MLM The Easy Way - GHo Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
by John Eberhard

A new type of promotional medium has sprung up or evolved on the Internet over the past two years – namely “content hubs.”

A content hub is a type of web site that has lots of informational articles on it. A person with a web site, who needs article content for their site, can go to a content hub and download articles for free on a wide variety of topics, and then post them on their web site. These content hubs allow you to search by topic or category or by keyword.

Writers can post articles on the content hubs. The benefit for the writer is that he can mention his company and include his web site address in the article. And that provides in-bound links to his web site, from the content hubs themselves, and from every web site where that article is posted. In-bound links, meaning links from other web sites that link to yours, increase link popularity, which is one of the main criteria used by Google and other search engines to determine web site ranking.

So the content hubs service both writers who want to get the word out on their company or products or services, and people who have web sites who need article content.

The key, for a writer, is to write something that will appeal to the general public, or at least to a sizable specific niche public (such as webmasters or web promotion for instance), so that the article gets downloaded and used on lots of sites in need of content.

It is also key to include the name of the company in the article, preferably near the beginning, and include the company web address in the article as well, and in the writer bio at the end.

The article itself should not be written in such a way that it is just a blatant promo piece for your company. It has to be written so that it is about a topic that your company deals with or you are an expert on, and it mentions your company, but it doesn’t say “call us now at 1-800-222-2222 for a great deal on tires” at the end. In other words, what in marketing is called a “call to action,” where you tell your prospect to contact you or to respond for more information or to buy now, should not be included in articles for content hubs.

If there are specific key words or phrases that people use to find your web site (most web statistics programs can give you this information), or to look for your product or service, then try to find a way to include those words or phrases near the beginning of your article.

It’s a good idea to look over the type of articles that are currently being accepted on content hubs, to get a better idea of what works there, and so you can write articles that will fit this medium. Some good content hubs to look at are:

http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.isnare.com/
http://www.articlecity.com/
http://www.exchangenet.com/
http://freezinesite.com/
http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/
http://www.dime-co.com/

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

Most of the content hubs require that you register with them before they will allow you to post an article there. Some of the sites have your article reviewed by a live person before it goes up. Some will just post it without review.

Once you get registered on a number of content hubs, it is best to post one article, then post more articles at intervals of about once a week. Make sure you include your company name and URL in each article.

If your company has any articles written already that were written for other purposes, you may be able to convert them into a form that will work for the content hubs. The key is to read the types of articles that are already appearing on the hubs and convert your content into a similar form.

Content hubs are a great way to get out information on your company, and are becoming one of the primary ways of promoting on the net.

John Eberhard is President of RealWebMarketing.net (http://www.realwebmarketing.net), a marketing consultant, writer and political analyst living in Los Angeles. He can be reached at http://www.realwebmarketing.net/contact.html.
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by Sharon Housley

You think that you have mastered the art of RSS, but how much do you really know? Take the RSS quiz to test your knowledge of RSS.

Question: If something is in an RSS feed, it is perfectly fine to reproduce the contents of the feed. I mean after all RSS means really simple syndication, right?

Answer: No, that is not true. Regardless of whether content is in a feed or not, the original creator of the content has the right to restrict its use. While most people do feel that if content is in an RSS feed, it is available for syndication--that is not always the case. Various groups have made efforts to add namespaces which expand the tags used in RSS, to define whether the content is available for syndication. The two most notable namespaces that detail permissions are the Creative Commons extension and the Bloglines' Access extension. These two extensions are not yet widely supported so it is always best to check the terms of service associated with the feed or website to determine if the feed is available for syndication.

Question: RSS is only for blogs right? All blogs have RSS feeds right?

Answer: No, and No! While blogs may have helped increase the popularity of RSS feeds, RSS feeds are not specific to blogs. RSS feeds can be used for any type of content not just blogs. In fact, there are probably more RSS feeds available for non-blogs than there are feeds for blogs. Publishers have used RSS feeds for articles, press releases, discounts, podcasts, calendars, alerts and the list goes on and on.

Question: When I add a new item to the feed, do I simply edit the old .rss file or do I create a new one?

Answer: If you are adding content related to the theme of the original RSS feed, you should always expand your existing RSS feed rather than creating a new feed. Do not edit any of the RSS feed's existing items, simply add a new item to the existing RSS feed.

Question: Can RSS Feeds be set up for private list subscribers and what kind of security is available for RSS feeds to support a private feed?

Answer: Yes, while there are no provisions in the RSS 2.0 specification for passwords or protecting files, you can use any security mechanism available on the http server to protect the entire RSS feed. The security options are dependent on the capabilities of your web server.

Question: What is a feed reader?

Answer: A feed reader can also be referred to a news aggregator. RSS feed readers come in all shapes and sizes and are just tools that make it easy for users to view the contents or headlines of the RSS feeds they subscribe to. Feed readers can be desktop applications, or web applications. Desktop readers are programs that behave similar to an email client, you add new feeds and when the RSS feeds you subscribe to are updated new items appear in the RSS reader. The web aggregators are websites that aggregate all of your favorite feeds, the web page dynamically updates as new items are added to the feeds you subscribe to. Many email applications now also include the ability to monitor RSS feeds. As the popularity of RSS increases, the options to read and monitor feeds is expanding.

Question: Can you block a search engine from accessing a feed?

Answer: You can use a robots.txt to indicate to search engines that specific RSS feeds should not be indexed. Most search engines will observe the contents of a properly formatted robots.txt file.

Question: What is a GUID?

Answer: A GUID is a globally unique identifier. The RSS specification strongly suggests that each RSS feed item have a unique GUID. If you are creating feeds, a GUID is important because GUIDs are often used by feed readers and aggregators to determine if a feed item is new or simply an existing item that has been updated. Each item in the RSS feed should have a different GUID.

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. Interested in additional RSS FAQs visit the RSS Knowledgebase http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase.htm or subscribe to the RSS knowledgebase feed http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase.php
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by Huzaili Aris

A conference call involves the communication between a calling party and more than one listener. There are numerous conference call services available, making it difficult to make a quick decision. The service that you choose will ultimately depend on the expectations and uses you wish get out of your conference calls. For some, only a few details matter, such as price, while others are in need of advanced services like on-the-spot technical support. Below are a few factors to consider when choosing the conference call service that is most compatible with your needs.

Business Conference Calls

When it comes time to report quarterly stats, many companies turn to conference calls. This allows them to communicate the ups and downs of their business to interested parties. A higher-level company executive, such as the CEO, often reads the company reports. Once the results are revealed, the call is then accessible for others to join in, namely stock analysts, who come with a slew of questions. Businesses may also use conference calls to promote their products or services. Seminar leaders may open a conference call to the public to share their marketing techniques or business strategies for free or a small price.

Entertainment-Based Conference Calls

Today, people are looking for more and more ways to make new friends or find the companion of their dreams. When bars and clubs get to be too much, the allure of chatting on a "party line" becomes increasingly appealing. Entertainment-based conference calls are used to provide a break from boredom, as well as a way to socialize with others. Participants call a phone number set aside for this purpose and are plugged into a whole new world of mingling and flirting.

Audio vs. Visual

Audio conference calls are less expensive and require less equipment than visual conferencing. Web conference calls also open up a host of potential problems, such as malfunctioning chat, instant message, and web cam services. Streaming video may also pose concerns. Although the capabilities of visual conference calls are vast and have a better way of getting the point across, depending on your intended audience, the concept might be too advanced.

To use visual conferencing as a business tool, you will also have to familiarize yourself with an assortment of software selections and other online options. Learning visual conferencing techniques is a process. For example, include too many large files and you may end up with a communication problem.

Conference Call Limitations

What kind of conference call do you want? Some services allow the called party to speak during a call, while other selections only allow called parties to listen to what is being said.

Conference Call Set-Up

Do you want to control how conference calls are received and made? Calling parties can place calls to desired participants or entrance to a call is gained by calling a special phone number.

Reservation vs Non-Reservation

When you choose a service offering reservation-less conference calls, you will enjoy more freedom. Calls can be placed at any time without speaking to an operator or setting up an appointment. Reservation services require you to schedule your call ahead of time.

Conference Call Commands

What sort of capabilities do calling parties have when choosing a service? Things to consider include the ability to get operator assistance, mute and unmute participants, alter ringing tones and record conversations.

Call Planning is Essential

Knowing how long your conference call will be allows you to shuffle along participants to meet time expectations. As a rule of thumb, a conference call centers on an hour or more. Larger groups demand longer time frames, but without the use of video, it is difficult to keep the interest of all participants.

Usually, about 1-3 minutes are given to each participant to voice his or her opinions. Often, an hour-long conversation handles about 1-2 topics. Another important factor pertaining to conference calls is to prepare for last-minute technical issues. Be aware of applicable time zones and schedule a conference call that will accommodate all of your desired participants. When choosing a service, make sure all customer and technical support will be handled in a timely manner.

Billing Plans

Accepting a variety of credit cards, some services offer per minute pricing plans. Once the conference call is completed, a call summary is emailed to you with all of the details. Applicable charges are then placed on your credit card. Additional plans include flat rate unlimited and monthly plans. Some companies offer a flat monthly rate of $60 for a maximum of five people that allows unlimited usage for the month.

Special Services

Will the conference call service you choose provide you with extra services? Depending on your needs, you may desire to have a taped recording of your conference call. Some services offer this luxury for a flat fee (around $25). Some charge an hourly rate if you wish to have a transcript of your call. Rebroadcasts are also offered through some services for a fee. For an extra charge, operator assistance might be available, which helps with the moderation of conference calls.

Several Conference Call Service Companies Reviewed

Accu Conference : This on-demand, fully automated toll-free service offers reservation-less service, free call recordings and live in-call web control for 9.9 cents per line. Operator service costs 13.9 cents. Unlimited use, flat-rate conferencing is offered, starting at $99 per month.

No Cost Conference : Offers free, reservation-less conference call capabilities, available 24 hours a day. You will receive a pin and dial-in phone number once a quick registration is completed. Free and cheap conference call services are good for short notice calls and limited budgets. With this option, reliability of service does become a concern.

WebEx : Offers conference call services, as well as helpful products, such as Meeting Center, Training Center, Support Center and Sales Center. They offer different solutions to better serve small, medium and large companies. They also offer decent live technical support and pay-per-use services.

OnConference : This service offers no set-up fee and has a listed price of 19 cents per minute per person with or without toll-free access.

Contact Call : Highly recommended for their operator-assisted services.

When you conduct careful comparisons and research on the many conference call services, you will be able to take advantage of a wealth of savings that regular phone services cannot provide.

Huzaili Aris is the webmaster of http://www.conferencecall101.com. Starting a conference call is not as complex as some people think. It is the easiest way to save you time and money for your business. Know all the information about making conference.
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by George Levy

As someone who spends an obscene amount of time researching, playing and "working" on MySpace [and loving every minute of it I might add... ;-) ] I have made myself into an expert and an authority on the process of customizing or "pimping" profiles as my countless thousands on MySpace will vouch for me.

Before going deep on HOW to pimp MySpace, I'd first like to address WHY one should pimp his or her MySpace profile.

There are really two answers to this question...

The first is my expert opinion as a marketing specialist - "branding and differentiation."

As MySpace continues to grow at a frantic pace (there are currently over 108 million profiles on MySpace and growing at about 26,000 new ones daily) - it becomes increasingly difficult for an individual or an online business seeking to establish a presence on MySpace to "stand out from the crowd." A well pimped out profile allows for a unique user experience that separates and differentiates a profile from the millions of other "plain-vanilla", non-pimped profiles.

A customized profile allows for using corporate colors and logos as well as controlling the end-user experience to be consistent with one's overall brand identity.

Ok... having said that.

My second answer is more personal - simply "Because it looks cool and because you can."

So... having cleared that up.

The process of "pimping" or decorating and customizing a MySpace profile is part art/part science and consists of several key steps which should be addressed sequentially if you want to have a truly great looking profile.

In order, you must:

1. Choose the kind of look you are going for.

What will your profile be about? Is it about you? Is it for a business? Is there a specific atmosphere that you want your profile to have? You must be clear on what you want to portray and design in your profile prior to making any customizations.

This will help you save a lot of time and needless aggravation

2. Determine if you'll use a Pre-Made layout or create your own.

There are thousands of pre-made layouts available on the Internet. One need only to search in the search engines for the keywords "MySpace Layouts" to find page after page of web sites that offer pre-designed layouts for you to choose.

Another alternative, and my personal preference, is to design and develop your own profile look. By customizing your profile look and feel, you not only avoid the risk of using the exact same layout that somebody else is using but you also prevent any problems you may have with any copyrighted images in your layout that the original creator may not have secured and which may result in your profile being shut down by MySpace.

Should you choose instead to pimp your profile yourself, you will need to have a tool called a "MySpace Profile Editor" that will allow you to change most aspects of your profile including background images, colors, borders, fonts and a great number of other customizable options. You can do a search for "MySpace Profile Editor" to find one you can use.

Like in all software, there's the good, the bad and the ugly in profile editors and being tired of just finding "the bad", I personally chose to custom develop my very own easy to use, top of the line profile editor.

3. Customize your Contact table.

MySpace also allows you to customize a section of your profile called your "Contact Table." This is the small table underneath your default picture where you can select to Add as a Friend, Send a Message, Rate a Picture and other actions.

Once again, you can search on the web for "Pre-Made Contact Tables" that you can download and install but just like with pre-me profile layouts, you run into the same issues of not having a truly original profile and any potential copyright infringement issues.

My recommendation is, if you can develop your own contact table, by all means do so.

The general consensus on MySpace is that a profile is never truly pimped unless it has a custom table to go along with it...

So make sure that when you pimp your profile you choose a good looking contact table to go along with it.

4. Apply "hide codes" and "tweaks."

There are many other codes and so-called "hides and tweaks" that you can apply to your profile to make it hide specific information and change the look of many different elements including how pictures are displayed, if you want to center your profile and the order and number of how your friends are displayed. You can also apply effects to blur and reverse your images, add graphics that seem to "fall from the sky" and a great number of other options to embellish your profile.

In conclusion, pimping your MySpace profile is a very personal process and making your "Space" or profile be truly unique requires a combination of skills, patience and the willingness to try different things. Remember, in customizing your MySpace profile, there are no wrong answers and anything you create is yours to keep or discard (do overs are perfectly acceptable in MySpace... Unless of course you break any of MySpace's terms of service which can be accessed through a link at the bottom of every page on MySpace.)

Make sure you enjoy the process and don't be afraid to try new things - after all... it is YOUR MySpace profile, make it truly a reflection of who you are!

George Levy is an internationally recognized Internet marketing expert responsible for helping all types and sizes of businesses use the Internet to sell over $100 million dollars in the United States, Canada and 14 countries across Latin America. He is also commonly known as "His Mastership" on MySpace and is part of a select group of MySpace users commonly acknowledged as "Legends" and "VIPs" with thousands of friends worldwide and hundreds more added daily.

George is the expert author of the Internet Salesmanship newsletter and blog as well as the creator of best selling "MySpace Mastership" program with all the tools and video instructions necessary to Pimp your MySpace profile, make thousands of friends and become a well known celebrity on MySpace.

To find out more about George Levy, you may visit his blog at http://www.georgelevy.com and visit MySpace Mastership to receive his 5 day Free email course on achieving Mastership of MySpace at:

http://www.myspacemastership.com
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by Farhad Divecha

As competition increases in the online market space, more companies vie for Top 10 placement on the search engines, driving up costs per click. In such an environment it is imperative for companies bidding on top positions to convert as many visitor clicks into customers as possible. This article discusses a few measures all companies can take to improve conversion rates on their e-commerce sites.

1. Keyword Research

• Ensure that your keyword research (http://www.accuracast.com/resources/seo/seo-keywords.php ) is thorough. If you only select the most obvious keywords, you will pay more, since all your competitors will also be bidding on them.

• If you select only generic keywords, you will suffer low conversion rates since visitors typing such words in are often not yet ready to buy.

• If you miss out the unique keywords which no one else is bidding on, you will miss the opportunity to sell to visitors that search on these keywords.

• Use negative keywords to discourage irrelevant searches from displaying your advertisement.

2. Effective Ad Copy

• Ensure that your ads describe your product or service precisely.

• Do not lie in your ads to attract visitors. If visitors don't find what your ad promised on your site, they will leave, making your conversion rates fall.

• Use your ad to discourage the wrong sort of people from clicking. E.g. if you sell a premium product, don't use words like "cheap" or "bargain".

3. Consistency

• Deliver what your ad promises. Always.

• Make sure that your offline and online advertising image is consistent.

• Most importantly, for e-commerce sites, ensure that the price quoted is consistent throughout your site and through the entire checkout process.

4. No Hidden Costs

• Make customers aware of any extra costs at the very start of the checkout process.

• VAT and postage should be clearly mentioned as extras.

• If the amount quoted at the start is unexpectedly different from the final total, customers will abandon the checkout process and shop elsewhere. This will make your conversion rate suffer greatly.

5. Comprehensive Search Engine Marketing

• Customers often browse and return for products. If they can't find you when they return, you will loose the conversion.

• Top 10 placement in the natural and paid listings often reinforces customer trust in your brand, making them more likely to buy from your site.

• Ensure that your search engine marketing campaign (http://www.accuracast.com/services/ ) also builds a brand in the minds of browsers, so that when they are ready to buy, they will come to your site since it is the only one they recognize.

When you increase conversion rates on your e-commerce site, you can automatically afford to bid more per click without suffering a loss. If you find CPC's rising and profitably diminishing rapidly, the first step you should take is to review your site to ensure that you are converting as many visitors as possible. The maths is very simple:

If you currently pay £1.00 per click on Google, convert only 1% of these clicks, and the profit you make on each conversion is just £100, your total cost = total profit, meaning you just break even.

If you have to raise your CPC to £1.10 per click in order to maintain your top 10 position, you will suffer a loss.

However, if you just raised your conversion rate by 1%, you would actually find yourself making a profit, since your cost would now be £110 for 100 clicks but the profit made from 2% conversion, i.e. 2 sales would be £200!

Other articles to read:

• The advent of RSS advertising (http://www.accuracast.com/seo-weekly/rss-advertising.php )

• Website accessibility important for disabled visitors (http://www.accuracast.com/seo-weekly/website-accessibility.php )

SEO Weekly ( http://www.accuracast.com/seo-weekly/ )

Farhad Divecha

Before founding AccuraCast, Farhad worked for and provided consulting services to a number of large and medium sized enterprises in the UK and USA including 3Com, Proctor & Gamble and Household (HFC, HSBC). He has over 7 years of experience marketing products and services online and offline.
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by John Case

Writing informative articles and syndicating them over the internet is an easy way to get hundreds, or even thousands, of one-way links to your site, skyrocketing your search engine rankings. As your articles spread across the internet, more and more readers who find the articles useful will find and follow links to your site. You will become known as a leader, not a follower in your field, as your name and homepage link appears on hundreds of other sites.

Many webmasters have never heard of article syndication. Those who know about syndication often avoid it, thinking it is too much trouble, or that they have nothing to write about. Other might see no reason to give away valuable content for nothing. However, producing and distributing articles is not nearly as difficult as it might seem, and the advantages are many.

Creating Your Articles

If the prospect of sitting down to write a few articles frightens you, one option is to outsource the work by hiring a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters can be found by registering at www.elance.com or www.directfreelance.com and posting a simple project outline. Writers will bid on your project, and you accept the writer with the qualifications and bid that best suits you. If you go to the trouble of hiring a ghostwriter, it is probably a good idea to get them to research and write a number of articles, rather than just one.

You can also easily produce new articles by recycling some content from your site, or creating several articles with some overlapping content. For example, if you are running a site on pilates (a type of exercise) you could easily produce four articles with titles like “Just What is Pilates?,” “A Brief History of Pilates?,” “Is Pilates Right for You?,” and “Why is Pilates So Popular with Hollywood Celebs?,” and use a bit of general information in all four articles. The content does not have to be revolutionary-in fact, there is a greater demand for general, “for dummies”-type introductory articles. You should proofread your articles before sending them out, or that one typo will soon be replicated hundreds of times. However, the writing does not have to be at the Pulitzer-Prize level. Just try to write simple, straightforward articles introducing the topics of your site, geared toward someone with no previous knowledge.

Tips on Writing Articles

Include a reprint disclaimer at the bottom of each article. For example: “Webmasters are free to reprint this article provided that it is not edited, the author's information is included, and the links are included as live links.”

Many directories will reject articles that include links to your site in the body text. Include links to your site in the “Author info” section.

The “author info” section, also called the “resource box” at the bottom of the article is a place for you to include a link to your site and brief introduction. Always remember to include this, as there is little point in syndicating articles without it. Here is an example of a simple resource box text: “John Smith is the author of http://www.Domian.com, a free guide to making an income online, and maintains an SEO site at http://www.Domain.com”

Distributing You Articles

There are a number of free article directories below where you can register and submit your articles. Most of them are large sites that are constantly growing as authors add new articles every day, meaning that the search engines often spider them. Even if your articles are never picked up and republished, submitting them to the directories alone will have a huge effect on your search engine rankings. The submission guidelines vary a bit from site to site.

About The Author
John Case is the author of the Complete SEO Training Course (http://www.complete-seo-training.com/) and maintains an experimental advertising site at http://www.awordsworth1000pictures.com/.
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by Oleg Ishenko

Internet Search

For the last decade the Internet has emerged itself into an integral part of our everyday life. What previously was mostly a network of research institutions has become an unprecedented medium for commercial and social use. With the number of web pages now exceeding 12 billion it is extremely difficult to find information without using search engines.

Search engines appeared almost immediately once the WWW was born. A pioneering search engine called Archie was created in the University of Montreal in 1990 and was used to search files located on public FTP sites. The first search engine created to crawl and index text files on the web, World Wide Web Wanderer or Wandex, was introduced in 1993 in MIT and worked on principals similar to those used by the modern web search engines.

However it was not until late 90s when search engines have become the major tool to find information on the Internet. Before Internet directories such as Yahoo! or BestOfTheWeb were used to locate web pages. But it didn't take long for web users to recognize the usefulness of the Internet search, once indexing and ranking algorithms have reached a state where search engines were able to quickly return highly relevant results

Search Results Relevancy

It is all about the relevancy of results. In their infancy search engines were utterly vulnerable to abuse. Originally search engines used to index file names and later meta-tags. It doesn't take much to stuff file names and meta-tags with popular keywords which are irrelevant to the document's content. When a user queried a search engine with a keyword he received results that couldn't satisfy him. That is why Internet directories with pages classified into directories by human reviewers were far more useful than the search engines of those days.

The problem of relevancy has become increasingly important with the growing commercial use of the Web. The profits of commercial websites depend on their exposure and if there is anything that can help improve the exposure in search results - it must be done. And the first attempts to influence the search results by using popular but not relevant keywords to drive more traffic were made.

With their increasing computational and storage capacity search engine have become able to index the entire content of a page. But it was still possible to abuse search results by using excessive keyword stuffing, hidden keyword-rich text or many other spammy techniques. Basing solely on the page content it was impossible to ensure the relevancy of search results and more advanced ranking algorithms were introduced.

Search Engine Optimization

But even modern sophisticated search engine algorithms are not perfect and can't guarantee 100% relevancy. There still exist many loopholes that can be exploited to manipulate search results. Search results manipulation is not necessarily an unethical conduct. Consider three biggest travel websites: http://Travelocity.com, http://Expedia.com and http://Priceline.com. They provide booking service of a similar quality and are equally relevant for keywords like 'vacation' or 'airline tickets'. But nevertheless they rank differently in search results, and it is natural for a lower ranked site to try improving its position by using search engine optimization techniques.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is about defining what factors influence the placement of a page in search results and adjusting these factors to obtain a higher position. To optimize the relevance of a page you have to adjust keyword frequency and proximity, add keywords into headings and bold text. It must look natural though - excessive keyword stuffing might have negative effects. To increase the popularity of a page you must obtain incoming links with targeted keywords in the anchor text, and make sure that links come from authoritative pages but not from irrelevant link farms.

Search engine optimization is an extremely dynamic field. Once a loophole in ranking algorithms becomes known and widely used, search engines change their algorithms to neutralize its effect. Every algorithm update can drastically affect positions and traffic of websites utilizing aggressive crash and burn optimization strategies. Such strategies are based on the most recently discovered loopholes and tricks and are able to put your pages into top positions quite quickly. Their effect however lasts only to the next algorithm update.

Another far more time-consuming approach is the creation of websites with high quality content following so-called Google quality guidelines. This approach emphasizes the website's value for users and persuades against using tricks to manipulate search results. In short - good websites eventually will rank high. But it takes years and tons of effort to make a site popular this way. Some sites are by their nature difficult to promote this way. For example few grocery stores can afford turning their websites into top Internet grocery portals; it just wouldn't be worth the effort.

SEO alone can't guarantee a lasting effect. Not using SEO at all requires too much effort to promote a site. The wise way to make a website popular is make sure that it is useful for users, obtain quality incoming links and do not forget to fine tune your pages focusing the targeted keywords. Follow the famous Brett Tabke's Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone - after four years it is still a valid approach.

Oleg Ishenko, Berlin, Germany. BSc in Telecommunications Industry Business Management. Master student in Humboldt University Berlin. MCSE and MCDBA certifications.

Get more useful information at our Comprehensive SEO and Online Marketing Research - http://www.seoresearcher.com

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by: Gerald Chait

Building a great internet site is a wonderful achievement. But it could also be a complete waste of your time and money unless potential clients can find it. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one way to ensure your site is seen in the most crowded marketplace ever conceived.

SO WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)?

To understand Search Engine Optimisation you must first consider how people actually look for – and eventually find - products and services on the web.

Research shows that more than 80 per cent of the world’s 290 million internet users (10 million of them in Australia) use search engines to find what they’re after.

There are many search engines available to consumers – the better known include Google and Yahoo! – but in general they all work the same way. Typically a person will enter a keyword or phrase into the search engine and immediately receive a list of recommended web pages.

Internet users are impatient, which means they seldom scan though more than a page or two of search results, and generally only access sites listed at the top of the page. If you want to be seen, your site must not only appear on a list of search results, it must rank towards the very top.

Open a search engine and type in a word or phrase someone searching for your company might use – if you fail to appear in a prominent position, chances are your site has not been search engine optimised. Without optimisation, your site is about as effective as an advertisement floating in the middle of the ocean.

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES RANK INTERNET SITES?

Search engines regularly dispatch ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ (aka bots) to collect information on websites. Using an algorithm – a set of complex formulas or rules – the search engine evaluates each website’s relevance and then ranks it accordingly.

These algorithms are unique to each search engine, they are highly secret and they change all the time. But in general they all obey a basic set of rules. That means it is possible improve your chances of a better ranking by ensuring your website has the most appropriate content, and that the content is structured in a search engine-friendly way – this process is known as Search Engine Optimisation.

Search Engine Optimisation is not an exact science. It requires trial and error, and there is never a guarantee of success. But without Search Engine Optimisation your website is almost guaranteed of not being seen.

Of course there are other ways of reaching potential clients. You could, for example, spend money to advertise on a search engine, and only have your advertisement appear when people search for particular keywords. That is valid way to increase your chances of reaching customers. But studies have shown people using the internet tend to trust and visit the free listings more than paid listings.

HOW DO YOU GET STARTED ON SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION?

First you need to find out if your site is actually being indexed by a search engine.

Open a search engine and type your company name in the search box. If you appear in the results it means that spiders or robots have located your site. They will place the site into a memory bank, and visit it from time to time to update their information.

If your site it not listed you could consider submitting your site to search engines. This will not guarantee that they will list you, but it won’t hurt to try. A word of advice - do not submit your site multiple times as this will only annoy the search engine people, and you need to be on their good side.

Some search engines will not accept submissions – they prefer to find your site themselves. And some simply draw their information from other search engines (a disclaimer should alert you to this practice), which makes it pointless submitting your site to them.

Once you are confident your site is being indexed, you need to identify keywords – these are the terms a potential visitor might enter into a search engine when looking for your product, service or company.

Finding the right keywords is a pivotal component of Search Engine Optimisation. There are applications that allow you to test each word by showing how popular it is and how often it is used – the result might surprise you.

A good way to find keywords is to visit a competitor’s website and see what it has listed. To do this, open their site and click on ‘view source’ - a heap of what looks like gibberish will come up, but find a line which says ‘

Gerald Chait is GM, Sales & Marketing of Software Design Group (SDG): Website Development, Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Network Support, Outsourcing Solutions, Help Desk Support, Application Development, Hardware & Software Sales. Gerald.chait@sdgtechnology.com.au or http://www.sdgtechnology.com.au.
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By Paul Speziale

What's the biggest bottleneck in any business? Besides sales, this often-overlooked feature of any business could be causing you lost sales and your long-term success. Use these tips to reduce the most costly (and annoying) bottleneck with businesses today.

Imagine for a moment that you have just spent a small fortune on marketing...you have a sale that you want to advertise and you have produced full page ads in the local newspaper setting you back $20,000 a day, sent out thousands of flyers, produced signs, sent out press releases and you even went on TV.

The big day arrives and floods of people enter your store. You look at the people clawing at each other to buy your goods, while you eagerly wait to count your profits.

Then something bad happens...

A cashier takes a break to talk to his girlfriend on his cell phone, and she breaks up with him. He returns 15 minutes later disgusted, not caring about anything, right into the heat of the crowded store. He starts being rude to the customers, taking his time and tells some of the customers off.

Appalled, your customers leave the store, and the profits you were counting in your head have vanished into the smoke they came from.

So what happened?

What happened is what many believe is one of the biggest problems of any business today...the people that interface with your customers.

Usually they are the most underpaid, under trained people in your business. They are relied upon to handle all customer inquiries, complaints, joys and questions and basically close the sales. It’s not just in retail either. Any business that has prospects phoning and asking questions or placing orders has this problem.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard a story from a disgruntled long-time customer of some business that was driven away because the customer service person couldn’t accommodate their request, I would have lots of nickels.

And you know, the people that represent your business, the ones that interface with the customer everyday ARE your business to the customer. If they are mad because of some “7 dollar an hour…can’t wait to get home to go drinking” customer service representative, they will lump you and your product right along into their mental state. If you receive a brick in the mail one day, you may be having this problem.

So how do you avoid this bottleneck?

First, isolate whomever is having any contact with your customers.

1. Who’s answering your phones?
2. Who is on the floor greeting your customers?
3. Who’s answering the emails?
4. Who is responding to your white mail?
5. Who is placing the order?
6. Who is making the sales?

Second, you need to be constantly educating them and training them as to your specials, new products, etc. Make sure you have a networked computer system to take notes for telephone operators. There is nothing more frustrating then phoning one-customer service person, only to have to retell your problem to another one 10 minutes later after they mistakenly hang up on you.

Third, educate them on how to deal with people. Once they know why certain customers behave the way they do, they might not be rude with them or they can adapt their behavior to build rapport and guarantee the sale.

Fourth, give them a little negotiating power. Some customers will try to negotiate. Give the person some room with that, just to appease the customer’s desire to “get a good deal”. Often people will warm up when there is some negotiating room.

Lastly, perhaps give the people that deal with customers a small reward for their excellent people handling skills (in other words, closing the sale). It doesn’t have to be money. In fact, chances are it will be material things, not money. Find out what your employees want the most. It can be an IPOD, or a trip, your own products, or something to encourage them. Use incentives so they make the special effort with your customers.

Paul Speziale is a direct marketing consultant / entrepreneur based out of Toronto, Ontario. He has served all industries from manufacturers to retailers, from entrepreneurs to professionals. Besides helping clients, he is working on his own projects. He also volunteers his time for several worthy causes both local and global. You can reach him at: http://www.AnelloSolutions.com: Growing Your Business Through Low-Risk, Optimized and Results Based Marketing
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By Tim Sales

If you want to increase the profits in your MLM Business, a good starting place is to sell more products. There are hundreds of different "selling tactics" being taught, but I have always found this one specific approach to work like magic.

How in the world could ONE person sell a billion dollars worth of products? He knew his product...and he knew it well. The one thing that snagged my attention was ‘how well he knew his product’.

Which comes first; knowledge of your product...or selling a billion dollars worth of it? Obviously, knowledge of your product comes first.

This MLM training article is about the important Communication Quality called, "Know what you're talking about."

The MLM professional must possess a specific group of characteristics in order to truly have success in speaking with customers and selling products.

I call these characteristics the 10 Communication Qualities. Being knowledgeable about these qualities and having the proper and correct MLM training to learn them, you will be amazed at how many prospects and customers will be interested in your MLM business and/or products.

I watched a TV infomercial of a gentleman selling cutting knives. I was greatly impressed with the knowledge of the sales persons’ presentation. I could tell he knew everything one could know about his product.

I was listening intently, at the beginning, trying to find a hole in what he was talking about. The more I listened, the more I could see and hear; ‘this man knows about knives’!
He demonstrated to me why he was right. He discussed it clearly. Anyone could have understood it.

He presented several demonstrations with his knives; everything from cutting a can in half to cutting other knives in half with his knife. He did this without making me feel stupid for my lack of knowledge about knives. He was not too assertive, (Communication Quality #4). The more I watched this man, the more I realized he was using all 10 of the Communication Qualities.









Rarely have I seen all these qualities in one person. By the way he delivered his knowledge, I could tell he had researched everything about his knives. He explained what a good knife was, told where the largest cost is in a knife, and why you (the listener) didn't need to have that in your kitchen knives. He gave a "no questions asked, money back guarantee." That certainly sounded like he was "interested" in me. I bought the whole set of knives.

I was intrigued with his charisma; I started researching him, and guess what I found? He has sold over one billion dollars worth of goods! NOT through a downline of thousands of people...or a company with hundreds or thousands of stores... he personally has sold a billion dollars worth of goods!

His name is Ron Popeil. His mother and father split up when he was three. Neither parent wanted him or his brother. He grew up on the streets in the Bronx. At 16, he visited his dad in Chicago and got a job working in a small kitchen appliance factory. Walking home one day, he passed by a place in Chicago called Maxwell Street; which is the equivalent of a dirty flea market today.

The main things sold on Maxwell Street were stolen goods. As he watched the people selling their stolen goods and the people buying them, he got an idea. The next day he bought some of the items from the appliance factory where he worked at wholesale. He then went to Maxwell Street and sold them. As he describes it, "I had never been loved as a kid - I finally found love. It was with my customers. I made a connection with them."

He found out about state and county fairs...and mastered those. He volunteered to do live demonstrations inside of stores that carried the manufacturer's products. He mastered selling products ‘live’ in stores, and then graduated to live television networks that sold the products. His company’s name is Ronco. He's the man who came up with, "It slices and dices... but wait, that's not all...you'll also get..." and "If you order now you get absolutely FREE...” To date, he has personally sold over one billion dollars worth of products.

Because he was the one working in the factory making those knives, he KNEW HIS PRODUCT!

My whole interest in this was stimulated by his knowledge of knives. It was THIS quality of "know what you're talking about" that jumped out and grabbed my attention. When you know what you're talking about, prospects really admire it because your knowledge can help them get what they want.

Your downline will also greatly admire you if you know what you're talking about...and they will follow you. If you invent answers to their questions (instead of knowing what you're talking about); they quickly learn you will say anything (truth or not) to get them to buy the product or sign up in your downline...and they won't.

You do not have to work at a manufacturer to know all about the products you are selling in your MLM business. You don’t have to have a master's degree in nutrition to sell a nutrition product. The thing that impressed me the most was that Ron Popeil talked in such simple language that everyone could understand.

He never tried to impress his audience with big words. He would say things like, "The steel this knife is made out of is tough; look how tough it is", then he would demonstrate it. He didn't try to explain the difference between anodizing and case hardening.

Instead, he would demonstrate for you what he wanted to communicate. It's the sign of a true communicator, to know everything about something, and to communicate it simply. Make it very easy for the prospect to make a decision.

Be knowledgeable about your MLM business. Know everything there is to know about the products you sell. When you find people who can benefit from your business and/or your products, you can confidently help them get what they want. It's this kind of knowledge that really pays you in network marketing.

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the confidence and skills to be an MLM success. Discover what you must know to become a true network marketing professional. Sign up for his free MLM training newsletter and listen to free training at http://www.brilliantexchange.com.
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by Kanicen Nichathavan

Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.

A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

Kanicen Nichathavan is the owner of Kanicen's Blog, Kanicen's Blog welcomes everyone who intends to share knowledge, interesting products, ideas and those who want to start Internet Online Business. You will find all kind of Internet Marketing Tools and resources. For Newbie and Internet Marketers this blog will be the best option for lowest prices of all kind of Internet Marketing Tools at http://www.kanicen.com.
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By Tamara Esgoode

Are you finding that prospecting and working your "cold market" is getting chillier these days? I've noticed this, especially in the last year. When I contact people who had responded to an advertisement that my company ran, it is extremely difficult to establish rapport than it used to be!

I've been quite surprised to see how much more closed and suspicious people have been compared to when I made phone calls just a year ago. Perhaps the challenges in today's world have made their impact on people. They are more fearful, less likely to trust someone they don't know.

How do you build rapport and build your network marketing business in times like this? You will need a little more patience, but if you persevere and follow these five basic network-marketing strategies, you can warm up even the chilliest of cold markets!

First, I'd like to review the basic network marketing strategies that create successful organizations. It's important to understand that the people who excel in network marketing have a large circle of influence. A circle of influence means there are a lot of people that know you, who like you and trust you. If you don't already have a large circle of influence, and you want to succeed in network marketing, you're going to need to build one!

How do you build a circle of influence? One person at a time! It’s always best to start with people that you know. Contact them and ask them for referrals. Participate in your community, attend Chamber of Commerce events, and hold local meetings. You develop yourself into a leader both personally and professionally, to attract other like-minded professionals.

Online, you do the same in the Internet community. You build a presence on the Internet with a newsletter list or Blog-or both, or website, so that you can build a relationship with people. You provide a way so they can get to know you... like an online photo album, and a personal "Get to Know Me" page.

These are the basics of good network marketing. Once you've contacted the people that you know, you will want to expand your circle of influence even further and get to know some new people! You can do this through advertising or through hiring a network marketing ad agency to advertise for you. Now, how do you handle today's increasingly chilly cold market? Well, you need to take more time to WARM IT UP!!! Here are six network-marketing strategies for warming up your cold market.

1. Whenever possible, use offline advertising sources such as postcards, newspapers, radio or TV. These prospects see your ad several times before responding, and are usually MUCH more highly qualified. If your ad is credible, people will trust you more easily.

2. If you must use Internet advertising, be sure to use an established and proven leads source which includes the use of an e-mail auto responder. This will allow you to contact people via e-mail legitimately, without Spam complaints. If you are very serious about generating leads online, I recommend you create or purchase your own lead generating website. This takes time but is a lifelong investment if done correctly.

3. When you reach a person by phone, don't rush the relationship building process. Find out what they are looking for, ask good questions, and really listen. Don't be pushy, focus on their needs. If you're new at working your cold market, team up with a successful leader in your upline who is experienced.

4. Offer something of value that is free like a report, eBook or consultation, that will both qualify and educate your prospect and that will also introduce you as part of the process. For example, on your free report include a link to your online photo album and your biography or "Get to Know Me" page.

5. Follow up several times to build familiarity and credibility with your prospect. Use an auto responder to help you in this, but don't depend on it. There is nothing like a good, old-fashioned conversation to build trust. Sending a postcard in the mail also helps a lot!

6. Be a real person. Tell. Don't sell! Avoid sales pitches. Instead, share your own story. Network marketing is about being your authentic best self. Let your heart and your integrity shine, and people will remember you and trust you. When they are ready to try your product or join your team, they will call you!

Tamara Esgoode has been network marketing since 2001. She writes about http://www.homebizhearts.com.
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by David Riewe

Creating a MySpace website may seem overly complicated to those who have never done any HTML design in the past but it is really quite simple. Members who have advanced HTML knowledge can obviously incorporate more advanced features into their design but even those with no HTML knowledge may be able to create an attractive and functional MySpace website. This is possible because much of the design can be done through the use of templates. This article will focus on some of the most basic design features of MySpace to give beginners a basic understanding of the features they can incorporate into a new MySpace website and the types of changes which can be made to an existing website. This article will include information on changing the background, importing images, adding music to the website and posting quizzes for other users.

Adding or Changing the Background

The background color of a MySpace website is very important because it is one of the first things visitors notice when the website loads. If the background is garish and makes the website difficult to read, visitors may exit the page quickly. Conversely if the background is appealing it may make the entire website more appealing.

Basic HTML knowledge is required to add colors or background graphics to a MySpace profile. To add colors or background graphics go to the “Edit profile” section after logging into your account. Next enter the necessary code into the appropriate section. To get the background to appear on your profile you should include the code in the “About me” section of your account. If you are unsure of the code that is needed, there is a wealth of information available online for those who are learning HTML.

Importing Images

Many members of the MySpace community choose to post their picture on their website. Again the social aspects of the online community encourage this action because people who engage in online friendships often want to see what their new friends look like. Including pictures is the easiest way to let others know what you look like.

MySpace members are asked to upload a photo of themselves when they first sign up. This step can be skipped and done later. Photos which are uploaded to MySpace must be .gif or .jpg files. Additionally they must be smaller than 600k. The filename for photos should also not contain spaces or characters other than numbers or letters.

Adding Music to the Website

The addition of music to a MySpace website is a very common practice. This is used both by bands who want to promote their music as well as by individuals who want to let others know what type of music they like. The process of adding music to a MySpace website is incredibly easy. Members can visit the following web address to listen to music from MySpace artists: http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music. If the artist has granted permission for others to use the music, there will be a button that says “Add” next to the song. Clicking on this link, when you are logged into this account, will automatically add the music to the background of your MySpace website. You are only able to add one song at once to your profile but you can change the music as often as you like by adding a new song. If you already have one song and add another, the second song will replace the original song on your profile.

Posting Quizzes on the Website

Many MySpace members include fun personality quizzes on their website and publish their quiz results. These quizzes give visitors more information about the member. The members may also post a link to this quiz so other members can take the quiz and post their results in the comments page. Different types of personality quizzes can be found on the Internet and many of these quizzes give you the code necessary to add this quiz to your MySpace website or another websites. You can copy and paste the code into the “Interests” section of your MySpace profile.

David Riewe is the webmaster of http://www.daves-inforama.com and http://www.daves-inforama.com/myspace.
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by David Riewe

MySpace members can generate a website quickly through templates. These templates enable users to create a generic website in very little time. For those who are just interested in making new friends or keeping in touch with old friends, this may be all the member needs. However, those who want to offer more on their website or those who simply want to create a more detailed website may require some more advanced knowledge to achieve the desired effects.

Adding Background Music in MySpace

The majority of websites on the Internet do not have background music. This may lead many novice MySpace members to believe adding music to the background is a difficult process but it really isn’t. In fact MySpace makes it incredibly simple for members to add music to their profiles. The steps to add music to a MySpace profile are as follows:

* Log into your MySpace account
* While logged in visit this web address: http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music
* Listen to the music available and select a suitable song for your profile
* Click on the link that says “Add” below the song title
* The music is then automatically added to your profile

It is important to note that users can only add one song at a time to their profile. Clicking the “Add” link on a second song will result in the original song being replaced on the profile by the new song. Songs can be removed from a profile at any time by going to the “Edit profile” section of your account and entering the “Profile songs” subcategory. Here you have the option to remove your chosen song.

Adding Videos to MySpace

Adding videos to MySpace is also not as difficult as it seems. Even those with no HTML skills can add videos produced by other members or even their own videos to their MySpace profile. The steps to add a video to your MySpace profile are as follows:

* Log into your MySpace Account
* From your MySpace homepage, click on the “Add/Change Videos” link
* You are then taken to another webpage where you can either search through a database of previously uploaded videos or upload your own video
* To search the database, click on the search videos button and browse through the available videos
* After watching a video you can add the video to your profile in a couple of ways. First you can click on the “Add to my profile” button or you can copy the source code provided and paste this code into the desired location on your profile.

Alternately you can add your own videos to your MySpace profile by first uploading them to MySpace and then adding them to your profile. When uploading a video care should be taken to ensure the video does not violate the terms of service.

Creating Interactive Features on MySpace

Creating interactive features on MySpace is a bit more involved. Members can create features which allow visitor interaction but these features require more extensive HTML knowledge. The best way to acquire the information necessary to design these types of features is to research the subject of HTML code in books or on the Internet. However, if you find a feature on another MySpace website you would like to include in your own profile you can contact the member and ask them how to add this feature.

About The Author
David Riewe is the webmaster of http://www.daves-inforama.com and http://www.daves-inforama.com/myspace.
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by Madison Lockwood

Podcasting in its simplest form is the uploading of MP3 files to the internet, where they can be accessed by the majority of the online universe with little more than a modern browser. You might consider a podcast to be an audio blog, although podcasts are basically standalone units of communication and not limited solely to “audio.” The term is also applied to short video pieces that are uploaded for general consumption; that is becoming more common, but the term was born as a reference to the audio format. Although the term stems from Apple’s iPod line of products it is generic in nature and refers to any MP3 (and increasingly, video) file provided via one Internet channel or another.

To that end, the number of channels that are now using podcasts is nothing short of phenomenal. They are used in educational formats (distance learning programs) and by the mainstream media. Business Week Online is an example of excellent utilization of the format. They provide professionally conducted interviews with both news makers in the business world and with experts on topics like developing technology. It is both an extension of their current events function and the features section of the magazine that focuses on broader industry analysis.

Every major news outlet online – ABC, ESPN, Fox, CNN and so forth – use podcasts to augment their print-and-graphics webpage formats. You can find them on political websites and blogs, often carrying the candidate’s message but more often carrying the opponent’s gaffe. This particular phenomenon has led to the practice of campaigns hiring “trackers” to trail their opponent from public event to public event with a video camera, hoping to catch a misstatement, a contradiction or some sort of unfortunate occurrence that can be distributed via the assortment of political websites and blogs that clog the web today.

You can now “subscribe” to podcasts that are delivered via an RSS application automatically to your computer. “Pod-casters” are individuals or information distributors of some sort that provide an ongoing series of podcasts. Podcasts very quickly found their way to the marketing and advertising industry, which as adopted them for widespread use on the Internet. Video podcasts in particular have become the most recent form of “pop-up” advertising on the web. You can be clicking through a commercial site and suddenly you are watching a commercial.

The proliferation of podcasts that are web casts of mistakes, poor behavior or just plain foolishness began with people in the public eye but now extends well beyond the currently and formerly famous. Because these snippets of audio and video are so widespread and move across the digital network so quickly, one begins to feel uneasy. What if someone catches me falling off a bicycle and thinks it looks funny enough to share?

When email entered our society, it provided a screening device to communication that was somehow comforting. Podcasts and to some degree the whole social networking phenomenon create the opposite effect. It’s easy to feel exposed, regardless of the fact that you’re still one person using one computer.

For a technical explanation of the various methods of podcast delivery, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting. They provide an excellent and extended explanation of the various software options and delivery choices that you can make in allowing podcasts into your life. For a fairly comprehensive directory of podcast feeds and sources, try http://www.podcast.net/. As a good resource for news in the podcast universe and also for a directory, there’s http://www.podcastingnews.com/

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for http://www.apollohosting.com. She helps clients understand how a website may benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, & VPS hosting to a wide range of customers.
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by Gary Ruplinger

If you’re not using video on your website yet, then you’re missing out on a great opportunity to increase customer responsiveness to your website.

With the ever growing population of broadband users in the United States, video has become mainstream. You only need to look at the most popular sites on the Internet and see that http://Youtube.com is the 8th most popular website in the world. Youtube is a site that shows videos, so broadband is essential to using and enjoying the site. It is estimated that 65% of Internet users in the United States have broadband access, and that number is expected to grow to 80% by 2010.

However, putting video on a website can seem quite intimidating if you’ve never done it before. I know. I’ve been in that position. When I first started learning about putting videos on the Internet I didn’t even own a video camera or know how to use one.

Fortunately, technology has made putting your videos on the Internet far easier than in the past. Now you can relatively quickly film a video, add professional looking effects, upload it, and post it on your website.

What You’ll Need

•A computer with a firewire port and Windows XP (preferably a laptop – if yours doesn’t have one, you can buy an adapter)
•A digital video camera
•A firewire cable
•A tripod
•A well lit area

Those are actually the only essential tools. Now there are a lot of extra tools you can add to really add professionalism to your videos, but those are for another time. I just want to focus on helping you get your first video up.

Step 1 - Setting Up

Go ahead and put your video camera on the tripod. Setup your laptop next to the video camera. Now go ahead and plug in the firewire cable to the video camera and then to the firewire port on your computer. Your computer should automatically recognize the camera and ask you what you want to do. Click on the capture video icon. This will open up Windows Movie Maker on your computer – a free program installed on all Windows XP computers (I’m assuming your using a PC and not a Mac since Macs are a bit more intuitive for making videos, and you probably won’t need this guide) Make sure you’re area is well lit. You will want it to seem really bright in order for it to look good on video.

Step 2 - Recording the video

All you need to do is click on capture video in Windows Movie Maker and you can record your video. When you’re done, just push stop.

Step 3 – Editing Your Video

Once you’ve finished recording your video, you’ll see your clip showing in the collections section of Windows Movie Maker. Click on the clip and drag the clip to the timeline at the bottom of the application. Once it shows in the timeline, you’re able to edit the length, and cut out parts. You can also add music or add a title screen and credits.

Step 4 – Saving Your Video

Once you’ve finished editing your video, you’re ready to save it. Just click save, and tell windows to save it in the best quality for playback on your computer format. This will keep the file from becoming huge and will make it much faster to upload.

Step 5 – Uploading Your Video

Go to http://Youtube.com and sign up for a free account. Once you’re signed up, click on my videos and then on upload a video. Find the file you saved on your computer and upload it to Youtube.

Step 6 – Publishing To Your Website

Once you’re done uploading your video. Go ahead and watch your video. To the right of the video you’ll see a section labeled Embed. Copy that code and paste it to the website where you want you video to appear.

Viola.

You’ve just put your video online.

Gary Ruplinger is the owner and operator of http://www.AVICoach.com. His site helps people learn about all aspects of online video marketing. You'll find a variety of video tutorials and guides at his site. Also, be sure to download his free report on making your site sell more with video.
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By Jeff Mowatt

See if this applies to you or the team members in your organization: You've been working in your industry for several years. Your responses to requests from customers, prospects and co-workers are fast and accurate. You know your stuff and your product knowledge is one of your greatest strengths. If this is the case, then the bad news is that your extensive knowledge may also be one of your greatest weaknesses. The reason…you may inadvertently be coming across as being arrogant and insensitive.

This is not suggesting that you have a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude or that you are unfriendly. Because you are quick with your answers and recommendations, others feel you have not really been listening to their needs (even though you have). The greater your expertise, the more likely it is that you are unintentionally rubbing people the wrong way. The good news is that there is an easy way to prevent this misconception that I call The Humility Advantage©.

Working with over a hundred sales and service teams over the years, I've found there are at least seven key opportunities where a little employee humility pays-off substantially. Here are three that I often share in my Influence with Ease® speeches and seminars.

1. Mention your Homework

Several years ago, a couple of branding consultants approached me about enlisting their services. My first thought was these folks knew nothing about my company or my industry, so why should I pay their sizable fees. I only agreed to meet with them because a colleague said they had done good work for his firm.

When I sat down with the consultants, they did not start asking me lots of questions about my industry and me. (This would have confirmed to me they really didn't know my business world and it would have ended their chances of selling me their services). By way of preparation, they began the meeting explaining, they'd been chatting with some of my colleagues and customers to find out their impressions of my company's services. Then, they asked if I would like to hear the ‘word-on-the-street’. That got my attention! The ensuing conversation led me to engage their services.

When talking with potential customers, do you begin the conversation by mentioning the homework you've done on their company? If not, you are missing the opportunity to let them know you are truly interested in them.

Try commenting on something you saw on their website or read about them in an industry journal, rather than starting a sales conversation by asking about their needs. It's a powerful way to confirm to others that you are knowledgeable without coming across as one who brags. It is one of the first steps in applying the ‘humility advantage’.

2. Confirm your Understanding

As an audience member participant at one of my live presentations, you may have seen me step off the stage pretending to be a restaurant waiter taking food orders from several audience members. During this skit, rather than order directly from a menu, each patron has a special request such as, “I'll have the salad with the meal.” or “I'd like to have fruit instead of fries,” etc. As the waiter, I don't write anything down, and when I walk away, the patrons assume that there is no way I'm going to get all the orders straight.

There's the problem! I may have listened accurately to each request, but the emotions I left with my customers are worry and lack of confidence in my service.

As an experienced professional in your industry, you may be a great listener, but are you perceived as such? Being regarded as a poor listener is a surefire way to kill a sale or curtail your career. Fortunately, by using a little humility, this is easy to correct. In the waiter demonstration, I redo the same order-taking scenario, except the second time after taking the orders, I say, “Let me make sure I've got this straight. You would like yours with fruit instead of fries...” (I then confirm everyone's special request accurately).

Suddenly, the restaurant patrons feel good about the quality of my service. Here's the KEY; I repeat my understanding of their needs with the phrase, “Let me make sure I've got this straight.” Fact is, I knew I had it straight, but the customer didn't. The catch is, if my ego were running my life I'd never say, “Let me make sure I've got this straight.” Hence the Humility Advantage.

Here's one more application:

3. Ask Permission to Present

Have you heard the expression that ‘people don't like to be sold-to, but they love to buy’? Before you present the benefits of your products or services, remember to ask for permission. When threading these techniques together, sales conversation might start by pointing out the homework you've done on the other person. Then ask about their needs, confirming your understanding with, “Let me make sure I've got this straight…” Later, ask permission to present with, “Based on what you've told me, I do have some thoughts. Would you like to hear a couple of options that I think would fit for you?” Once the other person agrees, they will feel less like they are being forced, and more like they are being helped.

Business strategist and international speaker Jeff Mowatt base this article on the critically acclaimed book, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about engaging Jeff for your team, visit http://www.jeffmowatt.com or call 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288).
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By: Gary Foreman

Gwen writes: “What’s going on? This month on two separate credit card statements, there are notices informing us that as of October 1, we may be charged ‘more than two’ late fees or ‘over the limit’ fees per month.”

It is estimated that Americans have charged $1.8 trillion in 2005 on the 690 million credit cards outstanding. According to a Government Accountability Office study released in September 2006, 13% of credit card users were assessed over-limit fees and 35% were assessed late fees in 2005. So Gwen has a lot of company.

Let's try to do three things. First, understand what these fees are. Second, see how fees are changing. Third, what can Gwen do to keep from being hurt?

Credit cards have always had fees, such as, late payments. This is understandable. Other fees came along as credit cards took on new capabilities; cash advances and balance transfer fees. Still others should not seem possible; like over-limit fees. You would think they would not allow you to borrow more than your limit.

There are also 'penalty interest rates'. If you're late with a payment or go over your credit limit you could see your rate bumped to 30% or more.

The 2006 GAO study looked at fees and penalties. It said that not only were fees increasing, but also the credit card companies were doing a lousy job of informing consumers about those fees.

The credit card companies are obligated to tell you about any fees or penalties and how they're triggered. Some fees, like paying your credit card bill by phone, are sometimes not clearly disclosed. What Gwen received with her statement was a notice of a change in how fees would be charged. As long as she is notified, they can get by with almost anything.

Late fees have nearly tripled in the last 11 years. And many cards have adopted a 'universal default clause' that says a late payment on any card will trigger the penalty interest rate.

Credit card companies say that the higher interest rates and fees are appropriate based on risk factors. If it weren't for the higher fees, they claim that they wouldn't be able to offer credit to riskier consumers.

In fairness, the GAO's survey found that (at least among 6 of the largest card issuers) 80% of accounts paid interest rates of less than 20%. So the vast majority of card users are not paying penalty rates.

The study also found that the disclosures were written well above the eighth grade reading level and (surprise!) featured small print. They recommended that the Federal Reserve Board revise rules on credit card disclosures.

Now that we understand what's going on, we can try to help Gwen avoid problems:
1. Recognize the card issuers get to make most of the rules. Whether those rules are fair or not isn't relevant. The best she can do is to avoid getting hurt by those rules.
2. Get familiar with each account. The only way to know exactly what's allowed is to read and understand the "Card Member Agreement." Tough duty, but necessary!
3. Watch out for unexpected fees; like balance transfers or increasing your credit limit. Know what could trigger fees or penalty rates.
4. Know exactly when your payment is due. Keep a list of due dates for your credit card accounts. If you don't get the bill, it is your responsibility to contact the company and still make a timely payment.
5. If possible, the best thing is to join nearly half of the cardholders who paid little or no interest. That's because they do not carry a balance.
6. Obviously, for many people that's not immediately possible. It is important to send in your payment as soon as possible. Being seven days early is better than being one day late.
7. If you find it difficult to get your payment in on time, you might want to authorize the credit card company to automatically debit your checking account for the minimum payment each month. You'll probably pay for the service, but that way the payment can't be late.
8. Talk to your card issuer. If you’re due date falls at a bad time of the month, they'll move it.
9. If Gwen is near or over the limit on any card, she should try to shift part of the debt to a different card. Some fees are even being assessed when an account is merely getting too close to the limit. Your best bet is to keep balances to less than half the available credit.

Although the higher late fees are infuriating, they do minimal damage. The real problem is in the universal default clause. Most credit card accounts now have a universal default clause.

Suppose your rate went from 15% to 30% on every open credit account. For every $1,000 you owe, an extra $150 interest would be charged each year. So if you're the type of person carrying a $10,000 balance, that one late payment could cost you $1,500 per year. For as long as you have the balance!

Gwen needs to pay close attention to her credit card accounts. With newer fees and penalty rates in place, it becomes more important to manage your credit. In fact, it's critical to your financial ‘well-being’.

Gary Foreman is a former financial planner who currently edits The Dollar Stretcher website. If you'd like to stretch your day or your dollar visit today! You'll find hundreds of articles to help you "live better...for less". View their website at: http://www.stretcher.com
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By Wally Bock

For centuries people have debated whether leaders are born or made. Several decades ago researchers started trying to answer this question. The debate goes on, even though we know the answer.

It turns out to be a little of both. Leaders are ‘sort of’ born and they are always made. Knowing the details will help you develop effective leaders for your company.

Leaders are ‘Sort of’ Born

There's only one thing a person needs to actually be born with in order to be a leader later in life; that is intelligence. A leader needs to be smart.

Effective leaders are not necessarily the smartest people in the room, or the company, or even on the team. They have to be smart enough to do the job they are assigned.

The kind of person the potential leader is when he or she becomes an adult is very important. The person who emerges from adolescence into young adulthood has the psychological and character traits they'll demonstrate for the rest of their life. Some of those characteristics matter for leadership.

By the time a person reaches adulthood, we can tell if they know how to help other people achieve results. That, after all, is what we expect leaders to do. We expect them to achieve success through a group. We expect them to help their subordinates grow and develop.

When a person becomes an adult, we can tell if they want to achieve objectives or if they just want to go along and take it easy. We expect leaders to be responsible for achieving results. You can have a marvelous life without a results focus; however, if you're going to lead successfully, you have to have the drive and willingness to be measured by the results of your leadership.

Upon reaching adulthood, we can tell if they are willing to make decisions or not. Lots of people wake up every day and let the world happen to them. Leaders must be able and willing to make decisions that affect themselves and others.

When achieving adulthood, we can tell if they have the basic qualities that we expect leaders to have. We can determine if they're smart enough to do the job. We can tell if they are willing to help others to achieve results as a group. We can tell if they will make decisions.

Those things are essential. People who have those qualities can learn the multiple skills it takes for them to become effective leaders.
No one emerges from the womb or from adolescence with all the skills in place to be an effective leader, no matter how they measure up on the key essentials. Everybody has to learn the job. That's why leaders are always made.

Leaders are Always Made

Leadership can be learned by anyone with the basics. There is a lot to leadership that cannot be taught.

Leadership is an apprentice trade. Leaders learn about 80 percent of their craft on the job.

They learn from watching other leaders and emulating their behavior. They choose role models and seek out mentors. They ask other leaders how to handle situations.

Leaders improve by obtaining feedback and using it. The best leaders seek feedback from their boss, their peers, and their subordinates. They modify their behavior so they are able to obtain better results.

Leaders learn by trying things out and then critiquing their performance. The only failure they recognize is the ‘failure to learn from experience’.

In their book, Geeks and Geezers, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas identify the special power of what they call "crucibles." These are trials that teach hard lessons which leaders use as the basis of their strength in later crises. Many of these events can be called "failures," but leaders turn the bad situation to good by learning from it.

Effective leaders take control of their own development. They seek out training opportunities that will make a difference in their performance.

Effective leaders look for training programs that will help them develop specific skills they can use on the job. Then, when they return to work, they devote specific, deliberate effort to mastering in real life what they have learned in the classroom.

Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan studied the progress of 88,000 managers who had been to leadership development training. The people who returned from the training, talked about it, and did the deliberate learning applications, were judged as becoming more effective leaders. The ones, who didn't, showed no improvement.

If you're responsible for leadership development for your company, you should structure your support for your leaders to recognize that most leadership learning happens ‘on the job’. Help people develop leadership development plans. Help them select specific skills training. Then work on transferring skills from the training to the job. Help them find role models, mentors and peers to discuss leadership issues.

Help your leaders get feedback from their boss, peers and subordinates. Work to create the culture of candor that will make that feedback helpful and effective.

Don't stop there. Make sure you evaluate your leaders on their leadership work. Reward them. Hold them accountable for accomplishing the mission through the group. Hold them accountable for caring for their people and helping them grow and develop.

A Leader's Growth is Never Done

Leadership learning is a lifetime activity. You are never done. There's always more to learn. There are always skills you need to improve.

Effective leaders seek out development opportunities to help them learn new skills. These might be project assignments or job changes. This develops knowledge and skills that can be used elsewhere.

Effective leaders seek out opportunities that will increase their visibility. Great performances alone will not propel you to the top in your career. You also have to be visible to people who make decisions about promotions and assignments.

If you are responsible for developing leaders in your company, set up programs to give your leaders both kinds of development opportunities over the course of their careers.

There is no magic formula for developing quality leaders in your company. By selecting potential leaders with the essential traits, supporting them with training, feedback, on-the-job learning, developmental experiences, and holding them accountable for results, you will have the leaders you need to shape your company's future.

Wally Bock is an author, speaker, and coach who help leaders improve the performance and morale of their teams. Wally is the author of Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership (http://www.performancetalk.com/) and the Three Star Leadership Blog (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/).
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By Vernon Anthony Johnson

Many people today are looking to own and run their own business. To do this they have three main choices.

1. Buy a franchise
2. Start from scratch to develop one’s own business.
3. Buy an existing business.

When speaking of capital to start or buy a conventional business, we are not talking peanuts. All these types of businesses will require a substantial sum of capital, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

They usually require suitable staffing, computer expertise for accounts and wages, and also people skills are required in the workplace. There are always some problems with staff that can cause difficulties.

In a conventional business, you will require a building. If you have bought an existing business, then probably rates and maintenance are your two main expenses. If you need to rent a building, then you may require a refit for your purposes, which may cost tens of thousands of dollars. Depending on the type of business, it may require new machines or electronic devices that are very expensive. You would need computers and office furniture. Considerable costs are involved when starting a business. Some of these will be ongoing, which involves, interest on the loan, staff wages and rent, etc.

Look at what you might lose if the business fails. The equity that was used to finance the loan - most likely the property you own, because you couldn’t pay off the bank overdraft. The fixtures and fittings that you purchased which now would be of no use to you and any equipment you purchased which may have to be sold, invariably at a loss.

Everything was lost to try and pay off your debt. This wasn’t enough, so you have to leave the home you love and look for rented accommodations. Many years later, you might work your way back to where you were before the time of the crash. The statistics for new conventional type business successes are not good.

With a conventional business, if you need advice, you usually have to pay for it. Some advice is available free with a franchise. With a franchise, business mentoring is usually not included. So if it’s new to you, you may have to pay for that help. In MLM home based business with a good company, the marketing help comes as part of the deal.

Why you may ask?

Well, because the MLM I am recommending is structured so that the person who does the recruiting also helps the people they recruit. In making them successful, all will benefit financially. This team building is the essence of success in MLM marketing. People who have done this for a few years reap large rewards without having to take a huge gamble to raise equity.

When looking at a MLM business which costs less than $2000 initially and potentially enables you to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a few years down the road, why wouldn’t that be more attractive to you than risking your house?

There is a company that excels in all respects and is ideal for MLM people:

1. It is debt free
2. Publicly listed on the NASDAQ
3. Achieved 1.5 billion turnover in the first five years
4. Is a global business operating in ten countries and six more in 2007.
5. Ranked number 5 in the 200 Best Small companies by FORBES.

If we summarize the benefits, then we are talking about a business which:

1. Does not require a large amount of capital
2. Does not require you to hold stock.
3. Does not require staff.
4. Does not require you to rent or buy expensive property because you can work from home using one room as your office.
5. Enables you to make an income relative to your efforts that could be in the six-figure bracket after a few years.
6. Does not confine you to office hours - you can work at a time convenient to you and your family.
7. Will still function once established without loss of income if you decide to take a long holiday.

Why then would anyone wanting to start a business not want to take the least expensive option?

The MLM choice comes without all the financial risk and headaches.

You can have the same earning potential as the conventional business with total support as part of the deal.

For more information, contact Vernon Johnson, 11/134 Hill Road, Runcorn, Brisbane 4113 Australia, biohealth@aapt.net.au . Vernon Anthony Johnson is a former electronic engineer, professional actor. Interested in making movies and making money from home business.
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By Tim Sales

There is one very specific quality you must have, whether leading just a few or a few thousand people in your MLM business. Achieving MLM success will be A LOT easier when you develop this one quality, tell the truth.

If you do not tell the truth, your downline may be friendly to you...but they probably won't follow you.

Truth means: that which is factual based on observable data.

There has been much written about truth, a lot having to do with philosophy and religion. My only interest in the subject (as it pertains to the MLM industry) is that we, as a group, stop destroying our income and our reputation by not telling the truth.

Being truthful should go without saying, but I have to discuss it because it is one of the Ten Communication Qualities that make up a great communicator. It’s also a major problem in the network marketing community needing correction for the MLM industry to grow to its fullest potential.

My income dropped in 1991 - like a brick falling from the top of a building - from a monthly gross of $68,000 to $16,000 - just because people were not telling the truth.

A media member sneaked into my colleague's business meeting and recorded the dialogue that occurred. Although it was a painful experience for me, the biggest loss stems from the CONSTANT number of people we repel because of not telling the truth.

Every time we (I'm talking about me and you) don't tell the truth, we feel icky inside. Observe a dog that has done something wrong - do they come strutting into the room? Not at all! They actually hide under the couch. Their ears and tail hang low. They don't feel worthy. The same is true for us. That ickyness actually causes us to not feel worthy that others follow our advice...and so they don't.

Five broad categories of not telling the truth have gotten individuals and/or companies in trouble. It stopped them from growing to their fullest potential. They are listed below.

1. False income representation or suggesting others can earn a stated level of income.

2. Stating that a product or service can do something that has not been substantiated.

3. Promising someone (or yourself) something and not doing it.

4. Gossiping about others. Passing information to another that does not add value.

5. Building the business in a way that is not truthful...such as suggesting distributors create fictitious accounts or positions.

Let’s consider, category one, false income representation. If you don't know what your upline earns, don't say what you think it is. If through the grapevine you've heard its "X" amount, and you feel you must state it, say: "The rumor is that he/she earns $ amount; although I've not verified it."

Say nothing you don't know is absolutely true. This gives you tremendous credibility!

When you discuss income, discuss what the prospect wants - NOT what someone else is earning. If the prospect states an income they desire, tell them it's achievable, (provided it is). Then state, "Some people go to school and become the President. Some become billionaires, some sell illegal drugs and some draw a welfare check. It would be impossible to know what you're going to do with what I teach you, but there is the potential to earn a substantial income if you choose to fully apply what you're taught."

Category two from above is unsubstantiated product claims; which, in the past, have also gotten the network marketing industry into trouble. If you market a nutrition product, the current law (in the USA) is the DSHEA Act, (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act), which states you can discuss what a product does, provided THAT PRODUCT is what has been proven to get results.

Most often an INGREDIENT has had some studies done on it (such as vitamin C) but your company's product (that contains that ingredient) has NOT. Therefore, it is against the law to claim your product does ANYTHING!

Now, that doesn't mean you can't promote your product truthfully. You simply say something like, "The active ingredient (vitamin C) in Potent-C (an example of your company's product) has demonstrated to increase/decrease ________ by X amount." That way you're not claiming your product does anything.

Telling stories of your success or others' success with the product or the MLM business is also common. Just keep in mind that the common way people get in trouble is from questionable claims reported by the media after coming in with hidden recording devices and capturing what you say. Make sure you are not claiming anything that isn't the truth.

If a friend went on your company's product and stopped having migraine headaches, you honestly wouldn't know if the reason was the product or the fact that she increased her water intake to take your product! You can't determine what really helped her - so be very careful what you represent.

Category three is to keep your word once given. If you say you will be at a meeting at 6:45 - be there at 6:45. No excuses, just be there. If you say you're going to help someone, - help them. Keep your word! If you're unable to keep your word, make it up to the person. Do something that shows you want to help.

The most important person you must keep your word with is yourself. If you say you are going to bed at 11pm - go to bed at 11pm. If you say you will call five prospects a day, call five prospects a day!

When you're honest with yourself and with others, people will trust you. This trust is what helps your MLM business to grow and be successful. My experience is that people will not follow someone they cannot trust.

Tell the truth always and you will be on your way to experiencing passive income and time freedom in your MLM business.

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the confidence and skills to be an MLM success. Discover what you must know to become a true network marketing professional. Sign up for his free MLM training newsletter and listen to free training at http://www.brilliantexchange.com.
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By Grant D. Robinson

Are you on pace to accomplish your important sales and financial goals this year?

The truth is, a good majority of US Organizations have been unable to grow their businesses this year. They are not reaching their sales and financial goals. Many have all but given up.

Is this you? Are you now looking to next year to be the year you shatter previous productivity, sales and revenue records?

It is a great idea to start preparing for your best year ever, regardless of whether you are on pace to meet your goals or not. You will need to prepare!

You have realized that it takes more than just setting a goal to accomplish it. The mere act of putting the goal on paper, sharing it with your managers, and giving the extra effort to accomplish the goal is really secondary to the preparation required.

Before you begin to work toward an objective, you must insure all of the past barriers that stood in the way of prior goal accomplishment are eliminated. If they aren't, the unfortunate fact is, you will fail to meet the objective once again… for the same reasons as before.

The following are the three keys market-leading organizations have used to grow their businesses. Consider these in order to take your organization to the next level of success.

A. Operational Systems

There are two types of systems in your organization. The first is your operational systems, including:

1. Vision & Mission 2. Financial & Budgeting
3. Production, Manufacturing & Distribution 4. Sales & Marketing

All four of these systems are in place for one reason: to efficiently grow your business. They are the standards to how your organization operates from day to day. More importantly, they are the standards to how your workforce operates from day to day.

To improve productivity this quarter and prepare for your best year ever, it is vital to analyze your operational systems. In the next month, recognize what current productivity barriers must be eliminated, what operating expenses must be reduced, what unique cultural standards must be maintained, and what marketing promises must be upheld.


B. Managerial Systems

In answering the previous questions, most organizations realize an important fact: Changes to operational systems are almost always made to improve the productivity of their workforce. But the truth is; these changes alone rarely help.

Organizations failing to accomplish their goals tend to make irrational decisions. They feel if they rewrite a vision, increase spending on technology, reorganize production procedures, or alter their marketing messages, workforce performance and profits will magically improve.

However, the opposite is usually the case. The changes usually end up harming efficiency, production and morale. The usual outcome is, those employees who performed the job they were hired to do before the changes, still do. Those who failed to produce before the expensive operational modifications, still underachieve.

The second type of system in your organization is your managerial systems. The five most important processes of your managerial systems are: recruiting, hiring, training, developing and retaining (productive employees). When you create a successful managerial system, your hiring success rate, employee motivation, and the effectiveness of your leaders will naturally improve.

To prepare for your best year ever, there is only one question to ask yourself: Why haven't we been able to hire, develop and retain TOP-Performing employees in every position.

C. Focus on People

Market leading organizations realize "people" are the key to growing a business and meeting goals. The more productive their individuals are, the more productive their teams have become.

A recent study of over 2,200 managers, by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, in Human Resource Executive Magazine found, “Of the hundreds of management functions, ‘Selecting Staff’ and ‘Retention’ are the second and third most important management functions in business today.” Recruiting was ranked fifth.

Since three of the four new hires fail to meet our expectations within the first year, managers are forced to constantly replace underachievers. Recruiting is the number one management expense in business today. Although selecting staff and retention are rated very important, they rank 36th and 44th in management effort and spending respectively.

Although executives understand the importance of Top Performers in every position, their time, energy and financial priorities have become operational. With the amount of organizations failing to meet their goals or grow their businesses, it should be apparent that this strategy just doesn't work.

Hiring Top Performers for every position in your company, the first time, is the only way to insure your productivity and profits will improve. Traditionally, Top Performers are five to eight times more productive then their counterparts.

You've probably learned the hard way; that no modification to an operational system will ever increase your organization's performance five to eight times. If you are like the most effective executives, you'll understand this and will double or triple the productivity and profits of your organization by giving your managers the tools to hire, develop and retain your greatest asset; your people.

Great customer service, work ethic, motivation, productivity, and sales success comes from employees that fit your culture, their team, and the job they were hired to do. Whether it takes developing your underachievers or replacing them with someone who will naturally produce; now is the time to focus on your people to prepare for your best year ever.

Grant D. Robinson is the President of People Values and the Author of the Market Leadership System. To improve your “Hiring Success Rate” of TOP Performing Employees, watch a free, 5-minute, on-line video at: http://www.peoplevalues.com.
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By Tim Sales

It is very difficult to achieve real MLM success if you are afraid of talking to people about your business. Use these four guidelines to achieve confidence when talking with prospects. They've worked for thousands in my own MLM business. I know they will work for you.

Why do you have a "chicken list?" Because you fear you don't communicate easily or well.

A "chicken list" is the list of prospects that you're afraid to call. Often people think they will call their "chicken list" after they get successful. But, they need these people in their MLM business to create the success.

This is a "Catch 22."

The phrase "Catch 22" is from a novel by Joseph Heller, written in 1961. The pilot was afraid to fight in World War II. He feigned insanity. But the doctor said that if he were truly insane, then he wouldn't mind endangering his life by going into the war.

If he were sane, then he would be capable of following orders to fight the war. Thus the phrase "catch 22" came to mean, "a situation that trips one up no matter which way one turns."

You need the people on your chicken list to create the success you need in order to contact your chicken list. How do you get around this catch-22?

Your fear of the chicken list is based on your feelings that somehow, people are above you because of their status. If you were to examine this more closely, you would discover it is not that the people are any better than you; it's lack of confidence in your ability to communicate easily.

If you knew you could communicate easily and effectively without making any mistakes, you could...and would...call anyone without hesitation. You would have confidence. You would have certainty. And there's NOTHING more rewarding than having that feeling.

Communicate means: a. To convey information about; make known. b. To reveal clearly.

Easily means: a. Free from worry, anxiety, trouble, or pain. b. Requiring or exhibiting little effort.

The reason I bring this up is there are a group of characteristics an MLM business professional must have in order to truly have success in speaking with prospects. I call these characteristics the 10 Communication Qualities.

Having full knowledge of these qualities and having the proper and correct MLM training to learn them, you will be amazed at how much smoother conversations will go with your prospects.

The fifth communication quality on my list is to, "Communicate easily - no tension, strain, fakeness, sounding rehearsed, stuttering or hesitating."

Let's look at each one of these issues:

Tension & Strain: (The definition for tension and strain is very similar so they are
combined here.)

a. To be subjected to great stress. b. A great or excessive pressure, demand, or
stress on one's body, mind, or resources.

When communicating, tension and strain are stress created by the mental activity of feeling unprepared, or fear that you will sound "stupid" to others. If you've ever been asked to suddenly speak in public, you know what this mental activity feels like.

It creates a very uncomfortable feeling, of "being on the spot", and not knowing what to say. It’s the reason someone's voice "squeaks and quivers" when talking. This communicates an unprofessional, “new to the subject”, uncertainty to the prospect.

The solution to tension and strain is to familiarize oneself with all situations that can arise on a call when talking to prospects. Be familiar with all situations regarding your MLM business opportunity and also the products you sell.

Know what you are going to ask the prospect to do; invite for product, invite for business, send to a website, or get on a conference call, etc. When you are clear about what you're going to do and say, you will greatly reduce tension and strain.

Fakeness: a. To represent falsely; pretend to. b. To fabricate.

People sound fake when they use a lot of fluff words like, awesome, incredible, unbelievable, fabulous, wonderful, special, state-of-the-art, etc. These types of adjectives demonstrate a clear bias on your part. I'm not suggesting you be a boring communicator; by all means, be excited. You don't have to use fluff or puff words to describe your excitement. This normally indicates a cover-up of real content.

Sounding rehearsed: a. One that is not authentic or genuine.

Rehearsing what you're going to say is NOT WRONG. However, if you talk with a prospect before you've rehearsed enough - you will sound rehearsed; which IS UNPROFESSIONAL. When you've received a phone call from a telemarketer, you could tell he was reading from a script. It didn't sound very genuine and when you detected that he was reading from a script. You wanted off the phone. That's what you want to avoid with your prospects.

Stuttering and hesitating: a. If you hesitate, you do not speak or act for a short time, usually because you are uncertain, embarrassed, or worried about what you are going to say or do.

Stuttering and hesitating loops us back to the first issue I discussed above which is Tension and Strain. It is the fear of saying or doing something the prospect won't agree with that causes us to hesitate and stutter. The solution for stuttering and hesitating is similar to the solution for tension and strain; is very familiar with all the situations that can come up on your invite call.

Have you realized the simplicity of this yet? Your willingness to talk to your “chicken list”, or lack of, is based on your ability to communicate easily. You need to become familiar with all aspects of your MLM business and company to communicate easily.

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the confidence and skills to be an MLM success. Discover what you must know to become a true network marketing professional. Sign up for his free MLM training newsletter and listen to free training at http://www.brilliantexchange.com.
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By Colleen Kettenhofen

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." Conrad Hilton

1. Get rid of clutter. Too much "stuff" in your office and inside your home clutters your mind, creates confusion and exacerbates stress. Start by cleaning one area at a time. What items do you have that need to be donated, sold, or put back where they belong? As you're cleaning and putting things away, repeat to yourself, "Everything has a place." I often heard my dad repeat this phrase while we cleaned house. It still rings in my ears every time I clean.

What clothes do you own that you haven't worn in a year? Are you hoping to fit into them again? Donate these items to a local charity. What piles of paperwork are lying around that need to be filed? Studies show that 85% of everything that gets filed away never gets looked at again. Consider starting an archives file. You'll feel more energized, less stressed, and more self-confident when you eliminate clutter.

2. What's going on outside you is a result of what's going on inside you. What self-limiting beliefs do you have about your skills, aptitudes and abilities? Be honest with yourself. Write them down! You don't have to share them with anybody. The average person has 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. When we talk to ourselves about ourselves, much of that self-talk is negative. As the saying goes, "How many times in a day do we ‘should of ' all over ourselves with everything that we should be doing?!" Get rid of the "should of' ." Become more aware of your thoughts, change them into positives, and you'll start achieving more success.

3. Enroll in a sunrise semester. First thing in the morning spend 30 to 60 minutes a day reading motivational, inspirational, or other pertinent information related to your chosen field. Your subconscious mind is most amenable to suggestion the FIRST hour upon arising, and that LAST hour before bedtime. As John Wooden once said, "If I am through learning I am through." Stay current and constantly upgrade your skills.

Learn more to