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6. Hold a contest. People love contests, and can be easily encouraged to visit your site to enter your contes and provide you their email or snail mail addresses. Many marketers will tell you that having and responding to a large list of interested parties willing to receive your mail is one of the best ways to create sales.

7. Follow-up not only inquiries but sales as well. Most marketers with or without experience realize that you must respond to inquiries. However, many do not realize that corresponding with your customers is an excellent way to create additional sales. If you have a brick-and-mortar store or are a network marketer, getting your customer to visit and use your website often allows you, as the saying goes, make money while you sleep. It can also free up your time for making contacts with NEW customers or prospects. A satisfied customer is also more likely to order from you again. You can link this up with item #8 to create more customers and MORE LOYAL customers.

8. Offer service outside of sales. I used to be a federal purchasing agent in Austin, Texas. If I ever return to that area and need to buy anything in the office supply or equipment field, I am first going to check to see if Steve D is still around. Even when there was no potential profit for him, Steve helped me and other purchasing agents track down items, even if the item was eventually bought from a competitor. This resulted in a lot of personal respect for Steve and his company, but also broght him a lot of business from us just because we were grateful and knew we could count on him whether the item was sold by him or not. Include useful information on your website, even if it doesn't necessarily bring you direct profit.

9. Get a gimmick. Let's face it. You're at a bird show, and one guy in a suit is handing out business cards, and another is dressed like a pirate and has a parrot perched on his shoulder. So who's going to get the most recognition during and after the show? "Oh yeah! You shoulda been there! There was this cool dude from the XYZ seed factory dressed like a pirate with a parrot..." you get the picture! Can you design an eye-catching logo or have one designed? Could you tie that in some way to your website? A gimmick can bring in extra traffic whether you have an internet business or a brick-and-mortar business. Just ask the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas.

10. Give away items with your website on them. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it is one of the simplest techniques around. I order cards from VistaPrint.com, and on the back is a calendar. How simple is that? People didn't always want to take my old business cards, but the ones with the calendar are always accepted. My website's on the front, and I have seen online sales from the distribution of these cards. The item can be a calendar, pen, refridgerator magnet...you name it!

11. Use advertising on your automobile. Be careful here. Everybody nowadays has an advertising panel on the side of their car. I speak from experience...it can be an effective advertising tool. I have been stopped in parking lots and even flagged down on the highway by people wanting information. I have seen people in the next car writing down my website. Make your advertising stand out, and don't try to make the entire sale through the sign. Tease with a few words, or even a catchy website URL that arouses curiosity. By the way, as I mentioned, everybody these days seems to have those magnetic signs on their cars. I have found a great company that does it just a bit differently. You can get more information on how their product can "drive traffic" to your web site at http://drive-traffic.xtramoney4me.net/.

There you are. Eleven tips, just like I promised. It's possible that you even came up with a few more while reading this. Good for you. The more inventive and creative ideas you have (and implement) on marketing your business, the more likely you are to be successful in internet marketing.

About the Author

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. To learn more about improving your marketing performance, please visit http://marketingsecrets.xtramoney4me.net. To read more articles by the author, please visit his blog at http://donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com/