My 2¢ Worth

his Sunday is the Easter holiday for those who celebrate it and the Jewish faith celebrates Passover this time of year. And I have a few interesting facts about Easter for you.

espite its religious connotations, did you know Easter was originally a pagan festival? The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity.

he missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

s it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

Feature Article

Modern-Day Postcard Marketing

by: Bob Leduc BobLeduc.com

Postcards are one of the most effective marketing tools you can use to generate website traffic or sales leads. Postcards are not new - and they may not be very exciting. But they really work... especially if you follow these 6 proven postcard marketing tactics.

1. Know What You Want

Decide what you want your postcards to accomplish. Most marketers use postcards to attract new customers. But you can also use them for other purposes such as generating repeat sales or cultivating customer loyalty.

Also, decide what you want the recipients of your postcards to do. For example, do you want them to visit your website, pick up the phone to call you, come into your store... or something else?

2. Use the Best Mailing List

If you want postcards to generate repeat sales, you already have the mailing list - your customers. But if you want postcards to attract new customers, you need to get a mailing list. Fortunately, there are high-quality mailing lists available that can deliver your sales message directly to your best prospects.

For example, get a list of prospects who previously requested information about (or bought) products similar to those you sell... or a list of subscribers to publications read by prospects in your targeted market. You can get these and other high-quality lists from most mailing list brokers.

3. Design Your Postcard to Look Like a Friendly Message

People like friendly messages. They don't like advertising. Take advantage of this by designing your postcard to look at first glance like a message from a friend instead of like an ad in a magazine. It produces a pleasant emotional reaction from readers and increases the number of replies you get.

For example, use the same type style and layout you would use for a personal note to a friend. Include a date at the top and a sender's name at the bottom. Avoid borders, graphics and other design features often used in advertising.

4. Include an Incentive to Respond Quickly

Provide a reason for those who read your postcard to take action - now. Don't let them put your postcard aside for later action. They'll get involved in other activities and forget all about it.

For example, offer the reader a discounted price, a special bonus or some other benefit if they reply by a deadline.

5. Use Real Stamps

Use real postage stamps on your postcards. It produces more replies than imprinting the postage. You can send postcards by First Class Mail in the US for only 24 cents if you make them at least 3 1/2 by 5 inches but no larger than 4 1/4 by 6 inches.

6. Time the Delivery of Your Postcards

Mail your postcards so they are likely to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday. The volume of mail delivered on those days is usually light and your postcards will not have to compete with a lot of other mail delivered at the same time.

Controlling the delivery day of your postcards is easy if you use First Class Mail. Just allow 2 to 3 days for delivery - depending on how far they have to go. That's the normal delivery time for First Class Mail in the US.

Postcards have been around for a long time... but they have become a highly-effective modern-day marketing tool. Follow these 6 proven postcard marketing tactics and you will generate a flood of traffic to your website, a steady flow of sales leads or any other sales activity you want.

**************

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards ...and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: bobleduc.com/ or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

Easy Image Rollover

Think mouse-overs are tough? Think again ... here's a totally easy way to change an image when the user hovers over it. The following code will require you to have two images, one that appears on page load, and one that appears when users hover or roll over the first image with their mouse. Finally, we also specify a return to our original image when the user mouses back out. customize the fields in red with your own links and images.

Step 1. Make a Link:

<a href="page1.html" onMouseOver="imagename.src='pic-2.gif'" onMouseOut="imagename.src='pic.gif'">

onMouseOut tells the browser that when the mouse is NOT over image imagename, then display pic.gif, which is the original image. If this piece is not there, you will get an error message.

Step 2. Add the Image:

<img src="pic.gif" name="imagename" border=0></a>. The NAME attribute is important - as the Javascript uses it.

You have now completed your image rollover. Pretty easy, huh?

NOTE: If you do not want the image to be clickable, remove "page1.html" and replace it with a "#" sign.

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for yourweb site, free. *

Second Article

Attract More Customers By Making Time For Marketing

by: Wendy Maynard Marketing Maven

To start seeing remarkable success, you must make time for marketing. Many people tend to make their marketing a low priority. Instead of including it as a part of your weekly routine, you may find yourself scrambling to try and find customers only when business is slow.

Create more room in your week for marketing by restructuring your time and task management. Here are some tips:

1. Commit to marketing every week: Your first step is to go to your calendar and carve out slots of time to work on your marketing — this includes sales, networking, writing, presentations, and so on. Schedule uninterrupted time for marketing in the part of the day when you are the most productive.
2. Eliminate time wasters: We can all find a bajillion ways to procrastinate including Internet surfing, playing online games, watching TV, and reading e-mails. Make a commitment to yourself that you will put aside your favorite time waster. If you cut back on these things, you'll be amazed at how much you can do. Remember, your marketing is an investment in YOU and the long-term success of your business.
3. Chunk up your time: For your essential tasks and your marketing, make chunks of times to work on similar activities. For example, push sales calls and customer call-backs into one slot on your weekly calendar. Block out sessions for creating new products or service lines. Only check your e-mails once or twice a day, answering them all at one time.
4. Develop a marketing system: You can create a simple spreadsheet, make notes in your planner, or sketch out activities on a large flipchart sheet on the wall. The point is to make an annual profile of your marketing activities including: events, trade shows, advertising deadlines, direct mailings, seminars, and so on. Schedule marketing and stick to it!
5. Make marketing a habit: Commit to making marketing into a weekly habit. This means that even when you are busy, you still schedule time in your week for marketing, networking, speaking, making follow-up calls, coffee dates, and keeping in touch with past customers and referrers.

Marketing is an ongoing activity for the lifetime of your business. Commit to marketing and your business will grow as a result. You won't have to scramble to sell yourself when times are slow because your pipeline will stay full. This will lead to the ability to turn away less desirable work, raise your prices, and make more money! Your ongoing marketing efforts will ensure your business is predictable, pleasant, and profitable.

**************

Wendy Maynard, your friendly Marketing Maven, publishes REMARKABLE MARKETING, a weekly marketing ezine for business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. If you're ready to skyrocket your sales, easily attract customers, and have more fun, subscribe now at www.gomarketingmaven.com/

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