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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER! A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion. July 9, 2009 Issue #199 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ in this issue — Note From The Editor — Hot off the Press: Red Hot Internet Publicity, 2nd edition — Featured Article – Seven Ways to Jump on Breaking News and Get You (and Your Book) into the Conversation — Blog Friendly PR — AME-University: Book Marketing, Publishing, and Internet Marketing classes — Promoting Your Site Using Yahoo Answers — Book Bits and Bites — Six Quick Tips for Twitter Success: — How to Clean-Up During Sweeps — Five Quick Ways to Rev up Your Site’s Searchability — Check out Cafe Press — Tune in to The Publishing Insiders — Reader Tip – Frugal Book Promotion — Market Your Book NOW — Look Who’s Talking — Buzz Your Book! — Twitter Tip: Twitter Vision — Twitter Tip: Twopular — Reader Tip! — WHO ARE WE — ———————————————————— Penny C. Sansevieri, Editor penny@amarketingexpert.com Welcome to a new issue of THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER. You are receiving this newsletter compliments of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. To opt out, please scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter. |
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Note From The Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to another issue of the Book Marketing Expert Newsletter! Dear Author, Hello and welcome to another issue of the Book Marketing Expert newsletter! I’m very, very excited to share with you that the latest edition of Red Hot Internet Publicity is available! And as a way to celebrate we have an incredible special offer in the newsletter. Hurry though – we can’t hold this pricing for long, and it’s exclusive to Book Marketing Expert subscribers! So have you ever watched the news and wondered how you can take advantage of breaking news? This week we’re taking a look at some ideas and tips for positioning yourself on breaking news and to prepare for the news when it hits. In addition, we explain how Yahoo Answers can help you in your marketing efforts. And, branching out from our magazine profiles, we highlight a blog, Blog Friendly PR, that helps anyone seeking product reviews find the bloggers who fit their target demographic. Finally, I am certain that I’m the only person in North America watching the Tour de France, but I am glued to the TV as 37-year old Lance Armstrong has returned to the world’s most difficult sport. He’s an inspiration. His can-do attitude and willingness to get back in the race reminds me that we all need to stay in the race. The race of book marketing, that is. It’s not always easy, and much like “the old guy” returning to cycling, many might think we can’t do it. But we can. Anyone can. You just have to work hard and believe. Viva le Tour! Wishing you continued publishing success, Penny, Paula, Susan, Alex, Nancy and everyone at Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Bookgal. PS – If you’re a reviewer reading this, and you’d like to review Red Hot Internet Publicity, send me an email and a link to your blog and we’ll get you a copy! P.P.S. Check out our blog! We offer great tips and insights, such as: ‘Savvy SEO: What is Anchor Text and Why it Matters:’ |
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Hot off the Press: Red Hot Internet Publicity, 2nd edition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you so much. As a loyal Book Marketing Expert newsletter member, you are invited to receive a personally autographed copy of my completely revised Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider’s Guide to Marketing Your Book on the Internet. The sure-fire way that will help you establish your brand and promote your books online, with over 964 of the latest and most powerful ways and places to promote you and your books online. You’ll benefit from some of the most little-known blogs, social media sites and chat rooms. Penny will share her decade-plus of online book marketing and promotion expertise that she’s gathered from the more than 700 authors and books we’ve promoted online. Her successes include 10 bestsellers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Will yours be next? This guide will show you the way. When you reserve your advance copy within eight (8) days, your complete Internet Book Promotion Package will include: * Your personally autographed copy of Red Hot Internet Publicity, an $18.95 value, * the internationally recognized “Book Promotion Made Easy” by back cover copy expert Eric Gelb, a $12.00 value, and * The Twitter Handbook – all about how You can use this amazing medium to establish your brand and promote your books online, a $14.95 value. In all, a $45.90 value, yours now for just a $20 investment, plus $2.50 to defray postage. This special book marketing and promotion package is available only for the next eight (8) days. So please reply now so we can speed your Internet Book Promotion Package to you today. I look forward to personally autographing your copy of Red Hot Internet Publicity. Penny |
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Featured Article – Seven Ways to Jump on Breaking News and Get You (and Your Book) into the Conversation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is it just me or does it seem like there’s more breaking news than ever? In recent weeks we’ve seen numerous stories with everything ranging from Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passing away to Sarah Palin’s surprising resignation. What happens if there’s breaking news that you can comment on? Do you just sit by and hope someone will call you? No way! You take action. So how do you do that? Well, first off, it’s important to get into the conversation. Especially if it’s on your topic or within your area of expertise. If you can lend insight to a subject that’s being covered on television or hotly debated on your favorite cable talk show, then it might be worth getting yourself out there. Here are a few tips to hook your story on the latest breaking news topic. 1) Blog on it: if you have a blog that has any kind of a readership, and even if you don’t: be sure to blog on it. A blog is a great place to share your opinion on the subject and even (when appropriate) offer a solution. 2) Bookmark your blog post. You can do this through sites like DIGG, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Indian Pad. Bookmarking is a way of adding links to your blog post and sharing it with the world. It’s a simple process of getting to these sites, creating an account and listing your blog post. All in all, it takes about 10 minutes per post to set this up. Well worth it as it will help to drive traffic and interest to your message. 2) Syndicate an article: after you’ve done the blog post, write an article (perhaps with a slightly different take or stance) and syndicate it through sites like goarticles.com or ezinearticles.com. If the topic has legs, it’s likely the media will be talking about it for weeks so having some content out there could be helpful to your message and a way to get their attention. 3) Contact your local media: one of the best ways to get local media interested in you is to offer them a local angle on a national story. So let’s say we’re addressing the deaths of two major pop icons, and you have written a book on historic figures. Would either of these two people be considered “historic” per se? Well, that’s debatable and perhaps a good subject for a segment. When does someone or something become historic, and how do locals feel about this? There’s your local angle. 4) Contact national media: If you have a subject that’s drawing national attention and your message is significant or different enough to pitch to a national show, then get out there and start pitching. Remember: with so many shows on the air all competing for audience attention they’re all looking for a new and different angle. The only thing they can say is no, and if you’re right for the topic and you’ve pitched effectively, you’re likely to get a yes. 5) Make sure you’re getting HARO, http://www.helpareporter.com/: HARO is a newsletter that arrives as often as three times a day and it’s packed with media leads. If there’s a hot story there will be a media person on HARO looking for someone to comment on it. 6) Get Google Alerts: make sure you *always* have your keywords in Google Alerts so you can be aware of who’s saying what about your topic. Also, during non-breaking news times this is a good way to get to know media that covers your story and start networking with them, so that when a breaking story hits, they already know you. 7) Twitter on it: While it’s hard sometimes to separate conversations on Twitter, there’s a great system to separate out topics by using a hashtag (#) – it’s as simple as finding the big story and creating a hashtag for it, so for Farrah Fawcett it might have been #farrah. Start a hashtag which helps to identify your story, or search the hashtags on Twitter to find out what hashtag your topic is being categorized under, then start twittering on it. Direct folks to your blog, to other sites covering this, direct them to anything that will tie into this topic. The media is on Twitter and they just might find you! Breaking news doesn’t have to leave you, your story or your book in the dust. So often authors tell me they see “experts” on TV and they feel they can do better. Well, now’s your chance. The next time a breaking news topic hits the airwaves, jump on it. You just never know what could happen. |
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Blog Friendly PR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We always tell you about how important it is to pitch bloggers; how online promotion can be beneficial, but it’s also normal to wonder: how and where do I find the right bloggers (or if you’re seeking items to review, how can I find the right PR people or businesses)? These days it’s getting easier to figure out how to navigate the blogosphere through the aid of a site like Blog Friendly PR. Launched in March 2009 by Nicole Ibarrondo, Colleen Stearns, Victoria Ayra and Jessica Fuqua, Blog Friendly PR brings together businesses, PR people, review bloggers and others, so that people offering products to review can be listed on the site at no cost, and also browse through the list of “PR OK” bloggers (the PR OK banner on a blog means they are open to pitches) and see if any bloggers fit the bill for their product and target demographic. Each blogger listing includes a short description of their blog, contact information, their preferred product categories, links to past reviews and some important page stats such as Google Page Rank, their reader base, page views, etc. There’s also the opportunity to be listed as either Blog Friendly PR’s or Blog Friendly Companies so bloggers seeking products to review can contact those companies and individuals directly. Special campaigns and projects can be highlighted under the “Hot Topics” section for a little extra push for that campaign. Products accepted for review include maternity, children’s, fashion and beauty, family, technology, travel gear, food and beverage, eco-friendly, home and garden, books, movies, music and more. The benefit to bloggers is two-fold: they can connect with businesses and PR reps but they can also have themselves listed on the site as “PR OK” for those seeking bloggers to review their products. To learn more, visit their How We Work page, http://blogfriendlypr.com/?p=730. Blog Friendly PR Website: http://blogfriendlypr.com/ Email: blogfriendlypr@gmail.com Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/blogfriendlypr Google Page Rank: 3 Alex rating: 139,535 Technorati Authority: 45 |
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AME-University: Book Marketing, Publishing, and Internet Marketing classes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These free teleclasses from AME-University may be just the thing to get your book marketing savvy ramped up! A new class list is coming soon so be sure to check it out! Going up? Crafting an Exceptional Elevator Pitch When: Thursday, July 16, 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm Description: Do you know that you have 3 seconds to get someone’s attention when pitching your book? If you haven’t crafted an expert elevator pitch, you will love this class! We’ll take a look at elevator pitches, tips to crafting perfect ones and the biggest mistakes to avoid. BONUS: everyone on the call will get personal elevator pitch advice, so bring your pitches! (all authors wanting to work on their elevator pitch need to submit their 2-3 sentence elevator pitch 24 hours prior to the class, don’t worry if it’s not perfect – that’s what we’ll work on in class!) Red Hot Internet Basics w/ Penny Sansevieri When: Thursday, August 13, 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm Description: If the idea of blogging, podcasting, and vlogging has your head spinning, you’ll love this class! We’ll look at easy ways to start a blog or podcast and tricks for keeping them going. Did you know that most bloggers or podcasters only keep the momentum for a month? This class will show you simple things you can do so you never have to worry about running out of ideas or ways to market yourself! All your Internet questions answered: · What the heck is RSS and why you should use it · Blog, blog, blog – the best and fastest way to get a blog · Podcasting simplified: if you think audio is no big deal think again, podcasting is inexpensive and a fast way to build an audience Come with ALL of your Internet questions, this class will get them answered! How to join in: To sign up or learn more about these classes send an email to author@amarketingexpert.com. The AME website has a complete class listing for handy reference: http://amarketingexpert.com/iclasses.html. Missed a class? Here’s an easy way to catch up on past classes, just visit the AME-University All Access Pass. |
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Promoting Your Site Using Yahoo Answers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What Is Yahoo Answers? For those who don’t know, Yahoo Answers is site where users can post questions on just about anything and other real people answer them. Simple enough. Yahoo Answers is actually a highly trafficked site and at any point in time there are thousands of open questions. Getting Started The first thing you will need to do is register as a member of Yahoo. Once you have done that the next thing you will need to do is head on over to Yahoo Answers and activate your Yahoo Answers account. Action Steps 1. Search Yahoo Answers for your keyword or topic. 2. If there are open questions about your subject then post an answer and include a link to your website. 3. If there are any closed questions which you want to comment on, post a link back to your website. 4. Do this once or twice a week. While this can work extremely well for non-fiction, how-to book topics, if you are creative I think you will also find ways to answer questions that tie in with fiction books as well. Tip offered by Susan Gilbert, AME’s Search Engine Marketing Expert and Web 2.0 company owner, http://www.JoomlaJump.com, which provides Social Networking websites and services. |
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Book Bits and Bites ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bookish Tattoos: Some book lovers want to announce their literary leanings on themselves, literally. Kimbooktu.com recently took a look at some inkings, seeking inspiration. Or, you can look at them for entertainment at http://kimbooktu.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/bookish-tattoos/. Classic Tweets: Or should that be Tweeting the Classics? The Twitterverse was recently treated to a “performance” of James Joyce’s Ulysses on Twitter. Now Entertainment Weekly wonders: which literary classic should be subject to the 140 character tweets next? A List to Live By? We love lists, if only to use them as a springboard for developing our own. Newsweek magazine decided to publish a list of the Top 100 books: The Meta-List. See if you agree with this ranking of the best books of all time. Or are they? No Book, No Problem: If you have an e-reader are you out of luck when it comes to getting an author’s signature? Apparently not, as authors have taken to signing the devices. Some authors seem to have mixed feelings, as illustrated by David Sedaris’s signing, but anecdotal evidence suggests this trend is on the rise. |
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Six Quick Tips for Twitter Success: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. A bio is a must. A recent Harvard Business Review study showed that 82% of unsuccessful Twitter accounts have little or no bio information. 2. You should provide more than 3 links per 20 tweets and you should update more than once a day. 3. If you don’t provide links in your tweets, you should plan to post more often (studies suggest as much as six times a day). You should have no more than 15 updates a day. 4. Twitter names are becoming like URL’s were in the early years of the Internet. Make sure and grab all your branding and your name. 5. Don’t use underscores_ when you’re creating a user name. Not only does it look amateurish but a number of spammers have hacked into Twitter that way. You don’t want to look like a spammer. 6. Always engage and reply to the @reply responses on Twitter. Why? Well first off it’s important to engage your followers, but second, those @replies help with your Twitter ranking. |
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How to Clean-Up During Sweeps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You definitely want to be a television guest during sweeps! These are the television ratings periods and television is all about RATINGS! We save our big topics, interviews and guests for these periods which are the months of February, May, July and November. The biggest “book” or ratings period is May because that’s when the season ends for the network programs. Viewers tend to watch more television during this time so take advantage if possible! You will need to book these interviews at least a month in advance. July can be a tough rating period for authors unless your book is a good “Beach Book” or summer read. This is the perfect time for that juicy novel! Keep in mind that some programs are in reruns during June, July and August so even though it’s Sweeps it may not be the best time to book interviews for non-fiction. November is a great month for fitness, health, cookbooks, Christmas stories etc. Anything that would make a great Holiday gift or coffee table book would make for a timely interview. Producers are always looking for a great story leading into the Holidays or the New Year so plan accordingly. February is also an important ratings period so any books to do with love, commitment, dating, etc. are a great idea at this time. Again think ahead and contact producers in the month of January. So remember: Sweeps and Ratings! Really think about the right time for your book to come out and the importance of TIMELY interviews. You’ve written the book, now it’s all about marketing! For more information or to schedule a coaching session go to www.myhattricktv.com or call (602) 509-6468. ~Tip offered by Media Veteran Laura Holka, who is the producer of the Pat McMahon Show & a Media Consultant. She can be reached at www.myhattricktv.com. |
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Five Quick Ways to Rev up Your Site’s Searchability ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Content is king, so are keywords. Find the keywords that people are searching on for your market and then create content around those words. 2) Don’t abuse keywords. Have you ever seen those sites that seem to use keywords over and over again (i.e. keyword stuffing)? That’s an abuse of keywords and while it might temporarily inflate your search engine ranking, it won’t last. Once Google figures out what you’re doing (and trust me they will) your site ranking will drop drastically. It’s not pretty. 3) Google runs the world. Well, not really but they certainly do run the Internet. If you’re going to optimize your site for ranking, make sure that it shows up high on Google; in the end it’s the main search engine we default to and the one that matters to your consumer. Studies show that an average web site gets 61% of its traffic from search engines, 41% of that from Google alone. 4) This stuff takes time. Nothing happens overnight, especially online (unless you’re a dancing pancake video that gets sent out to a billion people in a 4 hour time span). Ranking and searchability takes times. If you have a book launching in the next 3-6 months, start this work now. You’ll be glad you did. 5) Update your site. While updating your site in principle might seem like an easy thing, it can be one of the biggest obstacles for a site owner. Why? Because often our web site people are overseas and once that 12 year old from Lithuania goes back to school it’s anyone’s guess how to find him. So here’s a tip: get a blog – a blog (if updated frequently) will ping the search engines and let them know you have fresh content on your site. Oh, and seriously, fire the 12 year old and hire someone locally. You’ll be glad you did. |
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Check out Cafe Press ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Need some inexpensive product? Try out Café Press, they’re the print-on-demand for everything from custom hats and coffee mugs to team t-shirts. If you’re buying in bulk best to go somewhere else, but for the onsie-twosie orders, you can’t beat Café Press: http://www.cafepress.com. |
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Tune in to The Publishing Insiders ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be in the know and hear what the publishing insiders: Penny Sansevieri, CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. – and her guests – have to offer in terms of tips and insights into the industry! Listen here. Download the latest show, with special guest Annette Fix, author of The Break-Up Diet, who discusses social media tips for authors: http://tinyurl.com/64sfjj. Publishing Insiders is also available on iTunes, so you can keep up with the show wherever you go! |
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Reader Tip – Frugal Book Promotion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To launch a book frugally, find alternatives to expensive wedding-style launches or the same-old, same-old signings at bookstores. I just launched a book at a tradeshow. They supplied signing space for A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441467246/ in their demo area on the tradeshow floor because I was a speaker; I got paid to speak. Cool, huh? My novel launched at the Autry Western Museum in LA because it’s based on history of the West. They benefited from book sales. Tip submitted by Carolyn Howard-Johnson Website: http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com E-mail: HoJoNews@aol.com |
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Market Your Book NOW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking for inexpensive ways to promote your book? We’ve just developed and launched an exciting series of budget-friendly programs that still pack a powerful punch! Think you can’t market your book in a tough economy? Think again – we’ve got the answer! Email us for more details: info@amarketingexpert.com. |
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Look Who’s Talking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wondering who’s talking about you? While I love Google Alerts, this is one to consider, too: http://www.WhosTalkin.com is a social media search engine. All search results include current mentions on Web sites, blogs, social media posts, basically anything online. The results are also shown in chronological order, making it often more helpful than Google Alerts, which tends to filter out of date results too. |
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Buzz Your Book! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We’ve designed our products with your success in mind! Regardless of where you are in your publishing journey, we’ve got a product that will suit your needs. Check out our books, special reports, and our audio programs, all designed to help you reach publishing success! |
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Twitter Tip: Twitter Vision ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twitter Vision: http://www.twittervision.com, shows real-time tweets on a world map and features real-time tweets and the location on the world map where the Tweeter lives. |
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Twitter Tip: Twopular ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twopular: http://www.twopular.com, what’s hot on Twitter? Twopular allows you to search for the most recent trends on Twitter. You can then follow the trendsetters if you want! |
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Reader Tip! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you’ve got a Reader Tip you’d like to share, please send it to penny@amarketingexpert.com with the subject line “reader tip.” Submissions should be 75 words or less. |
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WHO ARE WE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Marketing Experts, Inc. is a full-service book marketing, promotion, and publicity company. We serve authors at all stages of marketing and promotion. We offer a full range of packages and services to choose from. To see a price list or schedule a free consultation, send your e-mail to penny@amarketingexpert.com with the subject line “Author Services Info.” You can also visit our Web site at www.amarketingexpert.com. Reprint permission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ You are welcome to reprint any items from “The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter.” However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph: Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://amarketingexpert.com/ |
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———————————————————— ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like this newsletter? Pass it on! We never rent or sell subscriber lists to any third party. Your privacy is very important to us. Always. To subscribe to this newsletter, click here: subscribe@amarketingexpert.com. ————————————————— ——— Copyright 2009 Author Marketing Experts, Inc. ————————————————— ——— |
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Quick Links… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: penny@amarketingexpert.com web: http://amarketingexpert.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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