Are you planning any large mailings? Tip — get it printed and in the mail before the USPS rate increase effective May 14.

See USPS rates and fees

Need a good printer? Check out my favorite, PrintingForLess.com. Use my Promotional Code RP1LQZ43O to receive $25 off your first order. Get any printing orders in by Friday, May 4, to take advantage of the current postage rates.

Here are some other money-saving tips from PrintingForLess:

• Mail postcards to your customers instead of sending letters
• Save up to 50 percent by folding large marketing pieces before mailing
• Check your mailing list and remove questionable addresses and duplicates

For more tips, visit PFL’s mailing services information page.

Veteran copywriter Nick Usborne is getting his feet wet at the new FreeIQ information site by offering a truly valuable resource for free. Go on over and pick up your copy of Writing for The Web #1.

This is a 35-page guide to writing for the Web, written by Nick Usborne, a leading online copywriter and author of “Net Words — Creating High Impact Online Copy.” This free guide outlines 7 challenges every writer and copywriter faces when writing for the Web.

Writing for the Web is different than writing for print. According to Usborne, the challenges online copywriters face include:

1. You need to help every visitor avoid getting lost.
2. You need to write for the company, your readers AND the search engines.
3. You need to earn your visitors’ trust.
4. You need to write every page as a landing page… or not.
5. You need to make your content pre-sell.
6. You need to make the sale before it’s too late.
7. You need to know that web designers are not always on your side.

I read Usborne’s book Net Words - Creating High Impact Online Copy several years ago and used it to write an article geared to technical communicators who were getting into writing for the Web. Read the article, What Every Writer For the Web Should Know.

Be sure to get your free copy of Writing for The Web #1.

Also consider joining FreeIQ as a content provider. They are looking for experts with quality content!

Join FreeIQ

Don’t be left out of the Free IQ revolution! If you’re an expert with helpful information to share, promote or sell, consider becoming a content provider yourself. Your content can take the form of an article, book, report, guide, manual, newsletter – any document that can be saved in Portable Document Format (PDF).

You can also provide your information as audio recordings or videos.

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to create PDFs! Don’t worry if you have no idea how to produce an audio recording. Talking Feather Communications is here to help you develop your products.

Join Free IQ now as a content provider. Explore the site and get ideas for your free and paid content. Then contact Lana at Talking Feather Communications to discuss your project.

You can also sign up as an affiliate and start earning income.

*** Listen to my audio advertisement at Free IQ ***

Attention authors, speakers, experts, coaches!

I just learned about the brand-new site Free IQ created by Brad Fallon, a highly-respected Internet marketer (if you know anything about Internet marketing, being respected in this business is extremely rare). Brad runs myweddingfavors.com, which pulls in $30 million a year.

As an idea person, business communications consultant and information addict, I LOVE this concept: A google/youtube/amazon-like marketplace where you can promote (and sell) your ideas and knowledge (in the form of articles, e-books, articles, videos, Webinars, etc.) — all hosted for free. And, you can become an affiliate and promote other people’s products.

If you are an expert on just about any topic, Free IQ is the perfect solution to display your ideas and showcase your knowledge.

We will host and stream all your content for free, whether it’s video, audio, articles or ebooks. While we reserve the right to eventually set limits, currently there is no limit to how much content you can upload. And if anyone buys an electronically deliverable (downloadable) product from you, we’ll deliver it for free as well.

For content providers, there is no monthly fee to use the Free IQ shopping engine to sell your information products. We host and stream (and digitally deliver) an unlimited of audio and video for free. For any sales you make, we charge just 5% of the sales price (plus credit card processing fees.)

At the urging of a friend who is a business coach and savvy Internet marketer, I signed up as an affiliate today, before this whole thing busts loose. He writes:

We’ve all heard about the phenomenal success of YouTube.com and how Google bought them for $1.6 billion.

But, there’s something even bigger on the horizon…

I know that sounds like a bunch of hype but trust me on this. As we all know, success comes from getting in early, and here’s your chance.

So what am I talking about? It’s called Free IQ.

And there is a very real chance this site will become a bigger phenomenon than YouTube.com Seriously… and you can be a part of it.

The new site is currently in beta, but next week it goes live, and that’s why it’s so imperative that you create your account NOW.

You see, Free IQ is an amazing new web 2.0 concept that combines the YouTube.com user added content concept and combines it with the Google like search engine, and an ever growing educational database of content like you might find on Amazon.com.

But unlike all the garbage content on YouTube, (I mean who really cares about a video clip of a monkey smoking cigarettes, or some Danish car commercial), Free IQ focuses on educational, business and instructional content only — both free and paid.

What’s very cool is that this new model allows you to be an affiliate for any or all of the paid content uploaded by other users.

Think about that for a moment and really let that sink in…

As amazing as it sounds, you actually get paid for promoting videos and content supplied by other people.

There are no hidden or additional costs to get a free account or to upgrade an account while the site is in beta.

That of course will change when the site goes live, so there’s yet another reason to get your account now.

It would not surprise me at all that this site becomes an acquisition target by Google, Yahoo or Microsoft sometime within the next 18 to 24 months.

This is truly one of those situations where if you wait to get an account, you’ll lose the chance at getting your place at the head of the line so to speak.

Learn more

or

Sign up as affiliate

Are you looking for a good source for inexpensive, high-quality stock photos and illustrations? Check out iStockphoto. Prices start at just $1.

The feather image used for this blog costs just one dollar of credit.

You can also purchase short videos.

According to their site, iStockphoto is the world’s busiest image market, with an image downloaded every three seconds!

My gift of Dancing Deer Baking Co. chocolate chip cookies, courtesy of the Bobcat Team at printingforless.com, arrived today. How fun it was to open the shipping box and discover the delightfully designed package! I was happy even before taking a bite of a “flat-out, YUMMY, award-winning, all-natural, scratch-baked, kosher” cookie
As soon as I brushed the crumbs off my fingers, I jumped on the Internet to visit their site. The whimsical designs mixed with mouth-watering visuals are amazing, and the marketing message is incredibly effective. You can bet that I’ll be sending friends and family gifts from Dancing Deer.

Dancing Deer is also a good example of businesses that engage in philanthropy as part of their mission. I love seeing the principle of receiving to share in action.

Printingforless and Dancing Deer are great examples of how to do business right — truly a breath of fresh air.

If businesses provided just that one thing — excellent customer service — they’d be way ahead of their competition and raking in and keeping clients. The amazing thing is that often it’s not hard or costly to make clients happy, yet many businesses seem averse to taking good care of the people who butter their bread.

For nearly a year I frequented a business that provided high-quality meals for people on the go (or, in my case, for people who don’t like to cook). I spent a lot of money there. One day I received an email from the business announcing a delicious special. A few minutes later I was in the store and ready to purchase two meals. However, the owner told me that they had sold out. Sold out?! She had just sent the email!

I was very disappointed, but all she did was apologize. Even though I’d spent enough money at her store to put a kid through college, she didn’t even offer a free dessert for inconveniencing me. Guess what? I haven’t gone back since.

Not long after that, my husband was shopping at a local gourmet store. He wanted to buy my favorite chocolate gelato, but he didn’t see any in the freezer. When the store owner realized he was out of chocolate gelato and how disappointed I would be, he went home where he kept his stock and got a carton — just to make his customer happy. I was absolutely blown away! You can bet that we buy from him all the time.

Now listen to this one. A few days ago I recommended Printingforless.com in a post. Because they monitor blogs for mentions of their company, my service team saw the post and emailed me to express their thanks. But that’s not all. They gave me two appreciation gifts! I got one today — a Pantone process color guide. Cookies from Dancing Deer Baking Company are on their way.

I am beyond thrilled with their customer service. They definitely know how to keep a client for life and generate referrals — one of the greatest “secrets” to a successful business.

[Note to my Bobcat Team: I know you'll see this. Thanks again! No need to send more cookies ]

I’m a huge fan of Printingforless.com. Their product quality is excellent, and the customer service is almost unbelievable!

Because I found them on the Internet and their prices were far less than what I’d pay for a local printer, I wasn’t sure what the quality would be. (This was before their extensive coverage in publications including Inc. Magazine and Forbes.) So I ordered a free packet of product samples. I was sold when I saw the high-quality work.

If you decide to do business with Printingforless.com, feel free to use my Promotional Code RP1LQZ43O to receive $25 off your first order.

Some of you may be familiar with the popular printer Vistaprint.com. At first I was excited by the good prices — you can even get free business cards (with the Vistaprint logo on the back, of course). But then I discovered that the business cards are not standard size — they are smaller. Also, after working with them on several projects, I became unimpressed with their customer service and lack of technical skills. They botched a job and refused to respond to my emails and phone calls. So, buyer beware!

Okay, you might be wondering why I would promote Maryam Webster’s new business-building and marketing program. Isn’t she my competition?

Not really. She and Betsy are lightyears beyond what I could provide for the same price. Plus they have the distinct advantage of being in the helping profession themselves and can provide in-the-trenches advice and assistance. I am happy to steer people to the best programs and services at the best prices.

And here’s how I benefit financially: I will receive a finder’s fee for anyone who signs up.

It’s all about creating a Circle of Giving! Everyone wins in this arrangement.

Skype is a service that allows you to use your computer and the Internet for making “phone” calls. You can download the Skype software for free and call other Skype users anywhere in the world for free. You can’t beat that!

You can also use Skype to call any phone for a ridiculously low cost. Right now Skype has a package for $14.95 for a full year of calling within the U.S. and Canada.

I started using Skype last September to talk to clients in Austrailia. I was amazed at the sound quality. It was crystal clear — it sounded better than my land line!

Skype is super easy to set up and use. For a good overview, plus a comparison to Vonage, see http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/skype-vonage.htm.