Thursday, June 22, 2006

That's why you use models instead of athletes in ads

The dismal showing of the American team at the World Cup is just the latest example of why you should use models in your ads instead of athletes. Athletes can embarass themselves with crappy play on the world stage. Imagine if you'd signed a U.S. soccer player to represent your company - and then the team only scores one goal in 3 games and is (mercifully) eliminated in the first round. Yikes! Total waste of money.

internet modelsModels don't bring such risks. If they have a bad hair day you just throw out those photos try again. Nobody ever sees the mistakes. Pick one of the popular Internet models (or 2 or 3) to create a new "face" for your company. Let the athletes to represent your competition -- you'll be glad you did.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

$1,400 a Day from a Simple Website

A month ago, I wrote about the opportunities for making money from sharing your knowledge on the Internet. I also pointed out that retailers can make money from websites without selling anything. But how much money can you make just by presenting what you know on a website?

Tim Carter makes more than $30,000 a month from his website. Tim is a syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about home improvement. He created AsktheBuilder.com in 1995 to share what he knows. In 2004 he learned about Google Adsense, an easy way to generate advertising revenue from a website. After just two years, his Adsense revenues now average an amazing $1,400 a day.

Do you think that Carter made $1,400 a day from his job as a newspaper columnist? Neither do I -- which indicates that publishing your own website can be significantly more profitable than writing for traditional media. You don't need a publisher to effectively get your word out -- you only need a website.

Take a good look at AsktheBuilder.com. It's certainly not fancy or technologically advanced. It's just useful information presented in a simple way. Retailers and service businesses are in a great position to create something similar. Tell the world what you know about your products. Give tips and examples of how your services are effectively used. Help people solve problems and answer their questions.

Cash in on what you know. It may be more lucrative than selling products and services.