In this episode from ROC co-founders Bryan Hane and Bret Ridgway’s BlogTalkRadio show the key essentials of email deliverability are discussed.

Listen in to this episode of ROC co-founders Bryan Hane and Bret Ridgway Blog Talk Radio show as they discuss key considerations when selecting a shopping cart for your online business.

Red Oak Cart’s sister company, Speaker Fulfillment Services has recently come on board as the print sponsor for Pamela Bruner’s Transform Event 2013 in Charlotte, North Carolina from June 27-29, 2013. As part of the sponsorship SFS has eight complimentary registrations they can give away.

This is your opportunity to FINALLY experience all the success you want as you discover a fresh, boldly authentic way to grow your business and change lives!

Claim one of the complimentary registrations for SFS being a sponsor NOW while space is still available. If you’re ready for a breakthrough in the way you attract cash flow and help your ideal clients transform their lives, Transform 2013 is where it starts.

Get all the event specifics at TransformEvent2013.com and then contact Bret Ridgway at bret@sfsmail.com to claim your complimentary registration. See you in Charlotte!

Twice a year our buddy Rick Frishman hosts a great event called Author 101. The next session will be held from March 7- 10 in Los Angeles. ROC’s own Bryan Hane and Bret Ridgway will be present and Bret will be delivering a content session titled “Beyond the Book.”

We hope we’ll see you in LA. For all the event details please visit Author101University.com.

Ever Hear of Camel Casing?

Ever found yourself driving down the road and see the service vehicle for some local business? They usually list the company name, maybe with a logo, then typically a phone number and a website URL.

Ever notice how many times you see a website URL that’s listed like this?:

www.freakeshlylongdomainnameforlocalbusiness.com

Pert near impossible to read, isn’t it?

That’s why all domain names that are multiple word domains need to use the concept of Camel Casing to improve the readability of the domain. So, instead of the impossible to read domain above it would be:

www.FreakeshlyLongDomainNameForLocalBusiness.com

Simply capitalize the first letter of all the major words and the URL is much more readable. This also applies to anywhere you list a domain such as:

•  Billboards
• Business Cards
• Sales Literature
• Trade Show Booths/Signage

Sometimes you have just a few seconds to catch a prospect’s attention and if their mind can’t discern your URL easily then you may well have lost them.

Just make sure your domain name isn’t case sensitive and you’ll be good to go.

I cringe every time I see it.  A new fulfillment client sends over the artwork for the manual that’s part of their new information product.  They’ve got a beautiful full color front cover, a well designed spine, and then – nothing on the back of their binder.  Nada – zip – zilch.

I want to pull my hair out (what’s left of it).  Why?  Because the back of any binder in your information product is prime real estate for any of the following:

• Testimonials from ecstatic customers that will reinforce the wise investment they’ve just made and help the sale “stick”
• A brief bio of you, the author, to help increase their level of comfort with you because now they know you better
• Descriptions of other products or services you have to offer along with the URL where they can go for additional information and to purchase
• An unannounced bonus.  Everyone loves a surprise.  Announce a surprise bonus on the back and tell them how they can pick it up

The same holds true for any disc packaging you may have in your product.  Be sure to use the backs of any disc cases or albums to help sell more of what you have to offer.

You never know who might see your product.  If someone passes your manual to a buddy to review don’t leave it to chance that the person will know where to go to get more information about you if they like what they read.  Be sure to put at least a URL on every disc label, disc case, manual, etc. that’s part of your information product.

Effective use of all your product “real estate” will help you to grow your information marketing business.

For a free copy of the “Information Product Development and Launch Checklist” go to http://50BiggestMistakes.com

The latest issue of ROC Talk, the quarterly Red Oak Cart Client “Use-letter” has been posted.

http://redoakcart.com/roctalk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ROCNewsletter_Oct12_web.pdf

The latest issue of ROC Talk, the quarterly Red Oak Cart Client “Use-letter” has been posted.

http://redoakcart.com/roctalk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ROCTalk3rdQtr2012_web.pdf

By Jeff Herring

Article Marketing is a great way to pull in the traffic and profits, when you have a strategically crafted Resource Box. Most people mess this up, and that is why I am offering 7 tips in this article on how to get more traffic and profit from your Article Resource Box.

Before I get started, for the beginners out there, the Resource Box is the section at the end of every article where you are encouraged to invite your reader to learn more from you by clicking on links back to your websites and blogs.

Just to make sure you understand the power of this, just one of these carefully crafted is responsible for almost half of the members in my list community.

7 Tips for a More Powerful Resource Box

1) It’s not about you – The biggest mistake I see people make is believing the Resource Box is all about them.

Nope.

It’s all about your reader and prospect, and what is in it for them. This is the mindset that you must adopt and keep when you craft this part of your article

2) Anti-hype – Avoid any hype. This is the quickest way to turn away high quality prospects. Giving the impression that you think they have to get this now or they will never be successful is a great way to get rejected.

3) Invitational language – While this is a call to action, you want to use “invitational language” For example, “And now I’d like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to…” beats the heck out of “watch this video before we decide to take it down.” Yeah, right.

4) The trade – Invite your reader/prospect to an opt-in page where they can trade their email address for more good information from you. Make it a compelling offer full of clear benefits to your prospect. This is a good trade for both of you.

5) Flow – The Resource Box is the next paragraph in your article. So it should flow right out of your article. Don’t do anything to stop the flow. The easiest way to make it flow is to begin with the word “and.”

6) Invite – Using the invitational language mentioned above, invite your reader to take the action you want them to take. Make sure it is the next logical step for them to get more great information from you.

7) Brand – Remember when I said this is not about you? The only time you should mention your name or brand is at the very end, and then only so the prospect can pair the great stuff they are about to get from you with your name and brand.

Here’s an example of how to use these 7 tips. I encourage you to model this and check it out to get your Free Resource Box Template.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to one of my prospect pulling Resource Box Templates when you visit http://www.ResourceBoxTemplates.com

You’ll get a “fill in the blanks” template for creating a powerful Resource Box that you can use right away!

From Jeff Herring – The Article Marketing Guy & The Resource Box Course

By Heather Kirk

The key word in the title to this article is ‘invest.’ That’s because design does affect the way people perceive you, and most people are visually stimulated.

Every time you pay to have a product professionally designed, you are making an investment — that’s the way you’ve got to look at it. A great thing about design, even the design of your brand, is that you pay for it once, but you get a return on your investment over and over and over again.

Let’s say that you have a large information product series that you pay $1,000 to get all of the different pieces designed. Once you sell a few of those, you are into profit, and from then on, it’s always profit.

When you apply that logic to your brand, you realize that no matter how much you spend on developing your brand, if it creates repeat buyers, a monetary investment will quickly pay for itself.

It’s all in how you look at it. You are not going to have to pay any royalties on any design you have done for your brand or your products. It is a one-time investment that provides long-term profits.

So which graphics are most important to invest in? It’s got to be your branding elements.

The reason is because you want people to continue to buy your products over and over again and to become raving fans for you, where they will go out and tell other people to buy from you. In order to build that, you’ve got to give them a way to get to know, like and trust you.

How do you build that kind of relationship with people? It starts by selling them a good, quality product. You want that first impression to capture their attention in design and content. Both are important.

Always give them more than they are expecting. That way they are going to remember you.

The key is to get them to remember that that great product came from you. If there is nothing more on your product other than a name, it’s not going to be enough for them to remember you. They won’t know to associate that great product with you.

That is where branding comes in.

If you build a brand prior to creating your first product, you have a real advantage because you will be able to give them a graphic representation to remember you by. It creates a picture in their minds that sticks. That way, when your next product comes out, they can be reminded of you and the quality of your products at a single glance.

It is so important for them to recognize you at a glance because you only get a moment to catch people’s attention.

If a buyer remembers you, they will already know you and like you from their first product because it was a quality product, so they will be much more likely to purchase from you again. When they buy that second product from you, you are starting to build that trust because it’s another quality product, and they realize that it is worth the money they are investing.

So, how valuable is that, for people to buy from you over and over again? How valuable is it for people to go out and tell others to buy from you? It’s priceless.

Is building that trust something worth investing in?

Sure, it is. It is an investment.

A lot of people don’t look at design and branding as an investment. They look at it as money leaving their pockets, but when you really look at the importance of branding and creating your image, you come to understand that it is the number one investment that can be made in your business.

Heather Kirk is known as a branding expert for small businesses and entrepreneurs and has been a graphic designer for almost 20 years. Her website is www.GraphicsByHeather.com.