Testimonials are one of the most powerful, cheap and easy-
to-use marketing tools available to you and if you’re not
using them on your websites, then you’re missing out on
potential sales.

Regardless of what stage you’re at in building your
business you need to focus on establishing credibility with
your visitors and subscribers. Doing this can build trust,
which in turn creates profits.

Think about it. Most of us need proof that something works
and would be more inclined to make a purchase based on this
rather than rely on a sales pitch alone.

Using complimentary, fact-filled testimonials on your
website from satisfied customers is one of the most high-
impact ways to let your visitors know that the product you
want them to purchase lives up to their expectations and
will actually do what it says it will.

So, how do you get testimonials?

If your customers have given you positive feedback on your
product already, then you may already have some great
testimonials to add to your site.

However, if your customer response is a little slow - or
if you’re just starting out - getting testimonials from
happy customers will take a little more effort.

So how do you collect the testimonials you need to help
grow your business and increase sales?

One easy way to collect testimonials is to include a link on
your site with a form that allows your customers to give you
their vote of confidence: “Tell us how this product changed
your life!” or “Click here to let us know what you think!”

Basically - give them a chance to share their experiences
with your product or service.

One method of getting this type of testimonial is to place
a request next to some testimonials that you’ve already
gathered to give customers an example of the kind of
feedback you’re looking for.

A more effective method is to create an autoresponder that
contacts your buyers after they’ve purchased your product
- even a month later - to ask how they’re enjoying
the product, as well as giving them a chance to offer
feedback on their experience with your business.

If you receive a great letter or e-mail from a happy
customer, ask them if you can use their comments on your
website to recommend your product to others. If they were
happy enough to let you know, they’re bound to want to
spread the word.

If they allow you to do this, in return you can include
their website address in the testimonial. This way there is
a benefit to them as well.

If you haven’t yet begun selling your product and have no
feedback yet, offer your product or service for free to a
select group of customers in exchange for their thoughts
on the product or some details on their experience with
your site.

Once you’ve got some testimonials to share with your
visitors, you need to make sure that you’re putting them
to the best possible use on your site.

You can do this by make sure that you…

- Include your best testimonials on the most prominent
positions in your main sales page, such as in the top fold
or the side bars,

- Place some testimonials right in the middle of your
homepage to keep your readers focused on your credibility
as you outline the best benefits of your product or service,

- Set up a separate page that is totally dedicated to your
testimonials, as well as including snippets of their
comments throughout your site. Be sure to put a link to
your testimonial page next to each of those snippets!

- Include a link to your testimonials on each and every
page of your web site. No matter where your visitors go on
your site you want them to find positive comments about of
your product or service,

- Don’t edit your testimonials to exclude a comment or add
information you want to hear. If you’re not comfortable
with using the comments as they are, then you need to ask
yourself whether the testimonial is suited to your site,

- Never use a customer testimonial without permission.

But above all, never invent testimonials. This is
fraud. There’s just no good way to say it. Lying just to
get a sale will undermine your credibility and it will
result in destroying your business.

All the best and have a great week

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For your enjoyment (and information), here is this week’s
quick trivia question…

Why is the left lung of a person always smaller than its
right lung?

As usual the answer can be found later in the newsletter.

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Featured Article
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Why Action Gets Results!

Success in any entrepreneurial endeavor is contingent on a
simple truth: Learning does not always require thinking.

Actually, thinking often hinders learning. Hinders
learning? That flies in the face of most of what we know,
doesn’t it? As children we were often reproached when we
made mistakes: “You just weren’t thinking! Don’t you ever
think about what you’re doing?”

Then there’s the most successful personal development book
of all time telling us to do what? …That’s right, “Think
and Grow Rich”. True it is a fantastic book and a must read
for success minded people. But many of us get so tangled in
thoughts that we can’t get out of our “heads” and take the
action required for success.

Socrates, one of the greatest “thinkers” of all time,
said, “Action equals knowledge.” Action, not thinking, is
how we achieve results. Take playing the piano for
instance. We could think about playing the piano but we
will never become better until we start pecking away at the
keys.

If you were to ask an accomplished pianist to think about
what they are playing in the middle of a rapturous concert,
the music would probably fall apart into a series of
painfully disconnected notes.

Same is true with typing. Ask a person who flawlessly
types over 70 words a minute to think about the key
strokes, and you could probably watch the mistakes pile up.
Thinking hinders execution. Thinking can hinder success.
The fact of the matter is we can intellectualize all we
want, but until we take action we will never accomplish
anything.

There is a mantra in the martial arts that says “Ready,
Fire, Aim”. Simply put, this means take action and correct
that action as you go. It is quite probable that many
businesses never get out of the starting gate because of
over-thinking and over analyzing.

Most people want all their ducks to be lined up in a row
before they begin. This will never happen. The time will
never be perfect. The key is to get started and then “keep
on keeping on.”

In the martial arts, students practice moves over and over
and over again. They train their bodies to transcend
thought and take action in the moment.

Imagine a trained martial artist getting attacked on the
street thinking, “Hmm, okay I’m being attacked. Should I
turn my body this way?…or should it be the other way?
Okay, now I have to trap the assailments arms, tighten my
fists, pull back, and strike.”

Of course this is not what happens in the martial arts.
The key teaching in the martial arts is to ACT. NOW! …In
spite of the mind’s tenancy to analyze the situation.

The worst kind of thinking is fear of failure. The “What
if” disease. “What if I fail? What if people laugh at me?
What if I lose all my money? What if, what if, what if?

Fear is paralyzing. It stops the movement necessary for
success. Fear weakens our resolve, cripples our creativity,
and ultimately stagnates our successes. Conversely,
movement overcomes fear. When struck by fear, move. Do
something!

So, don’t wait to explore your entrepreneurial spirit;
take action now. When those pesky thoughts creep up, and
they will, scare them away with the mantra, “Don’t think,
don’t think, don’t think, don’t think…” and watch your
dreams and goals cascade toward you.

What is the bottom line? “Don’t think and grow rich.”

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This Week’s Trivia Answer
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Here’s the answer to the trivia question I asked earlier…

Why is the left lung of a person always smaller than its
right lung?

The left lung is smaller than the right lung to make room
for the heart.

Doh! So simple when you know the answer

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Healthy Body… Healthy Mind
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Cardiovascular Exercise versus Weight Training!

All exercisers, whether beginners or old hands, will ask
themselves at some point if they should switch to an all-
cardio or all-weight training program.

Trainers are asked this question every day in gyms across
America and more curious folks write in to fitness columns
to pose the query. Does it really matter if you do all-
cardio or all-weights?

The short answer to this question is yes, it does matter.

Cardiovascular exercise primarily focuses on developing
and strengthening the cardiovascular system through aerobic
training. This means strengthening your heart, lungs, and
blood vessels so that they all work more efficiently, both
together and individually.

By training the body to meet higher and higher levels of
aerobic endurance, you increase the efficacy of your
system. This is a fantastic move to make your present life
easier and more pleasant, but it’s also a smart move to
prepare for later life.

Research proves over and over again that adults who
maintain a high level of fitness throughout early and
middle life end up living fuller, more productive lives as
seniors. That’s in addition to living longer than people
who don’t exercise.

The benefits of cardiovascular exercise are almost too
numerous to list: lower blood pressure, lower ‘bad’
cholesterol and higher ‘good’, decreased incidence of heart
attack and stroke, decreased risk of osteoporosis, overall
decreased risk of most cancers, increased life span and
more.

Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise is the smartest choice
around - or is it?

Weight training aims to strengthen the muscles by lifting
weights. By increasing the overall strength of the muscles
in the body, the support of the body is increased and
allows for greater ease of living. People who lift weights
are shown to have many of the same characteristics as those
who engage in cardiovascular exercise.

Weight-lifters also experience a decreased risk of bone
fractures since the weights help build bone through the
resistance.

So lifting weights is surely the best approach to fitness -
right?

In reality, the number one way to achieve ultimate fitness
in your life is to combine the two approaches of aerobic
exercise and strength training to boost your health to the
optimum level.

The two methods, though targeting different systems, form
a beautiful relationship that works together to develop and
build all aspects of the body to create the strongest,
healthiest body possible.

Cardiovascular exercise strengthens the lungs and allows
the body to build up stamina. Weight training uses that
stamina to build muscles for longer periods of time. The
muscles then act in their roles as support team for the
skeleton and organs, and can work more efficiently.

The increased efficiency of the body means that it can
develop greater aerobic capacity through exercise - and you
see how the cycle begins again. Cardio and strength
training feed off each other to develop your best body ever.

The next question should be obvious: what’s the best
combination aerobic and strength training workout?

The answer to this is swimming!

Swimming is the ultimate aerobic conditioner as well as
muscle builder. Thanks to the buoyancy you experience
underwater, your muscles can concentrate more on working
than on supporting your body. Doing all those laps, though,
requires a great deal of aerobic stamina. Thus all of your
body’s systems get a thorough workout when you swim.

One recommended program is to swim a certain number of
laps in the pool, but on each lap swim a different style.

On your first lap, swim freestyle to get into the groove
and warm your muscles. On your second lap, swim
breaststroke. Do backstroke on the third. Rotate the
strokes so that your muscles are continually surprised and
challenged.

Do this as your swimming workout four to five times a week
and you will be amazed at the change in your body both in
shape and in endurance.

The smart exerciser knows that there’s no choosing between
cardiovascular exercise and weight training. The best
programs always incorporate a variety of the two to provide
maximum development and strength. Start adding your own
combination workouts to your schedule and be delighted as
your body starts to truly reinvent itself.

About the Author:

Kerry Isaacs is the owner of the “Weight Loss Tips and
Resource Centre” where you get instant access to weight loss
tips, diets, exercises tips & treatments -
www.wltrc.com.

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Have You Got Any Comments?
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This is your chance to speak out.

Comment on articles I’ve run in the newsletter, give me
your thoughts on changes or your ad testing results or
questions relating to your business, etc.

In other words, just talk to me about what you think I
need to do to improve the newsletter.

Be sure to include your website address too, because if
I use your comments in a future issue of the newsletter,
I’ll thank you by posting your address so that you can get
additional free traffic to your site!

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That’s a Wrap for this Week
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That wraps up another week’s newsletter and I hope you
enjoyed this issue.

Don’t forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have to the Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

From time to time I’ll send you important updates
that will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online business… and of course
your profits!

However, you can rest assured that I will only ever
recommend products that are considered to be of HIGH value
and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your business… that’s my guarantee!

Your friend,

Gilles Rais

Categories: Newsletter Issues