I was at the races last week and realized that the NASCAR is one of the most popular sporting events. I had never been to race before but was given tickets to a NEXTEL Cup race in New Hampshire last week.

Three things struck me:

1) The tickets were more than $100 Each

I had never realized that going to the races was so expensive. In addition to purchasing tickets fans also have to pay for meals, lodging and travel costs.

2) There were a lot of people there… I mean a real lot of people.

One of my friends that follows NASCAR said most races have 100's of Thousands of people in attendance… and some of the major events have over 1 million fans at the race.

3) The fans have a lot of gadgets

Radios, Scanners, Cell Phones, PDA's, Handheld TV's & Laptops… these people are "wired"…or maybe I should say "wired-less".

Put those three things together and you have a lot of people with a significant amount of disposable income that can be easily reached….and that is just the people at the race (never mind the people watching on TV or following the race results in various sports websites).

Not only is this potentially a good niche market… but since fans know drivers by their sponsor as much as by their name or number… then this also provides a great advertising opportunity.

Now I realize that sponsoring a NEXTEL Cup racecar is well beyond the budget of most websites, but there are a whole group of local & regional racing series. A website could easily sponsor one of those cars, build immediate brand recognition and connect with this fastest growing segment of sporting fans.

Bill Wright
Get More Web Traffic Now!
http://www.trafficsecrets.com/

I actually grew up not far from a very popular regional racetrack myself. Ironically, they call themselves "The Nation's Site of Excitement".

Initially, I thought this idea had potential. It seemed logical that placing your URL across the hood of a local racecar could be a good investment and generate a fair amount of web traffic.

But, then I started researching the idea and discovered the facts.

Racers sell Full or Partial sponsorships.

A full sponsorship guarantees your name is the only ad on the car and costs approx $40,000-$60,000 per season.

For partial sponsorships you can have your URL on a fender, a quarter panel, the hood, or the back of a car. Each of those spots costs between $10,000-$20,000 per season.

Never mind how much exposure you can get or how much web traffic it could generate…there are much better ways to spend that amount of money.

But, if you have your mind set on sponsoring something… then maybe you should try sponsoring a city bus or a taxi cab. Prices will vary from city-to-city, but I found where I live it costs about $100 per month for a "Taxi-Top" or a "City Bus Banner".

In fact, if you get creative you may be able to get something cheaper. For example, I talked to a taxi cab that has an ad for the local car wash. They worded out a deal. The carwash gets an ad and the taxi gets 1 free carwash a day.

Another thing that people may not have thought of is in-car ads. I am sure everyone has seen the new trend of placing ads in public bathrooms. You could easily put something similar in a taxi or in a bus. This can either be in the form of a flyer on the wall or take the idea 1 step further and have the taxi or rental car give each client one of your flyers when the get in the car (that way the have something to read while sitting in traffic… and they can take it with them).

Lastly… don't think that you have to sponsor a vehicle. Remember that carwash… they do special charity carwashes every weekend (as fund raisers for Boy Scouts and things like that). Anyone could team-up with the carwash company, make a tax-deducible donation to that weekend's charity and be considered the "sponsor" for that weeks carwash.

Then every car wash customer will receive a flyer with your marketing info on it…or you could just pass out business cards.

I agree that regional racing seemed like a great advertising opportunity… but I recommend you spend your marketing budget elsewhere.

Discuss this tip with fellow Trafficology Readers
in The Trafficology Members Area

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Jason Submit:

If you start your body copy with a drop capital, you increase readership by an average of 13%

The term 'drop capital' is used to describe the large capital letters that you often see at the start of a paragraph in books, magazines and newspapers. It's called a 'drop' capital because it literally drops down inside the paragraph. The big letter 'T' at the beginning of this paragraph is an example of a drop capital.

The drop capital or 'drop initial' as it's also known, was originally used to add decoration to a page. Large hand drawn and very ornate drop capitals were often used to mark the beginning of a book or a chapter.

Many of today's publishers who want to give their work a more professional looking appearance, will often use a drop capital for that all important finishing touch.

With billions of web pages available to read on the Internet, getting people to read the pages on your website is getting harder and harder. You will often only have a few seconds in which to catch the fast surfing Internet user's attention.

In addition to just being decorative, the drop capital has also been proven to increase the number of people that read the first paragraph on your page. The larger than normal letter at the beginning of the first paragraph manages to grab the readers attention. As the letter forms part of the first paragraph, the reader's eyes are lead naturally from left to right into the text.

Jason Lewis
Increase Sales & Readership by 13%
http://dropcaps.trafficologyresources.com

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I actually noticed that renowned copywriter, Michel Fortin, has stated using drop caps in his sales letters. When asked about it he confirmed an increase in conversion after adding drop caps.

Creating your own drop capitals, does require a little bit of time and effort. You can make the first letter of each paragraph larger and bold using HTML, you can use JavaScript & CSS or you can just add an image to the beginning of each paragraph

Ready-Made Professional Drop Caps
http://dropcaps.trafficologyresources.com

Do-It-Yourself CSS Drop Caps
http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/pseudoletter.shtml


Another Drop Cap Resource
http://www.frenchspot.com/WebTips/DropCaps/dropcaps.html

When working on SEO, you need to consider both Search Engines and Directories.
Search Engines are automated programs that go out and find sites and links automatically. An example of a search engine is Google.com

Directories are sites where humans physically review sites that are submit to them or go out and find sites to add to the directory. An example of a directory is DMOZ.org

The main difference in directories and search engines is the quality of the results. Before Google developed the PR, it was generally accepted that directories were superior to pure search engines. That is because directories contained far fewer websites…because they only contain websites that a real person judged to be relevant to the topic.

Anyway… DMOZ.org is unique because it relies on volunteers to be editors… and just about anyone who has a legitimate expertise in any topic can be an editor. All you have to do is find a category that needs an editor and volunteer to take charge of (or help out with) that category.

Every SEO expert wishes they could be on the inside of a major Search Engine like Google. While that is not likely to happen anytime soon, you can gain creditability and PageRank by becoming a dmoz.org editor.

Every editor gets links to their own home page from dmoz.org

Also, now that you are an editor you can add that to your bio or article resource box. Being recognized as the expert on that topic by a major directory will give you instant respect and your articles more creditability with your readers. Remember one of the keys to online sales is trust. Your online customers must know, like and trust you…before they will make a purchase.

Another way that you can use this to your advantage is to keep an eye on your competition. Since you will be reviewing the sites that are submit in your category, you will know immediately what other people in the marketplace are doing.

Lastly, how about building some strategic partnerships. Since you are reviewing a topic that you are already knowledgeable in, you can find sites that complement yours. Add them to the Dmoz directory, contact the webmaster and workout a separate advertising JV.

Would you believe something as simple as your handwritten signature on your site can make a big difference in how you are perceived. Scan your signature, edit it into a web graphic and use it on your page in the guarantee. When someone sees your guarantee combined with your signature it increases your credibility by leaps and bounds.

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The Peer-to-Peer Traffic Revolution has begun:
Discover how to get all the FREE, highly targeted
online traffic you can handle - by clicking here:
http://mdt.trafficologyresources.com
...Start getting traffic in just 5 minutes from now!
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As you may have noticed, this is something that I always use. When people see your real signature they start to humanize you... they know a real person is behind the site and that is important to many customers.

Also, you may want to try including other hand written comments around the PS area or product images. You may even want to include an entire hand written guarantee. These are items are especially important when trying to sell "self-help" information or high ticket items.

For example: http://trafficsecrets.trafficologyresources.com
At the very bottom of this page you see that John Reese provides a hand written guarantee for this high-end information product.

Another example: http://panic-anxiety.com/copy.asp?id=1706
This site sells a "self-help" anxiety eBook. In the guarantee, they link to this pop-up hand written note. I bet most people never see the note. It is more effective to place the note directly on the page like John Reese did above.

It is very important to "personalize" your website. One of the most important factors to selling online is trust. The more you can let your customers get to "Know, Like and Trust You", them more your online sales will increase.

Click Here to Learn More Traffic Conversion Techniques
in the Trafficology Member's Area For Only $1

With all the emphasis on online marketing, most people are probably forgetting one of the most powerful means of advertising available.

I'm talking about classified advertising in newspapers. Most people are aware of what you have to do to place an ad in a daily or weekly newspaper, but did you know there are companies that will place your ad in literally hundreds of papers with circulation's in the millions for pennies per ad? Instead of paying the ridiculously high ad rates newspapers charge for a single classified, you can get that very same ad placed in hundreds of newspapers for pennies. Usually about $0.20-$0.30 per ad.

Another good thing is that many of these newspapers will accept business opportunity ads. Below I will list several companies you can contact or visit their web sites and see the prices of their advertising packages. Let me tell you, one ad that draws a response rate of .05%, that's 1/2 of 1 percent, on a circulation of 4 million can bring in $10,000-$20,000 in a very short period of time. Your cost for this type of ad. About $250-$450. These companies also offer less expensive packages if you just want to test an ad. But this type of advertising works. You can post your URL in the ad and still sell from your website.

Maybe you've never given much thought to this type of advertising related to your online business. Maybe none of your affiliate programs ever discussed this with you. Maybe they just don't know about it. But now you have a very powerful means of getting your message out that can earn substantial profit on your investment.

Here are some fine companies you can contact to see what kind of advertising packages they offer.

Nationwide Classifieds
http://www.nationwideclassifieds.com/

Discount National Newspaper Advertising
http://www.advertisingresults.com/

You can also find great packages through state or regional press associations. Each state or region has press associations which consist of a group of newspapers. You can do a search at any search engine for 'press association' and find this information. Many will even help you with your ad. .

-----------------------------------------------
The Peer-to-Peer Traffic Revolution has begun:
Discover how to get all the FREE, highly targeted
online traffic you can handle - by clicking here:
http://mdt.trafficologyresources.com
...Start getting traffic in just 5 minutes from now!
-----------------------------------------------

Learn More about Paid Advertising in the Trafficology Member's Area.

Click Here to Take the Trafficology 10-Day Trial for only $1

Promoting Your Online Business using Articles

The ultimate traffic creation method for someone
on a shoestring budget is online articles.

The basic idea is to write an information packed article on a topic that directly relates to your product or service. In the article you explain how to do something or provide a list of tips. At the bottom of the article explain how your product or service is connected to the topic of the article with a link to your website.

Next, disseminate your article to various online and offline newsletters and magazines that are related to what you have written.

If your article is interesting and well written, newsletters and magazines will publish your article. Their readers will visit your site and purchase your product.
All this cost was your time.

That is the general idea, but there are many tips and techniques to using online articles that will save time and increase the amount of traffic you generate.
One of the top experts on promoting your online business with articles is Willie Crawford. Willie has been marketing online since 1996 and has created a 6-figure income by using online articles to promote niche products.

Last week I interviewed Willie Crawford of profitautomation.com for the Trafficology's Special Report on Creating Web Traffic with Online Articles.

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In the Trafficology Member's Area, Listen to Trafficology's
Special Report on Creating Web Traffic Using Online Articles,
become a Trafficology Member…take our 10-Day Trial for Only $1.

This hour-long audio report explains how to develop article ideas, how to write articles, how to find places to publish your article and everything else you need to start a serious article writing marketing campaign.
http://www.nitromarketing.com/trafficology.php

To learn more about how to write articles that are interesting and well-written sign-up for Dr. Joe Vitale's FREE Hypnotic Writing Webcast:
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Below are Willie Crawford's top 5 tips for using articles to promote your online business. Each tip has a 2-3 minute audio clip of Willie explaining each idea.
All 10 tips are available in the Trafficology Members area for Only $1

Promoting Your Online Business Using Articles
Advanced Tips

(Click Play to Hear All 5 Tips)

Tip 1) Incentivize publishers to increase the
chances of getting them to use your articles:

(Click Play to Hear Tip 1)

Allow them to change links in the articles, make sure the article contains tremendous value, purchase advertising if they run your article, etc.

Tip 2) Use articles to super-charge your affiliate program:

(Click Play to Hear Tip 2)

Allow affiliates to use your articles and substitute their affiliate url for yours. Encourage them to use these articles in ebooks, print books, in ezines, on their webpages, in article directories, etc. Also create brandable, viral ebooks with your articles.

TIP 3) Use articles to increase your
search engine ranking and link popularity:

(Click Play to Hear Hear Tip 3)

Include links to sites you want to boost in your articles. When they are archived on sites this boost your link popularity. Offer to swap articles with other webmasters rather than just links. This has the same effect as link swapping but it also
adds content to both site! You can do this by swapping articles with ezine publishers too. When issues are archived online... same effect.

4) Use articles to boost your bio/credentials

(Click Play to Hear Tip 4)

Just being able to say that you had "x" articles published in various newsletters is a credentials. Writing articles firmly establishes in the minds of your audience what your area of expertise is.

5) Track the results of your articles the
same as you would any other promotion:

(Click Play to Hear Tip 5)

When a publisher tells you that he's going to use an article, maybe send one with a unique url in the resource box so that you can track clickthru's better. This will let you know which ezines and which topics to focus on in the future. This will tell you what your audience is really interested in and maybe where more of your paying customers are.

To hear 5 More Tips on How to Promote Your Business
Using Online Articles, take the trafficology $1 Trial.