Penny Wise

By Bob Osgoodby
Posted Thursday, November 18, 2004

We've all heard the saying "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish". It never ceases to amaze me that someone will join an income opportunity program, but not effectively promote it and scout out new customers. Most people join programs of this type to generate income, and they pay a monthly fee to be involved.

They first might try all the free advertising available, and that may or may not generate some income. However, they are using the "tried and true", but very "tired" ads supplied by the affiliate, and wonder why they don't do better.

Then they try some paid ads using the same tired ad copy in newsletters, ezines and on web sites with similar results. At this point, they might do one of two things, and sometimes both. The first is they discount this type of advertising as not being effective, and/or quit the affiliate program. After a program gets saturated, thousands of people have used these affiliate supplied ads, and potential customers have seen them a "jillion" times. Once an ad gets "tired", it is a waste of time and money to continue using it.

However, many people rely on ezine advertising to sell these affiliate programs that others are failing at, and do very well. So what are they doing to be successful?

They do not just post an ad, and wait for the dollars to arrive in their mailbox. They have not fallen into what is referred to as "the earn while you sleep" trap. You know, you throw up a few ads on the web, and at night people all over the world are sending you their hard earned money. They realize that like anything else, if they are to succeed, they have to work at it.

The first thing they do is write some original ad copy, and back it up with their own web site. With the cost of registering a site AND a full year of web hosting for about $35, (see (http://bitshack.com)) which is probably less than their monthly fee to the affiliate program, this is a must.

They next seek out newsletters or ezines, whose subscribers fall into their general target market. There, they place their rewritten ads and keep them going. It takes 5 to 7 exposures to an ad to get someone's attention. The really successful keep their ads in front of potential customers on a regular basis.

Ezine advertising is one of the most effective, inexpensive forms of advertising available on the web. You can get your message out to thousands of prospects for a few dollars. If you can't afford to advertise like this, you can't afford to be in business.

The old "saw" that "it takes money to make money" certainly holds true when conducting a web based business. But the beauty here is that you don't have to invest thousands to get started.

Many people trying to earn income on the web will fail, however a well thought out program will make money. Is there any "magic formula" which will guarantee success? Yes, but some are either to busy with their regular job to pursue this like a business, while others who do have the time, would rather spend it in other activities, and are simply taking a "shot" hoping to get something for little or no effort.

In order to succeed in any business, online or off, you have to give it the proper attention, and approach it in a business like fashion. And at the risk of using a "dirty word" you have to "work", and approach it like a regular job. If you hope to build an online business, you cannot sit back and hope the world will beat a path to your door - they won't. You have to promote your business to get the prospects interested in what you are trying to sell.

People will invest their hard earned money in a program, but don't take that next important step and spend a few bucks to promote it. They search out inexpensive programs to work with, and they are being "penny wise". But they don't spend the few extra dollars to promote it. That is being "pound foolish".

If you are "penny wise and pound foolish" in your approach to running any business, you will not succeed. If you approach it in a business like manner, you will achieve success.

About the Author
Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter Visit his Web Site at (http://adv-marketing.com/business) to subscribe. As a bonus, get 40,000 FREE E-Books from Larry Dotson, when you visit )http://www.ldpublishing.com)