Thursday, July 30, 2009

Free Network Marketing Information-Internet Marketing and MLM Leads

NO matter what business you are trying to build online whether it be mlm, a direct sales business, affiliate marketing, etc. , you will need sales leads if you are ever going to make sales, and sales leads are what you are trying to generate if you are marketing on the internet. In order to survive, any web site needs a steady flow of qualified leads. Today's free network marketing information tip is about how to use internet marketing strategies to get more qualified leads.

The aim of any lead generation campaign is to build your mailing list. Internet marketers often say "the money is in the list", which is totally true. A list of responsive buying customers that trust you is worth its weight in gold!

While spam filtering has lessened the impact of email marketing, it’s still a viable means to getting your sales messages out there. In theory, email is marketing is free, although of course its costs you in terms of your time. The theory behind email marketing is that by using a "hook" such as a free product or some other incentive, you can "funnel" interested parties onto specific products and services....

source: http://moniques-home-based-business-tips.blogspot.com/

Free Network Marketing Information-Avoid The MLM "Sales" Alarm

All of your prospects are pre-sold!

Think about it. Almost everyone would love the benefits of your product or your service.

And everyone wants more money.

Yes, your prospects are pre-sold on your business.

source: http://daytoday-lifeschool.blogspot.com/


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Free Network Marketing-How to Use the Internet

Many of us in mlm, direct sales, affiliate marketing, offline businesses, etc. desire to use the internet effectively to build our business. Today's free network marketing information tip is about smart ways to use the internet to build a business.

The internet is an extremely over-hyped area of opportunity but here are several tested, proven, practical and almost universally valuable uses.

To begin, you need to create a website for your business, not so much as a means of acquiring customers via cyberspace, but a customer service, education, and information center. For example, your website could offer answers to all the commonly asked questions, diagrams, etc. accessible free, 24 hours a day. You could even make a portion of your site "access restricted," for customers, clients, subscribers, or "members" only, adding mystique to your marketing, and adding perceived value for your clientele!

This technique would work whether you have a brick and mortar or internet based business. For example, a restaurant could do this with "secret recipes" and special VIP offers; a clothing retailer with etiquette and fashion tips and special offers, and so on. Of course, you'll also want a promotional area on your website designed for new customers and you'll then want to add your website address to video brochures, audio recordings and infomercials for your advertising and marketing materials.......

source: http://moniques-home-based-business-tips.blogspot.com/2009/06/free-network-marketing-how-to-use.html

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Free Networking Marketing Information Tip-How to Sponer During the Summer



Well, it's that time of year-the time for sun, the beach, vacations and the like! When it comes to a mlm business, direct sales business, or any type of home-based business, sometimes people have a tendency to slow down in the summer.

Today's free network marketing information tip has to do with how to continue building even in the summer months.

How to sponsor during the summer holidays - and still keep your friends and relatives.

You are cooking on the grill. Your friends are relaxing by the pool. The conversation is positive. People are in a good mood.

What a great time for a presentation about your business!

You set up a flip chart at the end of the picnic table and say:

"Now that you are all here, let me tell you about my business opportunity."

Rude?

Yes.

So there must be an easier way to help your friends and relatives want your opportunity, right?

How about this?

Why not educate your friends and relatives first? Help them become educated about the benefits of having their own network marketing business so they become self-motivated, looking to join.

How?

Try this. Simply give them a copy of the generic prospecting book, "How to Get Rich without Winning the Lottery" and say:

"Let me LOAN you this book. I'll PICK IT UP in a couple of days because OTHER people want to read it too."

This simple statement says this to the prospect:

1) I'll be back. Expect me to follow up with you.

2) Time limit. You need to read it in a couple of days, so don't delay.

3) The book has value. Other people would like to read it too. It must be popular. Better check it out right away to see why other people are waiting to read it.

Then, let this book educate and motivate them about network marketing. When they read page 49, they'll "get it" and will want to get a check also.

Use this same script for your favorite prospecting tool, for your company CD, for your product booklet. Saying these words makes it easier for the recipient to want to review your gift.





Friday, July 17, 2009

Free Network Marketing Information-The ABC's Of Internet Marketing

In today's free network marketing information post, we will be talking about the basics of internet marketing. Hopefully after reading the post, you will be able to come up with a few ways to market your product or service online.

ABC's of Internet Marketing

By Laura Lake, About.com

http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketing/a/internetsuccess.htm

There are many options when it comes to using the internet to market your service or products. This can often leave marketers confused and wondering where to start.

The marketing vehicles that we can chose from include:

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Paid Search
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Blog Marketing

Where will you get the most bang for your buck? I wish I could give you a concrete answer or a plan that would get you started and on the path to success guaranteed, but truth is every merchant differs. I can however equip you with the basic strategy that I've followed.

With that said in my 11 years of interactive marketing there is a formula that I suggest and a reason for it; let me explain. I have taken the below from my own experience, both in marketing my own companies as well as those of my clients.

Search engine optimization using organic listing within search engines to get your products seen by those who are searching for specific keyword terms tends to have fantastic results. The downside is this method can take up to 3 to 6 months to begin seeing results. Can you wait 3 to 6 months? If you are like most businesses the answer will be resounding no.

There is an option to organic search engine optimization and that is paid search. This is where you use companies such as Google Adwords or Overture to set a budget and pay per click for listing that are at the top of the search page on specific key terms. I would not suggest depending solely on pay per click advertising. This can become costly and if not managed well can be a drain financially. Often companies will outsource their paid search campaigns, not because they can not learn to do it or can not manage it on their own but because they want someone with a great deal of experience to make sure they are getting the most for their money.

Affiliate marketing or often what is referred to as strategic partnerships is the opportunity to present your products or services to experience online marketers and you pay them a commission for the sales that they drive. The great benefit to this marketing option is that it costs you nothing unless they in fact send your sales. The downside is at times its difficult to find the great affiliate marketers unless you have connections within the industry or your hire a company that knows how to go about recruiting effective marketers. I would make one key suggestion be sure to test your landing page for conversion purposes. If you find great strategic partners and your landing page doesn't convert you will lose them quicker than you can imagine. Test your landing page with a paid search campaign in order to make tweaks, changes, or just increase your conversion rates based on your findings with the paid search campaign.

Email marketing is not dead, but let's just say it's a little harder to grab attention with email. We have been bombarded for so long with spam and messages that are not pertinent or of urgency that we tend to be quick to hit the delete key. I'm not saying that email marketing can't work with a permission-based subscriber list, but your message will need to catch their attention within the first thirty seconds and have a very strong call to action in order to get your viewer to move on your offer.

Blog marketing exploded in 2006. Search engines love blogs and readers love to read them in their own leisure time. We pull in the feeds that are important to us and we can view them when we want to. A blog will help your viewers stay on top of your current offers, specials and important news. If you don't have a blog, my question to you is what are you waiting for?

What's your plan of action in internet marketing? To sum it up quickly begin with paid search while you build out organic search results. Explore affiliate marketing, but only after you've run a test campaign using paid search venues. Continue to market to your permission list with email, but don't wait another moment to start a company blog.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Free Network Marketing Information-Internet Marketing 101

What is Internet Marketing?

Depending on whom you ask, the term Internet marketing can mean a variety of things. At one time, Internet marketing consisted mostly of having a website or placing banner ads on other websites. On the other end of the spectrum, there are loads of companies telling you that you can make a fortune overnight on the Internet and who try to sell you some form of "Internet marketing program".

Today, Internet marketing, or online marketing, is evolving into a broader mix of components a company can use as a means of increasing sales - even if your business is done completely online, partly online, or completely offline. The decision to use Internet marketing as part of a company's overall marketing strategy is strictly up to the company of course, but as a rule, Internet marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of nearly every company's marketing mix. For some online businesses, it is the only form of marketing being practiced.

Internet Marketing Objectives

Essentially, Internet marketing is using the Internet to do one or more of the following:

  • Communicate a company's message about itself, its products, or its services online.
  • Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs) of existing and potential customers.
  • Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.

Internet Marketing Components

Components of Internet marketing (or online marketing) may include:

  • Setting up a website , consisting of text, images and possibly audio and video elements used to convey the company's message online, to inform existing and potential customers of the features and benefits of the company's products and/or services. The website may or may not include the ability to capture leads from potential customers or directly sell a product or service online. Websites can be the Internet equivalents of offline brochures or mail order catalogs and they are a great way to establish your business identity.
  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site's natural (organic) ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings.
  • Email marketing, which is a method of distributing information about a product or service or for soliciting feedback from customers about a product or service through Email. Email addresses of customers and prospective customers may be collected or purchased. Various methods are used, such as the regular distribution of newsletters or mass mailing of offers related to the company's product or services. Email marketing is essentially the online equivalent of direct mail marketing.
  • Banner advertising, which is the placement of ads on a website for a fee. The offline equivalent of this form of online marketing would be traditional ads in newspapers or magazines.
  • Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online wire service.
  • Blog marketing, which is the act of posting comments, expressing opinions or making announcements in a discussion forum and can be accomplished either by hosting your own blog or by posting comments and/or URLs in other blogs related to your product or service online.
  • Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience.

Internet Marketing and Home Business

Of all of the components of Internet marketing, prospective customers and clients expect a business to have a website. In fact, not having one could raise a red flag to a prospect. Online usage has become so pervasive today, many prospects might easily choose to do business with a company that they can get up-to-date information on 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Even a business that only has very local customers, such as a single location restaurant or shoe store can benefit from having a website and engaging in online marketing. And, those businesses whose customers are not restricted to a geographical area might have a difficult time finding an alternate method of attracting customers that offers the reasonably low expense and worldwide reach of a Web presence.

Because of the "virtual" nature of most home businesses, websites, if not an absolute necessity, can certainly provide benefits to a home business operator. Since most home-based businesses don't have a physical location, a website provides an inexpensive means for prospects to get to know what you do or what you sell and can even be a "storefront" for selling goods and services directly.

The Internet has greatly enabled home businesses to prosper because of the reasonably low cost to start and maintain a web presence. Therefore, Internet marketing should be part of your business plan and your marketing strategy

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Free Network Marketing Information Tip-Great Marketing Headlines


Whether we are looking to market our business on or offline, being able to create great, eye catching headlines is a must.

Don't know how? Today's free network marketing information tip will give you a few to help get your creative juices flowing!

Great first sentences and headlines.

If your first sentence is right, your prospect will become interested, lean forward, open his mind . . . and well, the rest is easy.

What are some good first sentences? Here are some that I've read recently or heard at my workshops:

"Stop allowing your job to steal your life."

"How 13 seconds before breakfast can shrink your waistline."

"Live like a millionaire in just 12 short months."

"How to avoid alarm clock stress and other work-related diseases."

These are just a few ideas to get us thinking.

Want to create your own custom first sentences and headlines?


If you want to know five of my best first sentences or headlines, they are in the yellow box on this page.


Monday, July 13, 2009

Free Network Marketing Information-Keyword Research Tips


As someone who is looking to build their business on the internet, the first crucial step is always to figure out what people are looking for. This is done with proper keyword research.

Today's free network marketing information tips is on how to choose the right keywords for website success.

So, you have a new terrific looking Website. You've gone to great lengths to make sure it is Search Engine Friendly, you have great content and you are sure that you are what the Search Engines have been waiting for! Your big launch date comes and goes, and nothing. But it takes time to show up on the generic Search Engine results, you might say. So you try an aggressive marketing campaign, and still, your sales are almost non-existent.

What is happening? Your keywords are the fundamental building blocks of your online success. Because the competition is so great, choosing general or broad keywords is almost a guarantee that either you will not show up on the Search Engine results, or if you do, your target audience will not be looking for what you have to offer. Your keywords need to be as specific as possible to get you the results you are looking for. In other words, shoppers ready to buy your product or services are your target and the ones who will immediately find you. Not only that, but the greater the specificity of your keyword, the less competition you will face.

Choosing the right keywords when your Website is new can be tricky as well as time consuming. There are a few ways to go about it:

1. You might not think objectively. Ask your clients, family members, or friends what they would look for if searching for your product. You might be surprised at what insights they can give you.

2. Get personal with your keywords. Take the obvious general keywords that come to mind, for this example we will use "toys", and try narrowing it down. Try "toy trucks" or "infant toys" or "water toys". Now go even deeper in your category and try "infant rattle toys" or "baby teething toys". You see how you are now targeting exactly what someone might be searching for?

3. Do a manual search for the keywords you choose, and see who your competition is. Is that your target? Also look on the upper right hand corner of your search results. Typically, Search Engines will display the number of found results. The more specific the keyword, the less results displayed, the better your chances of obtaining results for that keyword.

So now you have all these great keywords, what do you do with them? Knowing what your keywords are is not enough, you need to keep a few critical points in mind:

1. Continually evaluate your keywords, keeping in mind that trends come and go, and what is "HOT" today may not be what people are looking for tomorrow.

2. Keep track of where your visitors found you. If you are doing a paid campaign, this is easy to do, but if you are looking at generic results, you can use a tracking software to show you what your best resulting keyword searches are. Google Analytics is an example of a free service, and one of the best to track your traffic, visitors' keywords and behavior.

3. Your visitors should never have to find what they are looking for on your Website. This applies mainly to your PPC programs. Point them directly to where they need to be. Whether it is the page where they can purchase your product, fill out a form or subscribe to a service, land them directly to that page. If you simply send them to your home page, you will lose that visitor because they did not immediately find what they were looking for.

4. Lastly, optimize your pages to your keywords. Take time to carefully write your meta-tags. Properly written Titles can make the difference if your generic result is clicked on or not. Edit the individual pages to have a keyword rich description. This does not mean stuff your keywords anywhere you can find space for them. Read it over, and make sure it makes sense to you. Keep in mind that you not only want to score a lot of points with the Search Engines so that they deem you content "valuable" to their users, you also want to make your visitors keep coming back to your Website .

All this may sound like a lot of work - and it is! But to put it bluntly, "what you put in to it, is what you get out of it". If you put the time and effort into your keywords, you will eventually be rewarded with the results you are seeking.

I hope you found this free network marketing information tip beneficial. Feel free to contact me if you have questions.



Friday, July 10, 2009

International Debit Card Types



use of international debit cards has become a regular part of the lives of most Americans today. It has in fact overtaken the credit card as the king in the electronic payments scene. But though using international debit cards for purchases and cash withdrawals has become an ordinary act, many still know little about these revolutionary cards. Succeeding are information about the two general types of international debit cards and other useful information to cardholders, cardholder aspirants and merchants engaging in the electronic payment network.

Two General Types of International Debit Cards
On-line International Debit Cards
On-line international debit cards are like enhanced ATM cards which allow the holder to withdraw cash from his related bank account via any ATM outlet anywhere in the world. It can also be used as a means of payment in which it acts as a medium in immediate electronic money transfer wherein money from the cardholder’s bank account is transferred to the merchant’s bank account. To access your bank account at a store terminal using your international debit card, all you need is to input your PIN and the system will check your account if it has sufficient balance to cover the costs of the transaction.

Off-line International Debit Cards
Off-line international debit cards look more like credit cards than ATM cards and are used in ways similar to that of a credit card. The merchant’s terminal analyzes your card and determines whether it is a credit card or an international debit card, and creates a debit against your bank account by the amount of transaction costs. However, the debit is stored for later processing and is actually deducted from your bank balance usually after two to three days. There are still a few terminals that do not verify if there are sufficient funds for international debit card purchases. In these cases, the holder must sign a receipt instead of using his PIN.

Reasons Why On-line and Off-line International Debit Card Distinction Matter
1. Your financial institution charges transaction or monthly fees.
2. You prefer the security of a PIN-required transaction.
3. You prefer that both options not be on one card.

Tips for the Responsible Use of International Debit Cards
1. Notify your financial institution as soon as possible if your international debit card is lost or stolen.

2. Notify your financial institution as soon as possible if you think your international debit card is being fraudulently used.

3. Keep your receipts for your international debit card transactions. A receipt may provide a thief with your name and card number thus allowing him to order goods by mail or by phone and have them charged to you. Your card can be abused by opportunists even while it is still in your possession.

4. Memorize your PIN. If you need to keep a copy of your PIN don’t keep the said copy together with your international debit card. Do not use obvious PINs like birthdays, anniversaries, phone numbers, etc.

5. Never share your PIN number to anyone. Keep your PIN strictly private.

6. Always know the balance of your bank account.

7. Keep your receipts in one place for easy retrieval and oversight of your bank account.

Lost or Stolen International Debit Cards
Just as your money may be stolen and your credit cards may be lost or fraudulently used, an international debit card may be lost, stolen, or used without your knowledge. As a cardholder, you need to know the extent of your protection.

Government regulations require debit card issuers to set a maximum liability of $50 if the debit card is reported lost or stolen within two days of discovery. Liability increases to $500 if the lost or stolen debit card is reported within 60 days. Neglect to notify the bank of the theft within 60 days after a bank statement is sent and you could lose everything in your checking and overdraft accounts.

Check with your financial institution about your liability. Many issuers offer consumers better protection than what is required in government regulations. One type of check card offers consumers “zero liability” in cases of fraud, theft, or other unauthorized card usage if reported by the cardholder within two business days after discovery. After the two-day period, the cardholder could be liable for a maximum of $50. Some other cards limit consumers’ liability for fraudulent use of stolen debit cards to $50.

Get the 2-GetCash International debit card now and start experiencing great convenience in managing your finances.


Source

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Free Network Marketing Information-The ABC's Of Internet Marketing



For those of us in network marketing, direct sales, or any other type of online business, we are well aware of the power of the internet. However, for some, marketing online seems confusing.

In today's free network marketing information post, we will be talking about the basics of internet marketing. Hopefully after reading the post, you will be able to come up with a few ways to market your product or service online.

ABC's of Internet Marketing

By Laura Lake, About.com

There are many options when it comes to using the internet to market your service or products. This can often leave marketers confused and wondering where to start.

The marketing vehicles that we can chose from include:

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Paid Search
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Blog Marketing

Where will you get the most bang for your buck? I wish I could give you a concrete answer or a plan that would get you started and on the path to success guaranteed, but truth is every merchant differs. I can however equip you with the basic strategy that I've followed.

With that said in my 11 years of interactive marketing there is a formula that I suggest and a reason for it; let me explain. I have taken the below from my own experience, both in marketing my own companies as well as those of my clients.

Search engine optimization using organic listing within search engines to get your products seen by those who are searching for specific keyword terms tends to have fantastic results. The downside is this method can take up to 3 to 6 months to begin seeing results. Can you wait 3 to 6 months? If you are like most businesses the answer will be resounding no.

There is an option to organic search engine optimization and that is paid search. This is where you use companies such as Google Adwords or Overture to set a budget and pay per click for listing that are at the top of the search page on specific key terms. I would not suggest depending solely on pay per click advertising. This can become costly and if not managed well can be a drain financially. Often companies will outsource their paid search campaigns, not because they can not learn to do it or can not manage it on their own but because they want someone with a great deal of experience to make sure they are getting the most for their money.

Affiliate marketing or often what is referred to as strategic partnerships is the opportunity to present your products or services to experience online marketers and you pay them a commission for the sales that they drive. The great benefit to this marketing option is that it costs you nothing unless they in fact send your sales. The downside is at times its difficult to find the great affiliate marketers unless you have connections within the industry or your hire a company that knows how to go about recruiting effective marketers. I would make one key suggestion be sure to test your landing page for conversion purposes. If you find great strategic partners and your landing page doesn't convert you will lose them quicker than you can imagine. Test your landing page with a paid search campaign in order to make tweaks, changes, or just increase your conversion rates based on your findings with the paid search campaign.

Email marketing is not dead, but let's just say it's a little harder to grab attention with email. We have been bombarded for so long with spam and messages that are not pertinent or of urgency that we tend to be quick to hit the delete key. I'm not saying that email marketing can't work with a permission-based subscriber list, but your message will need to catch their attention within the first thirty seconds and have a very strong call to action in order to get your viewer to move on your offer.

Blog marketing exploded in 2006. Search engines love blogs and readers love to read them in their own leisure time. We pull in the feeds that are important to us and we can view them when we want to. A blog will help your viewers stay on top of your current offers, specials and important news. If you don't have a blog, my question to you is what are you waiting for?

What's your plan of action in internet marketing? To sum it up quickly begin with paid search while you build out organic search results. Explore affiliate marketing, but only after you've run a test campaign using paid search venues. Continue to market to your permission list with email, but don't wait another moment to start a company blog.


Wednesday, July 8, 2009

10 Useful Tips

Combinations of two or more of the tips below are being used by many successful sites today. Use your imagination and see what you can do with them. Because there are so many web sites on the internet today visitors are spread quite thinly and web traffic is one of the scarcest commodities on the internet today. Without it your online business does not exist.

1. Give people a free subscription to your newsletter. Almost everyone is publishing a newsletter nowadays so it is important to give something extra with the free subscription. You need to set yourself apart from the other internet marketers out there. This might be done by offering a gift or free advertising when people subscribe.

2. Provide visitors with new and original content. Your content will be more attractive to your visitors if it is up-to-date or original. You could also offer people the option to reprint the content in their newsletter or web site. You will need to change your content frequently if you do this. But the benefits are worth the effort. The search engines will love your site and keep coming back. Your site will rank highly in their results and your visitors will keep coming back for the latest updates.

3. Use PPC directories. You can advertise in pay per click directories. With PPC you only pay when some one clicks on your link. If no one clicks you pay nothing. This method is very good if you are selling a product at your site. It is easy to assess the cost of each sale and measure you success.

There are lots of PPC sites out there now. Google and Yahoo! are not the only ones. You can often get a better deal at these other sites depending on the competition for the keyword you are using. Shop around. There is probably a site out there with your keyword going cheap. But, Make sure that it can deliver the traffic. You can do this by checking its Alexa rank. If it is not getting much traffic itself, how is it going to direct traffic to you?

4. Give visitors a free ebook. You could write your own and include an ad in the ebook linking to your site and allow other people to sell it or give it away. If you don’t want to take the time to write one, you could ask other writers permission to use their articles and assemble an article eBook. Or commission an eBook. There are plenty of writers around willing to write a fresh eBook for you at a fair price.

5. Hold free online classes or seminars. They could be held in your web site’s chat room. The idea of “live” information will entice people to visit your web site. You will become known as an expert on the topic.

6. Offer free consulting to your web site visitors. You could do this via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive. Use a separate business line if you use the phone or you will have calls coming in to your home phone around the clock as the world turns. If your site becomes known for this service you may need to employ people to help keep up. If this happens you can bring in a two tier system whereby you have a free service and a paid service offering something extra.

7. Give visitors a free entry into a contest. The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors or relevant to your site’s topics. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results. Do not be discouraged if the first one or two contests do not set the world on fire. The word has to get out. People will talk to their friends about this site that is running this great contest, and before too long your site will have a name for running contests. There are people out there who really go for that sort of thing and will visit your site regularly.

8. Let visitors download free software. It could be freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software area and let other people sell it or give it away from this area. You do not need to produce the free software yourself. There are plenty of sources on the web. All you have to do is link to them. If you gather a significant amount of software of a type relevant to the topic of your site you will make your site a valuable resource for your visitors and they will keep coming back to get more.

9. Offer free online services or utilities. They could be search engine submitting, copy writing proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.

10. Give your visitors a free membership to an online club. People like to feel that they belong to something, why not your online club. You could also give away a free newsletter for club members only. The members will very likely want to contribute a large part of its content making it easy to source articles. If you offer them a link back to their own site your members will be queuing up to put content in your newsletter.

It goes without saying that all of the above should be relevant to the topic of your site in order to be of interest to your visitors. Do not keep changing the topic of your site. I see this happening all too often. The webmaster has a site for three months or so and becomes disheartened because his site not taken off as he hoped, so he decides to try a different topic.

Doing so he / she loses the regular visitors he / she had and has to start at the beginning again in the new topic. Also, the search engines will very likely be slow to change to the new topic, confusing everyone who visits from there. It may also affect the PR of the site as the new topic may initially be viewed as unrelated content.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

5 Summer Tips for Your Business

When people find out that I'm from California, they ask, "Where's your tan?"

I don't go to the beach, even though it's only a few miles away. If my pale skin is exposed to the sun, it burns. My skin turns bright red instead of a golden tan, hardly the look of a California girl.

I'm getting ready for summer by dusting off my patio furniture, taking out the barbeque grill and doing my workouts to get my body in shape.

Since summer may be a slower time for some businesses, I wanted to give you my top 5 summer tips.
  1. Announce Holiday Themed Specials

    Independence is so precious to us as Americans that "Liberty" is written on all of our coins. Have a Fourth of July Special. Yeah, I know, we see Independence Day Sales all the time. It's because they work.

    You might want to go for the less-celebrated holidays to make your promotions stand out. Everyone knows about the 4th of July, but not everyone knows about Flag Day on June 14. For holiday calendars.
  2. Do Birthday and Life Event Marketing

    Is your birthday coming up soon? Are your family members, friends or staff having a birthday? Then it's time to celebrate. The "It's my birthday, but you get the gifts" promotion always takes the cake (Sorry, I couldn't help myself).

    I recently saw a brilliant post card from a business owner who just had a baby. His special offer was in honor of his new son, who he was holding in the photo. Do you have a new baby, new pet, summer house guests, new marriages in the family, or kids who are graduating? Business is getting more personal, so announce these life-changing events to your customers and reap the rewards.
  3. Hire Extra Help

    In summer, there are plenty of students and young people who want to learn business and would make great additions to your team. Tap into this great pool of talent.
  4. Revolutionize Your Business Plan

    Chart the course of your business for the next half of the year. Analyze what has worked for you and what you need to change to pump up your business success.
  5. Have a Party

    You can have a networking mixer or an educational seminar. Even though it's a business event, make it fun. Decorate the space, play games and give away prizes. Encourage people to network and learn more about your company.

Go with these proven strategies and add some fireworks to your business.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

How Can I Get Listed on Google Maps?









Good Question - Easy Answer!

You should take advantage of any free marketing tool for your business. Google Maps is one of those outlets that are available to you at no charge.

You'll increase your business visibility and provide your customers with a snapshot of your business in an easy-to-use application.

Simply go to:

Google Local Business Center

Add your business listing and fill out the online form:

1. Required Information
2. Category
3. Hours and Payment
4. Photos and Video
5. Custom

You can also create a coupon with your listing that can draw more customers to your business.

Encourage your current customers who are happy with your services to rate and write a review of your business.

You’ll need to verify that you are the owner of your business by phone verification or having a postcard mailed to you.

In addition you can also list your business on Yahoo! by going to Yahoo! Local Listings and creating an account with them.

I encourage you to add your business listing today and start getting the word out - it's easy and it's free!



Saturday, July 4, 2009

Smart small business tips for success


(ARA) — Creativity is the key to keeping a small business flourishing in tight economic times. And while creativity will make your business grow stronger, there are also other free tools and opportunities small businesses should use to their advantage.

Many resources are available for small business owners to develop a plan for success, says “Mr. AllBiz” Steve Strauss, author of “The Small Business Bible.” He shares some of his tips here:

• Make your small business appear big.

You might not have a huge warehouse or more than a dozen employees, but you can still give your business the professional appearance of one 10 times your size. First impressions are important.

Print some professional-looking business cards and pass them out, design a great logo for your company and put that logo on a sign where everyone can see it.

Develop a Web site, and see if you can get it linked to your community’s Chamber of Commerce or city Web site. Join social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to broaden your network of people who know who you are and what you do.

• Get free help.

Organizations like the Small Business Administration and SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” exist to provide assistance. They can give you help specifically tailored to your business.

Also, retail organizations are creating tools for small business owners to find additional resources. For example, Office Depot has created “The Survival of the Smartest” Web site as part of its Small Business Self-Bailout Plan.


• Focus on your X Factor.

Recognize what you do and why you do it, and then research your competition. When you discover the factor that makes your business better and different from the competition, learn how to focus and multiply that “X Factor” to achieve success.

Friday, July 3, 2009

12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert

If you’re like me, you probably use Google many times a day. But, chances are, unless you are a technology geek, you probably still use Google in its simplest form. If your current use of Google is limited to typing a few words in, and changing your query until you find what you’re looking for, then I’m here to tell you that there’s a better way – and it’s not hard to learn. On the other hand, if you are a technology geek, and can use Google like the best of them already, then I suggest you bookmark this article of Google search tips. You’ll then have the tips on hand when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration when watching a neophyte repeatedly type in basic queries in a desperate attempt to find something.

The following Google search tips are based on my own experience and things that I actually find useful. The list is by no means comprehensive. But, I assure you that by learning and using the 12 tips below, you’ll rank up there with the best of the Google experts out there. I’ve kept the descriptions of the search tips intentionally terse as you’re likely to grasp most of these simply by looking at the example from Google anyways.

12 Expert Google Search Tips

  1. Explicit Phrase:
    Lets say you are looking for content about internet marketing. Instead of just typing internet marketing into the Google search box, you will likely be better off searching explicitly for the phrase. To do this, simply enclose the search phrase within double quotes.
    Example: "internet marketing"
  2. Exclude Words:
    Lets say you want to search for content about internet marketing, but you want to exclude any results that contain the term advertising. To do this, simply use the "-" sign in front of the word you want to exclude.
    Example Search: internet marketing -advertising
  3. Site Specific Search:
    Often, you want to search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase. Even if the site doesn’t support a built-in search feature, you can use Google to search the site for your term. Simply use the "site:somesite.com" modifier.
    Example: "internet marketing" site:www.smallbusinesshub.com
  4. Similar Words and Synonyms:
    Let’s say you are want to include a word in your search, but want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms. To do this, use the "~" in front of the word.
    Example: "internet marketing" ~professional
  5. Specific Document Types:
    If you’re looking to find results that are of a specific type, you can use the modifier "filetype:". For example, you might want to find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing.
    Example: "internet marketing" filetype:ppt
  6. This OR That:
    By default, when you do a search, Google will include all the terms specified in the search. If you are looking for any one of one or more terms to match, then you can use the OR operator. (Note: The OR has to be capitalized).
    Example: internet marketing OR advertising
  7. Phone Listing:
    Let’s say someone calls you on your mobile number and you don’t know how it is. If all you have is a phone number, you can look it up on Google using the phonebook feature.
    Example: phonebook:617-555-1212 (note: the provided number does not work – you’ll have to use a real number to get any results).
  8. Area Code Lookup:
    If all you need to do is to look-up the area code for a phone number, just enter the 3-digit area code and Google will tell you where it’s from.
    Example: 617
  9. Numeric Ranges:
    This is a rarely used, but highly useful tip. Let’s say you want to find results that contain any of a range of numbers. You can do this by using the X..Y modifier (in case this is hard to read, what’s between the X and Y are two periods. This type of search is useful for years (as shown below), prices or anywhere where you want to provide a series of numbers.
    Example: president 1940..1950
  10. Stock (Ticker Symbol):
    Just enter a valid ticker symbol as your search term and Google will give you the current financials and a quick thumb-nail chart for the stock.
    Example: GOOG
  11. Calculator:
    The next time you need to do a quick calculation, instead of bringing up the Calculator applet, you can just type your expression in to Google.
    Example: 48512 * 1.02
  12. Word Definitions:
    If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the "define:" command.
    Example: define:plethora

Hope this list of Google search tips proves useful in your future Google searches. If there are any of your favorite Google expert power tips that I’ve missed, please feel free to share them in the comments.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Get FREE traffic for you website

Today!
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Then you definitely can't afford to miss this.
Because Derek's elite team of Internet marketing specialists have put together test results and case studies that *prove* there is still a FREE way to blast your website to a #1 ranking in Google, Yahoo, and MSN... Yes, I said FREE!

However, please note that while the strategies that are detailed on this page are EXTREMELY potent right now -- if you don't begin to apply them *immediately* (i.e., within the next 90 days), the opportunity will be lost forever.
Just like those who first embraced online shopping... e-mail marketing... and affiliate programs 10 years ago, only those who act TODAY will claim the lion's share of the traffic and profits.
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I hope you enjoy this!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Advantages of Sole Proprietorship Businesses

Sole Proprietorship Advantages:
So, many of you out there might be considering on opening up your own sole proprietorship type business. With any type of business you start out, there will be advantages and disadvantages. So let us go over the basic advantages of this particular business, sole proprietorship.


1. You are your own boss. Always and forever. What exactly does this mean? You call the shots when it comes to decision making in your business. If something succeeds, you can credit yourself and pat yourself on the back. At the same time though, if you fail at something, the blame is on no one else other than yourself. Also with you being your own boss, you get to choose your hours. That's particularly one of my favorite parts of being my own boss!


2. Sole proprietorship's are the least expensive business to set up. That's right! Not only are the least expensive type of business that you could start up, but it's also the easiest regarding things such as paper work and taxes.


Keep in mind, all profits you earn from a sole proprietorship business are yours. Therefore, you'll need to file those profits on your normal tax form every year.


3. Since you're the complete owner of your business in a sole proprietorship, all the money you earn goes directly to you. No one else! How great does that sound? It's like music to my ears at least. Keep in mind, however, if you have employees that you've hired then there will be a cut in your profits. The cool part however though is with the money you earn from your business, you can do what you please with it. My tip of advise would be to reinvest it into the business as long as sales/services are doing well for you.


4. Last but not least, another great advantage of a sole proprietorship business is the fact that you can pretty much quit the business when you please. There are certain things you'll need to do in order to completely disband your business all together. However, this type of business is the easiest to do so if things "just aren't working out for you."


The next post I'm going to spiel out the main disadvantages of owning a sole proprietorship business. As I've said earlier, all businesses have their advantages and disadvantages. You have to outweigh them yourselves to decide which is truly the best type of business for you and your needs!

Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorship Businesses

Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorship:

Well, as there are advantages of owning your own sole proprietorship business, there are also disadvantages. My previous post stated the main advantages of having a sole proprietorship. So now, let us discuss some of the main disadvantages.

1. Some people want their business to continue on, even if something was to randomly happen to them. As we all know, life takes mysterious turns when least expected. In a sole proprietorship business, if the owner of the entity dies, so does the business.

2. As a sole proprietor, you do have the ability to borrow funds. However, since you are a sole proprietor, the funds that will be available for you to borrow can be limited. This is because in sole proprietorship's, unlike other types of businesses, the amount you can borrow is fully limited based on the owner's personal finances. A lot of times, when people are starting their own business from scratch, they might not exactly have the best credit or finances. This can be a major draw back in owning a sole proprietor type of business.

3. Seeing how a sole proprietorship business is not a type of partnership or corporation, all legal issues that the business faces are direct to and only to the owner of the business. For a lot of people, this one thing turns them off the idea of starting up a sole proprietorship. But let's be honest, if you're having fear of legal problems before your business has even started, it's most likely not an ethical idea.

4. Another disadvantage is the fact that benefits such as health care premiums are not fully deductible from your taxes. In other words, you will NOT get reimbursed for all your health care costs that are associated with your business. That's just the way it is.

Now that I've laid out some basic disadvantages of owning a sole proprietorship business, hopefully you can piece the two posts, this and the previous one, together to figure out if a sole proprietorship is the right type of business for you.

Weigh out the advantages and disadvantages, which one seems to come on top for you?
Hope this helps some of you inspiring entrepreneurs out there!