Vol. II, Issue 05

A Note from the Editor

Hello to All,

Welcome to this issue of The ART of Business newsletter, and a big welcome to all the new subscribers. For those of you who missed our Special Announcement last week, we've launched a new fre*e 4-day e-Course called "Infopreneuring 101" which is designed to introduce entrepreneurs to the concept of information marketing. If you'd like to register for this fre*e e-course, you can sign up here: Infopreneuring 101.

We're also excited to introduce you to this month's Featured Artist, Jennifer Tribe of Juiced Consulting. In addition to being one of the best-known experts in the information marketing industry, Jennifer is also an honest, down-to-earth business woman who truly cares about helping small businesses succeed. You can read about her here: Featured Artist.

And last but not least, today's feature article is the Questions & Answers column that many of you have requested. I hope you find it informative and helpful for your own business. To have your questions answered in future Q&A columns, please send an email with "Q&A" in the subject line to: info@womens-business-gallery.com

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Creating a media kit

Q: We've been in business for a couple of months now and we've been invited to give a presentation at an upcoming workshop, but I don't know what to include in our media kit besides our company brochure. Any suggestions?

A: First you'll want to have an introduction letter that addresses your target audience (media people, or investors, or potential customers). Then you'll want to include a company profile--a one or two page document that lists your company's mission statement and objectives and gives a brief overview of what your company does. In the profile you can also include a brief bio of your key personnel--their position in the company and their qualifications. If you have any press releases or articles about your company that give specifics about the benefits of doing business with you, I'd include those as well. Other documents you can include are: FAQs, industry fact sheet, photos, and product samples. And of course you'll include that brochure and two or three business cards too. I wouldn't use any fancy folders or expensive covers, especially if you'll be giving them out to all the workshop's attendees. A simple 2-pocket colored folder with your company's logo or a stick-on company label on the outside will do.

Building website traffic

Q: I'm in the process of building my business website--I've got maybe 10 pages already posted--but I'm not getting any traffic besides my friends and family. How can I promote my site without spending a lot of money to get more traffic?

A: There are several ways to attract website visitors; some are free and others aren't. If you want to build traffic quickly, you'll probably have to spend some money: buying ads in ezines, running a pay-per-click campaign, or buying ad space on other high-traffic websites that target your market. Some free ways to generate traffic are to write articles related to your industry and submit them to ezine publishers, article directories, and online industry publications. By including a resource box at the end of the article that has your URL, you get exposure to your website when the article is run, as well as getting an important inbound link to your website, which is good for ranking better with the search engines. We've got a section on our website devoted to this topic that you might want to check out: Website Design, which gives you strategies for optimizing your website so you'll get listed with the search engines. Free traffic means free exposure. You can also issue a press release (I use www.PRWeb.com) to generate publicity (more free advertising and inbound links), and submit your URL to specialty directories and industry-specific portals that will let you list your website for free.

Promoting my business

Q: I just took over as manager of a small restaurant and I need some ideas to bring in more customers. We're in a small town but we're competing with some fast-food chains so I need to do something different to make us stand out. What kind of promotions would you suggest?

A: First, I'd look into some joint ventures with other local business owners: maybe you can have an "Under New Management" party where you give away prizes that another business has donated--you can do flyers and posters that advertise both businesses so both businesses get exposure. You can also contact local business associations like the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, business networking and leads groups, etc., and offer your restaurant as a meeting place--they pay for food and drinks or you can "cater" their luncheons or dinners for a per-person fixed price. You can also connect with a local charity and promote a one-day fundraiser where a percentage of your profits from that one day will go to the charity. This way you get free publicity from the local media because the promotion benefits the charitable organization and the publicity attracts people who might not otherwise hear about your establishment. You might also want to print up some coupons that other businesses in town can give away to their customers, and offer to give away their coupons to your customers.

Converting website to eBook

Q: I love your website! It's got so much information, I've even got it bookmarked! The problem is, I'm on dial-up so I can't read everything I want to when I get online. Would it be possible for you to put everything on your website in an ebook so we could download it and read through it without going online?

A: Great question! That's a terrific idea that I've been considering for awhile now. Several people have asked me if I was planning on doing a business book, and I really didn't plan to write one for traditional publishing, but an ebook...hmmm. I'll probably do it in late Spring, after I finish writing the Infopreneur's Handbook that goes with the 7-day instructional e-Course on Infopreneuring that I'm working on right now. I'll put the website/ebook idea back at the top of my To Do list. Thanks for asking, and for reminding me :).

And I'm still looking for feedback on the Infopreneuring 101 e-Course too--so if any of you have taken the course and have a minute to write and let me know what you thought, I'd appreciate it. Your comments and suggestions are helping me fine-tune the soon-to-be-released 7-day instructional course. I want you to be able to learn from it everything you need to succeed.

Until next time, wishing you all the best,

Angel Brown

www.womens-business-gallery.com

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and co-workers. You can subscribe to this newsletter by visiting: www.womens-business-gallery.com/newsletter.html

Copyright 2006 by Angel Brown. All rights reserved.

Published by the Womens Business Gallery, Woodland Park, Colorado