What’s all the excitement around passive income and what is an infopreneur? An infopreneur is an entrepreneur who makes money selling information on the Internet. Passive income is income that does not require your direct involvement. There is an initial investment of time in developing the product and there may be minor costs like the purchase of a domain name, but overall, the investment is minimal. Once you’ve recouped your costs, the income generated from future sales of your e-Book qualify as passive income.

Many successful infopreneurs generate a great deal of passive income selling information online. The most obvious advantage of being an infopreneur is the low overhead and high earning potential. Once you’ve written an e-Book, tele-seminar, e-course or other information product, it can be sold over and over again. It is even better than selling a traditional book because you do not have to print anything and you don’t have to jump through publisher hoops. The costs to produce a piece of information are the same whether you are selling to one person or to millions.

The Internet has changed the way people look for and acquire information. For many the Internet is an overwhelming network of unimaginable volumes of information difficult to navigate and lacking in credibility. Infopreneurs wade through the myriad of information available on the Internet weeding out erroneous or outdated information and consolidating and presenting current accurate information in easily accessible and understandable forms.

About The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely
Heather and Laurie have combined efforts to produce “The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely” a guide to writing, publishing and marketing your own e-Book. The process is not as intimidating as you may think. This e-Book answers all your questions from idea to income!
For more information visit the Web site at http://www.penandpublishebooks.com.

About Heather Jacobson
Heather Jacobson is the author of Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer, and is also the publisher of the popular ezine, Marketing Made Simple, a bi-weekly publication filled with simple marketing tactics designed to enhance one’s marketing efforts. An expert in implementing marketing campaigns for companies on a budget, Heather thrives on coaching others to achieve financial success. For more information, visit www.HeatherJacobson.com.

About Laurie Dart
Laurie Dart, owner of Writing Wisely is the author of The Everyday Guide to Writing Wisely. She provides writing and editing services to entrepreneurs and small business owners. To learn more about how you can improve your writing, visit: www.writingwisely.com.
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I just have to laugh at some of the mistakes that are made like this.

It’s one thing to make the money, it’s another thing to ask for the money back. Personally, my thought process is this: If I make the mistake, then I eat the cost.

I would limit future non-Italian families from getting the “bonus” but I would not make those that claimed it pay it back. Not good business in my opinion, and running a country is just like running a business…worse actually. You are voted into office!

Just some food for thought!

Until next time…

Heather

This article was originally printed in the Febrary 21st issue of Marketing Made Simple.

There�s been a lot of talk on a lot of the forums and networks that I frequent in the last few weeks, and when I received an article from Katie Cruice Smith of Katie�s Pen called Press Releases Made Simple, this issue was a no brainer.

Press releases can be a very powerful tool. Let�s fast forward to when you have your press release created. How do you get the most coverage out of your release?

First and foremost, I recommend looking up the local media outlets in your area. Most of the time, I manually submit my press release to the local newspapers and the business journals of the 6 surrounding states. This is after I submit my press release on PRWeb.com.

What I don�t do is just randomly fax or mass email these releases? Well, exactly how would that set me apart from the rest?

I have a media contact list. It lists all of the newspapers, radio stations, business journals and radio stations in the area that I want to submit to. It also has a telephone number, email address and fax number. The main difference in this spreadsheet is that I also have a name. That�s right, a real person.

Setting this list up is the hardest and most time consuming aspect as I talk to everyone that I can rather than just get the information from the gatekeeper. I ask how they prefer to receive press releases and make sure that I have their email address and fax number.

Every three months, I go through this list and update my contacts. It�s tedious and time consuming, I�ll be the first to admit, but there�s a method to my madness.

Media as a whole is a high turn over industry. I like to make sure that I�m addressing my press release to a person who is still employed there. Otherwise, it�s going right in the trash. Why would they read it if it was addressed to someone who didn�t work there?

If a media outlet states that they prefer emailed press releases, I never mass email. Each email is addressed to the person that it�s intended for. For example, �Mr. Smith: Please consider the following press release about the Fourth Annual Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day� in an upcoming issue of the Times-Gazette.� Then I paste the press release into the body of the email, I never attach it.

If they request the press releases by fax, I include the same information except I attach a cover page. This ensures that it gets to the person that it was intended for. I�m going to be honest with you. I interned at the local NBC affiliate here in Roanoke when I was in high school. It was my job to go through all the press releases that just piled up on the fax machine. I don�t know about you, but I don�t want a high school kid deciding whether or not my release is news worthy.

I also recommend submitting your press release through an online service called PRWeb.com and anywhere else you can post a press release. I�ve not gotten picked up by the media this way, but I have received additional link backs to my site and it does reach people online.

In fact, just a few weeks ago, someone came across a press release of mine from November! When they did, they gave me a call. I had forgotten all about it! So I went and Googled the title of my press release and sure enough, it�s all over the internet! Press releases on the internet never expire!

Again, press releases, if written and submitted properly can be a tremendous, low cost addition to your marketing plan. Always keep your eye out for reasons you can submit a press release. You�d be surprised at how many opportunities are out there.

If you�re interested in learning more about press releases and how you can profit from them, I recommend Press Release Profits. Alice Seba is a retired press release writer and also offers a free eCourse that will get you started.

Also, be on the look out for more on press releases from me. I�ve contacted employees in various newsrooms to pick their brain about what they look for in press releases, how they determine if it�s newsworthy and the biggest mistakes people make with press releases! More to come on that!

Until next time�

Heather

PS. Comment here and let us know what kind of success you�ve had with Press Releases!

I’m what we in the business (the “business” being journalism) call a poacher turned gamekeeper — that is, a journalist turned press officer. As a reporter I spent a huge part of my day sifting through a slush pile of press releases, all sent out by eager business owners desperate to get some publicity for their latest project. As a press officer, I was the one writing the press releases and trying desperately to get them published.

Quite apart from leaving me with some pretty good conversation openers, it left me with a good understanding of what kind of story makes the news, and what kind of press release gets filed straight under “bin”. Here’s how to make sure your press release is one of the good ones…

1. Get your story straight

Before you even think about writing a press release, you need to make sure you have the right story. The fact that you’ve just started a business isn’t a good story. Trust me on this. At the last newspaper I worked on, I lost count of the number of press releases we received, which basically boiled down to, “Hey! Guess what! I started a business!” Well, so did a lot of people. If you want your press release to work, you’re going to have to find an “angle” that your target publication will be interested in. There are various different ways to do this:

2. Writing your press release

First things first, remember it’s a press release you’re writing, not a novel. Of course, you want to make sure you get all of the relevant facts across, but try to do it concisely. It’s worth bearing in mind that the newspaper will probably re-word your release to make it fit their style or the space available in any case, so don’t worry too much if you’re not exactly Stephen King. Focus on your main points. Tell the reader:

These are the building blocks of any story: as long as you get these down, you’re off to a good start. And speaking of starts…

3. Get your opening paragraph right

It’s a sad fact of life that editors are overworked individuals, and their time is precious. If the opening paragraph of your press release doesn’t grab them, they probably won’t bother to read the rest. In newspaper journalism, the convention is to make the opening paragraph short and snappy, and to use it to sum up the story as best you can.

4. Use quotes

Quotes are more interesting to read than straight text, and if you don’t include some, the journalist who receives your press release will have to find them for herself. Including a few ready-made quotes in your press release will reduce the amount of work the reporter has to do, and that will give your release a better chance of being used.

5. Include your contact information

No matter how hard you try to get it right, there will inevitably be some small point which the journalist writing your story will want to clarify, and to do that, they’ll need to be able to contact you. Making things easier on the journalist, makes it easier for them to give your business some publicity.

6. Follow up!

If your press release doesn’t appear in the very next issue of the newspaper you send it to, don’t panic! Sometimes it can take a few weeks for a release which isn’t time-sensitive to appear, but it doesn’t hurt to give the paper a quick call to make sure they received it, just don’t go overboard and take up too much of their precious time…