may2002

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THE ONLINE INVENTOR -- May 2002

(c) 2002 Market Launchers, Inc.

www.marketlaunchers.com/customer-testimonials.html

Publisher: Paul Niemann

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FAMOUS / INFAMOUS Quotes …

"Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple," -- C.W. Ceran

"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided," -- Casey Stengel

"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run," -- Babe Ruth

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Article 1:    "The Benefit of Using Testimonials Effectively," by Paul Niemann of www.MarketLaunchers.com

Article 2:    "Why Link with Other Web Sites?" by Paul Niemann of www.MarketLaunchers.com

Article 3:    "The Power of a Celebrity Endorsement," by Paul Niemann of www.MarketLaunchers.com

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Article 1: "The Benefit of Using Testimonials Effectively," by Paul Niemann of www.MarketLaunchers.com

I always ask new customers if they have any customer testimonials, because the use of testimonials can help you make a very strong case for why a company should license your product from you. A company isn't just buying a product - what they're really purchasing when they license a product is a future revenue stream. And a steady supply of testimonials is a good indicator that your product will produce sales for the company.

If you want to see how the effective use of testimonials can help you in the licensing of your invention, then click on the link at the end of this article for an example.

In the meantime, I present you with a list of unsolicited testimonials from some of the inventors who have ordered their own web pages on the MarketLaunchers.com web site - note that the name and city should be included in testimonials in order to give it some credibility:

Testimonials from Market Launchers customers:

"You can't get any better exposure than this. I know people are looking at my web page. What you've done for me has been a great help."

-- Floyd Cartwright, Lake Charles, LA
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"Market Launchers has been the best purchase without a doubt for me."

-- Brian Finmark, San Pedro, CA
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"My name is Richard Adamson and you presently have our invention on your website. We are happy with your service and would like to know when the renewal date is so we can be with you for the next year ... Thank you very much for your great service."

-- Richard Adamson, Bountiful, Utah
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"I have an invention on your website called "Heated Diaper Wipes." The best contacts I have received have been from your website and I am very grateful."

-- Carolyn Wright, Toledo, Ohio
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"The photos came out great! … Coming to MarketLaunchers.com was the best move I could have made for my product. Keep up the great work and the best of luck to you."
-- Cindy Mayfield, Arlington, TX
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"Your service is great! Keep up the good work. Thanks."

-- Kevin Delcarson, Bedford, TX
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"Those were some of the best dollars i ever spent to get on your data base. thanks"

-- Dan Rodlin, Oceano, CA
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"Market Launchers did a great job with our web page! We are very pleased with the layout and how fast it was up and running. Thanks Again,"

-- Tony Devlin, Rochester, NY

If you'd like to see how the effective use of testimonials can help you in the marketing of your invention, please visit Dave Aubin's web page for an example. Here's his web address: http://www.marketlaunchers.com/aubin.html

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Paul Niemann creates web pages for inventors AND and lists them on his web site (MarketLaunchers.com) where they can be seen by companies looking for new products to license in. He also builds web sites for anyone wanting to sell a product on the Internet. To get a copy of his "8 web site tips," just reply with the words "8 web site tips" in the subject line. Visit www.MarketLaunchers.com or call (800) 337-5758.

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Article 2: "Why Link with Other Web Sites?" by Paul Niemann of www.MarketLaunchers.com

When I build a complete web site for a client (as opposed to a web page on the MarketLaunchers.com web site), I always recommend setting up a "links" page on their site. The usual response is either "Why should we do that?" or "No -- I don't want people leaving my site to go to my competitors' sites."

To answer the first question ("Why should we do that?"), there are 2 reasons:

1. Your visitors are going to leave your site sooner or later anyway, so you might as well send them to one of your colleague's sites rather than just having them leave with no place to go. You will benefit by having visitors from your colleague's sites come to your site as a result of the reciprocal link.

2. Many of the search engines now rank web sites according to the number of other web sites that link TO your site.

SO HOW DO YOU GET OTHER COMPANIES IN YOUR INDUSTRY TO LINK TO YOUR SITE?

It's simple; first you build a "links" page on your site, then you send a short e-mail to each site that you linked to. Your e-mail letter can say something like:

________________________________

Dear Webmaster:

My name is Pete Moss, and I've linked my web site -- www.widgets.com -- to your site."

I ask that you return the favor, because many of the search engines now rank web sites according to the number of other web sites that link TO your site. A reciprocal link will benefit both of us. Here's the web page where you can see your link: www.widgets.com/links.html

Sincerely,

Pete Moss
Widgets.com
(555) 555-5555

________________________________

Some will link back to you, and some will not. For those that do not, you can either send them another e-mail in week or two, call them to follow up, or delete their link from your links page.

To answer the second question ("No -- I don't want people leaving my site to visit my competitors' sites"), I tell them that you won't be linking to your competitors' sites, but rather to sites that are in your industry that you do NOT compete with. These can be sites that exist mainly to provide information about your industry rather than to sell products, or sites that sell products that are complementary but not competitive to your products -- typically products that would be found in the same sections of the stores as yours. You can see a good example of how a links page should look at the MarketLaunchers.com web site at: www.marketlaunchers.com/links.html

HOW DO YOU FIND OTHER SITES IN YOUR INDUSTRY TO EXCHANGE LINKS WITH?

One of the best ways is to go to a search engine such as Google.com and type in keywords that either describe your site or describe your industry. This will return a large number of sites that you can ask to exchange links with. Remember, you should always link to them BEFORE you ask them to link to you.

By increasing the number of sites that you link TO, you will increase the number of sites that link TO YOUR SITE and, as a result, increase your search engines rankings and the number of people who visit your site.

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Article 3: "The Power of a Celebrity Endorsement," by Paul Niemann of www.MarketLaunchers.com

On and off for the past 2 ½ years now, I've been trying to get funding for a film project that I'm working on; it involves interviewing and filming members of a unique segment of society in each of the six inhabited continents.

Since raising money can be a tough experience for anyone, and since I have absolutely NO experience in producing ANY type of film, I decided to see if I could get a celebrity to give an introduction on film and put it at the beginning of this film. This introduction would serve as an implied "endorsement" of the film project from this well-known member of this segment of society.

Getting a celebrity to endorse your product is never easy, but I came up with the name of someone who I thought might be interested in doing so for this project -- a Senator who will be a member of this segment of society in less than 2 years.

Eventually, once this film is produced, it will be distributed to high schools for their history classes. Right now, it is too early to go into detail as to what type of unique segment of society this is, but I will reveal it in a later issue (I promise).

The process of getting a Senator to give the introduction for the project started by getting on the phone and calling the Senator's office. I asked the receptionist who I should speak to on this, and she gave me the name of a staff member who handles media requests. After making my pitch to her, she said she would ask the Senator's chief of staff and would call me back with an answer.

About half an hour later, she called back to tell me that, yes, the Senator would videotape a 2-minute introduction for my project. In the public sector, this is known as a PSA -- a Public Service Announcement. She asked me to write out what I wanted the Senator to say, which was even better because it gave me some control over the content. After a few revisions made by the staff member, it was all set to go. A few months ago, they sent me the videotape of the Senator's 2-minute intro; I then put it onto one of my web sites, and I now direct potential funding sources to that site.

This worked out well because the Senator was the ideal spokesperson for this film project; yet there are many companies who use the wrong celebrity to endorse their product, project or cause. It would have made no sense to ask an athlete or actor to give the introduction, because there are none that are members of this segment of society. If you're going to ask for a celebrity to speak about your product, project or cause, that person has to be relevant to it in order for it to be most effective. The most important lesson to be learned from this: Be willing to ask because, in this case, the Senator agreed to give the intro when asked.

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Paul Niemann creates web pages for inventors AND and lists them on his web site (MarketLaunchers.com) where they can be seen by companies looking for new products to license in. He also builds web sites for anyone wanting to sell a product on the Internet. To get a copy of his "8 web site tips," just send an e-mail to [email protected] with the words "8 web site tips" in the subject line. Visit www.MarketLaunchers.com or call (800) 337-5758.

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Click here to read the April 2002 issue.