EZ Marketing | Updates | Tips

Now that you have your site setup with all the content in place, what do you do next?  Here is a compilation of materials that may help you.

Step 1. Engage in  Free or Low Cost Activities

1. Get Monitored, free for EZCapper Customers.  Consider paying for monitoring on some of the top sites.  For more details see:   https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/07/free-monitoring-services/
2. ** If you are on an yearly subscription PR or email for yearly take advantage of our free press release, tips site sponsorship and emails.
3. Get banners designed and distribute them to your partners and use them for advertising on networks such as Google Adwords, Adbrite or our own in-house paid banner ad network (highly targeted).
4. Get a video made for your site and get major traffic from YouTube.  For more details see:  https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/08/adding-youtube-videos-to-your-website/
5. Get active in handicapper forums by posting your weekly summaries and including your signature file which includes a link back to your site.  Becoming active in forums is a major way to get free traffic. For more details see:   https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/07/listing-of-cappers-forums/ Make sure you understand the terminology in the industry particularly regarding units.
6. Display your phone number prominently on your site if you want to do high ticket sales.  This seriously helps conversions as customers don’t want to wait to get their picks.  They prefer to call somebody right away.  We advise to put the number right on the home page.
7. Customize your confirmation message sent to clients:  https://blog.ezcapper.com/how-to-customize-the-confirmation-email-sent-to-new-registered-users/
8. Buy email leads and send targeted emails.  A good source for leads is available at www.handicappingleads.com

Step 2.  Low-cost Investment Activities

1. Setup forums to increase stickiness (term to describe a site that keeps customers coming back).  You will need to purchase a forum software and have enough traffic to support it’s viability however.
2. Get your site high on search engines using our SEO services.   The most effective activity is through generating relevant backlinks to your site from other sites.  We provide an article directory submission service which works great.  For details see:  https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/06/cost-effective-seo-article-submissions/ Also please don’t get scammed by spammers who send you false info about getting your site on the first page of Google.  It simply doesn’t work and they are liars! We’ve had several customers scammed by these cheats.

Step 3.  Medium Cost Investment Activities

1. Submit Press Releases  –  Announce your site to the public through news releases in both print and online publications. For more details see: https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/07/press-release-services-now-offered-by-ezcapper/
2. Send emails to prospective clients promoting your picks –  See https://blog.ezcapper.com/category/email-list-marketing/ or if you wish to try our coop email newsletter services read about it here:   https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/06/new-email-service-to-be-launched-save-on-email-delivery/
3. Use our VIP Email services where we fully manage your email delivery which includes creating the content, structuring your bonuses and delivering your ad to highly qualified leads.  See more here https://blog.ezcapper.com/vip-email-program/ .  Prices start from $499 per month.
4. Engage in a PPC (pay per click campaign) on Google, Bing/Yahoo and other PPC networks. We offer managed PPC management services.  See https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/11/new-pay-per-click-ad-campaign-management-services/ and  https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/07/ppc-keywords-top-affiliate-marketer/ . We’ve also included a list of keywords that you can purchase on based on our extensive research.

Step 4.  Higher Cost Activities

1. Buy leads for telemarketing, emailing or mailings.  See our lists here:  https://blog.ezcapper.com/category/email-list-marketing/leads-details/ (password required)
2. Engage in a telemarketing campaign like the professionals!  EZCapper is launching a service where we provide you with access to our own predictive dialer that will route phone leads directly to your phone so you can sell and close them.  Watch for this announcement coming soon!

Keeping Customers coming back:

1. Free Ebook Giveaways –  Give away a free ebook that includes an offer for a free wager.  See https://blog.ezcapper.com/2010/07/free-ebook-giveaway-and-free-wager-to-offer-to-customers/ .  Use the password ‘ebook’

Why a Forum?  Forums benefit the owner in several ways:

• Great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as new content is generated in the domain which help in increasing the weight in the algorithms of all search engines.
• Forums are “sticky” which means they bring users coming back to your site.  Forums are interactive in nature and encourage discussion among members.
• Great venue for communicating personally with users in an organized manner.

EZCapper will help our customers implement a VBulletin forum, the most popular forum software on the net, for the cost of the VBulletin License (approximately $195 for a new license paid directly to VBulletin at cost) + $150 one-time installation fee (**$250 if you want us to configure the software settings) + $20 per month for hosting and support.  This will include:

• Setup of your domain name server so http://forum.yourdomain.com is activated as your forum.
• Purchase of the software and registration for your domain.
• Setup and configuration on a separate server (VBulletin uses Linux servers and our EZCapper application uses Microsoft servers.)
• Ongoing hosting support on our secure Linux Server.
• Creation of a logo that will be used for branding the new forum.
• Configuration of the forum
• Application support will be provided directly by VBulletin.
• ** settings setup which will include creating the threads and configuring the look and feel of the forum (additional $100 cost)

Kudos go out to our customer www.wecoverthespread.com who took the initiative to implement it.  Take a look at the site and forum here:

http://forums.wecoverthespread.com/

The forum has yet to have his branding applied yet.

Click the above images to see in full size view.

Adding videos to your website is a very compelling marketing mechanism. Having clients see you in person creates a physical presence that conveys trust.  In my 10 years of marketing experience the one thing I can not underestimate is the value of videos in your website in generating credibility.  In particular testimonials from 3rd parties are a killer when it comes to helping convert customers.

Let’s go through the basic steps:

1. Figure out what type of content you are going to put on your site. If you only want to make one video, make one introducing yourself and explain why customers should buy your service.  I do recommend that you make at least one video per week summarizing the previous week’s results.Having a real person communicate using a video in the About Us section of the website is invaluable to creating that necessary trust bond with your customers.  Make sure to apply the KISS rule – Keep it short and simple!  Make sure that you convey your points concisely and that the video lasts no more than 5 minutes!
2. Learn how to make a video and upload it on Youtube. Adding a video on youtube is a form of promotion that will bring links back to your website.  In the video description make sure you put the link in the title or the video description in addition to a proper description.  People who are curious will dig deeper and look for the URL to find out more information.  All you  need is a cheap PC web camera that can be bought for $25.  Quality is not the issue when making videos as customers will accept lower than HD quality videos.  Some key points:
   • Watch how to make a video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exFI7NlFqNc .  This series of videos is very useful and shows you the basics of making a video.  You can also make videos with your cellphones and handheld video camera (preferably digital).
   • Create an account on Youtube with your site’s name as the username.  For example if your site name is “ABCCapper.com” then create a youtube username of “ABCCapper.com” or something similar so people can find you.
   • Promote your URL (ABCCapper.com) at every instance so people will copy and paste the link into their browser to visit your site.
   • See some sample videos from handicappers here:
     • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ItE2o1GBc
     • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNpfMWHRgI
     • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xVUOR26G18
3. After you upload the video on youtube it will appear like this (see and click  image “Youtube Code”).    You will now take this video and put it on your EZCapper page:
   • Click on the <Embed> button and a box will show some code (I’ve put a box around it in RED in the Youtube Code image at the top of this article).  Copy this code and paste it into your HTML editor.
   • Access the page you want to put the video in your EZCapper website’s admin control panel.
   • Click on the HTML button on the page to access the HTML editor. (see html_editor image)
   • Copy the code from Youtube and paste it into the page.

4. Once you have copied the code into the appropriate part of your code (see image pasted_code), save the page by selecting “Edit Page”
5. Voila, you are now done!  View the page (finished_done image) and see your video in action.
6. To remove the video just simply delete the code you added.

Check out this video by one of our clients:  http://pappysportspicks.com/

Other tips:

• Adding videos requires NO knowledge of HTML or anything.  However if you need to know some basics of HTML check out this handy reference:  http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_primary.asp
• Each video has a link to it.  Copy this link and paste it in cappers or other sports forums.  People will click on a video link with greater frequency than a link to a text page.  Conversion rates with videos are also far higher.

In order to have your press release processed by us we need the following body content:

• HEADLINE – The headline is the first single line of text in the press release and tells what the press release is about. It is the most important line in the press release.  It should be descriptive enough and be around 100 characters.
• SUMMARY – The summary is of the size of a small paragraph and follows the headline. It let’s you build up your chance to sell your press release further.  It should be descriptive enough and less than 250 characters.
• PRESS RELEASE BODY – This is the press release and it consists of the following 2 parts:
  • 1.  Introduction – It is the first paragraph & generally answers who, what, when, where and why.
  • 2. Details – The details follow and give further explanation, statistics, background, or other details relevant to the news.
• CLOSING DETAILS – This is is known as your boilerplate details and is reserved for closing company information. eg. “XYZ Corporation specializes in widget and has been in operation since 1970”.
• KEYWORDS – Key words and key phrases must be separated by a comma, i.e. keyword1, keyword2, my key phrase 1, my key phrase 2. Enter keywords that relate to your press release. Good keywords will help journalists, editors, freelance writers, and readers find your news story on the website. Your keywords will be used for linking back to your press release for better search engine optimization (For paid releases of $49 and above). Maximum of 300 characters.

We also need the following basic contact details that will be included in the body of the press release:

Take a look at a press release found on the internet written by a sports handicapper by clicking on the image at the top right of this post.

We’re finding out that more and more people are using instant messaging (a.k.a.  IM)  as their preferred method of contact.  After implementing IM on our EZCapper site http://www.ezcapper.com/contactUs.asp we’ve gotten new clients with little effort.   There are many instant messaging tools available on the internet for free.  Once you have the code for the chatbox please advise us and we’ll implement it on your site.

We are very experienced with various Email service providers and here’s what we’ve found to be the best among the best.

SportsEmailServer – This is the best service partly because we operate it :-).  Seriously we created this service for serious email marketers in the SPORTS industry.  Most of our clients cannot signup with conventional services due to the nature of their content, secondly they cannot get attractive rates.  This service allows emails to be sent at up to 95% off the regular delivery rates of competitors, provides for full service and most importantly allows you to become your own email service provider running your own servers.  This allows you to charge others.  For details take a look at the website SportsEmailServer  and our blog post.

YMLP – Your Mailing List Provider is the best service for our clients since it is the easiest to use and affordable.  They offer a free account and their costs are very reasonable.  The nicest thing is the reporting which is excellent.  Get 15% off any of their packages by using this code 57FW2F  and signing up here

Mail Chimp – Mail Chimp is a bit more expensive than YMLP and more expensive than Savicom but it offers up to 3000 emails per month for free which is higher than the other accounts.  This is great for low volume deliveries.  Don’t bother trying to setup 10 different accounts so you can get 30,000 emails.  They’ve already figured out a way to stop this!

We recommend choosing from the above  3 services depending upon your communications style.

NOT RECOMMENDED:

Savicom.net – This company steals emails from their customers and has constant issues with deliverability.  Highly not recommended.

Did you know that by becoming an EZCapper client you get 4 months Pro Account free on HandicappersWatchdog.com, 3 months free monitoring on TrackPicks.com and 2 months on ProSportsMonitor.com?  This value alone is worth hundreds in free advertising!

For those who are new to the game, monitoring is important since it provides an independent verification of your picks.  It is also a great way to get additional exposure for your site as many potential clients visit monitoring sites to find out who’s hot and who’s not.  Think of monitors as watchdogs in the industry of handicapping.

To get your free monitoring, once your website is completed contact Trackpicks at administration@trackpicks.com and ProSportsMonitor at info@prosportsmonitor.com and let them know about your new website.  Contact info@handicapperswatchdog.com for  your free Pro Account.  Amateur cappers get free monitoring on HandicappersWatchdog.

EZCapper is announcing the launch of our Press Release writing and delivery services.  We will write with your assistance and deliver the press release up to the following (each plan has a different set of offerings):

* Distribution to PR Newswire’s network of 5,000+ websites, databases and online services, including Yahoo News, Reuters, Marketwatch, MSNBC, AOL, Forbes, and Bizjournals.
* Distribution to PR Newswire’s network of targeted industry trade publications.
* Distribution for story access to PR Newswire’s pool of 85,000+ media only journalists.
* Distribution to Newswire’s database of US Newspapers (6500+)
* Distribution to Newswire’s database of Magazines relative to your industry (3500+)
* Distribution to search engines including Google, Yahoo, Ask, AOL and more.
* Distribution to popular newswires including EIN News, Inbox Robot, Google News, News Blaze, Earth Times, Financial Wire, Consumer News, Times of the Internet, Topix, RedTram, and more.
* Distribution to 40 premium news partner websites.
* Distribution to the 24-7 Newswire Network (600+ industry channel websites)
* Distribution to opt-in journalists subscribers.
* Distribution through RSS and JavaScript feeds.
* Include your press release in up to 12 industry categories.
* Include SEO anchor text links and formatting in your press release.
* Include SEO tags/keywords linking back to your website.
* Next day distribution option (if submitted before 5pm PST, 8pm EST).
* Access to statistics to measure your campaign.
* Receive a PR Newswire Watch report with links to your press release posted on between 50 to 100 websites.
* Include a video up to 3 minutes in length.
* Attach up to 7 files, logos or images (jpg, gif, bmp, pdf, xls, txt, doc)
* Social media tool bar.
* News shared on Press Release Twitter.
* Priority position for Feature Press Release on Pressrelease.com front page.
* Highest placement available on various websites.
* Press release review and optimization
* Permanent inclusion in a searchable database.

The price for our packages are

1. Gold Package – $699 for the above package including writing assistance
2. Silver Package – $399 for a scaled down version of the above package which focuses on magazines.
3. Bronze Package – $299 for a SEO (search engine optimization) optimized release.

The advantages of releasing a press release are obvious:

1. Increased backlinks to your website resulting in better SEO (search engine optimization)
2. Coverage by thousands of online and offline media sources
3. Potential to lead to immediate customer conversions.
4. Residual effect of your site being listed in a database that will likely remain for a long time.

The keys to preparing a proper press release are:

1. Concise and well written in proper format to be picked up by a media source (eg. magazine)
2. Coherent  and factual
3. Newsworthiness

EZCapper will work with you to prepare a press release for the upcoming NFL season. Below are a few samples of some press releases I’ve founded released by various handicappers.  All of them are not properly produced but each release has some good points.  For us to prepare a press release for you, please provide us with the following:

• Headline that is newsworthy
• Quotation
• About us

We’ll do the rest.  Refer to the samples below, see if you can spot out which ones are well and badly written (click on the images twice).  We highly recommend for serious cappers that a new press release is done once per quarter or once per newsworthy event to get maximum exposure.

Why don’t I use my own PR service and write my own copy?

Most cappers do not write press releases with SEO in mind.  Our core business is internet marketing and we know how to structure a press release in order to maximize its effectiveness.  As we are experts in the capping industry, we know what topics are considered newsworthy and what topics are deleted by the editor.  Our job is to save you time and money unlike other services on the internet that simply take your money, write a quickie press release and get you no results!  It is extremely important for the writer to know the industry, the timing of the release and how to present the information.  At EZCapper we help our clients succeed in meeting all the necessary requirements.

Sample PR Releases by Handicappers

Click on the images below twice to see in detail what other sports handicappers have released.  Also click on this link to see an example of a press release produced by EZCapper for our client.

Some of our customers give away for free a full e-book  titled “The Insiders Guide to Betting” which is valued at $49.95 for FREE.  Take a look at www.atsinsider.biz .  Any EZCapper client can give away this free ebook as part of their promotional efforts.  We provide our EZCapper clients with the option to include this and to give away a $10 free wager to their clients who read the ebook.  If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer contact us today.

Here is a list of forums where cappers go to exchange information.  If you have any suggestions please comment.

1. http://www.capperslounge.com
2. http://www.capperswatchdog.com/handicappers.html
3. http://www.capperspicks.com
4. http://sbrforum.com/
   
5. http://www.capperslounge.com/
6. http://www.covers.com/postingforum/
7. http://www.ultimatecapper.com/forum/index.php
8. http://www.sportshandicappingforum.com/
9. http://www.sportshandicappersreportcard.com/default.aspx

Here are others:

ATB Forum | ATS Talk | Bet Chatter | Betting Advice | Bettors Chat | Cappers Info | Cappers Lounge | Capping The Game
Covers | Dream Profit Group | Exact Bets | Gamblers Talk | Gambling Chit Chat | Gambling IQ | GG | Golden Talk | Major Wager | Money Fan Club | Offshore Bettor 2 | SBR Forum | Soccer Vista | Sports Capper Island | Sports Lynx | Stat Fox | Talk Gold | Talk Sport | Talk Stock | The Cappers Forum | The RX Forum | Top Gold Forum | Verified Tipsters | Wager Talk | We Talk Sports | Winner Online