the opening of your online business.
———————————————————————
Maryellen Malack owns Red Rose Marketing, Inc.
How Would You Like To Get A Money Making Website Just For You That’s 100% Ready To Take Orders And Pull In Massive Residual Profits Today!
Get All The Exciting Details And Signup Now At:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-10730

Cable has grown from 13 houses connected together in 1948 to coverage of nearly 70% of all households in the U.S. With dozens, even hundreds of channels, Cable is now a major player for local advertising dollars, some for less than 5 bucks.

On the Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1960�??s, most of the people shortened her name from “Mary” to “Mare”. We, as a group, have a tendency to find the short cut, giving nick name to names that could stand on their own. Mary didn�??t need to be any shorter, but it was cute to cut it down. Many Margarets are called Peggy, figure that one out. And many if not most John�??s are called Jack.

It is little surprise that Cable became the shortened name for Community Antenna Television, CATV. In the days of CATV, local commercial inserts were not available.

Community Antenna Television, CATV originated as a service to those who lived in an area where TV was impossible to see. I visited the home of a friend�??s mother in the mountains of North Carolina several decades ago. With a tall antenna and booster amplifiers, the best she could do was a fuzzy picture on ONE channel. Legends abound about who had the first community antenna. Most research says the first official CATV company began charging a fee to hook up in 1948. In those days CATV was no more than one big antenna tower on a high hill (or mountain) with a Cable running down the side and two or more homes connected.

In 1972, Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable launched the nation�??s first pay­TV network, Home Box Office (HBO). Cable became more than an antenna for local stations. Cable became a major player.

Today, most Cable companies have the ability to INSERT your commercial into many of the Cable networks. The networks don�??t stop the show with a black screen for local commercials, instead they fill the space with ads that sell something (exercise machines, fancy knives, or something from Ron Popeil). “..order now and we�??ll make the 4th payment for you!”

Local Cable commercial insertions are available 15 (or more) major networks and the list grows every month. Local advertisers can no longer afford to ignore the marketing potential, and lost cost, available through the use of Cable advertising.

Most offer a package that will put your commercial into a mix of Cable network programs at all hours of the day for as little as $5 per commercial. Yup, $5 for a commercial on ESPN, CNN Headline News or the Discovery Channel. The premium channels (those that cost extra above the standard cable package, HBO, Showtime etc.) do not allow commercials to be inserted

The Cable people sell very large packages with hundreds of commercials, splattered over all the networks allowing insertions. You have no control over where, when, or what channel your ad will appear. As a result, you get hundreds for a low price.

You can see why this is so by working the math. Ask the Cable TV salesman how many channels he has on his system, and how many homes are connected. Then ask how many channels will have your commercials.

If there are 10,000 homes connected and the system has 25 channels and your ads will be inserted into 5 channels you will need a lot of ads to reach even a small percentage of the people. Ads are inserted into news and sports channels and entertainment and super station channels. Computers do it automatically, so the Cable company doesn’t have to have people on the job 24 hours a day to run your commercial. Cable companies can insert one or one thousand commercials with a few keystrokes and with thousands of slots every day, they have no problem selling you a bunch for little money.

The major drawback of advertising on Cable is the amateurish way most Cable commercials are produced. Because of the low price for the ads, Cable companies often produce commercials with a tech school graduate and a mini cam.

Don’t expect award winning commercials for five bucks. Some charge extra to produce your commercial, some offer it as a part of the package. Take a look at what they have done for others. Ask to see a demo reel. If you don�??t like what you see, consider hiring your own crew to do it your way.

One way or another you will have to pay some extra to get a good commercial. Make one that will last for some time. After all it will take a long time for it to show up in all the prime slots on all the insert networks.

Professionally produced commercials can cost over $5,000 for 30 seconds and may take as long as a week for initial taping, longer for final editing.

This cost can be reduced if you perform the creative function and write your own commercials as well as furnishing talent for the ads. Some frugal advertisers have been able to hold production costs to as little as $200 per ad.

As with all commercials, make sure your name and what you do is at the beginning, at least in the middle and at the end. Phone number is not as important as name. You don�??t watch TV with a pad and pencil to write down phone numbers and neither does anyone else. Get them to remember your company. Cook up a slogan.

Avoid the trap of being talked into standing in front of store and doing the ad yourself. Most Cable sales reps will trot this out first thing. Ego sells! Your friends may mention it, but it will not sell as well as a commercial featuring what you can do for those viewing at home. Remember, advertising is not about YOU, it�??s about THEM. Value and benefits, value and benefits, not, “look at me and my kids”.

Cable can be an effective part of your local advertising mix at a very reasonable price.

For more about advertising get my article “What the Newspaper Won’t Tell You” MailTo:NewspaperAds@BigIdeasGroup.com
EzineArticles Expert Author Mike McDaniel

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small Business Consultant with over 30 years experience, http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

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