Web MarketingLesson.com

by Tom Falco

Are you taking advantage of the greatest bargaining chip you have? Your swap list?

Are you swapping more than ezine ads? You should.

Do you need a new digital camera or keyboard? Does your son want a scooter? Why not swap ads with other businesses so that you may get merchandise or services for free?

It's done all the time. Newspapers and magazines have done it for years. They run free ads for hotel rooms, airline tickets, even limo rides.

You can expand on your swap requests simply by swapping excess ad space for the merchandise or the service you need.

You should have set fees for your ads for when people want to buy space. Use this as your guide. You don't have to stick to the actual rates, but is something to start with.

If you want a scooter and find someone who is willing to swap, just make an even swap or if you feel your ezine space is more valuable barter for that. If you are selling one sponsor ad for $25.00 and the scooter is $50.00, well, that's a no-brainer, just swap two times and you have your scooter.

If you want a hotel room and it is $200.00 a night and you want it for three nights ($600.00), then you are getting up in the high figures. You can swap for the equal amount of rooms or since there is no money out of either of your pockets, you can swap less ad space for the rooms or even offer to write a story about the hotel, depending on your publication, if it fits in with the readership, this is even more valuable than an ad. Articles always draw more response and are taken as gospel over ads. They are worth much much more than ads.

It is better to run a story than running the same hotel ad for dozens of issues to make up for the price difference. Most businesses would prefer a story and a couple of ads than just ads.

Your other option is partial trade, perhaps you can get the hotel room for half price and run the ads accordingly.

The main point here is that you can actually barter for anything.

There are places on line where this is available from barter companies to swap lists.

Most swap lists deal with ezine publishers swapping with other publishers for ads but I found one great swap list that will swap anything. It's called "The Swap-O-Rama" and I have used it for barter. It's totally free and you can join at Yahooroups, mailto:TheSwap-o-ram a@yahoogroups .com

Other companies that are available are uBarter at: http://www.uBarter.com, iBart at http://www.iBart.com or Itex at http://itexcentral.com. These companies charge commission fees so unless you want to sign up on a continuing basis, this may not be worth your efforts. You can list your item or service and have an on-going swap with anyone interested. So if the long term is what you are looking for, then these are excellent.

The advantage to "The Swap-O-Rama" at Yahoogroups is that it is totally free and you can just enter your swap request at the time you are interested in swapping and the whole group will get the message instantly, where at the other barter sites, people don't get instant email, they just peruse the site at will and if they find you they find you. But they are great for on-going swaps and barters on a regular basis.

Either way, it is a great way to save money on items or services you need by simply swapping your ezine ad space or excess merchandise or a few hours of your time! Imagine painting someone's house for a free hotel room or airline tickets.

Try it today, join "The Swap-O-Rama" where there is no obligation and put up a swap message. (mailto:TheSwap-o-ram a@yahoogroups .com ). See what responses you get. There is totally no obligation to accept any offer. The same with the Barter companies. You always have the final say over who you swap with and even if you want to swap at that time.

But it's a good way to see if what you have is desired by anyone! And you may make some great deals and friends in the end!

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Tom Falco is editor of XpectMore.com Marketing eZine and also owns: http://www.TheDiscountPrinter.com To subscribe to XpectMore.com Marketing eZine mailto:ezine@xpectmore.com put "subscribe" in the subject line or visit: http://www.XpectMore.com

ARE YOU SWAPPING CORRECTLY? by Tom Falco © 2001