Discount Online Shopping by Mr.Lee

It is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

One of the best ways to look for coupon codes whenever you need to make a purchase. Coupon codes work in much the same way as a traditional coupon, except instead of having a cashier scan your coupon at the register, you enter a series of letters and numbers, the "code," into your online cart. Coupon codes can be better than traditional sales because they allow you to make your own sale by taking 10% off your entire order, $10 off your order of $50 or more. Of course, you can combine sale and clearance prices with coupon codes.

So how do you find coupon codes? Many coupon codes start out in catalogues and promotional mailings to past customers, but once they're published, they're fair game and likely to be posted online almost immediately. There are a number of websites devoted entirely to sharing these codes. Member of bargain-hunting forums also share these coupon codes with each other and readers everywhere. If you don't feel like reading through pages of unrelated codes, you can search for "name of company coupon code" to find coupons from a specific online retailer. Join us to get more coupon offers!

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Free worldwide shipping is one of the fabulous incentives used to persuade more customers to spend more money on their website, typically tiered or leveled at a pre-set, specific dollar amount. They DO NOT even has nominal handling charges for having your internet deal shipped to you for free is even better than when you find a bargain at your local store, as you did not need to use any expensive fuel to get to the store, nor will you come home with the infamous crowd-causing headache.

How To Revive A Dead Lead by Stuart Ayling

It's easy to spend days, weeks, or months speaking with a prospect, working up to a decision to buy. This is especially true if your prospects are in larger companies.

Sometimes your lead can go dead. You're not sure why, but your contact person just goes quiet - sometimes disappearing for good.

Was your price too high? Did you say something wrong? What should you do?

I've had a few clients in exactly this situation - one even had his prospect located overseas. And they report great results by using this simple procedure.

Usually in these circumstances you can't contact your prospect by phone. This is a sure sign they have "disappeared". If this is the case for you, simply leave a voice mail message that you will send an email to them and ask them to "please take a moment to read it".

1) Remove the pressure - assume they will say "no".

Sometimes prospects think they have put themselves in an awkward position where they have to make a decision. They could feel backed into a corner. Sometimes they may be embarrassed because they have taken so long to come to a decision. Or because their superiors don't agree with them. Or maybe they haven't got the finances to buy from you.

Either way, they may suddenly back-off because they feel under pressure. You must take that pressure away by assuming they will not go ahead. Assume they will say "no" to your proposal.

2) Send a polite, non-threatening message.

Because you have probably had trouble contacting the person by phone, send this via email.

Your message needs to say something like you "Appreciate the time they have taken so far to discuss their requirements. And you understand they may not be in a position at the moment to use your service. But when they are ready to proceed you would greatly appreciate an opportunity to speak with them about a service to suit their needs." Or use similar wording for your situation.

This approach gives your prospect a way to "save face". It gives them a way out of a tricky situation. They now know that you are not "expecting" anything from them, so they can relax and tell you what they will really be doing.

It also helps you to build trust with that prospect. By taking this approach you are demonstrating that you:

· Understand they may be in a difficult situation.

· Are interested in the longer term, not just an immediate sale.

· Are still on good terms with them, and not annoyed by the outcome.

RESULTS

By using this technique my clients have found that their "dead" lead comes back to life. One of the following usually occurs.

Either the contact person feels bad about not letting you know what has happened, so they return your call or email and tell you.

Or someone else from the company returns your message and says something like "So-and-so doesn't work here anymore, so I have forwarded your message on to the-new-guy who has taken over that role."

You win - no matter what happens. You now understand what you need to do next to keep the sale alive.

Online Marketing For Service Businesses by Stuart Ayling

I know... you have a service-based business, or a professional services firm, and you probably don't like the idea of marketing (or advertising, or selling).

In fact, many service providers, professionals, and technical specialists think that if they need to promote their business to get clients, they can't be very good.

After all, successful businesses are built on word of mouth and referrals, right? And that should be enough to make you a success.

Sorry if I'm about to offend you... but those old-fashioned ideas about marketing your business just don't wash anymore.

Times have changed - and so has the way your clients choose a service provider

Receiving referrals and attracting clients via word of mouth is still very important. But if you don't promote your business, you are neglecting it.

And these days, online marketing should be an essential part of your marketing strategy.

Online marketing can be used to:

Enhance your professional standing. Educate prospects and clients about your services. Generate new business. Attract media attention. Attract the right sort of staff for your firm. Launch new services.

When I talk about online marketing I don't mean those cheap and nasty emails you see selling everything from shares, health products, and body parts! That's called unsolicited email, or junk mail.

Professional online marketing means you have a website that is designed to educate and attract clients. And also that you are using modern (and ethical) promotional strategies to get your message to your preferred audience.

Here is a summary of the main online marketing tactics you can use.

Website Optimisation Your website must be optimised so that the key pages are easily read by the major search engines. After all, research shows that over 70% of people check online sources before making a serious decision - especially when it comes to business.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is still a growing field. It combines the 'science' of search engine algorithms, with the 'art' of presenting your information in a unique manner.

Email Communication Are you using a planned series of email contacts with your clients and prospects? Many service firms forget to communicate with previous clients. They just focus on the matters at hand. Don't fall into that trap.

The world is much more competitive than it used to be and you need to have a relevant way of remaining in contact with clients. After all, they are most likely to refer others to you - if they remember you and think you care.

There are numerous options for using existing email service providers to create and send your own special email communications - call them newsletters, briefs, or updates, it doesn't matter.

Pay Per Click Advertising All the major search engines offer the opportunity to advertise on their search results pages. This works by showing your ad only when people are searching for the key words you have specified as being relevant.

This is vastly different from standard print advertising where your ad is shown to everyone who reads the paper.

Using Pay Per Click (PPC) adverting allows you to create multiple versions of your ad so you can easily see which ones work best. Your ad's only appear on pages that list relevant search results. This means the people who see your ad are already 'in the market' for your services. And you only pay when people click on your ad to visit your site. You don't pay for everyone who just sees your ad.

There are certain techniques and processes that should be used with PPC campaigns. Such as creating a special landing page for your ad's, rather than just sending visitors to your home page.

Banner and Newsletter Advertisements You can buy advertising space on other web sites, and when people click those ad's they come back to your website. You can also advertise in email newsletters sent by other parties. Usually you will pay 'per impression' for this type of advertising, so you need to make sure you have a compelling message in your ad, and that you are presenting it to the right audience.

Keep up with the world your clients live in... and use online marketing effectively to attract more clients, increase revenue, and stay a step ahead of your competitors.

Google Website Optimizer Open To The Public by Alex Cleanthous

The new Google Website Optimizer, which I've had the pleasure of using in the past few months, is now available to the public... which means that all Adwords advertisers can now conduct testing with this new Google tool.

The Google Website Optimizer uses a method called multi-variate testing, which allows multiple sections of a web page to be tested at the same time, so that you can identify the combination of factors which produces the highest conversion rate for the site.

Let me explain this further...

Let's say you have a landing page with various factors including the headline, the sub-headline, the call-to-action, the 'submit' button and an image.

With multi-variate testing you can test multiple options of each factor... with an example multi-variate test being laid out as follows:

Factor 1 - Headline (3 different options)
Factor 2 - Sub-headline (2 different options)
Factor 3 - Call-to-action (4 different options)
Factor 4 - Submit button (2 different options)
Factor 5 - Image (3 different options)

Multi-variate testing will then rotate each of the different options of each of the factors to identify the best combination of factors that produce the highest conversion rate.

When we first used the Google Website Optimizer with our online marketing activities we were very excited about the possibility of running so many variations simultaneously so we setup a test like the one outlined above...

But we found that to make a statistical conclusion on what the best combination of factors were required a very high amount of traffic (in excess of one million visitors) because the number of variations of each test is a multiple of the number of options of each factor (I know... this is starting to get a bit confusing). In other words, for the test outlined above you would be testing 3×2x4×2x3 variations or 144 variations, instead of the two variations for a regular split-test.

After trial and error we found that the best way to utilise the Google Website Optimizer is for simple split-testing, where you test two options of one factor (two variations). If you have higher amounts of traffic you can even test two variations of two separate sections of the website (four variations), such as the headline and the call-to-action.

One of the best features about the Google Website Optimizer, apart from the fact that its free, is that instead of having to setup two separate pages for each test, you simply rotate various parts of the website using special code provided by Google. This means that regular split-tests can be done with multi-page websites which, in the past, were more complicated to split-test with multiple variations of each page.

Web Profits will definitely be utilising the Google Website Optimizer for its own websites and for the websites of clients.

Australia Online Shopping by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse. Order it online and have it delivered to your door step.

The internet has brought a totally new concept to shop. There are thousands of virtual stores in the internet that sell different types of products different people need. People now prefer to shop online instead of spending time commuting and waiting in lines when going offline shopping. Moreover, it is possible to visit numerous virtual stores to compare prices and discounts without leaving the house.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Free worldwide shipping is one of the fabulous incentives used to persuade more customers to spend more money on their website, typically tiered or leveled at a pre-set, specific dollar amount. They DO NOT even has nominal handling charges for having your internet deal shipped to you for free is even better than when you find a bargain at your local store, as you did not need to use any expensive fuel to get to the store, nor will you come home with the infamous crowd-causing headache.

Canada Online Shopping by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse and have it delivered to your door step.

The internet has brought a totally new concept to shop. There are thousands of virtual stores in the internet that sell different types of products different people need. People now prefer to shop through the net instead of spending time commuting and waiting in lines when going offline shopping. Moreover, it is possible to visit numerous virtual stores to compare prices and discounts without leaving the house.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account

To Web or not to Web? by Stuart Ayling

Do I need a web site? That is the question often asked by business owners.

The answer will usually depend upon the type of product or service offered and what the business is trying to achieve. Some products/services are more suited to the web than others. Plus, a well designed web site can be a superb tool for communicating with customers, prospective customers, suppliers and the wider community.

For most service businesses, I'd say "Yes, you do need a web site."

There are many ways to be 'on the net', with ISP's, web designers and web hosting companies offering businesses many options in how this can be achieved. However there are also advertising and sponsorship opportunities that may be cost effective for businesses, either through web sites or email communication.

Is the web for you? As use of the Internet matures it appears that company/branded web sites are particularly important for products and services that are high-involvement purchases. Examples are cars, finance, computer equipment, and professional services where a buyer will actively seek details for comparison prior to making a purchase.

Conversely, for products that are typically low-involvement or commodity purchases a dedicated web site may not be the best answer. It may be more cost effective to concentrate on building brand awareness via advertising and sponsorships on web pages (or email newsletters) that have content relevant to the target audience for the product.

But the Internet does lure businesses with the potential of trading on a larger scale. It is up to individual business operators to decide how important this opportunity is for them. If you are thinking about creating or expanding your web site it is suggested you focus on being either a major force in your local/regional area, or gear up for servicing a national or global market.

If you decide to join the growing number of businesses using a web site, you must also give thought to the type of site you will use. Apart from the 'look' of the site, content and functionality must be considered.

Your options Web site options range from a single page (long or short) with contact details, to information sites and brochure-ware layouts that incorporate basic product images and descriptions. At the top end are full scale ecommerce sites that process credit card payments online, track your previous purchases, allow interactivity with the site and other customers, and provide personal login facilities to access data.

In many cases the development costs for hand-coded web sites with custom built shopping carts, custom product database and online payment capability starts at around $8,000. For larger sites requiring complex coding and special functionality it's easy to go over this figure.

However, there are now less expensive options available, including the use of Content Management Systems (CMS). A CMS makes it easy to create a site and make changes. No special programming knowledge is required. The CMS interface is very much like using a word processor. And you usually pay by the month. It's like renting your web site. Depending upon your level of skill, you may still need help to create your own graphics or pictures for use on the site. An example of a CMS is www.sitezero.com.au

Another option is to use a "virtual" web site designer. These are simply web designers that work on a remote basis (i.e. virtual). The virtual designer will create a site to your your individual needs dealing with you by phone, fax and email. They often offer low-cost monthly update services so you never need to worry about learning the technical side of your web site. An example of this type of service is www.bizmagic.com.au

Some major web directories (e.g. Yahoo) also offer a do-it-yourself online store facility.

Online payment systems There are numerous options for accepting online credit card transactions that can ecommerce-enable existing HTML web sites. One example of these internet based payment systems is the Australian service www.gopay.com.au. Major banks also offer payment facilities, as do international services such as www.worldpay.com.

Marketing your web site Once you have your web site up and running, you also need to make sure it is found on search engines, such as Google. It's a fact that for many businesses traffic from search engines is extremely important, with up to 80% of internet users finding sites through search engines.

Online marketing includes: Optimising your site to achieve high search engine rankings Pay-per-click ad's on search engines (e.g. Google and Overture) Listing in directories - Yahoo, DMOZ, industry listings etc Banner ad's on other sites Newsletter (or e-zine) advertising Reciprocal links with other sites And much more, like: - Affiliate programs - Having articles published online - Educational webinars - etc etc...

Too Little, Too Late, Too Busy... how to avoid marketing stress by Stuart Ayling

You know what creates stress for most people? When it comes to marketing their business many people find they have to:

* Make decisions without having the facts required. * Risk wasting money on tactics they don't fully understand. * Find time to weigh up the best choices.

...all at very short notice.

No wonder they find marketing stressful!

Many business owners never take the time to really understand the few essential marketing elements they need to have in place ALL THE TIME.

Instead, they make knee-jerk reactions when faced with 'urgent' situations like: * Having a hole in their expected cash flow - the feast/famine cycle. * Major clients who suddenly take their business elsewhere. * Advertising reps who call with the 'best deal ever'.

The answer is simple.

Identify the key marketing tactics that are your 'must haves' and make sure you create a system for putting them into place on a regular basis. Focus on the few. The 80/20 rule applies.

And we are coming up to that time of year again when everyone makes promises to themselves. The dreaded New Year Resolutions.

(Sidebar - it has always puzzled me why people wait until New Year to make these silly promises. If it was important to do it, why leave it to the middle of a holiday period when you probably wont do anything about much at all apart from socialising and relaxing.)

So rather than making a forgettable New Year resolution, why not create a structure to keep you on track with proactive marketing decisions.

Your marketing structure needs to be based on the following key factors:

1. Know who you want to attract. I call these target audiences your 'Pockets of Revenue'.

2. Know what marketing tactics will be most effective for those people. Forget the rest of the world that maybe, someday, somewhere, will want what you offer. Focus on those prospects who will need your services.

3. Understand what is involved to implement those marketing tactics. Don't guess. Don't put it in the 'too hard basket'. Make sure you find out. Now.

4. Create an easy-to-follow action plan for your chosen marketing tactics. Don't cram in the second- or third-tier tactics that sound exciting but simply don't work. Make a management decision to stick with what is most effective.

5. Work out your marketing budget so you know what to expect.

6. Make time during your working week to do what you have planned. Or find someone you can delegate the activities to. Otherwise opportunities will pass you by.

Whatever you do, don't get caught in the situation of too little, too late, or too busy.

Top 12 Proven Tips to Strengthen Your Marketing Muscle by Stuart Ayling

We all know that when we exercise we stretch and strain our muscles. The repeated extra workload is what strengthens the muscle fibres.

In fact, health professionals point out that until we get to the point of 'feeling' our muscles strain, we do not get the full benefits. It is the recovery our muscles make from the extra strain (but not overload) that increases muscle strength.

Why do I tell you this?

Because it is exactly the same with your marketing muscle.

The more you stretch it the stronger it becomes. And that will make you a better marketer, and more confident to generate more and more business.

Listed below are my top 12 proven ways to strengthen your marketing muscle. I realise you may find some of them challenging to undertake. That's the whole point. If you don't stretch your marketing muscle you wont improve it.

Ready... knees' bent...breathe in...

Website: * Try running a few pay-per-click advertisements on Google (Google Adwords). It doesn't cost very much at all. You will learn a lot, even if you don't get an immediate flood of business. * Optimise the home page of your web site by fixing the page title, using a few descriptive headings, and sprinkling key words in appropriate places on the page. * Ask your typical customers what they think of using your web site. But don't just ask. Run a low-cost user-test by having one person sit in front of a computer and navigate your site. Ask them to do a typical task at your site. Talk with them about how easy (or not) it was for them to do the task.

Advertising: * Investigate an important customer niche market and find the main publication, website, or professional journal they read. Contact the publication and ask about their advertising options.

Write an article: * Choose one topic that you know your potential customers will be interested in, related to the services you provide. Write a brief article of 500-600 words explaining how they should approach/manage the topic you selected. (This article is 750 words.) Include some useful action-oriented tips. Add the article to your web site. Email it to your contacts. Add it to one of the many online article directories so that other people can access it and publish it on their website.

Speaking: * Approach your local business group, networking club, social group, or community group and ask if it would be possible for you to present a short talk to them. Pick a relevant topic that you can cover in the time they allow (usually 15-20 minutes would be enough).

Selling: * Create a value-added offer and mention it during all your sales discussions over the next week. Don't forget to tell your networking group as well, if you are a member of one.

Public Relations: * Focus on one event you run, survey you conduct, or client success story you have, and write a media release around it. Focus on the people in the story. Include a photo - with people - if possible. Send that to appropriate publications and websites.

Newsletter: * Start a newsletter. Make it monthly so you do not get overwhelmed. Decide on a few topics you can write about, then select one as the first subject. Even if you don't have a large list of contacts. Make a start. Be sure to follow good email practices.

Ask for a testimonial: * Contact previous clients and tell them you are updating your marketing material, and you are approaching them to get their feedback on how they found your service. Get the testimonials in writing, or write one for the client based on what they tell you. Be sure to ask if it is OK for you to use their words and name.

Networking: * Meet with one person over coffee who offers a complementary service or product. Keep it casual. Get to know their business. Make sure you also explain how you help clients. Don't expect an order from them. Discuss possible future opportunities with them as a referral or alliance partner.

Promotion: * Create a one or two-page summary of your services and the benefits you offer. Don't just list features, or your credentials. Include a testimonial or two. Use this document as the main follow up after you meet new people, or when contacting prospects. It is important to have it as a PDF document (not Word, Publisher or other program) so that you can send it via email and everyone can open it.

Malaysia Online Shopping by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, international shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks and mortar business or in a mall. Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. It typically uses electronic communications technology of the World Wide Web. It is a secure electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse. Order it online and have it delivered to your door step.

The internet has brought a totally new concept to shop. There are thousands of virtual stores in the internet that sell different types of products different people need. People now prefer to shop online instead of spending time commuting and waiting in lines when going offline shopping. Moreover, it is possible to visit numerous virtual stores to compare prices and discounts without leaving the house.

Here are some of the key benefits:

* Shop from the comfort of your own home. You do not have to get dressed. You do not have to start the car and you do not drive around for an hour until you locate a parking spot near the front entrance.
* Internet shops tend to have a greater selection than your favorite mall clothing store. In most cases all sizes, models and colors are yours for the asking.
* Shop anytime you want. You do not have to wait for the store to open in the morning and you can shop late at night. You do not have to waste your precious lunch hour either. You can even shop on holidays when stores are usually closed.
* You do not have to fight through crowds or stand in long lines.
* Many online stores offer coupons and coupon codes for extra discount.
* When you register as a member, you can receive special discounts and coupons not available to the general public.
* You do not have to lug home heavy merchandise. The stores will ship them to your doorstep.
* All items are clearly marked. You do not have to hunt around for a missing price tag or wonder.
* Online shops honor gift cards.
* One wonderful benefit is the ability to comparison shop. The days of paying the highest price to visit the most convenient location are over. When you use a comparison search engine such as Froogle, you do not have to go from store to store to find the lowest price.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is an internet mall online shopping marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Free worldwide shipping is one of the fabulous incentives used to persuade more customers to spend more money on their website, typically tiered or leveled at a pre-set, specific dollar amount. They DO NOT even has nominal handling charges for having your internet deal shipped to you for free is even better than when you find a bargain at your local store, as you did not need to use any expensive fuel to get to the store, nor will you come home from shopping with the infamous crowd-causing headache.

Online Shopping Singapore by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks and mortar business or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse. Order it online and have it delivered to your door step.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Online Shopping Europe by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks and mortar business or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse. Order it online and have it delivered to your door step.

The internet has brought a totally new concept to shop. There are thousands of virtual stores in the internet that sell different types of products different people need. People now prefer to shop online instead of spending time commuting and waiting in lines when going offline shopping. Moreover, it is possible to visit numerous virtual stores to compare prices and discounts without leaving the house.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Online Shopping UK by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks and mortar business or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse. Order it online and have it delivered to your door step.

The internet has brought a totally new concept to shop. There are thousands of virtual stores in the internet that sell different types of products different people need. People now prefer to shop online instead of spending time commuting and waiting in lines when going offline shopping. Moreover, it is possible to visit numerous virtual stores to compare prices and discounts without leaving the house.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Online Shopping US by Mr.Lee

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop or web store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks and mortar business or in a mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). It is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

In fact, internet mall online shopping is a convenient means of having all your shopping done. Considering that life has become so hectic these days, the ability to find anything and everything you need without even leaving your home is a great time saver. No longer do you have to make the trek to the grocery or discounted store with your kids in tow, screaming because they want everything in sight. With internet mall you can order anything you want with the click of your mouse. Order it online and have it delivered to your door step.

ReadyShoppingMall.com is a marketplace designed to help consumers more efficiently shop on the Web. They organize many type of products from our trusted manufacturers and merchants in a single location, allowing consumers to shop across them all. Successful marketplaces bring consumers and merchants together in an environment that is convenient for consumers and efficient for merchants. They are committed to providing all customers the best value, quality, service and selection of all the products in the world. The mission is to make your life easier by providing the latest products from their established links with all the trusted manufacturers and merchants that dedicated to serving you in a single location - with one personal secured password-protected account.

Web Affiliate Program by Mr.Lee

If you can either write articles or have the promotion and marketing knowledge to publicize articles that others write, becoming an affiliate for several companies may be a great way for you to generate a good income right from your own home. You can do this by receiving part of the revenue off of sales that the company gets from people who "click through" from your website via the company's links that are placed on your pages.

Since you will be promoting a product or service, you will need a killer sales pitch and website content to get your readers interested in the product, convince them that they cannot live without the product, and to keep them coming back to your website time and time again for more recommendations and your useful content, which will get them clicking on your links once again. Although many web affiliate program companies only give you money off of the first sale you make from each customer, you have the option of promoting a good range of companies so that you can still make a profit off of your returning customers.

Research has shown that the most effective affiliate links are text links. Yes, plain text links. Not big flashy banner ads like most affiliate website are filled to the brim with. What happens is, you write a great article (or have one created) about the product or something related to the product and stick the link into your text. This allows interested readers to see the link as they are reading and click on it.

There are many products that have nice web affiliate program commission rates for those who know how to pre-sale their product and deliver click through customers who are ready to buy. As long as you choose to promote a product or service that can be very useful to a wide variety of people, then pre-selling your chosen company may not be that hard at all. The key in this situation may likely be getting those customers to your website so that they have a chance to see your recommendations and click on your affiliate links.

The most important rule when picking web affiliate programs to promote on your site is to pick products that would be of interest to those who would likely visit your niche site. Otherwise you will be promoting a product to a group of people who do not even want nor need it. If your niche site targets parents of young children, then promote baby products. If you niche site targets gardeners, then promote gardening products. If you promote baby products to gardeners, you are almost guaranteed to not make a profit no matter how much money the affiliate company offers for a sale. ReadyShoppingMall.com provides various of products for your website with a great web affiliate program. Here are some of the affiliate pages:


Discount Online Shopping
Online Shopping

Australia Online Shopping
Canada Online Shopping
Malaysia Online Shopping
Online Shopping Singapore
Online Shopping Europe
Online Shopping UK
Online Shopping US

The Importance Of A Solid Marketing Campaign by kenji sakamoto

When it comes to generating traffic to your website, how you go about marketing it can make the difference of you having success or throwing the towel in early. Think about it this way; if you do not advertise your website, how do people know that you even exist? This is why it is vital that you spend a great deal of time selecting how you are going to market your website, and then following through with your plan.

The first step to advertising your website is developing a plan. Within your plan, you have to plot out every little detail. Who is your target market that you are promoting to? What kind of marketing are you going to do to appeal to your target audience? How much is it going to cost for you to advertise? These are just a few of the many questions you have to ask yourself when developing a plan.

Once you have your plan, you need to begin researching on how to fulfill the plan. Posting in forums and talking with people within your industry is a great place to begin. Ask for advice and what you can do to have success with advertising your website, because everyone started where you are at. And there are many people that are willing to help you go from rags to riches online.

Deciding who your target audience is should be fairly easy. If you have a gardening website, your target audience probably is not teenage guys. It is certainly possible to have a website that has many target audiences, in which case you will want to market to a broad audience.

When you begin to determine what kinds of advertising you want to do for your website, take a look at what kinds of advertising is free and what kinds you have to pay for. For instance, posting in forums and submitting articles to article directories is great free advertising. It gets your link out on the internet while also allowing you to display your knowledge.

Paid advertising will give you much quicker results, and can be more effective. There are several ways you can pay for advertising, and one of the more popular methods is buying your way up the totem pole on search engines. If you can get in the top two or three searches for a specific keyword in the search engines, your website will be displayed to thousands of visitors each day.

There is no secret behind the fact that marketing can make or break your business. Certainly there are other facets that can do so as well, but it is advertising that brings visitors to your website to begin with. As soon as you put together a promising marketing campaign, you can begin to determine what kind of success you will have in the long run.

Instant Article Wizard - Brilliant or BS? by Michael Constantinos

Instant Article Wizard has recently been upgraded and the new version 2 is now available. I will not be comparing the versions other than to say that the new version has some major enhancements which makes this article writing software very powerful allowing the writer to compile articles in minutes. Yeah, OK, it's hard to sound unbiased when writing about something that's so cool but I'll keep this article on Instant Article Wizard 2 as factual as possible.

If you're not aware already, articles are really important, whether their displayed on your own website for content purposes making your site better for both humans and search engines. Articles are also really good for the purpose of syndicating the content to potentially thousands of article directories and ezines, with a backlink to your site which is good for link popularity, search engine ranking and traffic. So, without discussing it further, writing articles is really, really cool for your online efforts whatever their objective may be.

What you are about to discover will benefit you greatly. The problem has always been, writing articles takes time - a lot of time. Well researched and relevant content is crucial to your online success and Instant Article Wizard 2 dramatically reduces the time necessary on writing and researching articles reducing what could have taken 2-3 hours to 10-15 minutes. Plus, the information it gathers is highly targeted, automatically subdividing the gathered information into sub-topics as well as introductions and conclusions. I found this really cool as the articles were able to be written in more depth very easily. As well as the awesome time saving, I found Instant Article Wizard 2 really easy to use. Simply add your article keywords and Instant Article Wizard 2 goes to work so within a very short while, you've suddenly gathered some great research on your article's subject saving you the need to personally trawl through tons of information in order to gather data for writing your article. Finally, after you've finished creating your quality, content-rich article, you can save your gathered information as a project, and reload the info again anytime so you can write more articles on the same topic even quicker with the gathering of research already completed. As well as this, you can easily add new article keywords to gather information for, which gives your article even more diversity and depth.

So in essence, Instant Article Wizard 2 is an article writing tool that helps you write quality articles whilst dramatically reducing the time required to gather the information and compile it in an easy and very effective manner. You can move information up and down, or easily drag-drop information to other categories, and you can even view the source page of the information gathered for even more control. This is not some inferior article generator. Instant Article Wizard 2 allows sophisticated article creation and gives you complete control at all times to interact with the information and create an article that is genuinely unique and of high quality.

Now to state the obvious. Article writing is the first part of the equation in article marketing. And it is a huge and critical part that directly determines if your marketing efforts are a flop or a success. The premise is that you write informational articles which are content rich and are of a high enough quality to have the potential to reach as many people online as possible. After all, if the quality is not there, your results will be limited, right? Would you still be reading this article if it was poorly written. And would you be completely stunned if I told you that this article was written with the assistance of Instant Article Wizard 2?

In conclusion, Instant Article Wizard 2 is a very clever article writing program that produces awesome quality articles both easily and quickly. It gives you the capability of writing on any topic without any research and genuinely makes you sound like an expert in your chosen niche. Because of the great time savings, ease of use, speed of gathering quality information, and extremely reasonable price (only $67), I am compelled to give it a 10 out of 10. Most importantly, your articles become unique so you have truly created a valuable piece of content for your online efforts.

I wish you success with your article writing efforts using Instant Article Wizard 2 and I hope that I've convinced you to at least consider getting the software to help with all your article writing.

Tips For Marketing Your Home Business by Dennis Koray

Anyone who starts a home based business has high hopes for success. Many feel that with just a few simple ads the business will boom and take off into a major business. However, many find that customers are actually few and far between when it comes to a home based business. With the following tips you can help to market your home based business and turn it into a success.

While family and friends can be helpful when it comes to a home based business you should also look to expand your network. To do this consider the places where you can find good customer. Some ideas include local civic associations, regional trade shows, professional conferences and chamber of commerce meetings. If you have an online business then you may want to consider checking message boards to help build your online mailing list.

Whenever you find someone and the situation calls for it, talk to them. Everyone has the potential of being a customer if you just talk to them. The possibilities are endless and it gives you something to do instead of just waiting around for a bus or airplane. Just striking up a conversation can bring you in a lot of additional business.

Even if you don't have an online business, one of the best advertising methods is online. Whether you are selling a local product or not, online is a way to get in contact with millions of potential customers from the comfort and convenience of your home computer.

When discussing you business it may be a good idea to leave out the fact that you have a home based business. Although a great many companies are starting up home based aspects of their companies many people still view these businesses as unprofessional. Rather focus on the product or service you are selling since this is what is important and this is what the customer wants.

Depending on the service you are offering consider doing a few local demonstrations. This can help increase the publicity for your business. Or you can offer to do a local service featuring your talents for free such as decorating a local restaurant. This way you can increase your popularity and possibly gain further sales later.

For the top marketing techniques consider attending meetings that focus on your business industry and talking with people about their successes and problems. This can help you learn what to do and what to avoid for your business. Another option is to read any trade publications for your business industry. Getting into the industry allows you to find someone that you can go to with a specific question or problem that you may encounter with your business. Just always remember to follow up with the individual and thank them for their help so they know you appreciate it.

Project Black Mask - Scam? by Jamie Clarkson

The author of Affiliate Project X and Day Job Killer has just come out with another product, this one written by other people, including Alex Goad, infamous Black Hatter who makes a killing gaming the search engines.

Project Black Mask is not for the fainthearted, as it employs some notorious "black hat" strategies to suck traffic from the search engines. Essentially, PBM teaches exactly how some of the biggest search-engine spammers pull off getting thousands of pages and websites indexed in order to earn money from Google Adsense.

Unfortunately, there are some serious issues with this whole search-engine game - the first of which is that this type of behavior, considered highly unethical in some quarters, has caused Google and other search engines to tighten their algorithms so much that white or gray hat sites are getting penalized as well, e.g., for "duplicate content."

Furthermore, as I read Project Black Mask, I kept asking, "How do you keep your Adsense account from being canceled?" PBM provides no real answer to this problem - yet, the chances of losing your account appear to be pretty good if you're uploading thousands and thousands of pages of spammy content that include your Adsense ID in them. In PBM, Goad refers to "Adsense accounts" in the plural, but, unless you are opening up accounts in the name of several shell companies, for example, I don't see how you could have more than one account.

Most of the techniques are not for me, but there was some really good information regarding building large keyword lists, as well as other very useful information concerning internet marketing strategies in general.

In any event, if you like living on the edge and dangerously, you may like Project Black Mask. Even if you don't want to implement the black-hat methods, you will likely gain some useful insights into how money is made online.

Utilizing the secrets of optin lists by Ranjitha

Emails are replacing regular mails from the post office. Not only because it is cheaper, since you do not need to buy a stamp, it's also definitely faster. Emails can be sent in as fast as five seconds, depending on the server, anywhere in the world.

No doubt emails are being used to distribute news letters, promotional mails, and other stuff. How then would you be able to round up email addresses to send those marketing mails you have? Here is where an opt-in list comes in.

An opt-in list is a directory of email address you can send to those mails to. Though it seems to be easy to find email addresses, if you are talking thousands in numbers, it is going to be hard. Besides, you have to determine the recipient of the email. You wouldn't want your readers mostly male if you are selling lipsticks, right?

A good opt-in list should include the profile of the email address owner. Here are tips on how to create a comprehensive opt-in list for target market.

Create your website. Creating a website is made simple nowadays. A lot of programs are milling about assisting regular computer users in making and maintaining websites in a real simple way. Some website creator just needs you to cut and paste, like that of a regular paint program. Several web hosting sites are available too. Some are even free. If you have a site of your own, you can ask visitors to register with you or sign your guest book as they leave.

Set up a promotion or a freebie. Not all the best things in life are free, as they say. But you can definitely try to give something out for sure. You can see this done all over the web. Free screensavers, free games, free download of programs. And what do they need from you? They just ask for an email address, your name and a little something more about you. Then you can place a check box on the registration form for sending of email. For sure, you can think of something to give out as well.

Write and write some more. There are some web magazines where in readers can submit their writings for a particular topic. If you had a chance to do so, add a link to your article providing information about what you are trying to promote. Some readers of your article may enjoy your work so much they'd like to contact you, so don't forget to leave your email address too.

Pose an easy opt-out option. People who like to join your opt-in list would, along the way may want to opt out of it somehow. People who are wary of joining may not join at all if they see that it would be near impossible to remove their email address from the listing. Show them that it is as easy to opt-out as it is opting in.

Check other's strategy too. It would be better if you can find a partner in generating an opt-in list. This way, you can split the expenses and both of you can share the list generated. It will be best to partner with a company that has a business similar to your own line. Both of you can profit more should that be the case.

Use offline ways too. You can put up a small raffle preferably in a supermarket for a certain item they buy. You can place an email address opt-in part in the raffle entry to add to your list. This way, you'd also know the buying preferences of the participants if you mark the entries systemically.

Creating an opt-in list entails a lot of work and funds. You should outline how much you will spend in creating an opt-in list. People appearing at opt-in lists are sales prospects. They are those interested in a certain product that you may be selling. Obtaining an optimal opt-in list would boost your sales up so these tools are undoubtedly essential.

How to Build An Opt-In Mailing Lists? by Ranjitha

One of the powerful tools in online "email" marketing is to build an opt-in mailing list. An opt-in mailing list is a database of peoples' names and email addresses that have subscribed to an email list via a web form giving that list owner permission to send them periodic emails on the topic they are interested in. The best gift of this powerful tool is the possibility of being able to talk to people who are particularly interested in your product, service or organization.

This gaining popularity of building opt-in mailing list is known as Permission Email Marketing.

There are do's and don'ts in starting your opt-in mailing list. Here are some of the most important tips worth mentioning:

DO'S

1. Put a subscription form prominently on your website. You can create your own subscription form using a software Sign-Up to's form builder. 2. Inform people that they can subscribe to your email list on the signature of your normal work emails. This will enable it to link straight through the form on your website. 3. Ask people permission if they do want to be subscribed on your mailing list. As much as possible avoid being suspected for SPAM. 4. Open options for subscription especially during your interactions with them. Always be ready with your subscription cards if you run in on events. 5. Be clear on how people can benefit from subscribing and how often will you contact them. Make them know exactly what they will be receiving. 6. If you can, contact new subscriber as soon as you can. Welcome them with notes and tell them what to expect.

DON'T

1. Add everyone who has ever emailed you to your list. Always ask permission first. 2. Purchase lists that you are not 100% sure that are opt-in. Always have an evidence to prove the legitimacy of the opt-ins. 3. Abuse people's trust. This is a sure way to ruin your brand and you. Soon enough they will ignore your messages.

Building your opt-in mailing list is cheaper than in sending direct mails. Printing, envelopes and paper used as material further add up to the cost. Here are some ways to effectively start your opt-in mailing list:
1. Free Newsletter. One of the most effective ways to build an opt-in list is to offer your online visitors freebies of value such as newsletter which will contain information that they can relate to such as tips, tools, recipes, travel itineraries and others.
2. Make it Easy to Subscribe. Provide easy steps for subscription so that subscribers may find it easy to do so and would not be discourage. For more subscribers, tell them the exact benefits they can get out of the subscription.
3. Quality Content. Be sure that what is written inside the newsletter, freebies and information found in your website are all of value to increase visitors dropping by your website.
4. Forums. Discussion boards and forums are all over the net. Try to actively participate in these boards especially those in the line of your interest or your business. Try to build your reputation with credibility.
5. Write articles. This makes you an instant expert in your chosen field of interest. You just have to play on it and use it well in your business goal.
6. Co-registration. A very effective way to build a monster list in a very short time.
7. Write an e-book. An excellent freebie for those who visited and subscribe in your mailing list. The e-book does not have to be expensively made or elaborate but it can be a compilation or a collection of best articles, business tips and resources.

In building opt-in mailing lists always keep in mind to offer something of value to your prospects. Remember opt-in lists are the foundations of most profitable internet business so do not miss chances for improvement and developing new strategies.

Having an opt-in list is not easy, it is hardwork but with some relieving advantages too. But to build an opt-in mail list has to be focused and effective in truly capturing the desired target. Take a look at these 10 Quick Easy Steps to Building A Highly Targeted and Responsive Opt-in List.

1. Choose your target market or niche. Remember you are not the only one competing in internet marketing; you have to be sure who your internet marketing is.
2. Be sure that you can reach your target audience online.
3. Do not waste on time on a non-profit investment or spending. Always monitor your spending.
4. Forums and discussion boards are available for maximum use. Find your target market problems.
5. Identify what is keeping your customers from getting what they want and help them get it.
6. Try offering your viewers solving some of their problems.
7. Set up a simple direct response mini-site.
8. Get an auto-responder account. It is important for you to acquire and set this thing up because this is where your visitors will come.
9. Bait your potential customers through giveaways like: ebooks, special reports, mini courses and coupons, etc.
10. Reach out in any way you can to your target market.

Opt-in building is a tedious work but with amazing results. The process of building it takes time and effort but persists. Always treat your "find" as a goldmine so that you will offer them the best deals in the market, those with great quality and value. Doing all these, would earn you credibility and a profitable business on the Internet.

Some strategies to sell your information products by Syd

Are you interested in writing your own e-book and selling it on the net, but worried what kind of response it will get? Here are some tips to help you get people interested in your info product after you have written it.

1. Tell them how many information filled pages are in your e-book so that they may consider buying it, as they feel that a lot of pages means more information. Also make sure that you have a lot of useful information in your e-book and do not try to fill it with fluff.

2. If possible, give them the table of contents of your ebook. People may appreciate it and if the information is presented in a neatly organized format with interesting chapters, they may become more interested in trying out your e-book. But do not try to mislead people by writing chapter titles if the chapter does not have that information.

3. Tell them that you have avoided fluff as much as possible in your e-book. Fluff is kind of useless space filling content that is not of much help to the user, but is only used for making the ebook more lengthy. Also avoid lots of white spaces in your text just with the intention of having more pages in the book.

4. If you have an affiliate program, do mention it to your readers. Tell them that they can also earn commissions by referring the book to somebody else.

5. Tell your prospects that your product is in simple layman terms with simple clear instructions which are easy to understand. This alone can prompt many people to buy your product as people do not like complicated stuff.

6. Wherever possible in your e-book, give instructions in a simple step-by-step format so that readers can follow and remember it easily. And mention to your prospective customers, that a lot of information in your e-book is in a step-by-step format.

7. Telling prospects that you have not held back any information in your ebook can help you generate more sales as people like uncensored and complete information. However make sure that you are telling the truth and have provided a lot of useful information.

8. Telling customers that your e-book has a lot of new and latest information can also be helpful. People like to get the latest and updated news and information.

9. If some important person has given a testimonial to your product, you may make a mention of it and also provide your prospects with a brief background about the person who has given the testimonial.

10. You may consider giving a sample chapter for download to your prospects for free. If they like it, they may consider buying your e-book.

11. Offer money back guarentee for a limited time so that people can buy and read your e-book. If they don't like it they can return it within a specified time (like 30 or 60 days) and get full refund of their money. This can create confidence in the prospects and make them more willing to test your product. This will also ensure that you are creating a product of real value in the first place.

12. If your e-book has some ancient information, you may make it known to your prospects.

13. If you have written an e-book about a subject you are passionate about or about which you have a lot of expertise then it might be natural for you to be excited about your e-book. You may believe that your e-book can help many people improve themselves. In such cases, it might be helpful if you let your prospects know about your feelings, let them know how excited you are about this e-book hitting the market. Your excitement may rub on them too.

14. Tell prospects that you would encourage and kind of feedback and comments on your product so that you can further improve it. People like to give opinions and contribute towards some benefit, specially if they are asked and if it does not take them a lot of effort.

15. Focus on the benefits of the product more than its features while talking to prospects.

16. Give detailed description of the product if required and be as specific as possible and wherever possible.

17. Finally and most importantly, believe in your own information product. IF your product is good, then there is no reason not to believe that it can be of value and help to others. Your belief and conviction can persuade others to buy it. Your doubt can also create doubts in others.

Achieving Financial Freedom With MLM Marketing by Kozan Huseyin

Joining a Network Marketing Company is a great way to start building a long term residual income. As part of a Network Marketing Company we are able to plug into a proven business opportunity. What do we need to concentrate on in our MLM Marketing business to achieve the success we seek?

Points I cover in this article: * Focusing correctly to get rich with MLM Marketing * Finding your why with MLM Marketing * Tips for creating wealth with MLM Marketing

::: Focusing correctly to get rich with MLM Marketing ::: Henry Ford once said "Wealth will never be attained, if they go after the cash. The cash is a result of service". Our main focus should never be on the cash. Instead we can put our focus on the other things which will result in financial freedom.

As we can see from this quote from Henry Ford, if we choose to focus on giving service the result will be wealth and financial freedom in your MLM Marketing business. Here is a list of some of the things we can focus on to achieve success in our MLM Marketing business:

- Focus on your self improvement - Focus on training your downline to be better at what they do - Focus on showing your MLM Marketing opportunity to a certain amount of people - Focus on learning the MLM Marketing business inside out - Focus on your strengths - Focus on finding more ways to be of service

::: Why your "why" is crucial ::: Your why is the reason you got into MLM Marketing. Your why is crucial as it is generally a future result you hope to attain. Your why is what keeps you going in the slow months of your MLM Marketing business.

Without your why, you can never get to your crucial next step in achieving that goal, and that is your how. How you are going to do something is the crucial step in actually taking action to achieve your goal.

::: Tips for financial freedom with MLM Marketing ::: Sit down for moment and take a look at why you decided to join the Network Marketing Company you are currently with or if you are not part of a Network Marketing Company then consider why you want to start a business.

In a Network Marketing Company generally you are given two ways to make cash or rather to be of service. You can either promote the products or you can promote the MLM Marketing business opportunity. Some people prefer one over the other. It really depends on you which will depend on which you choose to focus on.

The opportunity side offers more potential to create a residual income. This is due to the fact that with a great downline, who takes the action and achieves results, you could be on %holiday% and your business still produces cash, and also grows.

Remember when promoting your MLM Marketing opportunities products, you must create customers who will constantly buy. This is crucial to be able to grow your MLM Marketing business opportunity. After all, if you have to keep going back to square 1 and trying to promote your products will cost you a lot of energy, and is a sure way to become de-motivated and wonder why things aren't improving.

Choosing the Best Lapel Pins for You by Caryn Smith

When ordering lapel pins, most people mistakenly believe they are all the same. You might be surprised to know that you have several options with regard to quality, materials, colors, styles and workmanship. Before purchasing your next order of lapel pins, review the information below. This way you can ensure you're getting the best lapel pins for your particular needs.

Cloisonné - The best of the best! Offering the most definition, sharply separated colors and intricate details, cloisonné lapel pins give clearly visible text and design elements. Starting with a bronze surface, a custom die is created to stamp your design into the base metal. Colors are hand-filled with a powdered glass-like resin mixture into the appropriate areas of the pin and then fired one at a time at a temperature of 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. This two-step process ensures that bleeding of colors does not occur. Each pin is then hand polished (to create a smooth surface) and gold or silver plated.

Cloisonné lapel pins can be made into custom shapes and sizes. Because they are of the highest quality, they can retain their beauty for years to come. The brilliant colors in combination with polished gold or silver give them a high perceived value, much like fine jewelry.

Photo Etched - Similar to cloisonné, the creation of photo etched lapel pins begins with your photo negative. An acid process is used to etch the image and text on to the metal base. Enamel colors are then inserted into the appropriate spaces one at a time. The entire sheet of metal is then fired at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Visible metal areas are polished and plated. Photo etched lapel pins can benefit from the addition of a protective dome that can prevent the fading and cracking of colors over time.

Excellent for complex designs, photo etched lapel pins offer an easy-to-read logo and text on a highly attractive pin.

Offset Printed - Just as with offset printing of brochures or other materials, an image of your custom design is transferred from a photographic negative and then layered over the surface of the metal. Each pin is cut from the sheet of metal following the outline of your design. Non-colored (raised) edges of the pin are then plated in your choice of metal. Because the colors are printed and are not fired, an epoxy protective dome is applied to protect the pins from scratches or other damage.

A medium perceived value and a sharply defined design make offset printed pins a bargain.

Die Struck - Regal, stunning, legendary, handsome... these are all words that accurately describe die struck lapel pins. Stamped from a custom-created die on to a sheet of iron or copper, die struck pins are plated and polished, giving them a truly unique and elegant appearance.

Often used for years of service or employee awards, die struck lapel pins have a medium to high perceived value.

Soft Enamel - Using the iron or copper sheeting like die struck pins and the durable enamel colors of photo etched pins, soft enamel lapel pins give excellent value. Custom designed dies are stamped on to the metal. Enamel colors are then filled one at a time, and the pins are fired at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. An optional epoxy dome can then be applied for added protection if you desire.

With a high perceived value and very similar appearance to cloisonné pins, soft enamel lapel pins are a tremendous value for designs where text and graphics need to be emphasized.

Now that you better understand the particulars of each type of lapel pin, you can confidently make a decision on the best types for you.

It's A Banner, What's To Think About? by Michael Merrick Crooks

I couldn't help myself. It just sort of slipped out. "Well, Shelly ... you're gonna have to either get a shorter banner or taller kindergartners."

A brief moment of silence was broken by her laughter letting me know I hadn't blown it and that she had a sense of humor -- something I really like in a client.

"Oh yeah, right," she said. "If the banner is four feet high the kids will have to hold it above their heads for the whole parade."

Like most things in life, there are few things to consider when ordering a banner for an event. For starters, if the banner will be carried in a parade, how tall the carriers are in relationship to the height of the banner needs some thought.

How the banner will be used and for how long will dictate the substrate or, the material, of which the banner is made. If the banner is for one-time use such as a parade it can be made of a lighter, banner paper that is less expensive. On the other hand, if the banner will be used in multiple parades and/or hung up for viewing after use, then you have other things to consider as well.

A heavier, more durable substrate such as a 13oz vinyl banner material is recommended for multiple uses to withstand foldings/rollings and "trunk abuse". If the banner will be hung in a window, an Ultraviolet (UV) laminate should be considered to prevent fading of the colors.

When a banner is to be used for a parade, we generally engineer horizontal "pole pockets" across the top and bottom. A pole that is roughly two feet longer than the banner is wide is inserted, making a comfortable carrying handle. We recommend PVC pipe as it's lightweight and inexpensive yet strong enough to offer the support you want.

Sometimes people ask for vertical pole pockets at each end with an opening at the bottom and the pocket sewn shut at the top. The problem with this is that the banner carriers must remain a specific distance apart to keep the banner tight through the whole parade. It's harder to do than it sounds and can make an otherwise enjoyable parade walk, miserable. The horizontal pockets are much easier to deal with.

The reason for the bottom horizontal pocket is to prevent the wind from blowing the banner either forward or back rendering it unreadable. We've found that a length of PCV pipe, that measures the width of the banner, with a couple end caps works great. You fill the pipe with sand, cap the ends and insert it into the bottom pole pocket giving it enough weight to remain stationary even if the wind blows.

If the banner will be hung after a parade then you'll also want to have it manufactured with grommets that will give you more hanging options. We usually place grommets every two to three feet depending on the banner size. Anything over three feet high we usually put a grommet in the middle of each side as well.

For storage, rolling a banner is preferred to folding when your substrate is vinyl or paper. In cases where you have a digitally printed image on fabric, then folding is fine.

Once again, make sure the banner is short enough that the people carrying it in the parade can hold it about chest high without the bottom of the banner touching the ground.

Giving a little thought to your application, use and duration of use can produce a functional banner that looks great!

Masterminding For MLM Network Marketing Success by Kozan Huseyin

The master mind principle has been used time and time again to create many riches. When you use the master mind principle with your Multi Level Marketing home based business opportunity, you soon find that you can achieve much more in a shorter time. Solutions for your Multi Level Marketing home based business can be found which you would have never thought of by your self.

::: What exactly is a master mind? ::: A master mind is when a group of two or more individuals get together in a spirit of harmony to attain a definite purpose. The master mind principle works like a battery. As more people are part of the master mind, the ability and power of the master mind team exponentially increases.

::: Benefits of the master mind ::: The master mind principle is a principle which if used correctly with Multi Level Marketing will allow you to explode your Multi Level Marketing home based business. As each member of the team put their knowledge and resources, new solutions are found. Goals become easier to achieve when you are part of an active master mind group.

Here is a list of some of the benefits you get by being part of a master mind group:

- Accountability for your goals, thus you are more likely to achieve your goals.

- Have access to a team of people with varied knowledge, skills and resources.

- Meet positive people.

- Meet people with highest regard to the achievement of their goals.

- Find solutions you could never find by yourself.

As you can see, there are many benefits with being part of a master mind group. I'm sure you can think of some others as well. A good Multi Level Marketing opportunity mixed with a master mind can help you achieve all of your goals.

::: How to find a master mind ::: In a basic sense you already have a master mind. In a Multi Level Marketing opportunity, you have your upline. However, though this interaction can be great, it also can be limiting. Sometimes you're upline might be quite new to the Multi Level Marketing industry. What is required is a broader team.

You can search on the Internet or you could create your own. Initially what you will need to know is what do you want from your master mind team? Do you need a team you can be physically part of, in person? How often do you want to get together to have a meeting?

You can also speak to your MLM Marketing opportunity upline and tell him you want to start a master mind team. Also speak to your team, sometimes you can find great people in your team to be part of your master mind team. Remember to pick carefully the members of your master mind team.

Another crucial question you should ask yourself is what do you bring to the table? You may have certain skills and resources which the other master mind team members might not have.

Now a thought comes to mind - am I good enough to be part of a master mind group? The answer is of course you are. If you are so committed to achieving your goals, then the master mind team can be the best thing for you to achieve your Multi Level Marketing goals.

Free (or Nearly Free) Publicity by Karen Pierce Gonzalez

Every smart business owner knows that visibility in the community is an essential part of a good marketing plan. One of the easiest ways to get that visibility is to use the media. Let print, radio, TV, and the Internet tell others who you are, what you do, and what you have to offer.

When the media's eye is on you, it's priceless. So much so, in fact, that the investment you make in retaining professional public relations services to get that attention is paid back many-fold. Not only is your message presented to countless consumers who read the paper, check out their favorite Internet blog, watch TV, or listen to radio, it can go well beyond that particular media moment. For example, copies of an article about you (permission granted by the publication and/or author, of course) can be inserted into your professional portfolio or posted on your Web site. Radio or TV interviews can be downloaded from your Web site for listening or viewing.

To get that visibility in the first place, you'll want to consider hiring a public relations .professional While no one can guarantee news coverage, an experienced professional already has a media system in place that includes important details such as how to create and distribute a newsworthy press release to the most appropriate media contacts and has time to do the necessary follow-up which often includes customizing news angles, if needed, so that they fit the current needs of particular media venues.

Fees for pr services depends upon the range of assistance you require. A campaign that includes national as well as regional and localized media exposure will cost more than a campaign gearend towards local media only.

If you think your PR budget doesn't allow for professional assistance, think again. There may be a way (perhaps several) you can reduce those fees. Here are a few ideas about how to generate the revenue so that you can enlist professional services:

1. If you offer fee-based events/workshops, consider securing underwriters to cover the cost of "free" seats or tickets for students or seniors. Honor the underwriters with name recognition, program mention, or even naming seats after them. a. Underwriters can offset your costs so that you have more funds available for PR purposes. In some instances, PR costs themselves can be underwritten. b. Underwriters are often other businesses that could benefit from being part of what you are doing. If you offer travel workshops, for example, maybe a local travel agency would be willing to become an underwriter. c. If the event is hosted by a non-profit, the underwriters can receive tax credit.

2. Consider collaborating with another organization when promoting a service, event, or product. a. This mutually beneficial arrangement can allow for shared staffing as well as shared publicity expenses. b. Your partner may be able to contribute to your PR budget in exchange for mention in any article or mailers connected to the event or product launch. c. These collaborations can also include in-kind assistance. For example, you could hold your retirement planning seminar in a mortgage company conference room that has been "donated" by the mortgage company. Their staff may even help set the room up. This reduces your overhead. d. Your collaborating group may even be willing to share mailing labels and/or email data base. 3. Use your company newsletter to offer advertising space at reasonable rates. a. Consider expanding your newsletter's distribution base because that offers greater visibility. It can be as simple as placing extra newsletters in coffee shops or other places your clientele is most likely to frequent. 4. Do you have an item or service you can raffle off to customers for a good cause? A portion of the raffle ticket fees can be directed toward your PR budget. The rest can go to whatever cause you have selected to support. a. Donate a percentage of the proceeds to a local kids' club, senior center, or animal shelter. Everyone loves to be part of a cause that is meaningful and close to home.

Hopefully, these suggestions have sparked some ideas of your own about how to pay for public relations services and how to reach out to your community to invite support. Some of the examples cited here may be more appropriate than others for your situation. That's fine. Not everyone is going to cover their PR budget by selling raffle tickets. But remember that inviting others to work with you for mutual benefit will always generate good will. That good will, placed in the hands of a competent PR professional whose fees have been offset by your collaborative efforts, can in turn become the subject of yet more media attention.

Keep It Simple and Effective with Promotional Nickels by Brian Cerra

When it comes to promotional products, sometimes simple is best. Flashing, light-up whirly-gigs can actually take away from your message. You don't want potential customers to get so caught up in the promo product itself that they totally overlook your logo.

That's why promotional nickels are an excellent choice, especially for trade shows. The focus is completely on your logo and company name. Promotional nickels are incredibly affordable. At a trade show, the last thing you want is to run out of promo products before the day is over. You've got to be prepared to give away hundreds of items. The classic Wooden Nickel can be purchased for just pennies. They're more than an inch in diameter, so you can be sure that your whole logo will fit neatly on the token.

The low cost of promotional nickels is important. You want to be generous when handing out your promotional products. If you paid an arm and a leg for the item, you'll be guarded in giving them away. Visitors to your booth will pick up on the perceived "stinginess," and it will be a big turn-off.

For something more colorful, a product like Plastic Round Nickel / Token is the right choice. These tokens come in 10 different colors, perfect for helping you establish brand identity. You can pick the shade that matches your company's signature color.

Ceramic tokens are also available. They cost a bit more than plastic and wooden nickels, but ceramic tokens are an investment because they're washable and reusable. When a customer cashes the token in, you can wash it and hand it out again. You might think a ceramic token would be too fragile to make it through multiple customers. Not true! A product like the Ceramic Unbreakable Four Color Process Chips is just that - unbreakable. It will stand up to whatever your customers can dish out.

Last but certainly not least, you can break from tradition and buy an Octagonal Plastic Token. Octagonal plastic tokens are even available in glow-in-the-dark colors. They make for a fun little novelty that everyone will enjoy. You might even find visitors to your both taking a couple of extra for their friends!

So, you've got the promotional nickels. Now what do you do with them? Promotional nickels function very well as coupons. There's more than one way to present coupons. For example, the customer can present the nickel for a free item, or they can present it for a discount on their purchase.

Promotional nickels are also a good way to keep your hands busy. Kinesthetic learners learn by touching and doing. These are the folks you see doodling while they're listening or reading. Your promotional nickel is perfect for twiddling in front of the computer screen. All their coworkers will see your logo. And who knows? It might just be one of those items that go through several owners in their lifetime.

Top 10 Real Estate Marketing Tools by Brandon Cornett

Real estate agents often ask me, what's the best marketing tool for real estate? In fact, if I had a dollar for each time I heard this question, I would be on vacation right now!

So what are the best marketing tools for real estate? Well, I'm always quick to say that you are your best real estate marketing tool. Yes, you ... the real estate agent reading this article. I've gone so far as to write an article about the most powerful real estate marketing tool, which is the agent behind the marketing.

So that automatically gets into the top-ten list of marketing tools for real estate. But what are the other nine? Here's my list.

1. A Real Estate Website
Each day in your market area, hundreds (possibly thousands) of home buyers and sellers turn to the Internet for real estate information. Having a real estate website is the first step to connecting with this ideal audience. Thus, the website is a core marketing tool for real estate in the modern age.

2. A Web "Presence"
What's the difference between a web presence and a website? Plenty. A website is a grain of sand on a long beach, with little hope of standing out in any significant way. But a web presence increases the chance people will find you online. A web presence includes such things as the real estate website, online press releases, real estate blogging and other online ventures. your chances of be. In an age where so many people use the Internet for real estate research, a strong web presence is a necessary marketing tool for real estate success.

3. A Real Estate Blog
In my opinion, real estate blogs can be one of the most effective marketing tools for real estate agents. Especially when they're used properly. When you publish quality content to a real estate blog on a regular basis, you are increasing your web presence (mentioned above). You're also positioning yourself as an authority in your area. These are just a few of the reasons a blog makes a good marketing tool for real estate success.

4. Real Estate Postcards
"Postcards," you say, "aren't those a little outdated?" Not at all. The postcard marketing strategies used by a lot of real estate agents are indeed outdated, but the medium itself can still bring great rewards. Real estate postcards have been a reliable marketing tool for real estate agents for decades. They can still be highly effective, especially when integrated with some of the other marketing channels on this page.

5. Home-Buying Seminars
I frequently recommend home-buying seminars as a marketing tool for real estate agents. No other real estate marketing technique can produce a room full of potential clients, eager to hear what you have to say. Sure, there are plenty of logistics involved, but the rewards usually outweigh the effort. Home buying seminars are most effective as a real estate marketing tool when conducted in collaboration (i.e., a real estate agent teaming up with a home inspector, mortgage professional, etc.

6. Client Referrals
It's no secret that client referrals lead to a lot of business in the real estate industry. So in this regard, referrals are a powerful marketing tool for real estate agents. But some agents forget that the process leading up to a good referral begins on Day 1 of the working relationship. Take good care of your clients from first contact to closing day, and you'll tap into one of the most powerful marketing tools for real estate -- the client referral.

7. A Big Idea
This is a real estate marketing tool you can't buy in stores, which is partly why it's so effective. Big ideas are everywhere, but it's almost impossible for me to list them for you. Once a big idea has been used in a certain market area, it can never be repeated with equal success. When you can come up with something that gets people in you're area "buzzing" and spreading the word, you've tapped into another powerful marketing tool for real estate success. You've harnessed a big idea!

8. A Modern Outlook
The Internet has forever changed real estate research, as well as the real estate transactions themselves. So it's important for real estate agents to adopt a modern way of thinking about their business. Start with what consumers are doing today, how they're using the Internet, etc. Work backwards from there? How can you use that to your advantage? Keep a modern outlook toward real estate, and you'll acquire yet another marketing tool for real estate success.

9. The Website Listed Below
Currently, there's only one place online where agents can go to learn about direct mail marketing, online marketing, blogs and other topics on the subject. That website is listed below, and it offers dozens of free articles on the topics mentioned above.

10. Behold, the Real Estate Professional
As we discussed at the beginning of this article, you are your most powerful marketing tool for real estate success. None of the other items on this list can be effective without your energy, focus, compassion, intelligence and enthusiasm. So the next time a software or web marketing company says, "We have the most effective marketing tool for real estate business" ... you can say, "No you don't. I do!"

Updating Your PPC Campaigns with Seasonal Terms by Halstatt Pires

PPC is a fairly simple system to set up. Once you start to make a profit off of it, it can be easy to get lazy and just leave the ads alone each month. This is a mistake as there are plenty of opportunities to make money on seasonal terms.

Seasons, there not just for vacations anymore! Seasons represent nice little pockets of profits you can incorporate into your PPC campaigns. Keyword phrases that might produce nothing for eleven months out of the year suddenly become revenue producers.

When talking about season keywords, there are obvious opportunities that come up. The biggest is, of course, Christmas. While there is a ton of interest in Christmas oriented keyword phrases, profits can be iffy as people tend to crank up the bids. The same goes for any universal seasonal issue such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and so on.

To make out like a bandit, it is better to focus on season terms that are particular to your niche. This helps your profitability because it eliminates a large cross section of sites not in your niche that might nonetheless compete with you to achieve rankings. For instance, any site selling a product is going to go after Christmas keyword phrases and you are going to have to compete against them.

So, how do we find seasonal, niche terms? Obviously, the exact terms are dependent upon your niche. To get a feel for the process, let's look at an example.

Let's assume you have a site dealing with taxes in one way or another. Obviously, your high season is the first quarter of each year before tax returns must be filed. The problem, of course, is this is no secret, which means you have a lot of competition. Many tax sites, however, go into hibernation after April and don't crank back up till January of the next year. What a mistake.

As you probably know, many people and businesses file extensions on their taxes. This essentially means there is a second tax season starting in August and running through October. During this period, these potential customers need help with their taxes. While your competitors snooze the days away on the beach, you can make a killing by tweaking your PPC campaigns to take advantage of this opportunity.

PPC campaigns often carry a large laziness factor. Don't fall for it. Make sure you get a feel for all the potential seasonal situations you can take advantage of. It is a great way to get an edge on your competitors.

Why PPC Should Always Be Your First Marketing Strategy by Halstatt Pires

Pay per click marketing, or "PPC" as it is known, tends to be a love it or hate it proposition. Some businesses love it while others avoid it like the plague. Regardless of where you fall in the debate, you should always use PPC at the outset of your marketing efforts.

Most people think of online marketing as the effort to generate visitors to a site. In fact, many will focus on this solely to the detriment of anything else. This includes their bottom line! Let's be absolutely clear. The purpose of your online marketing efforts is not to drive visitors to your site. It is to make profits. The fact a million people are visiting your site is useless if you are not making any money!

PPC is a vital first step when it comes to marketing a site for one primary reason - it gives you the ability to capture specific traffic immediate that can be used to test the convertibility of your site. In plain terms, this means you can test your site to see how it converts visitors into sales. This is, of course, critical information. You want to test and test until you have hit upon the perfect sales pitch that produces the best possible conversion rate.

To use PPC to test your site, you first need to restrain yourself. Don't start placing numerous ads sending traffic to different pages of your site. Take it slowly. Focus on one page, and send traffic just to it. Give each test a two-day period. Note the conversion rates you produce and tweak the site every two days to ascertain if the conversion rate gets better or worse. Once you have a good idea of what works, try incorporating similar themes into the rest of your site. Now test those pages in mass to see how sales go. If you get similar results to your initial test, you are in like gold and ready to go.

At this point, you can turn off the PPC to focus on other marketing platforms or continue with the PPC if it is profitable. Regardless, make sure you use PPC to test the conversion rate of your site before you get carried away with your marketing.

Choosing The Best Type Of Affiliate Program by Mario Churchill

Finding an Affiliate Program can be a difficult task for both merchants and aspiring publishers alike. With the explosion of internet marketing in the current decade, selecting the right system that works for you is a crucial first step towards establishing a career in internet marketing. To help narrow down the selection process, here are some descriptions of the best types of affiliate programs today.

Commission Per Click and Commission Per Ad affiliates - these are the two most common types of affiliate programs, though their use has diminished over the years due to several different issues. In the first type of marketing, revenues were paid to affiliate web sites whenever people visited their site and clicked on a link that redirected them to the client merchant's web site. In the second type, the pay was based on having ad space on the affiliate's page, and revenue was paid on a weekly or monthly basis just like renting a billboard's ad space.

Commision Per Sale basis - this type of affiliate program required that people who were redirected to the merchant from the affiliate web site actually purchase an item from the merchant before a commission was paid. In general, the commission was often larger than the per-click or per-ad type of program. Some affiliate programs use a mix and match approach that actually incorporates the three systems together, changing percentages of commissions earned in all three categories to take into account the fact that revenue was generated in 3 separate ays.

Full Etailing - in this type of affiliate program, the affiliate web site actually goes an extra step and becomes an actual Etailer (which is just jargon for Electronic Retailer) for the merchant's product. In this case, payments were often on a purely per sale commission basis, with minimal attention to redirecting people to the merchant's web site. The commissions per sale as a result of this were proportionately larger. This is one form of affiliate marketing that, in some circles, is actually treated as it's own type of emarketing separate from affiliate programs.

Review Sites - these affiliates often take the form of forums and electronic magazines that do reviews for the merchant. Naturally, the reviews are designed to speak favorably of the merchant and it's products, and the usual pay method for these affiliates is on a per click redirected and per article basis. Some merchants even take this a step further down the micro scale and offer similar commissions to interested individuals who run their own blog sites.

Loyalty and Rebate Sites - these sites are made to offer loyalty programs and coupons to people who take advantage of the merchant's products. The affiliate essentially takes the marketing approach of offering visitors to the site additional incentives to purchase the merchant's stuff. The usual payment system here involves revenue for every batch of incentive items that visitors get, as well further revenue when customers actually use those items like rebate coupons to purchase items from the merchant.

Two Way Affiliate Marketing - this system has been gaining in popularity among linked web sites who offer their own products. It involves two or more merchants who choose to act as their own affiliate partners. The revenue generating details are different for each such partnership, but by and large the advantage of this is the fact that the affiliates all have their own products as opposed to being simply an extended marketing arm. This makes such groups far more versatile, especially if their products complement each other without being in direct competition.

Multi Level Affiliate Marketing - this is an affiliate marketing program built exactly like a multi level marketing platform. In this case, the biggest difference is that each "slot" in the multi level marketing heirarchy is filled by an affiliate web site. Naturally, each individual web site will offer links to it's direct up line and direct down lines. The commission is similar to the referral fee involved in multi level marketing, and it has the same advantage for a merchant in that it creates a self-supporting and constantly growing marketing arm requiring minimal actual input and intervention from the merchant. Like etailing, however, die hard affiliate marketers sometimes treat this as a separate form of markating called EMLM, or electronic multi level marketing.

How Not To Be Cheated By Internet Marketers Who Do Not Deliver What They Promised! by Bruce Seah

It is very important to do your due diligence on the internet marketer's promises and check with those who have bought the products before or have enrolled in the program and find out did he deliver what he promised?

There are internet marketers who apply the hit and run strategy with the belief that there is a sucker born every minute! They will promise you the moon and leave you in the mud! They will sell you products after products until you unsubscribe from their list!

They are not out to help you but to sell you their hype, false promises and the illusion of making tons of money with little effort! That is how they make their money so the big question is to ask how many people they have really helped to make a decent part-time income on the Internet?

Get real! You must understand that many top internet marketers took years to build their email list and credibility and it takes years to build relationship and to be able to attract people who will want to sell your products for you or to joint venture with you. I know there are internet marketers who stood so low as to promise to make you an expert in days or to help you make $20,000 in six months or $50,000 in a year but did not really deliver or really put in the effort to help those who bought their programs because of that promise!

You may have been hurt by these internet marketers but do not be disheartened, good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement! You are not the only one, millions of people worldwide have been victims of get-rich-quick schemes because of the greed factor of making lots of money with little effort. And these internet marketers are cashing in on this hot "greed button" and they have found that it works time after time but they are ignorant of the law of cause and effect - what you sow you shall reap! If you make money the wrong way, it will not last and will be taken away from you one way or another - you can run but you cannot hide!

If you want your business to grow, expand and prosper you must always have integrity, great value, great quality, great service and great relationship. You are cheating yourself and others if you do not have the integrity to deliver what you promised!

Always check the track record of the person you want to do business with or before making the decision to buy what is offered. If you buy based on impulse and greed, you are partly to be blamed for falling into their tricks! Always ask for the money-back guarantee and if there is a guarantee, look at the promises and support and always check with those who have bought the products before. If 8 out of 10 say it is bad, then you should stay away from it! Good news travel fast, bad news travel faster!

Abraham Lincoln said it so well: You can fool all the people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time! Words get around, there are no secrets, so it is your responsibility to do a bit of market research before being carried away by impulse and greed! And always be realistic, is it that easy to make tons of cash and stuff your inbox with cash? Do your market research and check to see how many newbies have done it? Because the marketers always promise that if you are a newbie and know nothing about making money online, you can make tons of money with their proven and tested system! Then the big question is how many newbies are really making it?

It is okay to make mistakes but don't make the same mistake: "Wise men do not drink from poison well twice!" Learn from your mistake and move on, do not be too hard on yourself, you are only human and greed is one of the things that people find it very hard to resist! Always check with a friend you respect and who knows about the thing you are considering to buy and ask for their advice before you buy it, you will be surprised the amount of money and time you will save!

A Valuable Mortgage Lesson Learned From Tiger Woods by Tom Domin

Unless you've been living in a cave or under a rock the last few years, you've seen first hand how Tiger Woods has become one of the most dominate forces in men's golf.

We watched as he won the CA Championship at Doral Golf Club a few weeks ago by two strokes. Woods won this event for the sixth time, more than any other tournament. Tiger is believed to be the first player to win a tournament six times on six courses - in Spain, Ireland, Atlanta, San Francisco, London and Miami, the latter on a Blue Monster course where he has won the last three years.

There is no doubt we are witnessing the performance of a truly great athlete. His dedication and preparation is truly amazing. He finished at 10 under par at 278 and earned $1.35 million for his second victory of the year, and 56th of his career.

You're probably asking...Where's that mortgage lesson you talked about? OK...Here we go!

On every hole that Tiger plays (whether it is practice or sanctioned play) a gentleman follows Tiger closely...charting each stroke and documenting the results. He maintains a low profile and you would find it difficult to pick him out from the gallery that follows Tiger on every hole. He documents each hole, of each round, at each location that Tiger plays.

Just so you know, the gentleman's name is Hank Haney and he is the "Swing Coach" of Tiger Woods. Tiger pays Hank one million dollars a year plus expenses to perform this function. Hank Haney charts each stroke from tee to green, analyzes each stroke, and then recommends the appropriate practice to correct the problems that he may have noted.

Hank Haney doesn't organize Tiger's travel plans or make hotel reservations, and he doesn't chart the golf course (that's the job of Steve Williams, Tiger's caddie of six years). As a side note, Tiger pays Steve some 10% of all purse monies. Hank Haney gets paid to do just one thing...to be Tiger's "Swing Coach."

Today, most of the top pros on the tour employ a "Coach." We picked Tiger to underscore our point here: Why would a man so naturally talented and currently so dominating in his profession, be willing to invest such a huge amount of money into his game?

The answer is simple! He's investing in his business...his livelihood...and, his future. He knows that to stay ahead of his competition he needs to invest, or better yet...re-invest in his business at every opportunity. With tour earnings of $9.9 million in 2006...Tiger spent more than 20% of that amount to improve his business.

I am always amazed by the number of Loan Officers/Mortgage Brokers who don't spend more than fifty dollars a year on their own professional growth. We're in a profession that's changing daily and by leaps and bounds, and most mortgage folks refuse to invest in their business.

There's no doubt, you began a strong mortgage career, and you really got into it - but then you fell asleep at the switch and forgot to do those basic things like read industry publications or new books by sales masters. You don't go to sales seminars. You don't listen to audios or view videos on sales-related topics. You don't have any paid subscriptions to newsletters that could improve your mortgage knowledge or capability. In short, you don't constantly re-invigorate and improve your business or yourself.

If you want to survive and prosper in the Mortgage Business today...you need to be a "Tiger" and invest in your profession and your future.

The Shocking Truth About FFA Sites! by Ba Kiwanuka

FFA stands for "Free For All" and that is precisely what FFA sites are; online advertising platforms for all and sundry who wish to post a free ad. Let me add here that Classified Ad sites are basically the same thing as FFA sites save for the fact that on a classified ad site you can actually incorporate a bit more text in your ad.

But here's the sad truth about posting to an FFA site: NOBODY IS GOING TO SEE THAT AD!

Have you ever seen one of those FFA sites? They are peppered with thousands of ads all struggling to be seen! There are literally all kinds of ads, of all shapes, sizes and colors; ads that wink at you and ads that glitter so bright they'd make a supernova blush with shame!

The bottom line is that posting to an FFA site is an exercise in futility. Out of all those countless ads residing on that site what are the chances that yours is going to be singled out and reviewed? And as if that wasn't bad enough, did you know that when you post an ad to a classified ad site or an FFA site, your ad is only going to be displayed for one hour before it is displaced by the next batch of ads in that particular category!

Let me repeat that in case it didn't properly sink in. Ads posted to an FFA site are generally only on display for an hour or less! Talk about a waste of time and effort!

Which only begs the question, if nobody is going to see those ads where the heck do they all come from and who are all those people so intent on wasting their time by posting such ads?

Evidently the people who post ads to FFA sites have no idea that they are wasting their time. Thus following a path of logical deduction one can only surmise that the folks who fall in this category include newbie internet marketers and other clueless individuals who are desperate for traffic but have no idea how to get it (I should know...BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!)

As I said earlier, added to the fact that any ad posted to an FFA site is going to be one amidst thousands (talk about the proverbial drop in the ocean), compounding this already futile situation, is the fact that a single ad only gets displayed for about an hour before being displaced.

However for a fee it is possible to get premium placement of your ad. In other words your ad will be given the VIP treatment which either means it rotates with a few other premium ads at the top of the list and is constantly displayed unlike most of the other ads that are rotated off display after an hour or so.

Still as one talking from experience let me just say that even with premium placement of your ads (i.e., having paid a fee) the traffic generated from that premium ad is negligible to none!

THE MONEY IS IN HOSTING NOT POSTING

Okay, this entire scheme seems somewhat illogical. I mean NOBODY IS GETTING ANY WORTHWHILE TRAFFIC and on top of that 90% of those ads are posted for free. So what does the owner of the site get out of hosting such a website? I mean HELLO! Most of the people posting aren't paying a dime!

LEAD CAPTURE SYSTEM GALORE

The only reason why anybody creates an FFA site is to capture leads, period! Lead capturing is the sole purpose of Free For All sites which explains why the webmasters are more than willing to let you or anyone else for that matter post their ads for free!

So how exactly does the webmaster go about the business of capturing those leads? The system is quite ingenious really and basically operates according to the following guidelines:

In order for someone to post to an FFA site they have to agree to receive a confirmatory email. The confirmatory email is very important for a couple of reasons: 1) it proves that the email supplied is real and valid and not some bogus made-up one; 2) it acts as a safety net for the owner of the website in the sense that it proves that the email was so requested by the recipient and thus absolves the FFA site webmaster of any future accusations of spam.

More often than not the FFA site owner also incorporates an advert within that confirmatory email. But this isn't where the magic ends because, other than any ad integrated within the initial confirmatory email, another mandatory requirement that people wishing to post to FFA sites must adhere to, is to allow the site owner to send them an advertisement.

Finally, but certainly not least of all is the last requirement; which is that anyone intent on posting a free ad must reconfirm their wish to post by entering a special confirmatory code in a special link encased within the original confirmation email. In essence what has just happened is that the site owner has just collected a Double Opt-In Lead!

In case you don't know what kind of big deal Double Opt-In Leads are, suffice it to say that marketers are willing to pay a medium-sized fortune to get hold of them. However using this bogus traffic-generating system the FFA site owner gets to collect those Double Opt-In Leads for free!

BOTTOM LINE: If you are spending a lot of time posting to these sites in hopes of increasing your internet traffic, it is time to re-evaluate your marketing strategy, because all you are doing is pursuing an exercise in futility!

Online Home Business Tips

Start An Online Business With Affiliate Marketing by Maria Bumbarova

The process of building a successful online business with Affiliate Marketing is a dynamic and labor-consuming. Every day you must answer new questions and every day you must learn.

The process of building a Successful Online Business Passes Through 7 Fundamental Phases.These phases put many questions you have to give the right answers and undertake action.

What are these phases?

1.Phase: Analyze Yourself.
2.Phase: Market Research.
3.Phase: Build a Web Site /even Free/.
4.Phase: Submit Web Site to Search Engines.
5.Phase: Organize Email Marketing Campaign.
6.Phase:Organize an Online Advertising Campaign.
7.Phase: Improve traffic with Marketing Innovation.


I just wanted to take a moment and came to this web site below looking for information on how to make money with affiliate programs. This is the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earns $436,797 + per year online ... selling other people's stuff!

You can too. Affiliate Marketing Your Win - Win Situation!

Affiliate Marketing is a great way to get started an online business without necessarily having your own product or servise.The affiliate earns a commission selling online products or services of Affiliate program's owner. If you start like affiliate, you do not even need to build a website. You get a special URL (affiliate link) that is unique to you. Your must to drive traffic (visitors) to your affiliate link. These visitors are your potential customers. This is the Most Powerful Way to gеnerate profit from affiliate marketing, Аffiliate marketing is absolutely a win-win situation for both affiliate program's owner and you.

The Small Business and Search Engine Optimization by Johnnie Martin

Search Engine Optimization, the Black Art, mysticism and the rest, nobody I know does anything about SEO Optimization it is all to complicated, other than a few Keywords and a short description on a page it is all hocus pocus and abracadra. Is it all 'Smoke and Mirrors'?

The Search Engines do not tell you what they are looking for and SEO companies love this ayre of mystery, SEO experts can charge what they like, but if you are a small business just starting out on the internet, can you afford to blindly give away money you could use elsewhere, when you start a small business do you need this cost eating into your profit even before you start, so most small businesses solve this problem by adding a few keywords and a description and that is that, job done.

What you have to understand is that the Search Engines give you Hits, hits give you Sales, sales give you Profit. The higher you are Ranked by the Search Engines the more Profit you make because your site is getting more Hits for the same outlay.

What you have to understand is that Hits from the Search Engines can last for months, you may fluctuate from page to page but once you are on page 1 it takes time to knock you down to page 2, time where you are getting lots and lots of Hits, Search Engine Ranking is a very fluid thing and does fluctuate but it takes time, it takes time to get to page 1 and it will take time to get demoted from page 1

The funny thing about Search Engines is that even though they operate at the speed of light, everything takes time, its the hurry up and wait scenario, it takes time to get registered, it takes time to get listed, it takes time to get to number one, time, time, time, I think this is the reason why a lot of small business tend to ignore Search Engine Optimization.

If you start a small business you should really look at Search Engine Optimization and Web Site Development even before you begin writing the web site, do not just blindly leave it to some web design company, make sure you are in the loop and check what they have done in the design to include these hits from the Search Engines.

One thing a lot of business people do not understand is that a Search Engine gives you FREE advertising, your web URL is blasted all across the web in the engines list, seen by millions on a daily basis, every body uses the Search Engines and you may find it surprising how many sales you will get from them. This is viral marketing at its best, its free, it propagates through search engines, it slowly climbs lists, it sends you hits, its out of control, and its set and forget, well maybe not set and forget more a sort of autopilot.

Businesses spend a lot of time and effort in web site development, making it look nice for buyers to look at only to never have anyone come visit, a small business that fails in the first year will actually fail in the first week of conception because nobody took time to understand Search Engine Optimization, it takes more than a few keywords and a description to succeed with the Search Engines and to succeed with the Search Engines should be paramount in any on-line business.

Your Mortgage Success And Giving by Tom Domin

Your Mortgage Success And Giving If you've been successful originating mortgages, I'm sure you realize that one of the reasons for your success is that in many areas you are very "giving." One of the keys to success in the mortgage business is that you are very "giving" to all your clients and your prospects.

Let's take a close look at this "giving" process...

To begin with, let's cover the intangibles. You know the mortgage advice that you give to your mortgage clients and prospects. Yes, this advice is good and can be trusted. But it's also your truthfulness...your professional courtesy...your constant communication so they're never confused, upset, or in the dark.

You're successful because you make each and every person you deal with feel special. You're successful because your purpose is seeing their lives improved and this will happen as you guide them through the loan process. If you ever get to the point where you can't feel, act and transact your business this way...it's time to change professions.

If you can't truly love the people you're doing it for, you'll never ever achieve success and the prosperity your mortgage career could deliver to you. You also need to"give" the tangible things that your clients and prospects need.

These include: A constant updated status of their loan in writing, educational and informational material that shows you care and are interested in their well being. And of course, material that distinguishes you from everyone else out there touting mortgages.

Your clients and prospects need an enjoyable physical experience before, during, and after the loan transaction is complete. They also need this experience even if the transaction fails, through no fault of theirs or yours.

Just so you know, most mortgage brokers and loan officers don't realize the importance of keeping in contact with their prospects and customers. They don't understand the need of sequencing worthwhile information and material prior to, during, and after the transaction.

By effectively using this advice...not only can you be good...you can be actually be great. Keep your contacts informed by using sequential marketing.

Whether you call it your mailing list, database, or circle of influence...I hope you have one. And even more importantly, I hope you keep in contact with the folks on your list using sequential marketing. As you already know...one out of five people on your list will be involved in a mortgage decision this year.

Sequential marketing is the simple process of supplying periodic, timely, and worthwhile information to your contacts. As you know, unless you maintain contact with your list, you'll not get the business you deserve.

We covered this before, but its well worth repeating. You need to use some or all of the following techniques:

1. Call your list, 2. Mail something to them every month, 3. Send out postcards and note cards to your database, 4. Send e-mails to your list, 5. Do a "drop by" visit every now and then, 6. Schedule one lunch meeting per week, 7. Send timely and pertinent real estate/mortgage news.

By giving of yourself you are telling them the truth as you see it. It means not allowing them to do any transaction that's absolutely not in their best interest. It means committing yourself to be their most trusted advisor and friend. It means marketing better and marketing smarter.

It means understanding them, guiding them, and advising them better than anyone else out there. It means making a total commitment...not just something you'll do between 11 and 4 and only a couple of days per week.

It means making "giving," a way of life!

Tom Domin is the author of "101 Ways to Originate Mortgages" and publisher of "Tom's Mortgage Tips" a twice monthly Mortgage Newsletter geared for Mortgage Professionals. Put your mortgage career on the fast track and sign-up for FREE at http://www.MortgageMarketingToolKit.com/

Money From Article Marketing by Waldemar Puszkarz, Ph.D.

I have already bragged here and there how good I am at generating traffic to my site (genius, of course) and how good I am at writing articles (off the scale totally, unquestionably and completely), so now it is only natural to start bragging about how good I am at generating traffic from my articles. And how could I possibly pass this opportunity up, right?

Seriously, though, article marketing is one of the best ways to generate traffic to your site. It is so good that every webmaster worth his salt must consider it.

To illustrate the impact article marketing can have on the traffic to your site, I would like to draw your attention to some very telling picture (see below for the references to it). In order to better understand what I mean, you should know that I started article marketing in mid February 2007. As you can see from the picture in question, the effect of this is not very obvious in February yet, if only because it is the shortest month of the year, but it becomes rather noticeable in March (a slightly over 30% increase) and is quite profound in April. In May, the trend clearly continues.

I should mention here that I have not added any new traffic generating technique to my arsenal since February, so this huge increase in traffic that you can see in the picture is largely due to article marketing.

I submit my articles to only three directories: EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com, and SearchWarp.com. The response to my articles from the first directory is very good, as I mentioned it in another article posted here and on my site, the visitors to GoArticles.com take a note of them too, but those accidental tourists that hang out on SearchWarp.com practically snub me completely. Peasants!

However, that's only a part of the story. The articles posted on EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com, and even those on SearchWarp.com are often picked up by other directories, some of which are more specialized, say in SEO or investing, and so my readership can increase this way quite dramatically. Since these articles come with links back to my site, it's hardly surprising that the traffic to my site keeps on growing.

So what do you do with all this traffic except, obviously, bragging about it? Well, I could answer this question, but I would need to show you yet another, even more spectacular, a picture of what is possible with really good traffic, so I am afraid, that I will need to refer you to another copy of this article posted on my site where you can see both pictures. Yes, "they are real and they are spectacular," if I may borrow this phrase from "Seinfeld."

You can see both of these pictures at http://www.eminimethods.com/traffic_articles.html and more articles like that in the same (Eclectic) section of my site.

Increase Your Traffic Using MyBlogLog by Nicola Deiana

Most blogs that be linked to MyBlogLog have decent rankings so this brings up their ranking. MyBlogLog is similar to others community like Myspace that are visited by thousands of people every day.

One of the great benefits of MyBlogLog, is that you can see important information on which MyBlogLog members have visited your blog. MyBlogLog also enables to install your own community and make to known your blog at more users.

That's all well and good, but there are some bits that especially increase your traffic. If you want to build a blog that is a success, here how to increase traffic to your blog using MyBlogLog.

1) Find a community with an high number of members that relates to your area of interest. Down the right of the page there is a "community message"

2) Click the "Leave a Message" and let a comment to know on how you find the services or how you find the owners blog useful.

Conclusion

For those that try to make a living from their writing this is an good advice. MyBlogLog are visited by thousands of people every day and drives new users deeper into your blog.

Professional Headers Graphics Are Just One Essential Element of Website Conversion by Kelly Blackwell

A header graphic is the picture you see across the top of a website. If you've been around the internet for a while, you're bound to have noticed them... What you may not be aware of is how important they are for website conversion.

When you are trying to transform visitors to your website into customers you are often going into battle with their innate skepticism. Essentially, internet surfers are quite often expecting to be ripped off, and it's your job to convince them that you're the real deal and offering them value for their money.

It's funny, if someone sees a snippet of information on the internet they are most likely to accept it without question, but as soon as you ask them to pay for something on the internet, they get suspicious.

Your header graphic is the first thing visitors to your sales page are going to see, and as we all know, first impressions count! All visitors to your sales page are potential customers, and you'll want them to have a positive image of the professionalism of you and your product.

It makes sense that if customers think your header graphic is professional then it will reflect well on you and your product. People are more likely to purchase from a site that they feel is professional, this is the beginning of your path to building confidence in your visitors.

When designing your header there is a fundamental rule of 2D designing that you should keep in mind. People read left to right and top to bottom (unless your sales page is in Arabic or Chinese that is!). This means that we naturally look at the top left hand side of something with words on it, and our eye follows a diagonal path down to the bottom right hand side. Yes, we may zigzag right and left as we read on the way down, but this diagonal line is the most important part of your header.

For maximum impact, the most important information should be placed along this diagonal line. Save the top right and bottom left for images or your url, which I'll talk about in a second...

Here are 2 components your header graphic should have...

Firstly you should ensure that your header graphic has your name on it. This adds to you as a recognizable brand name and can lead to some unexpected results. For example, you can end up cross-selling products between different websites simply because a visitor recognizes your name from another site they bought something off or a product they were happy with...

I've found that the easiest way to include my name on my header graphic is by writing 'Kelly Blackwell's ... (name of my product).' This way I can get my name on the graphic naturally because it is my product, I am the one who created it, so it is mine.

I usually put my name in a different font to the product's name and make it smaller than the name of the product. I don't want my name to take away from the name of the product, but I do want it to be noticeable, even if only subliminally.

Secondly, you should have your url written on the header. The url reminds visitors of where they are and how they can find the same site again. It doesn't need to be big or prominent. The top right hand side of the header is a good place for the url.

The url will not be a link that your visitors can click as it's part of the image at the top. Your url should start with 'www.' rather than 'http://' because this is how people say it when they're communicating to other people.

Finally, as for what you can put in the bottom left hand corner of your header graphic, which is the place people are least likely to see... how about your body? Try putting a photo of yourself on your header graphic, you'll be surprised at the level of trust this builds in your product.

The Right People - 7 Sure-fire Ways To Connect With The Right People by Rochelle Togo-Figa

Early on in my business, I was networking with everyone with no special focus. When I first started my business more than 6 years ago, I was a "Jill of all trades." My business was new and I was open to coaching anyone who asked. I was doing this because I was eager to help people, grow my business, and hone my coaching skills.

As time went by, I realized I was spreading myself too thin and instead of my business growing, it was starting to decline. I knew if I was going to grow my business, I had to get out there and connect with the right people. It wasn't going to happen by sitting in front of my computer in my sweats thinking about it.

If I intended to network with the right people, I needed a clear and specific plan to follow. In the past, I would push myself to go to an event without much preparation. I was flying by the seat of my pants, hoping for the best. It was no surprise I dreaded networking and didn't accomplish very much.

So, I asked myself "What could I be doing differently?" To begin with, I needed to know:

* Who do I want to meet? * Where do they gather? * What do I want to accomplish from networking? * Where are the best places to network? * What do I say to grab their attention? * What happens after I leave the event?

From answering these questions, I created a 7-step networking plan that works every time.

With this plan, you now know what to do before, during, and after attending a networking event. You'll be prepared and confident that you'll walk away having connected with the right people. And, when you connect with the right people who need your product, an abundance of business will start coming your way. Here are the 7 steps to follow:

1. Your Networking Pie There are many different places to network. Open up your local business journal and see all the places there are to network. Draw a circle and divide the circle into pieces of a pie. For each slice, write a place where you can network. Some examples are weekly networking groups, business associations, the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, special interest groups.

2. Be a Detective Contact the person in charge of the event and find out who's attending. Then go on the Internet and research them. Maybe they're launching a new product or have achieved a great sales year. With the information you find, you now have something to say that will grab their attention.

3. Set Your Intention Put your attention on your intention. Create specific goals of what you intend to accomplish. Schedule in your planner the number of networking events you will attend monthly and how many people you will meet. And, no matter what, do what you say you're going to do.

4. Grab Their Attention Immediately First impressions happen in the first 30 seconds. Create a compelling 30-second statement that will have the person sitting up and listening. It should clearly state a benefit for the person you are meeting. Write it out and practice with several different introductions until you feel comfortable.

5. Ask Them for Help After I ask them questions about their business. If I determine they're not the decision maker, I ask the person a couple of questions. "Who's in charge of sales," followed by, "I'm wondering if you can help me?" It removes any pressure when you ask for their help and people do want to help. I recently attended a networking event and asked these questions. I was given the name of the president, called him and we have an appointment to meet. That was easy and simple to do!

6. Build Relationships People do business with people they know, like and trust, and that takes time. Take the time to ask them questions about their business. Show you're genuinely interested in them. The most rewarding business relationships evolve over time so be willing to keep in touch. Find various ways to keep in touch other than the phone.

7. Follow Up Any substantial business I've received from networking didn't happen overnight. It happened because I was persistent and didn't give up. Make contact with the person you've met within 24 hours of meeting them. Expect that it will take at least 6 encounters or more to move the prospect to the next step. Send a personal follow-up note, a thank you, a congratulations note, or a relevant article of information.

ASSIGNMENT:

* Select at least 2 networking events you will attend this month and write the dates in your planner. Most networking groups allow you come as a visitor a couple of times.

* Make a decision to join at least (1) networking group that meets weekly. I recommend a weekly networking group because they'll get to know you faster on a weekly basis, and start giving you business more quickly.

* Write down clear and measurable goals of what you intend to accomplish at your next networking event.

* Create your compelling 30-second statement. It should include who you are, what you do, and what makes you unique. Write it out and practice saying it until you can say it with confidence and enthusiasm.

By following these 7 steps, you're on your way to connecting with people who are serious buyers. Now that you've gotten their interest, you may want to learn the next steps to closing the sale.

Add: When You Need To Get It All Together by Tellman H. Knudson

Getting some things done is a constant struggle for women with ADD. And it can be depressing, too. Why can some people just seem to do everything so easily, and why is it such a major big-deal for you? Of course, it's because you have ADD and you have to allow that.

You needn't feel bad about things that really aren't within your control. But don't just walk away and blame your ADD. With just a few tricks, you, too, can have the dinner party of the century.

Let's break it down into chunks that your ADD can manage.

The cooking can be frightening in itself if you're someone who often forgets that things are cooking. Set timers! This is extremely important. Modern appliances usually have them built in, but if your appliances don't, go out and buy a few timers and set them for each course that you're cooking. Start with the course that takes the longest to cook, and go from there. So, if you're cooking something like a turkey that needs three or four hours, that's the first timer you should set.

Then, use one for what's on the stove, and one for what's in the microwave--however many you need. And be sure that they don't stop beeping so that your ADD brain can't ignore them and forget. Be sure that they're loud enough so that you can hear, in case you're in the next room, too.

But cooking is only one part of a dinner party, right? You need to clean your house so that your guests will be comfortable. OK. Sit down and make a list of the things you need to do: putting things away, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen and the bathrooms, sweeping the front porch, or whatever you have to do to make sure your house is clean. Then, decide how many days you have before the party and approximately how long each task will take. All you have to do then is to divide up the time you have by the number of tasks you need to do. So, let's say you're having a dinner party in one week and you allow yourself one hour each day. The first day, you may be putting things away that your ADD left behind. It takes two hours, so you need two days for that. The third day, you tackle the dusting, which takes only an hour. The next day, you clean up the kitchen, and so on. If you choose budget your time, rather than trying to do all the cleaning at once, you'll find that it's not so unappetizing and you'll be more likely to do it.

Buying food in bigger quantities than you're used to could be a problem for someone with ADD, too. The easiest way to remedy that is by sitting down with a pad, a pencil, and your cookbook. Decide what you have and what you need, and make a list of the things you need. Be sure you write the list on brightly colored paper that you can't miss when you're going out the door, or put the list with something you can't leave the house without, like your driver's license or your shoes. Take the pencil along to the supermarket, too, and as you find the things you need, you can cross off each item. That way, you won't get home and realize that you have to turn around and go right back because you forgot something. Or, even worse, feel bad because you don't have something important when your guests arrive.

These are basic steps that anyone with ADD can follow, whether they're male or female, but it's usually things like dinner parties that ADD women with families have trouble getting together. The whole key is to come up with ADD-friendly solutions that work well for you. When you can do that, your life just runs much smoother.

Video Sales Letters Outperform Traditional Long Sales Letters by David C Skul | Internet Entrepreneur | Internet Marketer

Can any sales webpage convert more often if it's a shorter version of an offer with a longer video message that takes the place of a sales letter itself?

I considered this question while doing some research into sales letters recently. I am a traditional Internet marketer and understand how well long sales letters convert traffic into customers. When I decided to look into the auction of providing a video in place of a long sales letter I knew it was going to take some convincing and some hard evidence to sway me away from the long sales letter formats.

In other words, I wanted to see if the video component will follow the same proven AIDA or attention interests desire action type of sales letter flow and if it would in fact prompt the prospect to take action and order the product upon closing the video.

I tested this new hybrid sales letter format on a site where I successfully sold athletic products using a scrolling sales letter format. Guess what? It worked and it worked big! It works so well that I actually quadrupled my sales conversion rate. I was as shocked as I could be when I saw that sales increased 400% with this new hybrid sales letter format.

Being a skeptical Internet marketer, and never trusting first impressions, I wanted to make sure that the results I had were not a fluke slide continued testing my new hybrid sales letter format with different markets and on different websites. To my delight, it works every time. It did not increase the sales conversion rates 400% every time but it increased my conversion rate a minimum of 75% every single time I implemented this new hybrid sales letter format. This new hybrid sales letter format increased sales for every test I implemented except for one side selling one product.

What this means to all Internet marketers and people selling products or services on the Web is that the new Web 2.0 marketing applications are becoming more mainstream and promised to convert traffic into customers with much higher rates of return. It also means that if you're not using this hybrid sales letter format you are absolutely losing sales using only a long sales letter type site.

The results for me were phenomenal and I look forward to having other Internet marketers and advertisers talk about how successful they were using this new hybrid sales letter model.

The basic structure of the pace I tested is as follows.

Headline at the top center, video block in the center of the page, with the following bullet points and supporting content below the video in the following order.

Product components Offer summary Statement of guarantee Ordering instructions

Using just the video and headline without the additional information could not convert as well in my testing as it did with the additional information included. But also appeared in my server logs that people took time to scan the brochure portion of the page before they actually watched the video.

The shorter version of this hybrid video sales page format does not exceed two to 2 1/2 pages in length.

You can download a html template of this hybrid sales letter by signing up for my internet entrepreneur news letter and weigh in on other internet marketer concerns and topics while visiting my site.

Advertising is a waste of time and money if you choose the wrong agency by Winnie Anderson

Advertising is a waste of time and money if you choose the wrong agency

Follow these Do's and Don'ts to find the best one for your company.

There are more than 20 thousand ad agencies in the United States according to Manta, a business information company. Some states have a few dozen, some have a few hundred, while California has more than 2,000.

Finding the right ad agency for your company can feel like searching for a needle in that proverbial haystack. But choosing the wrong agency wastes time, effort, and money. It can lead you to believe it's better to put up with the agency you have than search for a new one.

According to Guy Richards, Chief Branding Officer at Abiah, LLC in southern New Jersey, "It might take you up to 12 weeks to identify a list of prospective agencies and begin the evaluation process, but this time is well spent. Advertising is an investment that should generate a significant return for your business. It's not a decision to be made lightly."

If you've decided it's time to find a new agency, or your company is ready to hire your first one, then here are Richards' Do's and Don'ts to help you pick the right agency from the start.

Do have a budget Marketing and advertising takes money -- not necessarily a budget the size of Coke®'s, but it does take money. Have an amount you're willing to invest and be honest with the agencies you're considering. One rule of thumb you can use to create a budget is to set aside a percentage of estimated gross revenue.

Don't think bigger is better Big agencies have big overhead. Small agencies can often give you more care and attention than the big agencies. They also often have more enthusiasm and flexibility. Marketing guru Seth Godin in Small is the New Big, says "small" means big ideas get executed quickly, with care, and with outstanding service.

Do have clear objectives Everyone wants to make more money but that's not a clear enough objective that an agency can help you accomplish. Do you want to create more awareness of your business to increase traffic? Do you want to increase sales for a specific product, service, or line of business? Do you want to move from a reactionary kind of strategy to a more formalized and consistent effort? A good agency can recommend an overall strategy but only you can determine what your objectives are.

Don't be distracted by bells and whistles An agency may excel at creating funny print ads or commercials. They may be entertaining; that's not advertising's goal. Advertising should drive sales, increase awareness, enhance reputation, or accomplish other specific objectives. Look for an agency whose work delivers results and accomplishes client goals.

Do plan to consider your agency a partner The best agencies spend time getting to know the organization and its products or services. You must be willing to share information and answer lots of questions. Only then can marketing strategies and programs be created to help you achieve your goals.

Choosing the right ad agency is an important decision. It's time consuming and can be frustrating. But identifying the right agency - one that fits with your company, is committed to your success, and has the talent to help you achieve your goals - will reap tremendous rewards for your organization. Copyright © 2007 by Abiah. If you share this, print it out, or reproduce it in any way, please retain this copyright statement.

Chiropractic Marketing... The Soprano's Way! by Todd Brown

Seems everyone, including chiropractors, are wondering whether Tony Soprano got whacked or not.

I guess it's a bit of an odd topic to chat about in an email really dedicated to chiropractic marketing; but, regardless, I'll tell you what I think in a second.

It shouldn't suprise you that there's a fantastic chiropractic marketing lesson we can glean from the Soprano's final episode.

After all, David Chase (mastermind behind the Soprano's) is a true marketing wizard.

Let's look at what Mr. Chase did leading up to the finale to create such a loyal fan-base, and how you can apply the same principles in your practice to create a new patient frenzy (excited, new fans) and near-perfect patient retention (your own loyal fan- base).

First, the writers behind the Soprano's always kept us wondering what was coming next: who was going to get "pinched", who was going to turn rat, who was going to defect to another family, what new filthy act Tony was going to commit, etc.

And,. it's that "what's next" perspective that we all had that kept us coming back and tuning in week after week.

So, how can you create that same type of loyal perspective in your practice, with your patients?

Simple.

ALWAYS keep things fresh, exciting, and new.

In other words, don't ever bore your patients.

They should always be thinking to themselves I can't wait to see what my doctor does next in the office.

What's the next fun office event?

What's the next exciting chiropractic marketing promotion?

What's the next new and unique service?

What's the next cool retail item?

Remember, by nature, people want to know what's new, so be sure you can answer them in a way that keeps them coming back for more.

SIDENOTE: This is why I highly recommend you regularly ask yourself the question, "What's Next?". It will keep you thinking ahead with your chiropractic marketing.

Second, the writers routinely gave us a glimpse into the different characters lives, especially Tony Soprano's.

The value of this: relationship-building.

As I discuss in the Chiropractic Patient Retention Formula, which you can grab here - http://www.ChiropracticPatientRetentionFormula.com - patients will come to your office for the benefits they believe they can reap from your care, BUT they'll stay patients with you because of the relationship you create with them in your chiropractic marketing.

And, one of the absolute best ways to do that is to slowly reveal bits and pieces of your personal life in your internal chiropractic marketing.

Yes, I said "reveal your personal life".

Remember, people want to know they are being treated by someone who is just like them - a regular person.

By showing a picture here and there, in your chiropractic marketing, of your recent vacation or a family barbeque; or by talking about your daughter's recent kindergarten graduation or son's 50th soccer goal, you'll create a bond with your patients.

And, that bond, along with new and exciting programs, packages, etc. in your office, will keep your patients coming back and "tuning in" to see what's next.

Lastly, the Soprano's attracted so much attention because the writers created a show that was unique, different, and... even... remarkable.

And, as Seth Godin talks about in his best-selling book, Purple Cow, the remarkable is what gets talked about and creates word of mouth marketing.

The ordinary gets none of that.

So, if you want to create a buzz about your office be remarkable; be worthy of of being talked about, especially with your chiropractic marketing.

Be different.

Be unique.

Stand out.

Don't allow your office to be viewed as a commodity - simply providing the same old chiropractic care every other doctor in your area is providing.

Think about it...

The television show graveyard is packed with me- too shows that weren't bold enough to stand out from the crowd of ordinary television programming, and because of that, nobody noticed them.

Same fate for a lot of chiropractors.

Anyway, even though (as a fan) I personally wasn't thrilled with the last episode of the Soprano's, as a chiropractic marketing educator I loved it.

So, the big question on everyone's mind...

What do I think happened to Tony at the end???

Did the guy who walked into the bathroom come out and whack em?

Did the truck driver guy in the booth whack em?

Did they all live happily ever after?

What?

Well, I'll tell you exactly what I think happened to Tony.

I think he

List Building: Should You Give A Hoot About Seo? by Tellman H. Knudson

Do the words "search engine optimization" put a cold chill into the center of your heart? Does it seem too complicated? Do you even know what SEO means? Well, there's no doubt that it will bring lots of traffic to any website, which will in turn, intensify your list building efforts. However, to do it on a large scale, it takes very specialized knowledge. Can you do it? Should you do it? My answer is yes. There are some very simple techniques that can make your list building efforts go through the roof.

Remember to be list building on every page you can. Put an opt-in box on your website's homepage. Also put an opt-in box into your blog template, and into your profile at MySpace or wherever. If you haven't done these things, do them now! They're extremely important to list building.

To improve your list building efforts, you'll then need to send traffic to those sites. First, find your optimum keywords, specific to your niche. Take a piece of paper and write each one that you can think of down, just anything you think that people might search for.

Maybe you're selling some really cool jewelry. So, you'll probably come up with keywords like necklaces, rings, bracelets, and so on. Keep going, until you can't think of another single word that applies. Then, go to http://inventory.overture.com and find out how many people searched for each term in the previous month. Get rid of the words that have the highest number of searches because they're just too competitive. Also forget terms with 3,000 searches or less because no one is looking for them, and they really won't help you.

The words that are remaining are all potential keywords for you, but choose three to five that you can rank for. Then, be sure to use one keyword in every post you write at a density of around 2%. that means if you write 400 words, about 8 of them should be keywords. But don't try to get more than one keyword to that density. It's much too difficult to use more than one, and your words could come off sounding spammy. You don't want that.

But how does this apply to list building? You'll see. Hang on...

When you've finished your post, and you're sure your keyword density is around that 2% mark, go to your post and make the one of the keywords you used bold or italic. Also link to your website with one of the keywords you used, and make the hyperlink to your list building page. After making several posts in your blog, you should start to see your site rise in the rankings, and you'll be getting more people on your list. Don't expect immediate results because SEO takes a while to kick in. Just keep posting and using your keywords, and you should see some results.

Do the very same thing with your MySpace profile, or wherever you hang out, and use your keywords. Your homepage should have your keywords in it for around a 2% density, too. If you do these simple things, you'll be amazed at how much they really help.

The 5 Steps In Ad Copy by Duff Rogan

Today you're getting some tough love. I'm going to share with you what every so-called guru does NOT want you to know.

This is marketing and it can be cold and vicious. But it's fantastic when you know how to use it to your advantage.

Before I get into this please understand there are MANY FANTASTIC online home based business opportunities available on the Internet. I know I have several successful ones that I work. I just want you to understand how marketing and advertising works so you can be educated when you find a opportunity that peaks your interest.

How many of those "Latest Break Thru Millionaire Money Making Secret" program have you seen that promised all the wealth you could ever imagine?

One, Two, Five. Maybe Ten?

So what made you want to buy any one of these programs, product or service?

IT WAS THE AD COPY!!

If you want to become successful on the Internet there are 2 things you need to do.

1) Understand the power of ad copy. I don't care what you're selling. If you have poor ad copy you won't make a penny.

2) And what I think is the most important. Sell something that has true value. Yes the Internet is big, over 10 million web sites and growing. But trust me when I say this. If you start selling a poor product or service you won't make a lasting income.

Sure you could make a quick bucket of money, but where does that get you? NO WHERE. You're just another useless con-artist taking up space that has NO value.

There is 5 specific steps EVERY successful marketer uses to get you to part with your money. Over the next 5 posts (including this one) I will reveal these steps.

THE FIRST STEP

Every single marketer starts with this first step.

They start by creating HOPE, a promise if you will.

All of us; you, me, the guy or girl next door buys money making books, diet books, health information, gambling tips and so on purely on HOPE. The hope that this will be the answer to their/your problems.

And because of that educated marketers use this against you.

Have you REALLY noticed the ad copy you find on money making websites, I should say any web site for that matter.

First they talk about the problem you're having, then provide a solution and then talk about how easy things will be and that it will take almost no effort on your part.

They're telling you exactly what you want to hear, they're giving you the hope you're looking for.

But the reality is 90% of the people that buy these programs will not use them.

WHY?

Because it takes work. No matter how you cut it, it takes hard work to make money online. I don't care what you've been told. If it was that easy shouldn't you be on a beach somewhere counting your money?

We are creatures of habit we're also creatures that are always looking for the path of least resistance. If you give people the option of....

HARD or EASY

SLOW or FAST

INSTANT or TIME CONSUMING

Which one do you think they will pick? And when I say "they" I mean YOU!!

We live in a self gratifying instant society, so it only makes sense if you're going to market anything you should market to those factors.

So you'll find that ANY website that is making BIG money is invoking HOPE.

And you'll also notice that the most profitable websites are the ones selling information, it can be information about making money online line, losing weight, gambling tips...pick a topic.

Why sell information?

Well here's the flat out truth. Because you can PROMISE the absolute world and under-deliver. And you can do this because you're telling people what they want to hear.

And that's where those fantastic money back guarantee's come in.

Most marketers know that most of you will forget about their Ebook or product or you'll lose it somewhere on your computer and NEVER request a refund.

Remember that 90% or so people will probably never use the information provided in most informational programs? These 90% are the holey grail of profits and the opportunity of making BIG, BIG money.

WHY?

Because in about a month or so these same people will be out there looking to buy the next magic pill to solve the different troubled areas of their lives. Money, looks, relationships, diet, gambling and so on.

That's why these types of books (information) get gobbled up faster then a fat kid eating smarties. And the people selling this information rarely reveal anything you didn't all ready know.

So this information will continue to be gobbled up as long as the marketer can create that sense of HOPE. Because maybe just maybe this program has the answers you're looking for.

Spooky huh? And this is only the first step.

Watch for my next article with step number 2.

Until Next Time

To Your Success
Duffy Rogan

The Four Secrets of Successful PPC Campaigns by Barbara Fischer

Over the past decade, online marketing has become an integral part of most businesses' marketing strategies. In particular, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) have become one of the most common channels for any business to sell its products and services. In this article, I will share some insights into successful SEM and SEO campaigns.

The attractive quality of SEM and in particular pay per click (=PPC) advertising is that the results are measurable. As a strategic marketer, I have never come across any sales or marketing tool which is so transparent and cost-effective. PPC campaigns allow you to see vital statistics on user behavior, text ads, keywords and much more. Best of all, however, is the fact that you can use PPC campaigns as "instant sales generators": You can pause your campaign when sales are high or you can switch them on again when sales are low to get a new sales boost.

Secret 1: Have an online strategy in place before you start!

Prior to implementing your online strategy you should consider the following:

I. Define the purpose of your online marketing campaign. Some businesses use PPC purely as a "sales generator" tool, other businesses use it as a way to encourage new client leads and others simply for increased brand awareness.

II. Identify the medium and long term online strategy It is important to have realistic medium and long term expectations. Bear in mind that online campaigns deliver improved results the longer you run them.

III. Set a realistic monthly budget Always consider your budget relative to your product's profit margin. PPC can have a massive effect on sales and lead generation, but

In our experience, we often find that very few businesses develop a strategy before they start their campaign. The alarmingly common approach of "let's allocate some budget for 6 months and see what happens" is a recipe for disaster.

Particularly for the first weeks of your PPC campaign run time, it is imperative that you dedicate a significant amount of time to fine-tuning key words and text ads.

An alternative solution is to employ an agency and ask them for a trial PPC campaign in which the results are assessed after 4 weeks. If your agency cannot deliver results within the first 2-3 weeks, chances are that they are not allocating your budget to the right key words and text ads or did not consult you properly in the first place.

Secret 2: Prepare your website!

Statistics show that you have got exactly 6 seconds to convince a visitor to stay on your site. If the visitor does not instantly find what he or she is looking for, your budget will not translate into business or leads.

It is critical for your website to have the following characteristics:

Enticing images- If you offer a service, pictures of happy people will give the impression of satisfied end users. If you are offering a product, make sure that your images are clear and represent your product in a true manner.

Good web copy - Remember that less is more when it comes to web copy. Don't clutter your site with unnecessary text. Good web copy should fit in one frame.

Call to action phrases- Tell your visitors what you want them to do. Examples of good call to action phrases are: "Call now!", "Buy today!", "Contact us!".

No scroll bars- Wherever possible, fit everything into one screen or frame. The more a user has to scroll, the more chance you have in loosing the visitor.

Site design in HTML - Flash websites might look great, but are a killer for any SEM campaign. You may incorporate some flash images to enhance your site's look and feel, however keep your site predominately HTML.

Remember: Unless your site is ready, your traffic will not convert into sales or leads.

Secret 3: Start small - Choose one Search Engine only

Especially if you are dipping your toe into the pay per click pool for the first time, it is more than OK to start off small. In my experience, too many companies are confronted by the variety of choice between different PPC search engines and are tricked into thinking they need to be on all these so-called "networks" immediately. New online advertisers are often considering big players such as Google Ad Words and Yahoo! Search Marketing (Yahoo!7 and ninemsn), but also the smaller fish such as Sensis, Ask, MIVA and Mirago. Too many different campaigns (each of which are run according to different rules, different budgets and different funding) are too much to juggle for most first time online advertisers.

It is important to stay focused when deciding on your first search marketing network, and refer back to your online strategy to properly match your purpose to the correct network. I would always recommend trialing a campaign on Google due to its amount of market share (55%) and quality traffic. If your campaign performs well on Google, chances are it will also perform on other networks.

Walk before you can run. Test your campaign on one network first to get a feel for it, and when you feel more confident then consider branching out.

Secret 4: Trial and Assess the Results

After choosing the correct search engine network to implement your PPC campaign, embark on a simple three week trial campaign. The great thing about PPC is that you can pause it whenever you like, so you are not locked into any long term commitment after your designated 'trial period'.

Once you have seen the campaign results for the first three weeks, you (or your online agency) should be able to identify trends for your particular business. For instance, you should be able to see which of your key words were most sought after, which words attracted most enquiries or led to sales, which "click-days" and "click times" were extremely popular and which companies you compete with.

Example: one of our clients in the beauty industry knew after their three week trial period that Wednesdays and Thursdays between 12noon and 4pm were extremely popular for them in regards to clicks and enquiries for their services. As a result, they shifted their entire media budget on these 2 days and now receive twice as many enquiries as they had gotten in previous weeks - with the same investment!

Whilst trends are important to analyze for both your medium- and long-term online strategy, you must also closely analyze the direct impact that the campaign has on your business. Your sales team (or whoever answers calls in your business) needs to be briefed before the campaign starts and should monitor where new business leads are coming from. Analysis of your new business enquiries and where they found out about you is important to accurately gauge the impact of a prolonged PPC campaign.

Use your trial campaign as an indication of what is to come. In my experience, PPC campaigns improve immensely over time and a feature of their success depends on the amount of time that is invested in their development.

Urgency: A Marketer's Best Friend by .X.

Urgency.

It's the marketer's best kept secret.

In March of 2007 I sold 500 copies of the Adwords Black Book for $197 per copy.

Could I have commanded that price if I sold an unlimited number of copies? Even if it was "The Great Internet Marketing Ebook Ever Written", probably not.

One of the key concepts behind any successful product launch is an idea of limitation - people want what they cannot have. People do not want to "miss out".

Truth is, with the Adwords Black Book I really didn't know if there were 500 people on the planet willing to pay $197 for an ebook.

I priced the book high and sold a limited quantity because the concepts in the book are powerful and I really did not want more than 500 people using them.

You could say I discovered this concept of urgency somewhat by mistake; not true - but I also didn't recognize how powerful it is.

Now, I know marketer's who use this concept of scarcity - who promise to only sell a limited quantity, only to turn around and geek on the offer. That's not cool -

And since word travels so fast online, you may fool people once but it won't happen again.

One of the challenges with utilizing scarcity - or employing urgency - is that until now it required a lot of direct attention; you really couldn't automate much of it without spending a small fortune for custom programming.

Enter, Sales Bully . . .

This is the coolest software app I've seen this year - in the Internet marketing niche anyway.

Sales Bully allows you to do the following:

- Uses overwhelming psychological persuasion to send more your visitors scrambling for their wallets.

This is accomplished uses the following options . . .

- One time only offers - you can track your visitors by cookie of IP. - Timed offers - when someone visits a page a timer gives them X amount of time to take action. - A countdown to launch - I experienced the power of this firsthand; I was like a jittery speed freak in need of a fix waiting for a launch to . . . launch. - Shows a real-time "items left" timer - everytime someone buys, the number is updated on the page - it's pretty cool (and motivating) to see people buying and the number of the product available for sale dwindling.

You can also setup up upsells and downsells - and a lot more.

Now, I've seen a lot of software and some of it requires a PhD in AstroPhysics to figure it out - not so with Sales Bully; it has a built in wizard that takes you step-by-step and makes it all truly simple. You can implement everything in about 10 minutes.

I don't expect this product to last long - that's the point.

Check out Sales Bully and get my offer here: http://www.gotrythat.com

An Overview Of The Google Adwords Qualified Individual And Yahoo Ambassador Programs by Himanshu Joshi

If you are interested in advancing your abilities and value in the realm of Internet marketing, there are two special certification programs that you will want to take a look at and consider:

- Google Adwords Qualified Individual Program

- Yahoo Ambassador Program

In order to give you a better idea of these two different certification programs, a brief overview is provided for your consideration. Armed with this information you will be in the best possible position to determine whether one or another of these certification programs - or perhaps both - will best meet your needs not only today but into the future as well.

Google Adwords Qualified Individual Program

In order to be certified as a Google Adwords Individual program participant you will be required to undergo an examination conducted by Google Adwords. Through the overall certification process developed by Google Adwords, you will learn how to utilize the essential tools that are made available to certified individuals and that can be used by you to attract and then provide services to your own set of pay per click customers or clients.

There is a nominal charge to take the Google Adwords examination. However, most people who have gone through the certification process deem it a worthwhile investment.

In this day and age, a growing number of potential clients or customers actually are aware of the Google Adwords Qualified Individual program. Therefore, the reality is that this type of certification really is proving to be a selling point for people who are interested in gaining a clientele interested in Google Adwords development and related services.

Yahoo Ambassador Program

The Yahoo Ambassador program is really very similar to the Google Adwords program discussed a moment ago. Once again, a person seeking this certification will be trained in how to utilize the various tools that are made available through Yahoo in regard to that search engine's own pay per click program.

In the Yahoo Ambassador program you will take an examination (for which you will have to pay a nominal fee). At the present time, the Yahoo Ambassador program is not as well established or as well known as the comparable program offered through Google Adwords. However, with that noted, many professionals are opting for both certifications to make them all the more attractive to their own potential clients or customers.

Steps To Become Certified As A Google Adwords Qualified Individual by Himanshu Joshi

The Internet marketing profession has become highly competitive in this day and age. If you are interested in diving into the Internet marketing profession, you definitely will want to take those steps that are necessary to further enhance your own credentials. Moreover, even if you are not interested in becoming an Internet marketing professional as such, if you own an Internet based business, it actually serves your own enterprise interests to take advantage of certain certification and training opportunities that are available.

In this regard, one step that you will want to take a look at is training to become a Google Adwords Qualified individual. There are four primary steps that you will need to take in order to become a Google Adwords Qualified Individual:

- Enroll in the Google Adwords program and remain in good standing

Enrolling in the program itself is very easy. Remaining in good standing should not be a challenge. You can sign up simply online. And, to remain in good standing, you simply must follow the rules that have been set forth by Google Adwords.

- Manage a minimum of one Adwords account for at least 90 days

In order to work towards the certification, you need to manage at least one Adwords account for a period of at least 90 days. This actually can be your own account, an account that you established for your own Internet based business enterprise. Through this process, you will be able to see what tools are available to you to assist you in implementing a Google Adwords program of your own or for one or another or your own clients.

- During that 90 day period, build and maintain at least $1,000 U.S. in your account

In this regard, you will need to build and maintain at least $1,000 U.S. (or the equivalent in your local currency) through your account. This permits Google the chance to see that you are serious about being more deeply involved in the overall Google Adwords program itself.

- Successfully complete the Google Adwords Qualified Individual examination

The last step that you will need to undertake is passing the examination that is given by Google Adwords. You are eligible to take the examination once you have successfully completed the three other steps that have been outlined for your consideration in this article.

Can a product giveaway increase sales? by Matt Eliason

So I'm going to steal an idea. Well, slingshot off it hopefully.

This concept was initiated (I don't dare say invented) by Hugh at Gapingvoid for a wine client of his and well, I thought I might give it a go. I thought it was a reasonable example of innovative marketing. What he did was to give away a few cases of wine (single bottles) to people who would write about the wine. Bloggers and such with the intention of creating a ripple in the blogosphere. Pretty cool I thought.

To background a little, one of the things I do is run a site that coordinates a number of caricature artists who do custom caricatures based on your supplied photos. We are going OK, but time to ramp things up a little!

So here I am, about to give away some caricatures in order to make more sales. Uh?

My plan follows Hugh's - with a variation - he gave away product first then asked, I am doing the initial asking. This could be deceptively simple - or stupid - time will tell....

I am going to give some luck readers the opportunity to get a free caricature drawn of themselves by one of the six artists on Caricature King.

That's the easy part. The hard part for me will be selecting who will be selected to get a free caricature, that is if anyone asks....

So before you ask, here's the rub...this is a marketing exercise. So the folks I want to have asking (just a simple ask, like hey, I'd like a caricature, I run the xyz blog that is about......and has x readers per day who I am sure would like to hear about you) are those that will provide mutual benefit.

Those selected (maybe you?) will get an amazing caricature drawn by the artist of their choice, based on their photo, that can be used on their blog/forum/site, printed and put on the wall, put on a coffee cup or any other non-commercial purpose.

Oh and there is another benefit - **you have to ask me via comments here**

But hey this allows you to get some publicity for your blog even if you don't get a caricature.

And me? All I ask is that you write about this exercise, or the caricature you get, or some other promotional bit on your blog or forum etc. Simple plug really.

The plan is that exposure by influential people will drive traffic, which in turn will drive sales and will help prove that by giving something away you can make more sales.

But before you rush to the comments, just think about why I will select your blog/forum....

You might nominate via comments and then even write about my ploy on your blog anyway - thanks for that - I'll acknowledge it in comments as well.

Or just write about this post...spread the word - give some love.

If you feel you are excluded because you blog has three readers or is new, feel free to enter to win one in our competition. You can of course, do both.

10 Great Reasons To List your Business on Niche Market Directories by Jens du Plessis

Many web site owners only list their businesses on search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL. And, yes, over 90% of all searches are done through these search engines.

However, web sites that list on these search engines are hardly ever found by the searchers.

Why?

The reasons are fairly plain to see: there are only ten Top 10 positions for any search phrase and unless you get into the Top 30 the chances are that you are "lost" in a sea of web sites. Even with good SEO, which most web sites do not apply, it is very difficult to be visible on these search engines.

What is the alternative?

An alternative, or rather, a supplementary means of web site promotion is using niche market directories. You do not ignore the search engines, you merely use additional forms of online promotion.

A niche market directory is a business directory that targets an specific market, or even a sub-section of a market. A directory may target the travel industry, or travel in a specific region, or even only travel agents in a specific region.

How does this benefit you?

1. Increase your chances of being found on search engines: Apart from your own listings in search engines these directories are also listed there. And with good directories, even your listings will get listed on the search engines.

2. Get more targeted visitors: As the directory targets your niche market, the visitors that browse the directory are already from your target market so that, by the time they click through to your web site, they are highly targeted visitors.

3. Get a higher sales conversion: As the visitors that click through to your web site is already highly targeted your chances of getting an enquiry or a sale is much better than the untargeted visitors you often get from search engines.

4. Increase your link popularity: A part of the search engines ranking system looks at the sites linking back to your web site. A link back from a directory in your niche market can add to your link popularity helping you in your search engine rankings.

5. Free advertising: Many niche market directories offer free listings, allowing you to promote your business without spending a fortune.

6. Expand your net:

Each directory you list in expands your source of traffic. Listing only in search engines probably gives you about 5 to 10 sources of traffic. Additional listings in 10 directories increase your sources of traffic to 20, in 50 increases it to 60, and so forth.

7. Targeted advertising:

Search engines list you in a general database. Directories, by its nature, are divided into categories and sub-categories and you select the category that is most suitable for your business, further increasing your targeted marketing effort.

8. Multiple listing options:

Most directories offer you multiple listing options such as featured listings and listings in multiple categories. These option further increase your exposure not only within the directory but often on the search engines as well.

9. Control your listings

Most good niche market directories allow you to log on and make alterations to your listings and to your contact details. You can therefor ensure that your details are always up to date.

10. Your marketing partner:

Most directory owners actively market their directories within their niche markets to ensure the maximum number of targeted visitors. You benefit from these marketing efforts without having to spend an additional cent. In addition, most directories ask their listed business to link back to them, further increasing the directory traffic and as a result, your traffic of targeted visitors.

Marketing your business on niche market directories can increase you online success substantially due to the increase in your targeted visitors.

If you haven't done so yet start looking for directories in your niche market - simply do a search engine search for "{insert your niche market} directory" and start exploring.

The Prefered Beginner's Guide to Blog Marketing by Dassana Jayalath

Blogs which are also known as web logs are the new thing on the internet. They are pretty much a platform that you can use that will allow you to post your thoughts on most any subject that you want to. They can be used for journaling, promoting, writing, and publishing, anything that your heart desires. However, if you are a beginner and new blogging as well as marketing, there are some very important things that you will want to know.

Blog marketing is pretty easy if you have a marketing mind. You are going to find that many people use blogs as a diary, and many times these blogs that are used for this purpose are not intended to make them money, but simply a way to put there thoughts out there and find others that are going through the same thing. If you have never even had a blog before, the simplest thing that you can do is to start one, and just journal in it for a while. This will allow you to learn just what it takes and what it is all about to keep up a blog. When you are just journaling your thoughts and what is on your mind, you have nothing to lose and nothing to gain. You don't even have to make your blog public if you don't want others to read what you have to say. That is a personal preference. However, doing this will let you see how it works. Then you can move on to trying to market a product or a service.

Using a blog to market something is cheaper than using a website. This is because there are so many free ones out there that you can use to get the word out, and they are really just as good as having a website that you pay for. There are of course some advantages to having your own URL, but for a beginner, a free one will work until you get the hang of it and want to move it all over onto your own server. The free blogs are just not that customizable. If you are not familiar with HTML, you are going to find that your blog will look like everyone else's. But, that is ok in the beginning. You can always make changes later on once you are becoming successful.

When you have your own blog, you are in charge of the content that is posted on it. You can decide what is said, and what is not. You are after all writing it all, right? So, the sky is the limit. Whether you want a blog that does website reviews and takes nominations, or you want to sell things that you make out of your home, the choice is yours. Using a blog to get the word out about whatever you want too is a great way to market and promote something.

Blog marketing can get complicated if you let it. It is really only as hard as you make it. While there are some bloggers out there that are making a six figure income with the use of blog marketing, we all know that it can be done. We just want to know how. Well, for any beginner, start small, and be consistent. The six figure bloggers all did. They started with one, built it up, and then added another blog, built it up. Then, keeping up both blogs and not letting them fall behind, they continued to add more and more. Of course they had help, and they outsourced a lot of their work. If you are looking to make a massive income with blogging, you will need some help.

Blog marketing is a great thing to learn. If you can sell things from a blog, you can sell them anywhere. Making money by using a blog is one of the most satisfying things that you will ever learn how to do. Just do not expect to make money over night, know that you have to work at it consistently everyday, and remember to put into it what you want to get out of it.

How To Make Your Business "Click" With PPC Advertising by Marsha Brown

PPC stands for Pay Per Click - a popular advertising technique on the Internet. Found on websites, advertising networks, and especially on search engines, PPC advertising involves sponsored links that are typically in the form of text ads. These are usually placed close to search results, where an advertiser pays a particular amount to visitors who click on these links or banners and land on the advertiser's web page.

In essence, PPC advertising is all about bidding for the top or leading position on search engine results and listings. Advertisers do this by buying or bidding on keyword phrases that are relevant to their products or services - the higher the bid, the higher the spot on the search results, the more the people will find the ad (and click on it) to go to their websites (this is why some people call it "keyword auctioning"). Advertisers would then pay the bidding price every time a visitor clicks through the website.

PPC advertising is also known under the following names/variations:

· Pay per placement · Pay per performance · Pay per ranking · Pay per position · Cost per click (CPC)

PPC advertising is usually done with the following standard procedures:

1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.

2. Creating a keyword list.

3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.

4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.

5. Writing out an ad copy.

6. Setting up the 'landing pages' for your ads.

7. Placing the advertisement in the search engine.

There are many benefits to Pay Per Click advertising, making it an effective way of promoting a business 'online'. Some of them are listed below:

·Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are implemented very quickly - they can go 'online' within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.

·Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. PPC provides you with a quality or a well-targeted traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into 'qualified' people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer - those who are more likely to become a 'lead' (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.

·Widen your reach. PPC advertising provides additional traffic to your site, aside from the natural or "organic" search engines.

·Track your investment. PPC advertising makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive - the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).

Below are some important things to consider when planning on a pay per click campaign:

1. Know your product. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer (before anything else).

2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind, avoiding bidding wars if possible.

3. Bid just right. Know how to bid right - a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.

4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your spending or expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your PPC program - if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.

5. Find the right keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some keyword research, either by actually looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.

6. Write effective ads. A good PPC ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:

· Discount offers · Testimonials · Celebrity/famous endorsers · Money-back guarantees · Free trials or sample offers · Freebies · Reverse psychology · Major benefits ("Lose weight") · Direct instructions ("Click here")

7. Maintain a professional-looking site. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple - designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.

Done properly, PPC advertising can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment.

Diversity, Age and Gender Statistics by Linda P. Morton

Diversity, age and gender statistics enable business owners to target their markets using a simple matrix market segmentation process.

This process uses demographics like diversity, age and gender to determine personality (psychographic) and social (sociographic) characteristics.

Diversity considers race, national origin and cultural differences. Business owners must consider diversity statistics because non-Caucasian markets are growing rapidly and together they will soon outnumber Caucasians.

Non-Caucasians represented a $200 billion annual market in 1992. By 2003 their market size grew to more than $1.5 trillion. With a sixth of the national market at stake, mistakes in the non-Caucasian markets can be quite costly. Companies wanting their share of this market must segment non-Caucasian publics and be aware of the ways that they are changing USA markets.

Age statistics influence marketing decisions because age enables business owners to determine a market's generation and life stage. Both provide a wealth of psychographic and sociographic characteristics.

For example, the Baby Boomer and Generation Y generations are much larger than Generation X. There are more than 70 million people in each of the first two generations, but less than 45 million in Generation X. Besides size, these generations differ in the appeals that are effective with them, the media that best reaches them, and how they spend their money.

Gender statistics also affect small businesses. Women make up a larger population in the United States than men. There are 118 million women compared to 111 million men. Women make up almost half (48%) of the workforce, and 7.7 million women own their own businesses. Their earnings, expertise, experience, and authority are growing.

Men and women not only differ from one another, but they also differ within from one another. Several categories of women and men are provided at http://www.TargetPublics.com/GenderSocialization.html

For more diversity, age and gender statistics and information about using statistics to improve marketing, get your free report on the Matrix Marketing Segmentation process at www.TargetPublics.com.

Experience Brand Engagement by Lainie Liberti

What makes you rush to the Peet's Coffee & Tea 5 miles past the nearest Starbucks every morning? Why is it that you can't resist visiting the nearest Target store? Why do you always prefer United Airlines to one of its competitors? It has got nothing to do with a compulsive disorder, if you are thinking on those lines. The answer lies elsewhere... Maybe it's for the ambience, the rare teas or even the mouth watering creamy cappuccino that makes you return time and again. Regardless of the particulars, it's the experience. This emotional bonding with a particular brand experience is known as "brand engagement".

"Brand Engagement" is a term loosely used to describe the process of forming an attachment (emotional and rational) between a person and a brand" as the Wikipedia says it. With the latest trend of under-one-roof systems everywhere, the business strategy has transformed itself through enriching patrons with an 'experience' that emotionally engages. Book a United Airline business class flight to Las Vegas and you will be served champagne, gourmet treats, all the cocktails you can drink + comfy slippers. The next time you fly you will remember the experience, (unless you had too many cocktails) and that memory will influence your future purchasing decisions even if you are flying coach. Thus, the strategy of brand building has moved a step further from just selling, to 'selling an experience to creating a positive engagement with the brand'

Fully master this technique and you will succeed. However this is not a "pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat" trick. A powerful brand engagement is achieved through long-term consistent service, innovations, consistency and establishing a relationship with your customers. For start-ups and new companies it's a learning process and it takes total commitment, hard work and empathy.

In most cases, consumers first learn about your business before trying out your products or services. Therefore effective messaging is essential, answering your consumers needs from the get go. Your customers want relevant information and their imagination must be inspired, picturing the benefits applied to them from your products or services. That's the beginning of an emotional connection which births the relationship called the "brand engagement".

Once you and your workforce realize they are the ultimate holder of the brand, you / they must always be conscious of delivering information, service, and self-reliance that inspires your workforce to apply their finest judgment throughout the consumer interaction cycle. It is ultimately the staff and subordinates with the support of the management that create an impression on the customer through the service and ambience.

A good place to start is to focus on the key values, your organization has been built upon and then understand the consumer perception of the brand. This is your foundation for a communication strategy focused on improving the consumer perception of your brand. Simplicity is best. A brand should stand for one general theme in the mind of your customer. Getting your brand value and positioning accurately tuned will inform the relationship and eventually the overall brand engagement. Considerations also include your brand image, identity, personality as well as the brand name and brand loyalty most importantly.

Carefully crafting an emotional connection, humanizing your organization in your consumer's heart, is a key factor in securing success. Sounds a little "foo - foo?" Maybe, but think about this. Relationships are built on emotional connections. Emotional connections inform long-term engagements. Long term engagements equals brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is money in the bank. Foo foo or not, once you have succeeded in creating this bond, your business is sure to prosper.

How To Quickly Get Your Website Indexed By Google by Simplifying The WEB

To be successful on the web you must have visitors to your site. They must be able to find you or your efforts will have been in vain. How do they do this? The best way is to have your site indexed by the major search engines (Google, MSN, and Yahoo). Once a searcher types in a keyword that your site is indexed for, the page should come up in the search, and hopefully on the first page. Having your site indexed by Google should be your first priority. The problem is that it can take weeks or months for Google to index your pages. In the mean time, the web-world is passing you by. So is there anything you can do to speed up the process? Yes there is. Follow these three steps and watch the Google-bots trip over themselves to index your site.

The first thing to do is start a blog about your new site. Starting a blog is both fun and easy. There are many sites that allow you to start a blog for free. Two of the most well known sites are http://Wordpress.com and http://Blogger.com. Both are easy to set up and easy to use. Once you have your blog set up, begin writing. You can write posts about your new site, your products, or the service you are offering. It doesn't really matter. Just be sure to use specific keywords related to your site and also post links to your site on your blog. Next, read other blogs and leave comments. List their sites on your blogroll (links from your site to other blogs). Your hope is that they will blogroll your site also. Post at least one article per day.

The second thing to do is start a free Squidoo lens at http://Squidoo.com. A Squidoo lens is a website created on Squidoo that deals with a specific subject. It can be anything under the sun, just make it specific and be sure to add a link to your website. Now, join some Squidoo Groups. Groups are lists of Squidoo lenses that have something in common. There are hundreds to choose from. Join as many groups as you can and don't be surprised if you are not accepted to a few you apply to. The lens masters have authority over their groups and some can be really picky.

Thirdly, create a Google sitemap using the free sitemap creator from https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/sitemap-generator.html A site map is simply a list of the pages on your site set up in a hierarchy much like an index in a book. It tells Google what pages you have on your site and which pages are most likely to change. This allows Google to index your site quicker and more accurately. This is also free and simple to do if you follow the directions very carefully.

Follow these three steps and you will be amazed at how quickly your pages begin to show up in the Google search results. Be aware that your ranking will be very low for your keywords in the beginning. Moving up the search engine ranks takes time and perseverance. Be sure to add content to your new site daily, post to your blog daily, and add to your Squidoo lens at least weekly for the best results.

Business Card Design for IT Professionals by Caitlina Fuller

IT professionals need to maintain their business just like everyone else. It is because of this that they must design business cards in a way that are professional yet attract attention. The following tips will help IT professionals design their business cards in a way that will help them get more business.

Color Business Cards Color business cards are an exceptional way for IT professionals to show their professional skills and present themselves to new clients. The color in the business cards really catches the eye and it is exactly what one would expect from an IT professional. In fact, you can design your own cards and choose the colors you feel best represent you and your skills. But whatever you do make sure you make it tasteful so that when you hand your card to someone they will look at it and think that it looks great instead of looking at it and thinking that it is overdone.

Contact Information Another important aspect of your business card design is to incorporate your contact information in a very clear and concise manner. Most of the time when people look at a business card they are doing so to find a name and phone number or email address. If this information is not readily available then it will potentially lose you customers. As a result you should focus on the actual layout of your contact information first and then add your color and graphics.

Do it Yourself Believe it or not but you can design your business cards yourself right on the computer. You can create your computer business cards on software you buy or else you can create them on websites that offer this service.

There really are a lot of options available to you when it comes to business card design for IT professionals. You can choose to use the plain black and white cards of the past or else you can choose to differentiate yourself from all the other IT professionals out there by designing a business card with colors and graphics that are tasteful yet help you get the clients you need! If you don't have any good ideas of your own then check out some of the websites that offer free business cards and see what graphics they have available for you to choose from. You will see that you can have professional and colorful business cards even as an IT professional.

Ten Things to Look For When Choosing an Email Marketing Service by Neil Anuskiewicz

Choosing an email marketing service can be daunting but knowing what to look for can make this process a lot easier.

An ESP is a service that hosts email marketing services on their servers, which are specifically optimized for this purpose. While you control your email marketing account and send out emails using a Web browser interface, the ESP's servers and Internet connections do the heavy lifting. If you tried to send bulk emails through your regular Internet Service Provider (ISP), your campaign could be blocked, as regular ISPs are not set up for--and sometimes prohibit--bulk mailings.

An ESP also provides detailed reporting on the results of your email campaign: delivery success rates, email open-rates, and link click-through rates. You should even be able to see which of your subscribers performed these actions. Good reporting is an invaluable feature as it helps you measure the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

Most ESPs also make it very easy for you to comply with the CAN SPAM Act regulations. For example, an ESP should automatically include an unsubscribe link in every email sent through their service (and automatically remove these addresses from your lists), as well as verify that all emails are sent from a valid, working email address. Most ESPs also require you to send only to lists of subscribers that have opted-in to receive emails from you.

ESPs allow you to execute professional, organized email marketing campaigns. Now, what should you look for in an ESP to make sure you choose the right one? Here are some criteria to consider:

1.Private IP address. The IP address from which an email is sent is like a phone number; it indicates the origin of an email. Just like you would not share a phone number with a large group of strangers, you do not want to share an IP address with other customers at your ESP. If your ESP makes you share an IP address with other customers, too many spam complaints against another customer could get your shared IP address blacklisted by a major ISP. This would prevent your emails from being delivered, and it can take time for your ESP to get the IP off the blacklist. Be sure your ESP can provide you with a private IP address.

2.Customer support and training. Your ESP should offer both online and phone customer support and training.

3.Robust infrastructure. Make sure your ESP has multiple, high-speed connections to the Internet through more than one source and hardware redundancy. This ensures reliability if one of the Internet connections fails or there is a hardware failure. Ask prospective ESPs about their infrastructure. This is important because a lot of ESPs will offer "click-tracking" tools. The click tracking will require that the links go to the ESP first, and then it is redirected to your web site (that's how it can track the click). There would be nothing worst than sending to your valuable prospects and customers and having the ESPs servers go down. The people reading your emails won't be able to click through!

4.Good reporting. The ESP should offer a variety of user-friendly reports: deliverability success, open-rates, and click-through rates.

5.CAN SPAM compliance. Your ESP should require customers to comply with the CAN SPAM Act and make it very easy to do so.

6.List Segmenting. Your ESP should enable you to segment lists by demographic and other criteria, Targeting subsets of your list with content relevant to them leads to more successful email marketing campaigns.

7.A/B testing. It is important to have the ability to test different versions of your email to find what works. A/B testing is a way to test your email content, subject line, etc., to see which version gets the best results. Often this involves randomly splitting up the list and comparing results, and your ESP should be able to provide this functionality.

8.Free trial. Most ESPs offer a free trial. Do a test drive to see if the service meets your needs.

9.No term contract. Do not sign up for a service that requires anything beyond a month commitment. If you are unhappy with your service, you should be able to cancel and switch services at will.

10.Pricing Plans. ESPs host your email list on their servers. Some charge a monthly fee based on the number of emails on your list, while others charge a monthly fee you based on the maximum number of emails you think you will send per month. Be sure to choose a pricing structure that fits your needs.

Business Card Design for Personal Injury Lawyers by Caitlina Fuller

When you imagine a lawyer what do you see? More than likely you conjure up an idea of a powerful looking man or woman in a dark colored suit with a serious expression. So, what would you imagine a personal injury lawyer's business card to look like? More than likely you see business cards that are conservative. That's because serious professionals like lawyers typically want to enforce their seriousness with custom business cards that show how seriously they will treat you and your court case.

Business cards for lawyers should not incorporate lots of bright colors and designs. Instead, business cards for lawyers should be very conservative and include contact information, a company motto, and perhaps a graphic that relates to the law in some way. This type of business card will garner respect from potential clients and it will show that you will take clients seriously. When potential clients feel this way about you and your services then you have a better chance of them hiring you. If you as a lawyer have business cards with a rainbow of colors on them or cartoon inspired graphics then you will be wasting your time handing them out because people want a serious lawyer not a jokester.

So, when you are considering designs for your personal injury lawyer business cards make sure you focus on professional and serious designs. This is one case where the traditional black and white cards and fine linen paper is suggested. When people feel you take your profession seriously they will take you seriously and hire you to represent them. Most lawyers make a pretty good income. However, quite a few lawyers start out making a small income and they do everything they can to cut corners. One way to cut corners as a new lawyer is to print your own business cards. You can do so easily and save yourself plenty of money not to mention having business cards that are finely made. The best thing to do is go to a print or office store and buy fine linen paper. Next, buy business card printing software and install it on your computer. Follow the steps and you will see that in just a few minutes you can design professional looking business cards and print them out. They will look just as good as any partner's business cards but cost you a lot less.

4 Ways To Get Your Opt-In Subscribers To Trust You Quickly by Cris Cohen

While the rest of the world have developed many barriers and protections to keep their e-mail accounts spam-free, there are also those that subscribe to mails that promotes their products, services and their site. This is mainly because these subscribes wants to know more about what these sites are offering and can be beneficial for them. They expect to get be kept posted on what they are interested in and what are new in the market or field they have chosen.

Businesses would be so lucky to have these kinds of customers; the basic element needed to get these types of people is trust. When your customers trust you they will reward you with their loyalty.

Many internet users have gone to great lengths in protecting their email accounts from spam mail. Some free-mail internet providers and internet service providers offer spam protection while there are also some internet based companies that screen your mails for you.

With an opt-in mail list, the mails you send containing your promotional materials such as newsletters, catalogs and marketing media will go through. Your intended recipient will be able to read and view what you have sent making it a successful transfer of information. To be able to be allowed to do so, you will need permission from your recipient, to get this permission; you need to be able to get their trust. With the great lack of disregard for privacy in the internet, getting the trust of an internet user you don't personally know is a big achievement.

To build a good opt-in list you need people to trust you, for a faster and quicker build up, you need to get your opt-in subscribers to trust you quickly. The faster you build your opt-in list the faster word about your site and company gets to be spread. The bigger the scope of your opt-in list the more traffic you get spelling more profits. Its easy math if you thin about it. Getting the numbers is not that simple though, or maybe it is?

* Getting the trust of your clientele shouldn't be so hard especially if you do have a legitimate business. Getting your customers trust should be based upon your expertise. People rely on other people who know what they are talking about. Garner all the knowledge and information about your business. Ell, frankly if you decide to go into a business most probably you have an interest in it. Like how many basketball payers become coaches, you don't really venture into something you don't have any interest in.

* Show your clients that you know what you are talking about. Provide them with helpful hints and guidelines that pertain to what you are selling. Talk about how to install a roof if your into hardware products or provide articles on insurance settlements if you're a settlement lawyer. You don't have to be a big corporation to make use of an opt-in list. If your customers see you as someone who knows what he is doing and saying, they will trust you quickly.

* Be true to your customers, if you want to hype up your products and services, provide guarantees. The more satisfied customers you get, the bigger probability there is that they will recommend you. Generally, people will trust someone they know, when that someone recommends you then you're a shoo-in. They will go to your site and check it for themselves and be given a chance to experience what the other shave experienced from you, so make sure to be consistent in the service you provide.

* Another tip in getting a customer to trust you quickly is to provide them an escape hatch. Show them that you are not there to trap them. Keep a clean list that would enable them to unsubscribe anytime they want. Elaborate your web form by providing information on how to unsubscribe from the list. Guarantee them that they can let go of the service when ever they want to. Many are wary that they may be stuck for life and would have to abandon their email accounts when they get pestered with spam.

Remember that when you get the trust of your clients don't lose that trust. Because if you do anything with their email addresses like sell them or give them out, you will lose many members of your list as well as potential members. The true quickest way to gain the trust of your subscribers is when you are recommended by someone they trust.

Free Internet Marketing Method with Blogging by Cris Cohen

Savvy marketers have discovered that blogging is one of the best Internet marketing methods that won't cost you a cent.

What exactly is blogging? Blog is the widely used term that refers to web log. Basically, a blog is an online journal. A blog could be set up to no cost at all, and can be used for just for the fun of it or for business reasons.

Blogging for your Internet business is one surefire way to boost the visibility of your products and services. Here are a few ways to boost your internet advertising with the help of a blog:

1. Make your clients or customers abreast on your website's alterations. Your new products and affiliate websites could also be announced through your blog.

2. Keep track of your business objectives and plans through open writing. Your blog content can be easily stored through archives. What could be better than searchable information that could be easily accessed by anyone browsing the web, right?

3. Air your opinions, advice or reviews on specific services or products that are related to your business. Publishing is a very easy process with blogging.

4. Include links that will fetch back links and subsequently improve your ranking on search engines. This could be better executed through putting well-written articles in your website. Affiliate links could also be included in your blog to earn more extra income.

5. Collect response through the ability of blogs to fetch comments from your blog readers. You can learn and improve your products and services through with the feedback from your readers.

6. Connect easily with other bloggers. When other bloggers notice that you have something good in your blog, they will put you in their favorite lists that will automatically link you to their blogs.

So, how do you set up a blog? Here are some of the options you can make use of to take advantage of this fun way to advertise your Internet business.

Either you load a blogging software or let a blogging hosting service do it for you. Host services such as LiveJournal and Blogger.com are the most popular in this field. Those hosts will provide you with easy instructions on how to put up your blog.

Finally - A Top Secret Way You Can Get Google Adwords Pay-per-clicks Free by Dawn Pruitt

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!

A gentleman from New York discovered what he calls an "oversight" on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.

And no, nothing about his "secret" is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the "inside" at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after getting the hang of it."

This same fellow went on to start and operate sixteen separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children's toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses - all the while applying his mastermind secret.

Over the course of nearly eight years the New Englander confesses "I've actually gotten over $87 million in advertising that using my secret I never had to pay for ... and the largest share of which was more recently in Google pay-per-clicks as well as other forms of paid advertising at search engines ... all of which I got for free ..."

So powerful is his secret that he's able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top premium spots just above the usual organic results featured at most search engines.

He still has to set up an account with the search engines - but after applying his secret he is removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved.

Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or robs from the search engines.

One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this amazing secret "Wow! Ha! This is really unique ... and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Amazing!"

The northerner revealed that in this nearly eight years' period of time since applying his secret he's done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a most diverse line of products, and most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really "buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential."

Now to everyone else's fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting an unlimited amount of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he's not promising any of us for how long.

A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says "We'll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things."

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret "he's already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it's still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this."

It is currently available at:

http://www.linkbrander.com/go/44158

...so you may want to head on over there now and get it.

It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level.

While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in targeted advertising now made freely available to the rest of us?

To your success,

Dawn Pruitt

What Is A Conversion Rate And Why Is It Important For Internet Marketing? by Alex Cleanthous

Whether you market on the Internet or your market offline, one of the most important numbers you must constantly try to improve is your conversion rate.

Simply put, a conversion rate is the results of a particular campaign expressed as a percentage. And there may be multiple conversion rates in one sales process.

Let's take the example of PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising on Google, where you want to drive sales to your business...

- If your PPC ad on Google is clicked 100 times from 2,000 views, your PPC conversion rate is 5%
- If, from those 100 visitors, you receive 20 phone call enquiries, your website conversion rate is 20%
- If, from those 20 phone call enquiries, you make 5 sales as a result, your sales conversion rate is 25%

So from this one campaign we've broken down each stage of the process and tabulated the conversion rate. By doing this we can test and track and continually improve each conversion rate over time.

By increasing any of these conversion rates you increase your sales, and profits, overall.

The reason a conversion rate is so important in internet marketing is because of the cost of driving targeted internet traffic to a website.

Using paid advertising to drive traffic to your website can be very profitable... but it can also be very expensive, especially in highly competitive markets.

Often, the most successful company in a particular market online is the one which has the highest website conversion rate of visitors to enquiries (or sales), because it can afford to pay more for traffic, and still make a profit.

And for companies which rely on the Internet to make the final sale (different from service companies which generate leads from the Internet), the conversion rate will make the difference between success and failure.

The Key To Creating Headlines That Sell by Robert Greenshields

E. Haldeman-Julius never wrote a book, but he knew how to sell them. He sold literally millions of books in the 1920s. If a title didn't sell over 10,000 copies a year, it went to a place in his office called "The Hospital," where Haldeman-Julius gave it a new title. It the book didn't break through with the new title, it went to "The Morgue."

One of his books was first called Art of Controversy. It sold less than the 10,000-copy minimum with that title. Haldeman-Julius resurrected the book as How to Argue Logically, and sold over 30,000 copies. The contents of the book did not change. All that changed was the title - and its sales figures!

Another successful patient in his "hospital" was a book that sold only 3,000 copies when released as Patent Medicine. Haldeman-Julius simply added one magic phrase, and he found that The Truth About Patent Medicine sold a perfectly respectable 10,000 copies.

In fact, the phrases, "How to..." or "The Truth About..." have proven to be consistent bestsellers for marketers. Other winning phrases are, "The Facts About...," "The Key to...," "The Story of...," and the all-important question, "Do You...?"

No matter what you're selling, the most important part of your copy is its title or headline. Another legend of marketing, John Caples, wrote, "On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. Therefore, unless your headlines sell your product, you've wasted 90% of your money." He went on to say that your ad should offer a clear benefit to the reader, right in the headline, such as a "whiter wash" or "more miles to the gallon." The content of your copy may be stellar, but if your prospect never reads it, where does it get you?

Today, some copywriters consider it hip to use clever headlines that make the reader guess at their meaning. If that's your purpose, then so be it. But if the purpose of your marketing is to sell your product or service, forgo the trendy and tell your reader why they should continue to read and buy from you.

The magic phrases first discovered by Haldeman-Julius worked well, because they told readers exactly what benefits they'd receive from his books. They would learn to argue well, possess the truth about medicine, or get the facts they wanted.

Although short and simple is best in advertising, a long headline that really says something is much better than a short one that says nothing. One of the most famous headlines of all time was written by John Caples for the U.S. School of Music: "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano - but When I Started to Play..." You can adapt this ad to your own uses. It's still being used effectively today.

Or follow the example of master copywriter David Ogilvy, who wrote out his headlines and practiced them on friends and family. He's famous for this still-famous headline, "At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock." It was hugely successful and more than rewarded Ogilvy for the 104 other headlines his loved ones auditioned, before he came up with the winner.

You can use the wisdom of these marketing greats in your business today, no matter what your field. Try out your headlines on those around you. Remember to make the benefit clear to your readers. Play with Haldeman-Julius' magic phrases in the title of your articles, reports or ad copy. With practice, you'll come up with your own magic phrases that sell.

Make Money From Home - Getting Started Right by Robert Saville

Everyone seems to want to know, "How can I get started making money from home?" The make money from home industry is growing at an alarming rate as more and more opportunities become available to everyone.

Some opportunities even require no previous experience and a very small investment to get started. Actually, it has never been easier to make money from home than it is right now. If that be true then why are so many people skeptical and wary of getting started? What about the people that do get started, but last only a month or two before throwing in the towel?

Well, there could be many answers to these questions, but I think confusion has to be near the top of the list. By confusion I mean not knowing where or how to start or who to trust.

The media is literally flooded with make money from home ads. Newspapers, magazines, the internet, or even on the side of a bus, you will see work from home ads anywhere and everywhere.

With all the attractive offers floating around out there these days, it's getting harder for even experienced marketers to tell a good, legitimate opportunity from an outright scam designed to separate you from your money. If you have done any research at all on make money from home opportunities, most all of them claim to be the latest and greatest thing to make you rich beyond your wildest dreams. Some even claim that you can do all of this without so much as lifting a finger. Don't we all wish that one were true?

The truth is you really can get to the point of making money from home, and lots of it, without spending a lot of time working. In the initial stages of any money making enterprise though, there is lots to learn and lots to do. Unfortunately, most people are not willing to learn or willing to do. Most people desperately want to believe they can get rich without doing anything at all.

If you are one of us that does want to learn and is not afraid of a little honest effort, there is absolutely no limit to what you can accomplish right in the comfort and privacy of your own home. You see, it's not where and how you start that is as important as what you do after you get started. Even if you select an opportunity that is less than perfect you will learn enough to move forward and very soon you should find your niche.

There are several things you should consider when determining whether or not an opportunity to make money from home is legitimate or not. First, you should find out if the company with the opportunity is offering support to help you get started on the right track and also to help you to keep moving forward.

Next, you should inquire about how much of a financial investment is required to get started. In most cases you should be able to start an online business for less than $100 startup cost.

Last, but certainly not least, be sure the company is offering a money back guarantee. Let's face it- no opportunity is for everyone. You may need a little time to figure out if the one you selected was right for you.

Taking these few precautions should remove at least some of the doubt and anxiety you may feel over getting started. Just remember back on your first day at work on your present job or business. Chances are you did not have all the answers then as you probably won't here either.

How To Add Some Character To Your Marketing Campaign by Robert Greenshields

Once upon a time, there was an entrepreneur who wanted to reach all the customers in the land.

You already want to know more, don't you? Was this person male or female? Was s/he my age, younger, or older? Was s/he honest, hard working, and down-to-earth, or just a polished and slick snake-oil salesman? Did s/he reach the largest customer base in the land? And if s/he did, how can I do it, too?

Your prospective customers are people, just like you. They want to know more when faced with a rare - but very effective - technique of great copywriters. It's sometimes called "the character formula," and you can begin now to put it to work for you.

A great advertising man of the 1950s, Leo Burnett believed in what he caled "inherent drama." He said that every product or service, no matter how boring it might first appear, had an inherent quality that could be highlighted to attract its customers. He knew that people are attracted to stories. They want to experience new characters and encounter mystery, romance, and anything different from their usual experiences.

He knew what great moviemakers know, that history and folklore provide the characters that will trigger a viewer's interest. At the heart of inherent drama is the character used to represent a product or service. Burnett is probably most famous for his creation of the "Marlboro Man." Marlboro was a minor cigarette brand, until this character made it a big seller.

Leo Burnett also created such characters as the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and Tony the Tiger. He was quoted as saying, "Make it simple; make it memorable; make it inviting to look at; make it fun to read." It's clear he did all of that when he created these characters that are forever part of Western pop culture.

Thirty years earlier, another marketing legend created a concept of character that can be used for any sort of business there is. Maxwell Sackheim made a character out of his client, the advertiser. He wrote his ads as if the clients themselves were talking.

Here's part of a letter he wrote for his client Frank E. Davis, a.k.a. The Gloucester Fisherman:

"There is no use trying. I've tried and tried to tell people about my fish, but I wasn't rigged out to be an ad writer...I can close-haul a sail with the best of them. I know how to pick out the best fish of the catch. I know just which fish will make the tastiest mouthfuls, but I'll never learn the knack of writing an ad that will tell people why my kind of fish...is lots better than the ordinary store kind.

"I can't explain it; but at least you can taste the difference. So you won't mind, will you, if I ship some of my fish direct to your home? It won't cost you anything unless you feel like keeping it..."

This letter, and others like it, sold tens of thousands of tubs of fish across the country. It succeeded because of the authentic character of the Gloucester Fisherman and Sackheim's technique of letting that character communicate directly to the consumer.

Try this for yourself. Tell people who you are and what you have to offer them. Or maybe you are a professional marketer, but your clients aren't. Let them talk "person-to-person" - by direct mail, an open letter in the newspaper, or online - with the customers they're trying to reach. That way, the entrepreneur can reach all the customers of the land, and you just might live "happily ever after."

Debunking The Myths Surrounding Hypnosis by Robert Greenshields

Have you ever been to a fair and watched a hypnosis presentation? Or perhaps you've seen one on television. You know the type, where someone crows every time they hear a particular word or some other nonsense. This sort of presentation has diminished the potential usefulness of hypnosis, reducing it to merely a form of entertainment instead of the powerful learning and behavior modification tool it could actually be. Hypnosis modifies the way we think, and as such can be a tool that strips away our unproductive thinking habits and helps us get to the root of a solution. This article will provide a little information about the true nature of hypnosis and hopefully help debunk the myths so you can consider whether it might be a good tool to help you reach your own goals.

Hypnosis induces a state of mind that is similar to when we are in a light sleep. Although a person who has been hypnotized might appear to be unaware of the reality around them, they are in fact more aware, more focused and more willing to accept changes in their lives. Under hypnosis you are able to experience thought without the usual series of critical and judgemental thoughts.

Hypnosis is capable of working very quickly. Since at least 80% of our habits and behaviors are controlled by the unconscious, it would just make sense to attack a problem at its root and deal with it on a unconscious level; this is one of the main practical benefits of hypnosis.

It is a popular belief that hypnosis puts a person into a trance where their mind and behavior can be programmed. Of course, if this were true, it would be right to be very wary of any individual who wanted to put us "under" hypnosis. But in reality, a person is merely more open to suggestion and will not do anything they do not believe is right at the time. Hypnosis allows a person to explore their own unconscious without conscious thoughts impairing the process. Because of this, hypnosis can be used effectively to help people clarify and set goals, as well as the more well-known behavior changes like weight loss and smoking cessation.

Become A Conqueror By Facing The Sun by Robert Greenshields

When Alexander the Great and his huge army had conquered much of the known world of the day he looked around and wept. "There are no more worlds to conquer," he said. We may view this as an enviable position, to have won all our battles and have no more to face. But in this day and age it may seem like a situation we'll never experience. Battles sometimes face us everywhere, but without a plan for facing them it seems unlikely we will find much success. This article will explore a few simple plans which might help you conquer your own worlds.

It is a well documented truth that when you keep your face to the sun, the shadows will all fall behind you. What does that teach us about life? Perhaps it is as simple as facing your problems head on. Conversely, if you turn your back to the sun, all you will see is shadows. Either method is a choice each of us can consciously make when dealing with life's problems. Many people choose to turn their backs to a problem, or at least not take a realistic view of it, and see everything in a negative light. Others seek to understand the truth about a problem, to stare it in the face and fully understand it; these are like the people who turn to face the sun and leave the shadows of doubt, fear and failure behind.

If you can face and finally be rid of your problems, you will finally experience the freedom which ultimately leads you to true success.

Here is a simple three step process to help you face your problems straight on:

1. Analyze each situation with a calm and cool head. Turn it inside out and explore its true nature. Don't give into an emotional reaction.

2. Understand that many problems could have been worse. Be thankful for the things that didn't happen and embrace any good you can find in a difficult situation.

3. Be patient in finding the good within a situation, it may not appear right away. Sometimes the good is revealed in a flash and other times it will appear more gradually. It could even appear years down the line.

Perhaps if you learn to face all of your problems and eliminate them one by one, some day you will find yourself in a position to echo Alexander's famous lament.

Copywriting Secrets - How To Write Killer Website Copy by Alex Cleanthous

I always get the same question when it comes to website design...

"Is website copy really that important?"

Well, if you're interested in actually making a profit from anything you do online, it's CRITICAL that you have killer website copy!

Now I know what you're probably thinking...

What is killer website copy?

Writing killer website copy simply means using words on your website that are SO GOOD that anyone who is interested in what you are selling is COMPELLED to do business with you... right now!

The best way to write copy for your website is to imagine you are right there with your prospect selling him / her on the benefits of doing business with your company over all others.

Here's a quick exercise...

Imagine you have a 'hot' lead that is ready to buy and is enquiring about what you are selling...

Imagine that you only have one chance to convince them that your offering is the best in the market...

What would you say?

How would you say it?

What would you have to say to convince somebody to buy from you right here, right now?

Write the answers to the above questions down. This is your sales presentation.

Now that you have the answers to the above questions, you need to answer the objections as well. Remember, you are not actually there with them, but they will definitely have objections.

You only have one opportunity to get them to buy your offering. And if you leave any objections unanswered, you risk losing them forever.

So what would the possible objections be? Write them down.

And how would you answer them? Write down your answers.

Then combine your sales presentation with your objection handling and you have your core sales pitch.

Now it's time to rewrite your copy.

Go over the entire copy and rewrite it so it flows. And when you are rewriting the copy the most important thing to remember is to...

KEEP IT CONVERSATIONAL!

Don't write like you are a big institution (unless you are). You will get far greater results by writing like you talk.

Write like you are sitting right there with them 'talking' to them. Use stories, examples, sub-headings, bullets and, most importantly, a headline.

Usually, I recommend writing at least 50 to 100 different versions of a headline and then selecting the best headline from the list.

IMPORTANT...

The headline is the most important part of your website because it is reason that most of your website visitors will continue to read your sales copy. Without a great headline, hardly anybody will read your website copy.

Breaking Down Goals Into Attainable Steps by Robert Greenshields

Everywhere you look people are telling you to set goals. But maybe it hasn't worked for you and you're wondering why you should bother. How do you set goals that are important, worthwhile, and attainable? How can you set up your goals to provide you with the success you've been looking for? This article will help you review what goals will mean something to you if you achieve them, and show how you can break them down into manageable, measurable steps.

First take a look at the big picture. What do you want to do with your life? Imagine you are listening to your own eulogy, what does it contain? Does it read the way you would have liked it to read? Transfer the things you would like to hear in your eulogy into life goals. These are the things you truly find important in your life.

The next step would be to break down your life goals into smaller pieces, targets you can aim at and hit to reach your lifetime goals. You might have a lifetime goal to have several close friends and a large family, but what are the steps that will get you there? Once you've broken down the steps can they be reduced into even smaller steps? You might find steps which will take a few years, and those steps can be broken into portions that take a few months. The goals that will take a few months can be broken into smaller and smaller steps, and each smaller step can be a goal.

Once you have your goals broken down into the smallest steps possible, write them down. State each goal as a positive statement, since it is much easier to "do" something than to "don't do it". Instead of saying, "I won't eat junk food," say something in the affirmative like, "I eat healthy foods". A goal like this can then be broken into measurable steps like eating one serving of fruit each day. Measurable steps allow you to know when you are accomplishing your goal. The question, "Did I eat one serving of fruit today?" can be answered more precisely than, "Did I not eat any junk food?" Well maybe you didn't eat anything too terrible, but it would be much harder to fudge on a goal as precise as eating one serving of fruit. Either you did or you didn't, easy as that.

Using Autoresponders Responsibly, Using Free Autoresponders and Invoicing with Autoresponders by olga bakk

In today's world of unsolicited email and spam laws, it is extremely important that you learn to use your autoresponder responsibly. Autoresponders make our lives much simpler, and they are very powerful marketing tools, but if they are used in a way that they are not intended, they can quickly turn your life into a nightmare!

First, never add people to your autoresponder mailing list that should not be there. If they have requested information from you, they should automatically be added, and you should have a "double opt-in" method in place to make them confirm that they have requested the information. This serves to protect you and them.

Each autoresponder message should include a link that the recipient can click that will automatically remove them from the mailing list. Without this link, you will be breaking the spam laws, and you risk having your website, your ISP service, your email, and your autoresponders shut down!

We all want to build a list of a million people, but you must do so responsibly, and it does take time. Don't get in a hurry and break all the rules and laws in an attempt to build a large list. This will only result in losing your list altogether!

Using Free Autoresponders

If you've looked at the prices of autoresponders that are available online, you may have decided to search for and use a free autoresponder for your marketing needs. Using free autoresponders is acceptable in certain situations, and in the world of Internet marketing, any autoresponder is better than not using an autoresponder at all!

Your first option for a free autoresponder should be the one that comes with your webhosting account; if you have a webhosting account. These autoresponders can easily be set up through the control panel of your website, and they do not contain advertisements from the autoresponder company or webhosting service. If you do not have a hosting account, or your hosting account does not include autoresponders, there are other options that you can pursue.

There are many free autoresponder services to choose from. These services are free, because the company makes their money by placing a small advertisement in each message that your autoresponder sends out. These advertisements may appear at the top of your auto responses, or at the bottom, depending on which company you use.

Many paid autoresponder services offer a free version as well. These free versions may or may not include advertisements in the outgoing messages. These lighter versions of the paid autoresponders typically do not include many of the powerful features of the paid versions. But if you don't need the more advanced features, this is a great choice.

Most free autoresponders have a limit on the number of subscribers you can have. Many people start out with the limited free versions, and then upgrade to the paid versions once their lists are large enough to exceed those limits. Many marketers don't feel that the expense of the autoresponder is warranted until the list that they are building is turning a profit. From a business standpoint, this makes sense.

As the owner of a business, you are the only one who can decide whether you need a paid autoresponder service, or if a free one will do the job. If your list is small, a free autoresponder should do everything that you need it to do, but as your list grows, you should definitely consider upgrading. However, having the small advertisements that the free services place in the outgoing messages may present a problem if the ads compete with what you are trying to sell. They may even pose a problem if they do not directly compete with your product or business. Again, this depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your autoresponder.

Invoicing with Autoresponders

If you have recurring invoices that you send out, you can easily automate this process with autoresponders. Many business owners find that they spend a good portion the day sending out invoices, or trying to collect on unpaid invoices! This can easily eat into the time that you could be spending generating new business.

If the amounts invoiced are the same each month, and due on the same day each week or month, you can easily automate the invoicing process with the use of an autoresponder. Many shopping carts that have autoresponders built in work well for this. Others may take a little time to set up, but in the end, they will save a great deal of time overall.

Get extra usage out of the automated invoicing process by adding small messages to the invoices that alert these clients to new products or services that you offer. Think about your phone bill; doesn't your phone company send out additional sales material with each bill? There is no reason you shouldn't use this same marketing technique with your autoresponder invoices!

Guaranteeing Your Failure in the Mortgage Business by Tom Domin

If you've been in this business for any length of time, you know what a great business this can be. If you're struggling...you need to ask yourself why?

Let's be clear on one thing before we go any further...

There is no one that is preventing you from succeeding. That's right...there's no one standing in your way, not rising interest rates, the fed chairman, your boss, your co-workers, your spouse, your friends...or anyone else for that matter.

No one of course...except you!

You have total control. Other people succeed, so can you can succeed...period...the end. The only thing stopping you is you.

So, let's talk about how you can easily screw up your plans.

If you spend time talking about your big plans for succeeding in your own business you're telegraphing an important message to everyone you mention it to...that you're looking for everyone to approve your plans. You're looking for approval and acceptance without realizing it.

What else does it telegraph? It says that you have absolutely no confidence in yourself. You need to keep your plans to yourself and discuss them only with trusted advisers and partners who are as successful as you want to be.

If other people say you can't do it...especially family members or friends...listen to their point of view, but ignore them. That's right...ignore them. Do it nicely, but ignore them.

If they say you're a dreamer...you're un-realistic...it really means then that you have talked too much about your plans and already wasted a lot of energy. Yes I know...It's pretty hard to convince someone that you can make your living in the mortgage business if you haven't done it yet! So...don't waste your time.

Here are a couple of good rules to follow:

First, don't tell anyone that you want to make lots of money originating mortgages (even though you can), and all of the details on how you're going to do it.

Second, don't discuss your failures and your successes with anyone either.

So why is it that your own family members sometimes try to reduce your ambitions and expectations when it comes to starting your own business or doing something different?

Because it's scary for them.

They like you just the way you are. If you suddenly become successful, they think you'll be different somehow.

The key is...they resist change. On the other hand, you need to embrace change in order to be successful in the mortgage business. That's a huge difference.

Let's look at this scenario:

You mention to a family member that you intend to start or expand your mortgage business either part-time or full-time. No matter what you say at this point, their response is: Are you crazy? How much is this going to cost? You better go out and get a job.

Yes...you'll have enough to deal with...and there will be a number of little failures along the way. But, you'll have lots of successes too.

The biggest reasons for not doing well in this business are:

1. Talking too much about what you are going to do, instead of just going ahead and doing it.
2. Blaming others and not taking responsibility for everything that happens in your life.
3. Not spending at least an hour each day studying the mortgage business.
4. Not setting goals and a plan that enables you to reach those goals and measure your progress.
5. Failing to prospect a little every single day.
6. Failing to invest in tools that can assist you in your mortgage business.

The Mortgage Business offers huge opportunities. I hope you're not sitting on the side lines and watching it go bye!

Advertising Agencies & The Internet - The Contrast Principal! by Paul Ashby

If you have ever listened to one of those Internet Advertising Geeks you will understand completely what I have to say next.

They talk so much gobbledegook that when they say that they can advertise your product on Web 2.0 you become pathetically grateful.

Well they talk like that so as to make the job seem harder and more expensive and the end result looks like a miracle.

There is nothing more dangerous in Advertising than their ability to think delusional. My working experience with advertising figures suggested that they had repeated the optimistic lines about their performance so often that they themselves actually believed them! And nothing in advertising is more dangerous than delusion.

And so to day it is almost an article of faith among advertising people that advertising will not change because "it works"!

However facing the truth is the first essential step in devising a sensible strategy for the perpetuation of advertising.

But even if the most optimistic spin on the benefits of advertising were true, which they're not I hasten to add, they would still be facing a major problem! And that is the way they obtain their financial rewards militate against them ever changing the current system!

As one large Client recently explained: "In to day's marketing landscape, building a brand is about a whole lot more than advertising. An advertising agency alone cannot deliver everything we need - even though agencies may claim to deliver this, it's a myth".

He argues that the cultural weakness of agencies explain why they have struggled to develop their own digital capabilities".

However agencies are fighting back in their own nonsensical way, John O'Keeffe, executive creative director at BBH is sceptical that there is anything unique about digital marketing skills. "There is a very, very simple truth to all this," said O'Keeffe recently. "Nothing is more important than the idea. The people who espouse the view that digital specialists have some kind of technological advantage are diminishing in number. It's just not the case."

He added: "The technology is functionally very simple. It's not difficult to find the right button. What's difficult, and what's always been difficult, is getting people who can have great creative ideas."

See what I mean about delusional?

They never address the problem of "communication", they still waffle on about "Kreative"! There has been around for years a system that is far more effective than advertising, it is totally accountable and would allow Clients to, literally halve their advertising budget, it was immediately killed by Advertising Agencies because it would have depleted their huge profit structure!

If there is an Advertising Agency out there searching around for a mission statement, here is a suggestion. Come down off your high horse of superiority and confront your most important asset (no it is most certainly not your creative director!) it's us, the people who you want to buy the products that you advertise.

On no account use Focus Groups because they have been completely discredited as a complete sham and will not give you the answers you need!

And then interact with us...I guarantee that you'll be horrified and surprised by the outcome.

Oh...and by the way "creative" has never been the sole criterion for the success or otherwise of an advertising campaign...and don't you forget that either!

The Spoils and Pitfalls of Joint Ventures by Justin Bryce

If you are a small business owner or thinking of becoming one, you have probably heard the term "joint venture" or JV. All this means is a partnership between businesses that have specific interests in mind, such as combining their strengths or sharing their customers. When two parties enter into a joint venture, they are actually creating a new business entity entirely.

The term joint venture does not in fact refer to this new entity but to the reason for the partnership. Also, there are no legal limits on who can enter into a JV -- anyone can, including individuals, corporations, websites and small local businesses.

The most common type of joint venture is between two large companies. They enter into them most often to break into a new or specific market. There are countries that demand any foreign interest entering their economy first enter into a JV with a native company. Still, even if it's not a prerequisite, foreign companies can greatly benefit from having an interested party located in-country. The local office can keep a better eye on the social, economic and political situations there.

Joint ventures can create amazing possibilities for two entities -- as long as they are taken seriously. Many small businesses and new entrepreneurs find entering into a JV an attractive option in order to build their customer base or offer new products or services.

Let's say you are a software engineer who knows how to fix many of the bugs that plague computers. You have advertised your services, but you just aren't getting much business. You know that there is a store down the street that sells computers, but doesn't offer repair services, so you approach them about a joint venture. They will benefit by no longer turning people away who need repairs, and you will start making money doing what you love.

Although joint ventures offer a great many benefits to all parties involved, they can be disastrous if they're taken too lightly. Small businesses that are able to successfully enter into joint ventures generally possess five common characteristics: 1) Creativity; 2) Persistence; 3) Visualization skills; 4) Negotiation skills; 5) Client relationship skills.

Creativity is a key skill in successfully seeking out and developing joint ventures. You must be able to see all the ways that your business could fit into various joint ventures. There are joint venture possibilities for virtually anyone and any kind of business if you know where -- and how -- to look. Creativity is also important when you're explaining the benefits of a joint venture to a potential business partner.

Persistence will come in especially handy as you begin to explain your ideas to those you'd like to partner with. This is especially true if you're approaching other small businesses who may not understand how joint ventures work.

Visualization is important because you've got to be able to see how your end of the joint venture will fit together with your partner's end. The two parts must lock together like pieces of a puzzle to form one cohesive picture. If you can't see that picture, your venture will have very little chance of succeeding.

You need to expect a lot of negotiation with your partner while you're laying out your business plan and detailed agreement documents. You want to protect your interests, and of course your partner wants exactly the same thing. Sometimes you will disagree, and you must be willing to show determination and not give in to undesirable conditions. You must be prepared for some serious discussion.

When all that is said and done, you'll need to start thinking about your client relationships. Clients are often put off by the thought of a joint venture, thinking that your business, products or services are going to change or become pricier. To make sure that you continue to gain, not lose, clients, you'll need to nurture them and make sure they understand what the new entity means for them. If you attend to your clients, not only will they remain loyal to you, you will also find out which parts of your new endeavor they respond to best.

Joint ventures offer great opportunities for those who enter into them thoughtfully, carefully and properly. If you do your research and make sure to uphold your end of the bargain, it's likely you and your partner will find great success.

Message Boards: Using Online Communities for Internet Marketing by Dominique W. Brooks, MD

Internet marketing is a very broad term and as the number of Internet marketers have grown, more methods to contact clients and drive traffic have been discovered. Banner advertisements, website promotion, search engine optimization, email marketing and affiliate marketing are all basic marketing concepts of Internet marketing but there is even more to Internet marketing. Promoting your website or business on message boards is one such method. In fact this is one of the simplest and least expensive Internet marketing options available. This article will examine how savvy business owners can use Internet message boards wisely. It will also explain how message boards can be misused and rendered ineffective as well.

What is a Message Board and How to Use It? Message boards are essentially online meeting places. In general most message boards are focused on a particular niche subject and encourage those who share an interest in this particular subject to get together to discuss relevant issues, ask questions, provide advice and even just socialize. Message boards can focus on any subject imaginable: a particular baseball team or just the sport of baseball in general. Message boards can also focus on subjects such as politics, television shows, bands, current events, jobs, hobbies or bascially anything. Savvy Internet marketers can take advantage of these message boards to reach a target audience without investing a great deal of money.

Consider a business in which the focus of the business is to assist people in finding jobs which offer telecommute options. The concept of working from home is becoming increasingly popular and there are many websites which focus on this subject. Likewise there are also many message boards devoted to the topic of working from home. Here those with an interest in the subject meet to discuss issues such as finding employment where working from home is an option, working around the schedule of your children, setting up a home office, dealing with friends or family members who don't respect your working hours and paying taxes on freelance assignments. A business owner who actively participates in this message board can take the opportunity to post a link to his website when it is relevant and offers something of value to the conversation. This is worthwhile because the message board features a high concentration of your target audience members.

Finding a Message Board... Since there are many message boards to choose from, one simple way to find a message board to post to is to search Google, Yahoo, or other search engines for your topic of interest. There will be many on each topic to select and you may want to check out the traffic to that message board. If the last post was made 8 months ago, you might not want to spend too much time with that particular board. It doesn't mean that you may not make a post there. However, you need to concentrate on message boards that have regular and steady traffic to be most effective.

Follow the Rules or Be Banned! When using message boards to promote your business, it is important to ensure you are following the rules associated with the message boards. Message boards may have restrictions regarding the posting of links and failure to abide by these restrictions may result in you being banned from the message board. Therefore, it is important for anyone who is interested in using message boards for promotion of their business to carefully read the user agreement to ensure they are not violating any of the rules. It is also important to simply use common sense when promoting your business on a message board. Just because the rules do not restrict posting links, does not mean you should spam the board with your link. Take care to only include your link when it is relevant. This will prevent message board users from assuming your link is just worthless spam.

Common Courtesy Goes Far Finally, when using message boards to promote your business it is important to be courteous to other message board users and to keep all posts professional. This is important because you and your business are much more likely to be taken seriously if you act professionally and responsibly. You should maintain this degree of professionalism even in posts which do not include your business link. This is important because other message board participants will remember you by your user name and will not be likely to take you seriously if you have previously made posts which were offensive, mean spirited or inaccurate. For this reason it is important to act as a representative from your company at all times.

Using message boards can be an effective method of Internet marketing if you just use a little common sense and knowledge and passion about your chosen subject.

Branding Company Benefits by Scott White

Business large and small should consider hiring a professional branding company. A branding company brings a lot to the table. First and foremost they bring a third party objective point of view that a business is unable to obtain. The old saying holds true, you can't see the forest through the trees. But how do you choose the right branding company? Ask yourself these questions.

How do they promote themselves? Are they calling themselves an advertising agency that also does branding? If so, they are not a true branding agency. An advertising agency has a hidden agenda, to sell advertising. A branding company does not favor one tactic over another so they should not and would not promote advertising unless it is the right direction to go in. Be careful of these ad agencies that say they do branding. It is much easier to use a buzz word like branding then to actual know how to brand properly.

Are they a web design company that says they do branding? These are the absolute worst offenders of not being a branding company. Ask them simple branding questions like what is positioning or explain the difference between brand identity and brand image. Most will not even know the answer. Then you can ask them a trick question like define brand equity (currently there is no definitive answer). Web design companies are well, web designers. They are not strategic branding experts by any stretch of the imagination.

Are they a marketing company that says the do branding? Be very careful of marketing companies as they are the sneakiest offenders of all. They will talk strategy and integration but they know little about internal branding. They typically promote external branding tactics like direct marketing, logo design, advertising etc. Marketing companies do marketing not branding.

Are they a direct marketing company that says they do branding? Boy oh boy, these companies are so far from true branding they wouldn't know it if it hit them in the noggin. Direct marketing can be a great tactic but branding it is not. True branding companies only promote direct marketing when the return on investments warrants it. The average return on investment with a direct mail piece is a half to a full percent. Personally I think that is a small return for the investment required which is why direct marketing is typically used as image building with branding companies.

Are they a search engine optimization or internet company that says they do branding? Internet marketing is one of the most effective returns on investment in the business today. Search engine optimization is probably the best single tactic for building brand awareness and sales and is the reason we hired a staff of SEO gurus. But when it comes to branding they will fall very short in planning, strategy, creative and many other areas.

Are they are branding company that really does branding? Unfortunately we have seen a lot of companies call themselves branding agencies but in all reality they are not. So how do you know how to choose the right branding company?

Ask them the following:

What types of services or programs do they have established for internal branding? Internal branding is often overlooked by every other type of company out there. It is a great indicator that you are not really dealing with a true branding company. Sure external branding is exciting and fun but if employees do not buy into it or unaware of it you are going to find yourself in big trouble as well as having wasted tens of thousands of dollars on your external campaign. Look inside yourself and make sure you have set up the right policies and procedures that best leverage your brand identity and positioning. For instance, Volvo the automobile is clearly the safety car company. Their employees should eat breath and sleep safety, safety features, safety technology etc. They should know their brand promise and how it relates to their customers. This is why even though Volvo is probably not the safest car on the road they are perceived to be. Ask ten people what's the first thing they think of when it comes to Volvo and the answer will be safety.

Once you have confirmed that the branding company does instill internal branding practices then you can move forward with them on strategic direction and planning. Look for companies that only recommend tactics that will obtain the best return on investment and not canned specific tactics like advertising or direct marketing. You want open objective strategies and tactics to move your brand forward which is why choosing the right branding company is so critical.

Top 7 Tips To Be Great Public Speaker by Kevin Stirtz

Public speaking is one of the best ways to promote your business, your career or your organization. There is an endless number of groups looking for informative and entertaining speakers. You can be one of them! And when you wow an audience, they want more. It's a perfect way to build awareness, gain credibility and generate new leads for your business.

This article gives you seven top tips straight from a professional who's been there. They are road-tested and proven tools to help you become a great public speaker.

1. It's ALL about your audience.

You are there for them. (They are not there for your gain.) Whatever you do, your intent and focus needs to be 100% on your audience. Help them, entertain them, inform them, inspire them.

2. Always play to win.

Have something worthwhile to say (that they will want to hear) and be able to say it well. Half-way efforts don't count. Public speaking is a pass or fail deal. Always be prepared to hit the ball out of the park. No exceptions.

3. Entertain and inform.

There are plenty of boring speakers. Don't be one of them. Use humor and stories and fun to make your presentations sparkle. And give them enough solid information to make it worth their time. Enable them to leave with something they can use to improve their lives.

4. Use stories. (Your stories.)

Stories are not just for kids. Everyone loves a story. Just make sure it's fun and relevant. And , for the most part, use your own stories. It's okay to sue some that you hear about from others. But if you use too many, you'll risk sounding like every other speaker who sues those stories. Use your own and you'll always be unique.

5. Use personal examples to illustrate your points.

Dig into your life for real examples to help you demonstrate concepts or illustrate points. People learn in different ways and real life examples are a great way to help people understand and remember your points.

6. Get them involved.

Forget the lectures we all had in high school or college. People don't want to be talked at. Ask questions and expect answers. Then use those answers to further a point if applicable. Make it a two-way exchange of information and you'll connect with more people.

7. Show them the dream.

We all have dreams. We all aspire to something greater than what or where we are. One of the reasons people enjoy great public speakers is they show them the dream. And they help them believe it's possible. Help your audience see their dream better. Help them believe they can take steps to accomplish their dream. Do that and you'll win new friends for life.

How Do Your Prospects See You? by Kevin Stirtz

Not long ago I was talking with a person I mentor. She is new to her business and new to direct sales, so we spent some time discussing how the selling was going. Although she was getting positive responses (and making sales) she wondered if she could be doing better.

By way of background, she lives and runs her business in a small town on the edge of our metro area. It' s a stand-alone town that has become a suburb. But there's still a strong sense of independence there, a sense of community that says "we're not a part of the big city".

Many people who own businesses there get called on by a never-ending stream of salespeople from "the big city".

The lady I was working with sells a service many of these business owners could use. After talking with her, we both concluded that a lot of the people she called on might assume she was just another one of "those city people". If they didn't already know her, this might be a natural thing to assume.

If they did see her as a salesperson from the "city" then they were more likely to be cold and resistant to talking with her. They labeled her as "one of them."

So we talked about ways she might prevent this labeling. Anything she could do to let people know she was one of them (and not a big city salesperson) would help her break the ice with her prospects. For example, she might wear a shirt with their town name on it. Or she could talk about any local activities her family was involved in. Maybe start the conversation talking about the local happenings. I suggested she get good at dropping names of local people who are well-known in her town.

How do your prospects see you?

If your prospects see you as just another face in a long line of salespeople calling on them, you'll get resistance. This is especially true if you're in a highly competitive business or one where your prospects get a lot of sales calls.

On the other hand, if your prospects see you as like them or part of their "group" (such as being local rather than being from the city) they might treat you better. They'll probably be more willing to talk with you. Their natural sales defense shields will not be as strong nor will they stay up as long.

The key is to find ways to get "on the same side of the fence" as your prospect. The more they see you as similar to them, the more quickly they'll trust you and accept you. The faster you can begin to develop a relationship that may lead to doing business with them.

What can you do to help your prospects see you in the best light? How can you get on the "same side of the fence" as they are so you can start building a relationship better and faster?

If you manage salespeople, how can you help them break down some the pre-conceived ideas that they may be victim to as they call on new prospects?

13 Top Tips For Better Cold Calling Results by Kevin Stirtz

I know most of us hate cold calling. But for many businesses it can be a cost-effective way to generate quality leads.

If cold calling is accepted in your industry then you should consider making it a prospecting tool. A benefit is that you connect directly with people who are likely to need or want what you offer. And, because cold calling is an active form of prospecting you can use it to fill holes in your pipeline when other lead generating methods are falling short.

So, if you decide to make cold calling part of your lead generating system, here are some ideas to do it as productively as possible.

Have a Goal for Your Cold Calling Program

Before you even start your calling, know what your goal is. Is it to obtain or confirm information? To further qualify them? To schedule a meeting? To close a sale? Whatever your specific goals are, they should include moving your leads through your sales cycle.

Have a Lot of Leads

Jeff Mayer (www.succeedinginbusiness.com) mentions this in his book, Overcoming the Fear of Cold Calling and I think he's right. The more people you talk with, the less important any one of them will be to you. What's important is finding those people who want to do business with you. The disappointment of hearing a "no" from someone is a lot easier to take when you know you have a long list of other people to talk with.

Qualify (or Pre-Qualify) Your Leads

Before you start calling people, make sure they meet your criteria for a qualified lead. Or at least make sure they meet as many criteria as possible. Focus your calls on people who appear to have a need for what you do. Forget the rest. Your time is valuable. Don't waste it on people who don't fit your profile.

Be Persistent But Don't Be a Pest

Speaking about not wasting time, don't waste too much time pursuing any one lead. This is another good point Jeff Mayer made when we spoke about this. His advice is to make no more than 2-3 calls to a cold lead and if you do not connect with them, forget them. Or, put them back at the bottom of the list so you don't spend your precious time on people who simply are not reachable. They might become reachable in the future. Or they might not.

Either way, understand and accept they are not reachable right not so don't spend your time on them.

Get Them Talking with Good Questions

We all know cold calls tend to be the world's shortest phone calls. It seems the people we call all know how to stop a salesperson dead in their tracks. (I think they take classes to learn these sales-defense techniques.)

The key in making cold calling productive is to get past the initial defenses raised by the prospect and get them talking. Before you start calling, have a list of questions in front of you. Make sure these questions are relevant to the situation and help you move toward your goal.

Your Call is an Interruption. Get Over It.

Don't apologize for calling someone. Sure you're interrupting them. So what. Every thing's an interruption these days. We're all busy.

But we all have problems and issues that need solutions. Successful business people know their businesses need input, ideas, products and services from others. No person or business is an island. So if you have pre-qualified your leads and you're calling them with a legitimate product or solution they could use then don't apologize. You're presenting something of value.

Don't Waste Time

If the person you're calling says they're not interested right now, don't waste your time or theirs trying to "overcome their objection." I know we are taught to push through the first couple of objections to get a close but that tactic is best left for a face to face meeting. On a cold phone call it's okay for them to say "no" because they probably do not have a need or interest right now. Or the timing is not right. Or they simply do not know you well enough to say "yes".

But, if you can get them talking about their business as it relates to your product or service, you have a better chance of breaking through their defenses and getting them to commit to the next step is in your sales cycle.

Remember Why You're Calling

When you're cold calling it's easy to get distracted by rejection or by people who want to talk about things that do not help you reach your goal. Remember, you're calling for a reason. Stay focused on that reason. Write it down and keep it in front of you if that helps. Don't allow yourself to get distracted.

Schedule Your Calling

Set aside a block of time when you'll make your calls. This helps get you started and not get side-tracked by other things that come up during the day. You might vary the time from day to day to see what works best. Also, it's best to not take incoming calls while cold calling.

Manage Your Activities and Monitor Your Outcomes

Because cold calling often yields a low percentage return it's easy to lose motivation and feel like you're not getting anywhere. Remember, though we control our actions, we cannot control the results of our actions. So, focusing on the results too much can be unproductive since you have no direct control over them. Instead, focus on your inputs (your activities). Then observe the results of those activities, but don't get too tied up with them.

A good way to do this is to set an activity goal for each time you cold call. Maybe your goal is 25 calls a day. Do that for a week or two and see what your results are. If the results are what you want, keep doing it at that level. If the results are not what you want, then change your activities or your activity level.

Warm Up First

If the very thought of cold calling sends chills up and down your spine then make your first call to a friend or customer with whom you already have a good relationship. This will relax you and get you used to talking on the phone. Then you can transfer the good karma from that phone call to your first cold call.

Use a Script but Don't be a Robot

My favorite actors are those who ad lib their roles. Sure, they start with a script but they go beyond that. They become the character and they add their unique personality to the role. When cold calling use a script to guide your words and your delivery. But don't read any script word for word. If you do, you'll sound like a robot, not an intelligent professional.

Ask For a Commitment

Finally, the most important part of your call: asking for a commitment. One of the worst time-wasters for salespeople is when leads tell us they're interested but they really are not. They'll say something like "Yeah I'm interested. Call me back in a few days/weeks/months". Often we'll spend a lot of time trying to connect with and close these people but we get nowhere.

The problem is people are nice. They don't want to hurt our feelings by saying "no". It's easy to say you're interested and then ask someone to do the work of following up. This puts the entire burden on the salesperson. For many people, it's easier than saying "no".

An effective way to prevent this is to get them to commit to something. If they're willing to commit something then it's more likely they are interested in working with you. You might ask to schedule a meeting. Or maybe you're asking them to commit to a call back at a specific day and time. Some people even ask for a commitment before they send information.

Conclusion

Your goal is to move the person on the other end of the phone forward in your sales cycle, move them to a lower priority or get rid of them. You want to filter out the leads who don't fit and identify those who do. Then you can focus your time better on people who are more likely to do business with you.

A well-managed cold calling system can be a fantastic source of qualified leads for your business. So, if cold calling fits your industry or profession and if your pipeline has some empty space that needs filling, take a look at what an effective cold calling program can do for you.

Selling Success Secrets: How To Keep Your Customers For Life by Kevin Stirtz

There's a cartoon that says a lot about the real role salespeople play.

It shows a king in his castle, about to be overwhelmed by an enemy force (carrying bows and arrows). The king's assistant is tapping him on the shoulder to let him know a salesman is waiting to see him. The king tells him he's too busy to talk to a salesman right now. However, this particular salesman was selling machine guns.

Oops!

This cartoon points out the essence of the salesperson in two ways.

First, the salesperson should find a prospect or customer who really needs what he or she is selling. Bingo! This salesman hit the nail right on the head.

Second (and this is the biggest challenge), he or she has to find a way to get his customer (or prospect) to change his current priority system. Sure, the prospect is busy and has no interest in talking with another salesman. But, as this cartoon makes clear, there are often very good reasons to stop what you're doing and talk to the salesperson. (The consequences could be dramatic!)

This is why we will always need salespeople. No matter how good we are at making decisions, we will never be perfect. We will never have all the facts about new trends, new products and new ways of doing things.

We will always have our own priorities that divert our attention from the world around us, a world we need to stay in touch with if we are to survive and thrive.

A professional salesperson will help us stay in touch with changes in our world and help us find ways to better manage our companies so we can continue pursuing our goals and our missions. They'll help us sort out what matters and what does not, what is worth our time and what isn't.

An effective salesperson will find ways to connect with us so we'll listen to them. They'll get us to stop for a moment and consider what they're saying. They'll help us trust them so we'll believe what they say. They can become trusted advisors and important factors in the success of an organization.

Stay Focused and Motivated by Brian Queenan

Here's what I see with the majority of Internet marketer wannabes. They throw up a website and are very excited at the prospect of making easy money on the Internet. They spend a ton of money on information about the subject and begin to learn it and then realize that it's not so easy after all.

They find that it's time consuming and a whole lot of work and nothing like they originally thought it would be. They think to themselves that they don't want to do what they have learned because they don't want to consume all of their time between working their day job and then have to spend a lot of hours to get their home based Internet marketing business running and making money. They become overwhelmed with all of the information coming at them and they finally quit and feel that they have been ripped off.

The shame of it is that they spent all that time and money on a losing venture. It's time for the marketer to take responsibility for his or her own actions. The failure never comes from the information that is given. It comes from within us. We fail because we choose to fail. I will admit that there is a lot of garbage information out there. However; there is a lot of straight forward information out there as well. Most Internet marketing wannabes don't want to use the real information because it's too much work and it takes longer to make money going that route.

Now that I have ranted, here's the point. You have to stay focused and motivated to get where you want to go. No-one can teach you this but you can change your attitude about how you approach your online business. It takes more than just sitting down and learning how to run an online business. It takes focus, motivation, and dogged persistence.

To stay focused and motivated you need to change the way that you think. Here are some things that may help you. If you have not done so, yet, set goals for yourself. Setting goals will help you visualize your overall goal and will help you to achieve it. If you think that between working a day job and running a home based internet business is too overwhelming, try to change that way of thinking because you will inevitably quit long before you ever make money. Tell yourself this. If I work long hours for a while, I will achieve my goals and will be able to quit my day job so that I can run my life and online business the way that I want to. I will have made a better life for myself and family and we will be able to do all the things that we always dreamed of doing. Tell yourself this over and over again and always keep it in the forefront of your mind. It will help keep you focused and motivated. The extra time and work that you will have to consume won't sound so overwhelming if you have that train of thought.

Unfortunately, 98% of marketing wannabes don't think this way and never will because they simply don't want to take the time or do the work. Those 98% deserve to fail. Don't be one of them.

Can A Voice Over Artist Improve Your Marketing? by Terry Daniel

Even though they hear them all the time, in many surprising places, many people may not be aware just how prevalent professional voice talent is in this world of ours. There is simply a lot of need for professional speaking to make certain projects happen. It's just that we are so used to hearing it, we hardly even notice it. But if you have a project that could benefit from professional voice talent, it is in your best interest to consider the many ways that voice over artists can be useful.

You may have already considered advertising jingles and TV promotions. Those are difficult to forget about. But a lot of people don't consider using professional vocal talent to help create a podcast to make an announcement about an event or about a great new moneymaking website. Those are just the sorts of projects, however, for which you will want to consider hiring professional voice talent.

Other projects that voice over artist work on, include narration projects like audio books. Corporate narration and e-learning narration are additional niches for which voice over artists are in demand. Any kind of text you can think of can be turned into an audio project.

Voice actors even work on video games with speaking parts, like Duke Nukem and Soul Calibur. Voice actors are everywhere. They are the voices behind voice tree prompts. They are the voices that tell you how much credit you have on your cell phone or how to reach a certain person in a corporation. And if you have a project that requires sales and packaging, like telling voters that you are the best candidate for the job and that they should vote for you and give money to your campaign, a voice actor can be an asset to that campaign.

No matter what type of project you have in mind--from commercials to announcements to audio books and video games--professional voice talent makes that project seem more professional. Using an amateur versus using a professional is like the difference between writing a letter on lined paper torn from a child's notebook and writing it on heavy office paper.

If you are considering saving money in the beginning by using an amateur or even doing it yourself, please rethink that. Unless you have voice training yourself and experience speaking into sound equipment, it is not a good idea. Unless you know how to deliver your lines clearly, smoothly and confidently--in short, unless you are a professional-grade voice talent in your own right0--doing it yourself can actually cost you. Looking unprofessional can cost you customers. After all, you wouldn't approach customers dressed unprofessionally--why would you dress your commercial or your project unprofessionally? Think about it. Saving money in the short-term can cost you big in the long run.

What is Article Content Spinning? by Matthew Bredel

If you are running an online business, the best way to make people learn about it is by giving away information about the products and services that you offer. Most articles in the Internet are meant for this purpose, and youd better be good at it if you want your business to stand out.

Publishing as many articles as you can over the Internet means exposing your products to your target customers. While you consider writing quantities of worthwhile articles for your prospect buyers to read, you also need to consider the quality of the write-ups at the same time.

Its a tough job creating tons of articles with high-quality content, and this is the probably the reason why more and more online marketers rely on article content spinners.

What is an article content spinner? Is it just a fad? What are the pros and cons spinning the contents of your articles?

Spinning the article means rearranging the words and sentences of an original article in order to produce at least 10 to 20 unique articles. Some article content spinners can generate thousands of unique rewritten articles.

With article content spinning, you can distribute as many articles as you can all over the web without having to worry about being reprimanded by search engines for publishing duplicate contents.

When you spin articles, words are usually transformed into their other thesaurus equivalents, and the structure of individual sentences is rearranged in such a way that it does not disrupt the original sense of the articles. Additional words, phrases, or sentences are also included to enhance the article structure.

Other features of an article spinning software include:

Automatic upload of content found in article directories or in your own text files. Articles in online directories can be grabbed by your content spinning software and can be automatically rewritten to serve your purpose. Customizable thesaurus. You can have your thesaurus modified depending on the article project you are working on. Automatic download of rewritten articles on your hard disk, your website, or via RSS feeds. Article content spinners can produce rewritten content in any text file format that you want. Preview. You can preview your projects as the software automatically generates rewritten articles. You have the option to edit or rearrange the spun articles if you want further improvements. CD copy or online membership. You have the option to choose how to access your article content spinner. You can purchase a hard copy online or through your local store, or you can sign-up for a paid account. Online registrations usually have monthly or yearly membership fees, but most of them allow you to access their content spinner without having to download any software on your computer. Video tutorials. A content spinning software package usually contains tutorials by which you can learn the basics of article marketing and content spinning through videos.

Content spinners can work on all those complicated rewriting tasks for you automatically, which means that you are spared from the hassle writing more fresh articles or rewriting the original contents. This is the main advantage of using article spinning software.

An article content spinner can produce nonsense contents, with all the words and sentences messed up, if left on the hands of careless users. This software requires accurate quality checks which can only be performed by a human. It is important that you read and proofread any spun article before manually or automatically submitting it to article directories.

You also need to choose the best article spinning software available in town. To do this, ask for referrals and advise from experts. You can also sign up for free trial membership to find out if a particular article spinning software works well for you.

How to drive free traffic with articles marketing by Keith Mallinson

As a promotional tool to drive targeted traffic to your web site, article writing is considered one of the key tools that should be employed. The popularity of article writing and exchange has emerged as a convenient way for people to promote and get fresh content for their sites. Search engines want fresh and creative article content because the people who use their search engines demand it. Even though most people use the Internet as a giant database, search engines treat it like a massive information resource. Unique content simply means content that is not duplicated and search engines are looking for this material therefore articles that are rewritten become unique as far as they are concerned.

If you are the sort of person who likes to write ten you may want to compile your own articles and to help you I have listed a few tips which may help. By carrying out some research first either online or current magazines etc, it will ensure the article is up to date even if it's a topic you know something about. The importance of making the article flow correctly must not be underestimated so ensure that you have a beginning, middle and an end which should hopefully round up the article nicely. Most articles are written with approximately twenty sentences or so and about four of those reserved for the conclusion where the article summing up is left. To make the article more enjoyable to read, break it up into a few chunks or paragraphs, about four is ok and ad a box at the end with your information and links so you will get the credit for the work.

Not only is it enjoyable writing articles but if you get good you may well be asked to write them to advertise or promote other peoples websites and online businesses. Let me tell you one of the secrets to writing successful articles. The answer is simpler than you think because all you have to do is write from your own experience of work, leisure, interests or family. Another starting point would be to use niche market subjects to write a range of articles on and where you could almost become an authority.

To become a good writer you should employ good writing techniques. By writing a piece every day to get the feel of writing and learn to identify the common problems faced by every other writer will improve your writing style very quickly. They say practice makes perfect and this is perfectly true with article writing and not only that but it becomes easier. These are obviously only my guidelines and have worked for me and may not suit everyone but it's important to remember that whatever method works for you, stick to them if you intend to write articles regularly.

Articles = Massive Traffic4u by Jim Mack

Articles are needed in the internet, either for research, general knowledge, even for entertainment, and there is no end to the demands for articles on the net. So why not take advantage of authoring articles to promote traffic to your web site?

First thing you may ask, is how can articles promote massive traffic to your web site? Easy, there are three ways that an article can do that for you and here they are:

One: You utilize the popularity of other web sites.

Most of the time when people browse through other web sites, they will find your articles title and headings, and once they click to it, they will find themselves in your web site. If your article isnít a link back to your web site, the about the author part of your article should be enough to promote your web site to the reader

Two: You utilize the traffic of article banks

Article banks are a good source of information on the web, theyíre easy to use and they are free. When you pass your article to be published on an article bank, you get the free exposure just like what you get when you post your article on popular sites.

Three: Traffic from search engines

Search engines search text and not graphics, when your article tackles or contains the keywords that readers are looking for, chances are you'll be found by a search engine. And when they do read your article, they will see your web address, and there would be a chance that they would be interested enough or curious enough to see your site, especially if the topic of your article is related to the overall theme of your web site.

Submitting the Articles

So where do you submit your articles? Well article banks are web sites that provide articles that can be used on any other web sites. By submitting your articles on an article bank there is a chance that it may get distributed and used on other sites, blog or newsletter. Just donít forget to keep your web address within your article.

The good thing about submitting your article on article banks or any other site for use, is that it creates a permanent source of traffic for you. As long as the article banks and the web sites use your articles, you are getting free exposure and thus traffic for your web site.

Writing your Article

Now that you know the benefits of writing an article and how it can be used to boost traffic to your web site, all you need to know is how to write articles.

You don't have to be a writer to write articles. The good thing about the internet is that most people that use it have short attention spans. You dont have to write long windy statements with deep flowery words to get a reader interested in what you have to say.

Writing for the internet only needs short burst of ideas in short sentences and short paragraphs. Make sure that each paragraph contains only 2 -3 sentences and use common words.

Tips, or how-tos are easier to write than an opinion article. Most of the time if youíre writing something, itíll be themed with your site and what better thing to write about than tips about your products, you can even write about some new ideas that youíve thought of and share them with the readers.. When you do write an article, make sure that they can trace it back to you, either by a web address that you plugged into the article or by the theme that your article uses. Itís best to theme your article into something that is related to your website.

If you can, write from personal experience. Most people sympathize and relate more to something that they know has been experienced by another person, than if they think theyre reading an echo of someone elseís experience.

Never forget a resource box or an about the author baox at the end of your article, this will be the readerís link back to you, the reader is link to your site.

How To Tell Your Story To Increase Your Sales by Robert Greenshields

When you want to be successful, you do what successful people do. Advertising giant David Ogilvy read one book at least seven times, and he recommended that everyone in advertising do the same. That book is Scientific Advertising, by Claude C. Hopkins.

Marketing wizard Jay Abraham said, "Claude Hopkins is the master of them all. His influence has easily added over $6m to my personal income...and still counting." How is it that a guy who lived 80+ years ago is still the guru of top marketers?

Hopkins was a true advertising pioneer of the early 1900s - an innovative genius. He' s the guy who created free sampling, risk-free trials, money-back guarantees and market testing. Rather than just place an ad and "see how it went," Hopkins measured everything.

One of his most powerful strategies for creating business for clients is now called "the pre-emptive strike." Hopkins never called it that, though. He just called it "telling the story."

For example, here's what Hopkins did for Van Camps' pork and beans. Hopkins carried out his scientific research and learned that 94% of housewives were baking their own beans, a process that took about 16 hours from beginning to end. Hopkins realized that no one was telling the housewives about the benefits they'd get from buying pork and beans in a can - namely, more time and better pork and beans.

Hopkins ran a campaign that explained all this. He pointed out how much time it took to make beans at home and described how disappointing the results were. Usually the beans on top were burned, while the ones underneath got mushy. Hopkins also told the story of Van Camps' beans - the process for selecting their beans, the soft water they used, and the steam ovens and sealed containers that kept in the flavor.

Here's the thing. All the manufacturers of canned pork and beans made their beans this way. But because Van Camps was the first to tell the story of how canned pork and beans are made, the Van Camps name came to mean "pork and beans" to consumers. After that "pre-emptive strike," any other manufacturer that tried to tell that story would just look like an imitator. That's one reason Van Camps' pork and beans are still around today.

So what's your story? Maybe you think to yourself, "Those were pork and beans. My business is different." Well, so is selling beer.

When Claude Hopkins began work on the Schlitz Beer campaign, Schlitz was ranked 5th in its share of the market. All the companies claimed that their brand of beer was "pure," and consumers yawned, until Hopkins told the story that explained what "pure" really meant.

When Hopkins told the story - of beer dripping over pipes in plate glass rooms of filtered air, bottles that were sterilized four times, and the cleanest water drawn from 4,000 foot deep artesian wells - his campaign took Schlitz from being ranked 5th to being the number 1 beer, in just a few months.

Again, what's your story? What is the process or benefit that you take for granted? What do you assume everybody knows? Tell the story of how your family business began. Tell the story of how you make what you make. Tell what it was like to take the risk, leave that secure office job, and go out on your own as an entrepreneur, all because you believe in what you sell.

What Claude Hopkins learned from his results was this: If you open up and tell the story of whatever you sell, then your prospects will buy.

14 Factors that will affect your Ranking in Google,MSN & Yahoo! by Etienne Teo

Here i have created a list of factors that affect your rankings with Google, MSN, Yahoo! and the other search engines.Most of the factors in the checklist apply mainly to Google and partially to MSN, Yahoo! and all the other search engines of lesser importance.

1. Tag Keywords in<"title"> tag One of the most important places to have a niche high paying keyword because what is written inside the <"title"> tag shows in search results as your page title. The title tag must be short of around 7 words and the the keyword should be near the beginning on your whole title.

2. Keywords in URL Keywords in URL gives you a better position on the search engine -eg- http://profit-line.blogspot.com , keyword is "enter keyword" and this will eventually help in your ranking.

3. Keyword density in document text Ensure your articles has around 4-6% major keywords and not more than 12% or else it will look more like a keyword spam instead of a article page.

4. Anchor Text Linking Anchor Text Link with other user's site is a good way to improve your site's ranking too. Have top keywords for your choosen anchor text,this is regarded as getting a vote from this site not only about your site in general, but about the keyword in particular.

5. Keywords in headings (<"H1">, <"H2">, etc. tags) You can also apply your keywords on the heading tags.

6. Keywords in Tags Spiders don't read images but they do read their textual descriptions in the tag, so if you have images on your page, fill in the tag with some keywords about them.

7. Keywords in MetaTags Though google are more or less not using these to rank users, Yahoo and MSN still relies on these meta tags,so if you are optimizing for Yahoo! or MSN, fill these tags properly.

8. Getting High PR links This is by far the best way to get your site on the top when you get linked to a high pagerank site.Try to have your site link captured in directories or even other sites that ranks above PR4 to PR10 pagerank check 10

9. Backlinks from others Generally the more, the better. But the reputation of the sites that link to you is more important than their number.

10. Links from directories As said earlier,Being listed in DMOZ, Yahoo Directory and similar directories is a great boost for your ranking cause they are mostly PR 6 and above,dont waste time linking to Pr0 sites.

11. Socially bookmarked There are more than 50 over sites who are social bookmarkers, some of the highly used areDigg logo social bookmark Digg it!,Technorati logo social bookmarkTechnorati,blinklist logo social bookmark Blinklist

12. Unique contents Have unique contents on your site is great and having it updated daily with fresh niche contents gurantees good ranking

13. Sector those long articles up Search engine favors more on shorter details with unique and relevant topic, achieve a better ranking by shorting your articles from 1 long page to 3 parts of a given article.

14. Site Size All search engine spiders love big and largely contented sites.so generally it is the bigger, the better. However, big sites become user-unfriendly and difficult to navigate, so sometimes it makes sense to separate a big site into a couple of smaller ones, for eg. you can have a site/blog/forum to separate your contents and comments on different areas.

Have you been following these 14 steps or do you have more to share that i have not highlighted, please do drop me an email at profitlinez@gmail.com or leave me a comment

Internet Marketing Seminar With Power Success Marketing by Dechen Lau

Did you know that you can produce millions of hits per month devoid of any charge You can also send millions of correspondence to your outlook patrons effortlessly. These are just a couple of the many things that will be discussed during the Power Success Marketing seminars. At a Power Success Marketing seminar, you will be taught how to make full use of your income and gain patrons in a cost effective way.

In this article, we will discuss why this subject is so important and how you can benefit from this information.

Web trade just like an offline trade has to exchange with legalities. Many people found their online trade devoid of considering the laws tangled in it. here are Internet laws and international laws. Owners necessary to be sensitive of these laws to make certain that their trade is officially allowed It also helps you erect up a good connection with your customers and outlook trade followers Big seminars will aid you in this corner as well.

winner stories of regular place people who gave up their office job to found their undertaking into online promotion are also among the spaces of activity of intensity winner Marketing seminars. In such seminars, people got their failures and accomplishment stories. You will be taught a lot from these and can use others' accomplishment stories for motivation to fuel your own outlook accomplishments.

This is just to give you a preview of what intensity winner Marketing seminars are like. The accomplishment of an online trade depends on the promotion and packaging of yield and army. And these promotion and packaging strategies can be be taught by intensity winner Marketing seminars.

Ask yourself a few simple questions to determine if you fully understand the concepts that we have went over so far.