Home Business The Easy Way 199 Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
By Jim Mack

Every day, millions of entrepreneurs get up, go to work, and they go no further than their own home. A home business is one of the most popular ventures for those who want to earn money, but also desire the freedom and flexibility that can only be achieved through working at home.

At day’s end, the most important thing that we have is our family. In an effort to spend more time with them, many entrepreneurs set up an office in a spare bedroom or even in the family room. This option is especially beneficial for those who have children and feel the need to be at home with them. Today, many families prefer to live in a suburban or country setting to allow their children the safety of playing outside or riding their bicycles. The problem is these areas are not commonly associated with a large job market, which means a longer commute for those who work away from home. For many, a home business is the answer to living in a safe area, eliminating the need to commute and still maintaining a steady income.

Family freedom is achieved through setting aside important time to share in special moments and always making sure to be there when you are needed. A home business allows for all of these things, but with a twist. It’s still possible to take your little ones to softball practice or pick them up from school, but it’s also possible to earn a full-time living while doing so.

If you work for someone else, what happens if you want to take a vacation? How early do you have to provide your request and what will happen if something later comes up and you need to change the date of your trip? If you’ve already requested a vacation from your employer and that request was approved, what happens to the vacation plans? It’s not always so easy to change plans when you are working on someone else’s time clock. If you want the freedom and flexibility to choose your schedule, arrange family outings and vacations at a time that is convenient for everyone, have the peace of mind to know that plans change and you need to be able to change with them, then a home business is the way to go.

Working at home is not just about being there to clean up little spills, run errands or even picking someone up from school. It’s more than that. It’s about taking care of your children when they are sick and need you. It’s about being there when one of them calls from school and wants to come home because they are hurt. It’s also about being there for the special moments that deserve your presence. Whether it’s your toddler’s first step across the carpet or their first step into kindergarten, these are the moments that shouldn’t be missed and won’t be missed, if you are in control of your own schedule.

Jim Mack is a home business professional that is dedicated to help his team succeed http://www.giantcashcow.com, the BEST home business out there today. To find out more about Jim go to http://www.giantcashcow.com ]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips199/user/index.php
by Stephen Beck

One of the most common questions I am asked is "What do I sell on the internet?"

Well, the answer depends a lot on your personality and HOW you want to sell. In other words, the first question should not be "what sells well on the internet", but "what method of selling am I most comfortable with?"

There are essentially three ways to sell products on the internet. Let’s look at each method and the see the advantages and disadvantages of each.

First Method: Buy Wholesale and Sell Retail

This method is as old as human history. Find a product your niche wants, locate a wholesale source for that product, set up your online home business, advertise the product on your web site and ship the product to your customer.

Advantages:

1. You maintain complete control over the sales and delivery process.

You decide how much to mark up the wholesale price, not someone else. You also have control over when the item is shipped to your customer, not someone else halfway across the country!

2. You can shop around for the best wholesale price.

3. You can recommend your other products when someone purchases your product.

Disadvantages:

1. You will end up shipping packages everyday.

2. You will have to pay upfront for inventory and have a place to store it in your home.

3. Since others will be selling the same thing you are, you must be able to out-market your competition.

Second Method: Recommend Products for a Commission

This is also called affiliate marketing. You recommend someone else’s product using a special hyper-link called an affiliate link. When your visitor clicks on that link, the visitor is taken to the other person’s product page, but a cookie tracks the link to you. If a sale results, you get a commission. There is a lot of affiliate marketing information online.

Commissions can range from 5% of an order for camping gear to 50% of an information product priced at $1500! Affiliate marketing works for physical products, services, ebooks and anything else under the sun.

The key is finding product owners that see the value in sharing a percentage of the sale with those willing to be volunteer sales people for their product. Product owners that see the value of residual income with an online business.

Advantages:

1. You do not have to ship the product - the owner of the product takes care of that. In fact, the owner of the product creates the sales page, collects the money, ships the product and handles the questions and refunds.

2. You do not have to keep the product in inventory

3. Some commissions can be VERY generous.

Disadvantages:

1. If the product owner has an affiliate program, other people will be selling the exact same product. You must out-market other people and even the owner to make significant sales. You can not merely put up a link and forget about it if you want to make sales!

2. You have no control over the price of the product, the effectiveness of the sales page or the delivery of the product.

3. Although most product owners are honest and want to keep their affiliates happy, you have no leverage when it comes to getting paid. You do not control the money.

Third Method: Create your own product.

This is my favorite way to make money every day online! Once you learn to start an online business, creating your own products is a great way to follow your passion AND sell products that no one else is selling!

Advantages:

1. You have complete control over the sales and delivery process. You determine the price for your own product and you can even cut out the delivery costs be creating a downloadable product.

2. You will gain a huge sense of satisfaction, not to mention instant expert status!

3. You can find a need and then meet it. Creating your own product allows you to be very flexible and meet a targeted need in a very specialized niche.

4. There is no competition for your particular product. You are the ONLY ONE selling your products, unless you allow others to sell it for you, but you have complete control.

Disadvantages:

1. You can waste a lot of time and money if you have not researched your niche properly.

2. You must find a daily source of new customers.

3. You must find others to help promote your product.

So there you have it - the three basic methods of selling products on the internet. Hopefully, you can look at the advantages and disadvantages of each and determine which method is right for you. But don’t stop with just one. Incorporate all three methods into your online business and you will have a strong, diverse business that whether any economic storm!

About The Author
Stephen Beck, President of FamilyEbiz.com, is an expert on teaching non-techies to start a business on the internet. For a FREE 75 min. interview on the fastest way to start a family internet business visit: http://www.FamilyEbiz.com.

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by Jesse Boland

It's a sad fact that the average home business owner never earns a profit in their business. It has become clear to me as I meet more and more new business owners why it is that the vast majority of them are struggling to earn money with their businesses. They waste their time on the unimportant stuff and neglect the key activities that will begin to make them money in the home based business industry.

Given the lack of training provided by some companies, and given that the blind often end up leading the blind in business, I though it would be helpful to lay down some basic necessities for the new business owner to use as a blueprint to success in their home business:

1. Find a mentor or create what Napoleon Hill calls in "Think and Grow Rich," a mastermind group. A group of people who meet regularly to game plan and work out answers to problems that they or the other members are having. This group can be in person or via an online conference room. These types of people will guide you with their own successes and difficulties the have faced in business and provide you with a reality check about the level of desire, commitment, and dedication you must have to build a successful business from home.

2. Stay away time wasters. I mean ALL time wasters. If you often find yourself searching link exchanges for the newest way to "Get Rich Quick," or "Earn Money in 15 Minutes" you need to reexamine your level of dedication to the business you are trying to build. If I can impart only one pearl of wisdom to you it is this: there is NO "super simple" road to wealth. All wealth creation takes time, but some methods are just simpler or more effective than others. Set up a daily schedule and stick to it, you'll be amazed by how much more productive you will become when you follow a checklist.

3. Make "Work Time" actual Work Time. Just because you are sitting at your desk doesn't mean you are working. Wasting time may be fine when you're someone's employee, but when you are your own boss ask yourself whether you'd be happy with your own level of activity and productivity. Work time is not chat with your significant other time, call your mom time, shop on the Internet time, chat online time, or pay the electricity bill time. Work time should be scheduled in stone and given the respect it deserves. I promise, the amount of work you do in the beginning will make or break your business.

4. Just because you are on the phone with a prospect doesn't mean that they are the type of person you want to do business with. Sometimes it's hard to do it, but there are time when YOU should reject a prospect--they're just too much headache. These prospects are the feet dragging, penny-pinching, malcontents that complain about your program before you explain it to them, seem to get irritated by the minute details of what you are saying, and then ask "How long before I start making $50,000 a month?" These are not the type of people you want to work with, and in the end you will be much happier when you don't have to waste time with someone who wants you to drag them toward success. You'll make more money without them in your organization.

5. If you find something that works, stick with it. Too often I find new business owners that want to "reinvent the wheel," as the old cliché says. They go into business with someone who has achieved a high level of success, but won't follow directions when given advice that will earn them income if carried out. It's ridiculous how many people will not follow simple directions. The people who make it the biggest in the home based business industry are those who follow directions the best. And on the flipside: never take advice from someone who is more screwed up than you. It's amazing how many people will chime in with their two cents on how you should build your business or why it's never going to work, or why it's a scam. Let them have their day jobs and their opinions, I'm just happy not to have to make that commute to work anymore.

Regardless of what opportunity you are in, wasting time is truly the scourge of virtually every new and struggling business owner. The fasted route to success is by following in the footsteps of those who have achieved a level of success that you want to achieve, and are willing to instruct you on their methods for building a home based business. All you must do is clean out your ears, be willing to follow directions, ask someone for the answers to the hard questions. But most of all you must respect your time, and respect your teacher's time as if it were your own. When people begin seeking you out for answers you will begin to truly see why your time is so valuable.

About The Author
Jesse Boland
Founder: Octopus Marketing Group--Helping The Average Person Earn True Wealth and Happiness In their Lives
Office for Free Business Consultation: (208) 267-5127
http://www.octopusmarketinggroup.com
http://marketingpredator.veretekk.com

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by Michael Kay

It's always easier to improve something than to imagine and create it from scratch. There's something about actually seeing it, complete, that affects the human mind, releases tension, and stimulates ideas for improvement.

We've all experienced it.

The cook who invents a new cake and instantly has everyone telling her how it could be better … if she only did this! The engineer who designs and builds a new bridge and has a hundred imitators (all with their own variants) within weeks.

In the world of regular business, this is the role of prototypes. To *show* everyone what can be. In the world of Japanese manufacturing, the concept of *kaizen* (that drove them to world manufacturing dominance) depends on the same phenomenon – invent a process then continually improve it.

If this is embedded in the human character why go against the flow? Yet, newbies to the web do it all the time! They either try to learn all the skills first (taking months and months to come to any income) or they hand over the bulk of the profits to some guy with a pre-packaged opportunity that promises to take away the pain – usually of technology.

Well, it may not suit everyone, but there is a third way.

Pre-packaged AdSense sites

AdSense is the Google advertising program that places those tiny, clickable advertisements on sites all over the web. AdSense is really the other side of the coin from AdWords. AdWords are the ads that appear in the top right of Google sales pages. Well, in AdSense the ads are placed on private sites and Google splits the proceeds with the owner.

AdSense is a well-established way to make a steady – mostly passive – income on the web. The idea is simple: you set up a site, stuff it with content (usually articles), optimize every page to its keywords, introduce it to the search engines and other drivers of traffic and then sit back and collect the checks!

There's a whole crowd of industrious e-book writers churning out instructions on how to do this. The most famous is John Reese, an internet guru's guru, who named these sites ‘virtual real estate'. Snappy!

The problem with VRE's is that the concept became too popular and Google became ticked off with the degradation of its search results from constantly repeated content. They have tried to strangle the concept, but that is frankly impossible. VRE sites are all about content and so is Google! Indeed, the bulk of Google's profits come from this source.

But, enough background. From the newbie point of view, pre-packaged AdSense Sites are a huge learning opportunity. The idea is simple.

You find a package. And install it. For an example of a site in its more or less raw form go to http://www.thememopad.com/adsense . You now publish the site – or a whole slew of them either under different domain names or in sub-directories of one domain. Your web host will tell you how to do that.

You now have a site with income potential and you start classic traffic building. So far, so typical…

But, you don't have to leave it there.

So far we have used some simple techniques – taking a bunch of web pages, uploading them, introducing them to the web site etc. But there are endless things you can do that may leave your site looking totally different in a short time - though it will never stop potentially earning money.

You are using the site as a prototype. Improve the graphics. Add your own content (Google will love you!). Change the layout. Add other providers – for example Yahoo! Publisher Network. Add Affiliate Links. Add all kinds of stuff.

As you play, you learn! In the teaching trade it is called "experiential learning" or "learning by doing", and it's the way the vast bulk of us learn – particularly adults.

The risk associated with this is small. You need a domain, a host, a package, and some web site creation software. Total cost a few hundred dollars, if you buy it all yourself.

But you get a huge amount for it.

A potential money-maker, a search engine optimized site, a learning opportunity and something else… a sense of accomplishment. Remember, the toughest thing in web home business is the loneliness. When you start from scratch you condemn yourself to months of lonely learning and frustration. Learning by doing - when the site is always potentially earning, and eternally *complete* - takes away a huge amount of the pressure and frustration.

AdSense pre-packaged sites make almost perfect learning tools. Try it, there's really nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Copyright (c) 2006 Michael Kay

About The Author
Michael Kay edits the * Insights Letter* and *The Home-Based Business Review*. These are FREE publications stuffed with ideas, access to resources and free gifts. Subscribe now at http://www.HBBResearch.com and get your free gift with the first issue. To find out more about AdSense Sites go to http://www.HBBResearch.com/AdSense_Business_In_A_Box.html

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by Francois du Toit

We have all heard the real estate slogan: “Location! Location! Location!”. Well, if that is the slogan of the real estate industry then “Content! Content! Content!” is certainly the slogan for all webmasters. Maybe I should rather say it SHOULD BE the slogan for all webmasters…Unfortunately many webmasters are only focusing on how they can make more money instead of providing visitors to their website with good content.

I recently heard that more than 40% of all people with an internet business have only been online for no longer than 6 months. I am not sure about the exact percentage but I can believe that 40%+ is not far away from the truth.

One thing is for sure: Many people start an internet business believing they are going to make a fortune online within a very short period of time. The reality is that very few people actually achieve any sort of online success, especially in the first six months. The result is a constant stream of new webmasters and a constant outflow of disillusioned webmasters.

Most newcomers are totally disillusioned with the internet after only a couple of weeks or months. They often fall prey to unscrupulous dealers that sell them expensive programs “guaranteed” to make them succeed on the internet. Most of these programs do not work and they leave with the bitter taste in their mouths of being conned.

Do the statistics prove that one should not attempt to make money online or that the internet is a big hoax? No, they prove that people give us too soon. They prove that people have unrealistic expectations. They prove that people do not acquire enough knowledge before embarking on an online business.

What are the most common mistakes?

1. No clear strategy. Newcomers often have no clear idea of what they want to achieve and how they should go about achieving it. They try to go of in all directions at once or use the shotgun approach of firing away at everything that moves hoping they will eventually hit something.

2. Unrealistic expectations. People often spend $25,000+ pa. on college fees for three years just to earn $40,000 pa. when they graduate. However, when it comes to making money online they refuse to invest the time to learn how to succeed and expect to make $10,000 from the very first month working only a couple of hours per day.

3. People are often chasing money without taking the time to put the necessary structures in place that will enable them to earn money.

Assume you want to open your own restaurant. Do you try to make money without a location or any food to offer your customers? No! You start by drawing up a business plan - What are you planning on doing, how & when are you going to start, who are your competitors, how long will it take before you start making money, how much money do you need to invest, what does your cash flow look like, etc.

Many people still think they can build a quick one page website or get a free affiliate website and that they will have a constant stream of visitors eager to snap up anything they have to offer. Nothing can be further away from the truth.

Think about it logically. Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor. Most people search the internet looking for information (content). The search engines know this and reward unique content websites by indexing them more favorably than poorly constructed websites, websites with very little content or duplicate websites. There are millions of websites on the net. I am sorry, but if a visitor runs a search for a keyword such as “business opportunity” and your site is number 99,000,000 of 100,000,000 then you are never going to get any visitors. Accept it.

What can you do? The first and most important step you can take is to ensure that your website has good content. Write about something you know and are passionate about. If you struggle to write one page about a certain topic then rather forget about it. You should be able to write many pages of relevant content that other people would like to read. Try to remain original and focus on unique content.

There are many things you can do to improve your website in the future by making it more attractive to your visitors as well as the search engines. However, there is really nothing you can do to improve a website with poor content until you do something to improve the content.

Whatever website you want to establish, remember the golden rule: Content! Content! Content!

To your success!

Francois du Toit is the owner of http://www.money-maker-advice.com, a website designed to help new entrepreneurs succeed by evaluating various online and offline business opportunities, affiliate programs and network marketing options. The website also offers free articles and tools that will assist webmasters in building profitable websites.

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By Daniel Janal

Teleseminar programs are are the number one most versatile method of building businesses available to consultants, authors, entrepreneurs, and marketing and training firms, period. How can you maximize you teleseminar’s return on investment? This question was raised on Great Teleseminars' newly-launched blog, "Daniel Janal’s Great Teleseminar Tips", http://www.greatteleseminars.com/blog.

One of the ways is to offer transcripts from the seminar. If you aren't offering your customers the opportunity to order transcripts of your teleseminars, you're missing out on a golden opportunity to increase your income by a big factor.

Transcripts can add another $10-$100 dollars to your bottom line for each transcript ordered. If you have 100 people on a call and 20 people order the transcript, at $15, that's another $300 in your pocket. The rates you charge should depend on the quality of your content (more for harder-to-find information) and the audience (more for corporate markets with site licenses).

What is a transcript?

Quite simply, it is a word-for-word printed account of your teleseminar. As we talk much more informally than we write, it is a good idea for you to clean your transcripts up for grammar and style.

When you look at a seminar transcript, you might see that you've re-started sentences, stumbled over words, or have become redundant. By editing your transcript, you can make yourself sound masterful.

By editing your transcripts, you can also add other material that you forgot to include in the seminar. You might have great thoughts that come to mind, but you couldn't fit them into the live teleseminar.

Now, you have the opportunity to add those gems to the transcript.

You can also add additional sales and marketing materials to the transcript, to provide you with opportunities for additional income. Of course, any site you have mentioned during your talk will be a live hyperlink, so you should be sure to include your affiliate programs if they are relevant to the session.

How do you sell transcripts?

There are several ways to sell transcripts.

1. Offer the transcript as part of the initial ordering options.

2. Offer the transcript as an upsell, after they order the seminar. This is what marketing guru Alex Mandossian calls the "Want fries with that?" strategy. He reports a very high conversion rate when he offers the transcript on the up-sell page, or order confirmation page.

If your shopping cart doesn't have an up-sell page, I highly recommend using http://www.MyEasyOnlineStore.com

Dan Janal has been called the Larry King of Teleseminars. He is the president and owner of Great Teleseminars Audio Production Studios, http://www.GreatTeleseminars.com and PR Leads, http://www.prleads.com . He has produced more than 500 teleseminars for speakers, authors, trainers, coaches and businesses.

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By Chris King

I have attended - and still attend - many teleseminars, listened to tapes generated during teleseminars and read the transcripts from others. Here's how you can reap the rewards of attending a teleseminar, along with tips on teleseminar etiquette.

We are surely in the middle of an information explosion - and, between you and me, I love it. We are bombarded with content -- some helpful and some a waste of time. One of the approaches to sharing information is the use of interactive teleseminars. These are live seminars conducted over the telephone using TeleConferencing bridges and handled just like a telephone conference call.

The advantages are that there are no long commutes to a central meeting location. Participants may connect over the telephone from all over the world, plus they provide an incredibly cost-effective and time-efficient way for callers to enjoy all of the benefits of traditional, in-person seminars with the added value of convenience.

Teleseminars I have attended vary in cost from free to around $60. In all attended, however, I have paid for the long distance charges. Most last from an hour to an hour and a half, and with the competitive long distance phone charges today, this adds up to very little (less than parking downtown for a couple of hours).

Usually, one signs up and pays on-line - if there is a fee - then receives the phone number to call (the Bridge line number) and an access code. Most I have attended have been led by professionals who know the value of sending an E-mail reminder the day before.

Several send handouts before and after, so the knowledge sharing is tremendous.

Here are some tips for you to observe when you attend a live teleseminar (note: these apply especially if you are part of a smaller group. There are many I have been on recently that have huge groups on the line):

* Don't use speakerphones, cell phones, or computer/Internet telephony.
* Schedule uninterrupted time, and do not multi-task while on the call in order to benefit fully.
* Disable call-waiting.
* Use your mute button (or *6 on your phone) except when making a comment or asking a question. This will cut out the background noise.
* Call in on time, or just a couple of minutes ahead. And, if you need to leave before the end of the teleseminar, let the leader know. Simply hanging up is equivalent to walking out of the class.
* When commenting and/or asking a question, announce your name and where you are from, "Hi! I'm Chris from Cleveland, and I wondered …" Always be brief and to the point
* Avoid cross-talk between class members which interrupts the flow of the class.
* Pay attention, take lots of notes and have fun. This is a great way to learn!

Chris King is a professional speaker, storyteller, writer, Website creator / designer, free agent, and fitness instructor. Sign up for her eclectic E-newsletter, Portfolio Potpourri, at http://www.PowerfulPresentations.net You will find her information-packed E-book, How to Leave Your Audiences Begging for MORE!, at http://www.OutrageouslyPowerfulPresenter.com and her business Website at http://www.CreativeKeys.biz

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By Alexandria K. Brown

Can I share a secret with you?

Teleseminars are some of the easiest money I've ever made.

Chances are, you've attended a teleseminar lately. Why not produce them yourself? These seminars by phone are fun and easy to do.

Giving FREE teleseminars is a fabulous way to promote your business, help your prospects get to know you better, increase your E-zine subscribers, and jack-up sales. I offer a free monthly teleseminar that gives people an introduction to what I teach (how to get business via an E-zine). These calls generate me tons of new E-zine subscribers and sales for my home study courses.

Giving PAID teleseminars promotes your business and generates revenues as well. I do one paid teleseminar at least every two months on a different marketing topic, and sometimes I invite a special guest. Each of these events grosses me between $5,000 and $10,000.

You should also consider offering an "intensive" or "bootcamp" series of multi-week teleseminars. You can break up aspects of one topic or do a series on multiple, related topics. My former "4-Week E-zine Launch Telebootcamps" went for $497 and sold out every time.

To get started, you'll need:

1. A bridge line. For less than 30 people, FreeConference.com has worked fine for me. (Yes, it's FREE.) For more people, or for paid events, I use a paid line, such as from Great Teleseminars, because they come with personal service and an operator if anything goes wrong.

2. An automated way for people to sign up. I use, LOVE, and wholeheartedly recommend AutoWebBusiness. It's an online shopping cart program that comes complete with E-mail autoresponders and link tracking. It also lets you do coupon offers for special groups, and you can automatically track commissions for affiliates.

3. A way to record your teleseminars. You'll want to provide the audio for people to listen to later online, or you can make CDs. Record yourself with inexpensive software like Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge Studio, or hire someone to do it for you. I use AudioStrategies (http://www.AudioStrategies.com).

But -- there's a LOT more to it...

How do you get signups, especially if you have a small list?
Where can you advertise your teleseminars?
What days and times will get you more people?
How much should you charge?
How can you get expert guests on your calls for free?
How should you prepare handouts and visuals?
Do people really want CDs, or are they happy with online audio?
WHERE do you start?

To learn MY step-by-step formula for producing teleseminars that REALLY make you money, see my program, "Insider Secrets to Making Money With TELESEMINARS."

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly E-zine with 20,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at http://www.EzineQueen.com

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By Carly Anderson

Imagine you are about to professionally speak to 30 people on a teleconference call where you can only hear and cannot see the participants. Therefore, you can't read the reactions of your audience to what you say. You only have your ears, your imagination and intuitive senses to guide you.

What's the best way to structure the talk, to leave a lasting and memorable impression with the listeners?

You can begin by distinguishing between a learning-focused and a lecture-based teleconference call. The number one mistake people make is in thinking all teleconference calls are the same. They most certainly are not and it’s important to know the differences, so you avoid the mistake of planning and implementing all your calls in the same way.

The most popular category of teleconference calls that business professionals such as coaches, consultants and speakers are interested in is those used for telelearning. The most common names for these calls are teleseminars, teleclasses, teleforums, teleprograms or teleworkshops. A structured curriculum is created and delivered as a once-off teleclass or progressively delivered over a series of teleseminars to form a teleprogram.

There are other ways to use teleconference calls, such as for telemeetings and group coaching. You can also use webinar technology to deliver a Powerpoint style presentation so that, at the same time people are listening on the phone, they are connected via their computers to a visual presentation.

Participants in telelearning calls are typically limited to smaller groups of between 6 and up to a maximum of 30 people for the duration of the program, so that meaningful interaction can take place. While 30 people is a lot to interact with, over the course of a 4-, 8- or 12-week teleprogram, there will be those who can't attend in some weeks, which naturally lowers the number of participants on the call.

A lot of professionals confuse telelearning calls with a telelecture, where there is a speaker who delivers a speech, much like a speaker would at a live event.

The larger the number of people on the call, the more technical issues become a factor.

If you've ever been on a telecall with a lot of background noise, you'll know how annoying this can be and the reason for the speaker using a listen-only format. The downside to cutting out the voices of participants is there is little or no participation with the audience, so the speaker needs to know how to be very engaging in order to captivate an audience they cannot see or interact with.

Telelectures have limited appeal and are usually treated as a verbal download of a lot of information. Generally, the focus is on the speaker delivering their information and there is little skill involved, although there can be, if the speaker engages some of the same core facilitation skills used to make teleseminars memorable.

Conversely, a teleseminar or learning-based teleconference call is interactive and focuses on including the participants in fun and engaging ways, as well as working to ensure participants are inspired to act on what they learned after the call is over.

People who enroll in and attend your teleconference programs want to be inspired and engaged. It takes no skill to lecture at people for an hour, and the last thing participants want is to be bored by a teleleader who sounds monotonous, or hasn't taken the time to structure the telecall for their success.

Avoid the #1 mistake of boring people with a lecture-based format. Instead, structure teleconference calls to be interactive and inclusionary, for a memorable experience that has people coming back to more.

Carly Anderson is an expert on communicating via teleconference calls using teleclasses and teleseminars. She is the author of Teleseminar Leading Secrets. For a free 7-part audio/written ecourse visit http://www.teleseminarleadingsecrets.com.

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by Brandon Hall

As Web 2.0 becomes less of just a buzzword and more of a reality, the types of sites Webmasters need to publish will increasingly become more important. In other words, mini-sites are slowly dying and cookie-cutter article sites are on the way out as well. Web surfers will become more value-focused and Web companies will become larger.

Over the next few years, expect larger conglomerates to be buying up profitable Websites in their chosen markets. Expect smaller sites to either be bought or driven out of business. My intention is not to scare you, but this outcome is inevitable.

Large businesses have always taken two approaches to their desired markets. They either buy their competition or they push them out of business. You want to be prepared when this trend begins on the Internet.

Being a Webmaster and online marketer, you should be preparing for one of two scenarios. To position yourself for a buyout to a larger company or to become the larger company that dominates your chosen market.

Whichever route you choose is entirely up to you, but I would suggest that it would be in your best interest to begin focusing on authority sites. You can either start building them or turning your current sites into one. Whatever your approach may be, I assure you it will help you sleep better at night.

What Is the Definition of an Authority Site?

A fairly comprehensible authority site definition was put forward by Jason Dowdell of Global Promoter. Jason defined it this way: "Authority sites are sites that have been linked to and referenced on other Web sites covering the same subject matter and they also will have hundreds if not thousands of pages covering that subject matter and nearly every facet of it."

That definition is one man’s opinion, albeit a good one, but let us go directly to the source. Many search engine optimization and search engine marketing experts believe Google has derived their primary algorithm from a document titled, "Hilltop: A Search Engine based on Expert Documents."

The PageRank formula as we know it today was derived from this paper, and the authors, Bharat and Mihaila, define an authority site in the text below:

"We believe a page is an authority on the query topic if and only if some of the best experts on the query topic point to it. Of course, in practice, some expert pages may be experts on a broader or related topic. If so, only a subset of the hyperlinks on the expert page may be relevant."

"In such cases the links being considered have to be carefully chosen to ensure that their qualifying text matches the query. By combining relevant out-links from many experts on the query topic we can find the pages that are most highly regarded by the community of pages related to the query topic. This is the basis of the high relevance that our algorithm delivers."

What we have reprinted above is the foundation of the PageRank system and the determination for deciding which sites will be authorities. I highly recommend you read and re-read the full document until you understand every aspect of it.

What Are the Components of an Authority Site?

Allow me to present you with a diagram at: http://www.contentdesk.com/authoritymap that dissects your typical authority site. As you can tell from the diagram, a considerable number of components and systems must be in place for the authority site to function profitably and reap the benefits of the "Authority Site Formula."

The Authority Site Formula = Visitor Optimization (VO) + Content Optimization (CO) * Creative Marketing (CM)

A simple question must be asked. What do 99.9% of authority sites provide? In a sentence, an incredible amount of original content and a superb visitor experience. The search engines want you to succeed and they want you to make money, but you have to play by their rules. In the future, focus your efforts on visitor optimization and content optimization instead of search engine optimization.

What Is the Anatomy of an Authority Site?

About.com is the definition and was the original authority site. Their site has a generic domain name and hundreds of subdomains on different topics.

Your authority site should take the same approach, but not on such a general level. If you launch an authority site, it should be geared towards a well-defined and large market. After you launch the site and generate some traffic, you should create subdomains that cover specific areas inside that larger market.

For example, Diabetic-Resources.Com is not an active site; but if it were, then a typical authority site setup would be something like:

* http://supplies.diabetic-resoures.com
* http://diet.diabetic-resources.com
* http://insurance.diabetic-resources.com
* http://symptoms.diabetic-resources.com
* http://treatment.diabetic-resources.com

Using this approach, you are able to target your general market while generating more targeted traffic pertaining to related sub-markets.

As a rule of thumb, the index pages on your domains and subdomains should be more focused on content, but the article and commentary pages should be more focused on advertising. Just do not ever lose sight of the most important aspect of your site, which is visitor experience, otherwise known as visitor optimization.

What Does It Take to Create an Authority Site?

You want to create a site that generates thousands of visitors a day mainly through the major search engines, and would ultimately be the one-stop source for information in that particular market.

Your site must employ three traits to become an authority site. Let’s discuss all three necessary aspects:

Dynamic: You should have as many RSS feeds as you can muster to incorporate throughout your site. Your visitors need to be able to receive RSS feeds for any keyword, category or archive as well as create their own. One feed is no longer enough to satisfy your visitors.

Interactive: You should be engaging the minds of your visitors at all times using surveys, commenting and feedback. Make these features easy for your visitors and your site will grow exponentially. Why? Because they feel like you actually care about them. Interaction is a powerful tool and creates a sense of community on your site.

Consistent: You should post to your blog often, and you should always provide quality and original content. That doesn't mean you need to produce 800-word articles three times a week. Your goal should be to become a news master. You need to be an "authority" on the news happening in your niche.

If you follow the steps and guidelines listed above, then you will be on your way to being the owner of an authority site.

Brandon Hall is a staff writer for Content Desk Publishing Group. Content Desk is teaching people how to build authority sites that will dominate their niche. For a 21-page free guide on creating authority sites visit: http://www.contentdesk.com/freeguide/.

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By Marcia Bench, MCCC

Entrepreneurs are naturally inclined to wear many "hats" and have more to do than they have time for…and during the holidays it can get even worse if you don’t plan ahead! These 10 tips will help you not only survive the holidays, but stay sane and balanced as the new year approaches, too.

1. Cut yourself some slack and realize you don’t have to do it all perfectly

Are your expectations of yourself unrealistic? If you think you can run a growing business AND host three holiday parties AND do all your holiday shopping and cards and decorating, all without breaking a sweat, they are! Realize that during this busy season, even the normal flow of business will be impacted by holiday planning. Purposely schedule yourself lighter than usual so you have space for the seasonal activities. Then, give yourself a break and let go of perfectionism! Instead of the "perfect" gift, get one that will be appreciated but doesn’t take an inordinate amount of time to select or prepare.

2. Schedule time now for shopping, card writing, etc.

Time is getting short. block out time in your planner, Dayrunner, Palm Pilot or online calendar designated to shopping, writing holiday cards, and decorating. That way you can focus on the task at hand and enjoy the season – not be distracted or worried that you "should" be working! And, while we’re on the topic of holiday cards, consider a service like http://www.sendoutcards.com that will create and even mail the cards for you once you provide a list – or do an E-card or otherwise streamline the whole process.

3. Two words: gift cards!

In many situations, gift cards can be an even better gift than one you went to 10 stores and agonized over to personally select. Not only are they easily obtained either at http://www.giftcertificates.com or http://www.giftcards.com – and they send the card out for you, too, if you wish – but they give the recipient a chance to select something they will really enjoy. No exchanging or awkward thank-yous for something they already have several copies of. And there are even sites like http://www.buyerzone.com/marketing/gift_cards/buyers_guide1.html where you can customize a gift card that will be good for your company and build goodwill in the process!

4. Give your clients the holidays off so you can, too (and use part of the time for your 2007 planning)

Knowing you are feeling pressed for time during the holidays, your clients or customers probably are, too. So -- why not give them a couple of weeks off – from coaching or consulting or training or whatever you provide – so that both they and you can focus on the holidays, which only come once a year, after all! You can use some of this time to do your 2007 strategic planning (you’ve been trying to get to that, right?). And the rest – rest! Enjoy! Vacate! Take some long-needed time off to recharge your inner batteries for a prosperous new year.

5. Do something for someone less fortunate – you’ll feel better!

It has been proven that there is a "helper’s high" from helping another person. Whether it’s reading to the children at the library, petting or feeding animals at the shelter, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or any other kind of service work, you will benefit as much or more than the recipient. Try it!

6. Defer big projects untill after the first of the year

Nowhere is it written that you must complete all your big projects AND do your normal work, holiday celebrations, and new year’s planning during the month of December! Ask yourself what large projects or product/program launches can be deferred until after New Year’s. You are in control of your schedule!

7. Talk with your coach about life/work balance strategies!

If you are an entrepreneur who is committed to outstanding success, you have your own coach, right? (And if you don’t, get one! See the directory of coaches here: http://www.careercoachinstitute.com/coaches-directory.htm) Discuss with your coach a strategy for remaining balanced during the holiday season. My recently deceased friend, Roger Herman (http://www.hermangroup.com) coined the term "life/work balance" instead of work/life balance, to convey that life comes first – work second! Set clear intentions and goals that will allow you to keep this in mind throughout the next few weeks.

8. Plan your 2007 vacations and self-care days now

Far too many Americans are taking vacations any more – and entrepreneurs are among the worst offenders! You think you are indispensable, that the business can’t run without you, right? If that is really true, set a goal for 2007 to get people and systems in place so that it can! And if you know you are fooling yourself – that you can get away but just don’t – then block out four two-week vacations during 2007 plus at least a half-day (or a full day if you are ready!) each week you are working that is dedicated to self-care. Get a massage, do some drawing, walk in the woods or park, go to the beach – just let yourself be nurtured and recharged. Believe it or not, your business will run better if you do this, and you’ll enjoy it more, than if you work 24/7, 52 weeks a year – and end up owning a job instead of owning a business.

9. Spend at least 1 hour each day "on" your business

Successful entrepreneurs don’t let themselves get sucked into the trap of constantly doing the work "of" the business – and never taking time to plan for and prepare the critical work they need to do "on" the business. This means developing systems to save time or money or streamline; survey customers to find out what improvements are needed; plan for the next quarter; evaluate how your strategies are working; meet with staff to help them be more proactive and relieve you of daily responsibilities; meet with your coach; watch a Webinar or listen to a CD about a new development in your industry; etc. Make a date with yourself to do this one hour per day, 5 days per week – you will have worked the equivalent of several 40-hour weeks by 2007 year end if you plan this (and do it) now!

10. Set big goals – then break them down into smaller chunks and clear intentions

There’s an old saying that if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. The new year is an opportunity to set your sights higher, to have door-busting leaps in revenues and profits, to serve more customers than ever before – and you know the specifics (don’t you?) if your business was really growing the way you want it to. Set those goals now! Don’t worry about whether they’re "realistic" or "possible" – they’re all possible. But first you have to clarify what you want to achieve – and powers greater than yourself (God, the Universe, the Universal Force) will take care of the how. Yes, you will end up taking action on those goals – but you don’t need to let the fact that you don’t know what the action is yet, or how you would possibly achieve what you want – before you set the goal, along with a strong intention and emotional commitment to achieve it. Tom Watson, Founder of IBM, is said to have formed a vision very early on of what the company would look like when it was finished – and to compare each day’s activities to that vision until it happened. You can use this same principle to create the life and business you want next year!

Marcia Bench is Founder and Director of Career Coach Institute, LLC, http://www.careercoachinstitute.com, which trains and certifies individuals and staff groups in career coaching, entrepreneurial coaching, executive career coaching and retirement coaching. She and her companies are committed to "making work matter"(SM) through training coaches and their clients to express their authentic selves through work that is fulfilling and makes a positive contribution to the planet. She can be reached at coach@careercoachinstitute.com or 866-CCOACH-4.

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by Bea Fields and Carol Dickson Carr

As a business owner, is your enterprise truly thriving, or are you feeling the pressure from your competitors, who are breathing down your neck? If your business is not what you want it to be, what do you think is really going on? Being a business owner is probably one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of life. At this time of year, we all need a quick business reality check.

Here is a quick assessment of the business behaviors which are contributing to your success or to those which might be triggering failure. As you are reading each statement, perform a quick self assessment. Can you answer "yes" to each statement? If not, your business might be under fire, and it’s time to turn it around.

1) I know exactly why I’m in this business to begin with.

Whether it’s a sense of freedom that’s driving you or a need to connect to your customers in a special way with what you have to offer, your business "why" needs to be clear. By knowing the why, your business can gain momentum by having a clear direction and specific measurable outcomes.

2)I understand and have implemented the fundamental principles of business.

This means you have a good working knowledge of business strategy (business planning and marketing) and the systems necessary for business success, such as bookkeeping/accounting, legal issues, database management, and entity structuring. Once you have educated yourself about these fundamental principles, the next step is to implement and carefully monitor the systems that will keep your business moving forward.

3)I am taking reasonable risks.

Contrary to popular belief, savvy entrepreneurs do not take wild risks. They balance their sense of adventure and out-of-the-box thinking with common sense, due diligence and research. Taking ongoing reasonable risks will infuse energy and life into your business and will actually challenge you to stretch and grow as both a business owner and a person.

4)I know how to mitigate risk.

Do you have liability insurance, a back-up system for your paper and electronic documents, proper contracts and agreements? If not, you may be setting yourself up for risky business. Get your business in order, and make sure that your goals, methods and protocol are clearly spelled out and that your team is aligned with where you are going.

5)I know how to make decisions quickly.

You’ve heard the cliche "time is money." There’s definitely some truth to that. As a savvy business owner, you will be called to combine your knowledge and your intuition to make decisions that are quick and smart. In today’s fast-moving, high tech world, the name of the game is "speed to market," and your ability to make good choices without dragging your feet is critical to your ability to create the momentum necessary to pull your business forward and to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

6)I am developing networks and strong working relationships both inside and outside my industry.

Collaboration is powerful and synergistic, and the possibilities and solutions for your business increase exponentially by having a strong network. Building a network inside your industry will strengthen your expertise, but the real juice in networking happens when you begin to reach out beyond the bound aires of your profession to people who can bring fresh ideas and creative perspectives to your business.

7)I understand that implementing a great strategy is critical to my success.

Having a great strategy is key to creating a sustainable competitive advantage in your industry, and knowing which strategies to implement can be a formidable task. Choosing a strategy is simple, yet the execution of the strategy is where most business owners fall short. With a careful, planned approach to execution, your strategic goals can be attained. Working with a coach who specializes in strategy and execution can support you in moving through the obstacles which will pop up along the way.

8)I effectively implement sales, marketing and customer service strategies which are contributing to my growth and bottom line profits.

You have the avenues in place to let everyone know you’re open. You know your target market inside and out, and you are dedicated to finding new ways to reach them and provide ongoing value each and every day. You fully understand that if you are a business owner, you are not just a technician, you are now fully committed to the business of sales, marketing and delivering outstanding customer service.

9)I stay current with technologies, trends and developments in business.

If your thinking is back in the 70s or 80s, you’re going to get left behind, and you better keep up, or you’re going to get thumped by the competition. Keeping up with technology—particularly as it ties to the information age--is not optional…in today’s fast forward world, it’s a requirement to stay in the game of business.

10)I foster an environment that encourages creativity and development of new ideas.

This means that you’re open to "coincidences," you listen to feedback, you’re patient and collaborative and you embrace change… Fresh ... dynamic is what it’s all about! You are someone who welcomes all ideas—the radical, off-the-beaten-path, the controversial, and the seemingly benign. You suspend all judgment and allow your playful side to participate. Solo or in groups, this is important. Break the rules! Start with a multitude of ideas and then focus on the best solutions for your business.

So how did you do? If you didn't get 100%, there is a way to get you there by joining the Business Under Fire Program for 2007. For more information, visit us today online at http://www.BusinessUnderFire.com.

Bea Fields and Carol Dickson-Carr are Executive coaches and principles for Business Under Fire and the 360 Degree Challenge. Visit them today online at http://www.BusinessUnderFire.com and http://www.360degreechallenge.com.

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by Willie Crawford

There are a lot of really brilliant people building businesses in the Internet marketing niche. Many of them not only have great technical skills, but they’re also "doers!"

At the same time, I have watched many people who were much more brilliant than I am accomplish only a tiny fraction of what I have. I often sat scratching my head, wondering what kept them from achieving major breakthroughs.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks...

The difference is that, when I see something with a lot of potential, I tap into my "Million Dollar Rolodex" and see if this is something someone is already working on. I "sniff around" to see if someone is already "running with" my project idea.

Others see the tremendous potential in a new technology, service, or craze, and they set about inventing their own system for capitalizing on this potential.

The problem with the second approach is that the person often takes on such a monumental task that they frequently get bogged down in the little details, and never get the project finished. They never get the product to market. Then, one day, they look around, and someone else has fielded THEIR idea.

The big secret, of course, is to stop "re-inventing the wheel" and to stop operating in a vacuum. It's very UNLIKELY that someone else doesn’t have an idea similar to yours. Track down these people and work with them to combine your talents and get the product fielded in a flash!

You connect with people whom you can discuss your ideas with and partner with at seminars, and through online sites set up to facilitate such exchanges. One such site is The Internet Marketing Inner Circle. Inside this membership site you:

- Can organize lunch and dinner meetings with "movers and shakers"

- Set up joint ventures

- Introduce yourself, your interests and your projects to others who probably have similar interests

- Listen to interviews by the top online marketers who reveal to you how they achieved major online success, and how you can form partnerships and joint ventures with them

You can join The Internet Marketing Inner Circle at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com

If you're looking for live events to network at, and to meet potential joint venture partners at, the most comprehensive listing of Internet marketing seminars, conferences, and bootcamps that you will find is at: http://InternetMarketingSeminarSchedule.com

Here are a few quick examples of products that I've actually watched develop or even helped to develop over the past six months that illustrate my point, and that will be six or seven-figure projects:

Traffic Geyser is a service that allows you to upload your videos to their server, and from there optimize the videos, and then upload them to the top 30 video hosting sites such as YouTube and Google Video.

Video is hot! It does generate sales and traffic to a site when done correctly. As the cost of bandwidth goes down, and as high-speed connectivity spreads, video is fast becoming the norm. Lots of people saw this and many busily started uploading their videos to these sites.

I did.

However, I tapped into a service that allows me to do it in 1/20th the time. That means I can get 20 times as much work done in the same time as someone who's busily creating their own system, and who is in the meantime doing it the old-fashioned way.

Check out Traffic Geyser, created by a few of my online friends, at: http://VideoReallyRocks.com

Another example is a system, developed by my friend Louis Burleson, that allows you to build a list of "buyers" by using private label rights. Louis has taken some proprietary software, integrated it with a system for both building a list and actually selling product that he has private label rights to... all in one effort. It's a really nice system.

There are undoubtedly thousands of people out there trying to figure out how to build their lists, how to market those PLR products that they have, and how to automate the whole thing.

I met Louis at a seminar, had him show me his system, and now I don't have to invent anything. Louis incidentally was interviewed for The Internet Marketing Inner Circle members. You can check out Louis' "knock your socks off" system at: http://NoHypeInternetMarketing.com/TheKey/

The common thread in the examples above is that they were developed by people who actually did a lot of the brainstorming at seminars and conferences. Another common thread is that they solved obvious problems.

Another product born out of solving a common problem and out of a partnership formed at a seminar is at: http://TrafficGenerationTechniquesThatWork.com

This is the 2 1/2 hour audio recording, and PDF transcript, from a teleseminar on easy to implement, low-cost methods of generating Website traffic. The product reveals the very best traffic-generating ideas of three seasoned marketers, to include myself :-)

The product teaches how to generate Web site traffic, something that every Webmaster needs to know. As you listen to the audio, you can actually feel the synergistic energy developing as three minds cover a laundry list of proven ways to generate Web site traffic. It's also obvious that neither of the individuals could have produced a product this in-depth by working all alone. It was by not trying to reinvent the wheel, and by not operating in a vacuum, that a hot product was developed that is destined to be a six-figure earner in 2007.

At this point, you should be asking yourself if you spend too much time reinventing the wheel and operating in a vacuum. You need to consider the very real probability that while you "hammer away" at a project, you could probably do it a lot quicker and easier if you just partnered up with the right person. In-fact, without partnering up with the right person, there's even the very real probability that you'll never finish your project. My research has shown that the majority of projects and products started in the Internet marketing niche are never even finished.

That brings up another reason that you want to partner up with someone. When you have a partner who is depending upon you, it helps to keep you focused and accountable. If you don’t finish your part, or get sidetracked, you let someone else down. That generally will keep us moving forward more than just the threat of letting ourselves down. That's a BIG secret to success in Internet marketing.

Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for over 9 years. Take advantage of his uncanny insights and unusual candor by subscribing to his free, information-packed newsletter. Also visit his top-rated blog. Do both at: http://WillieCrawford.com/blog/

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by Adam Eason

==========================
Just imagine if, before you use any techniques or strategies for improving your motivation, you had 4 main pillars installed in your life that underpinned your motivation and enhanced your capacity to be motivated throughout your life.
==========================

I want to give you four wonderful pillars for motivation, four main themes to underpin a healthy sense of drive and inspiration.

- The first main pillar of motivation is to gain recognition from peers.

When soldiers in wartime give up their lives during combat, why do they do it? Is it because of patriotism, a belief in the cause they are fighting for, or a fear of court martial if they do otherwise?

Perhaps all these things play a part, but extensive research has shown that what really motivates a soldier to fight well in combat is the desire for the respect of the person who is fighting right beside him. This is much more important than medals or other forms of public recognition.

This is similar to what motivates salesmen on the floor of a car dealership, students in a classroom or a team of lawyers trying to win a case.

In the English Premier football league, all the players will tell you the best award that they want to receive is the acclaim of the others players and to receive the players player of the year award.

Think of ways that you can develop recognition from your peers to enhance your motivation. The apply them to your life.

- The second pillar of motivation is recognition from respected experts or authorities.

In my own life, I love the fact that a wonderful multi-selling author in the US has helped me, guided me and become my friend professionally and personally. I desperately wanted to earn his respect.

Has there been someone like that in your life? It is important to realise that a respected expert does not have to be someone who is known far and wide throughout the world. You are the one who establishes the qualifications, though very often people whom you find impressive will be equally impressive to others.

Once you've met such a person, or even if you have just seen them from a distance, or perhaps read an article about them, stop hesitating and politely approach them and introduce yourself. Unless you happen to catch them at a particularly difficult moment, most successful people are eager to help others and to pass on what they've learned.

The great thing about establishing a relationship with a mentor is that you eventually come close to that person and you can sometimes hear them advising you when they are not actually around.

Think about how you can get recognition from a respected expert or authority. You can really stretch this concept to be good parents, local teachers, councellors, as well as business people; interpret this in the best way for you.

- The third pillar of motivation is family.

Although the approval of peers and experts may be important to your career, in your life, nothing compares to the influence of your family.

Let me explain what I mean by this with an example of my own; when I had come off stage, speaking at an event in Dublin last year, a man approached me and asked me for some advice on the best way to stop smoking. He knew that I was the author of The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis, and wanted assistance.

My immediate response was to ask him what his reasons were for wanting to stop smoking and he said the following to me:

"My wife is pregnant with our first child and I want to have more after that. I want to be able to enjoy playing and having fun with my children and I want to be a healthy influence on their lives, too."

I spent some time talking to him about some specific techniques and strategies. I have not heard from that man, but I know that he was driven by his family and am sure of his success. Think about your wealth goals; so many of us want to be able to rpovide for our family and for them to have what they want.

So -- think about the ways in which you your fmaily can motivate you and get that lodged into your mind.

- The fourth pillar of motivation is something closely related to number three: sharing the wealth and wisdom for the good of your fellows.

To illustrate this pillar, I'd like to tell you a story I love about Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish immigrant who founded the United States Steel Company in the early nineteen hundreds.

When Carnegie died, a yellow sheet of paper was found in his desk on which he had written a note to himself when he was in his twenties. This note illustrated the main purpose of his life. It read:

"I am going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money, and I am going to spend the last half of my life giving it all away."

During his lifetime, Carnegie's fortune was estimated at four hundred and fifty million dollars -- the equivalent to four and a half billion dollars today. In addition to building Carnegie Hall in New York City, he founded libraries in hundreds of small towns all across America and participated in dozens of other philanthropic activities as well.

When we look at these four pillars of motivation, what do you really see?

The thing that I immediately notice is that they all involve other people, whether they are peers, mentors, family members, or simply fellows of the human race. Ironic isn't it?

To be successfully motivated, you need this very internal, very unique thing called your motivation. To acquire that innermost quality and set it to work, you need to recognise other people as reasons to believe.

Adam Eason is a UK based, renowned consultant, speaker and best-selling author. Please visit his Website for a vast range of personal development resources and to receive your amazing, free, instantly-downloadable hypnosis session for ultimate relaxation -- and the sensational free ebook 'The Happy Brain Manual,' filled with techniques, tips and strategies to make more of your brain: http://www.adam-eason.com .

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by Sally A. Connolly

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"To follow without halt, one aim; there is the secret of success. And success? What is it? I do not find it in the applause of the theater; it lies rather in the satisfaction of accomplishment." (Anna Pavlova)
============================

Any success in life involves a blending of mind and heart with action. Only by committing our intellect, will, time, and energy can we achieve that Olympic gold, that certificate of appreciation, or that "A" on a spelling test.

When we look at high achievers in any field or endeavor, we see common elements. Whether we want to follow their lead and go for the gold or whether we want to set less ambitious goals or none at all, the model is there and the decision is ours.

The ABC's of winning:

A: An accomplishment or goal. We conceptualize an achievement, such as running a three-minute mile, winning an election, or losing 20 pounds of excess body fat.

B: Belief in the goal. We recognize our objective as achievable, that is, within human grasp. Playing Rachmaninoff's concerto or growing a 1000-pound pumpkin must be, for us, a real possibility.

C: Confidence in our ability to achieve the goal. Believing we can succeed builds gradually from birth. When even our minor accomplishments are recognized, approved, and rewarded by those significant in our lives, our self-confidence grows. We internalize their views and feelings; and when these positive self-images combine with an inherent talent, accomplishment is unlimited:

"When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope.' Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso."

Believing in, first, the achievability of a goal and, second, our ability to reach the goal, sets the stage for action and becomes for us a self-fulfilling prophecy:

"If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right." (attributed to both Henry Ford and Mary Kay Ash)

D: Defining the goal as worthy of pursuit and deciding to work for it. At this point, our values enter the picture. Is it more important to become a firefighter or an American Idol? Our value system shapes our personal decisions about what is and what is not worth pursuing.

Kaitlyn, six years of age and in the first grade, outdistances her peers on the track. Her red shoe markers -- earned for every five miles completed -- are multiplying quickly. Will she see her newly-discovered ability as worthy of her passion and dedication? Will she choose to devote time and energy to pursuing track records or other unrelated accomplishments?

What she deems worthy will direct her decision.

E: Setting an effective step-by-step action plan and exerting effective effort. The stories of the most accomplished persons illustrate the time and energy needed to perfect a golf swing or become a prima ballerina.

"Practice makes perfect," our mothers told us. Vince Lombardi put it this way:

"The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work" (Vince Lombardi)

Sustained effort requires a passion and zeal truly our own. What once may have been the dream of others for us, translates into accomplishment only when the burning desire becomes lodged deep in our heart.

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." (Arnold H. Glasow)

F: Following through with constancy of purpose and dedication and allowing failures to be only temporary setbacks. Tenacity and persistence are messages many children hear around the dinner table and on the playing field: "The Connollys don't quit," "Don't give up, and don't give in." or "Quitters never win, and winners never quit."

Success, thus, means following the lead set by exemplars of excellence.

First, look carefully at your interests and find something you are passionate about. Look realistically at the skills you currently possess, as well as your potential. Rather than a headlong, helter-skelter dash, set a plan and bolster your self-confidence by focusing on minor accomplishments. Don't be surprised by setbacks, and don't be fearful of them. Detours on the road to success are only temporary glitches. Work through them and keep your eyes on the ultimate goal.

Follow the roadmap you have set and visualize success while you enthusiastically devote time and effort. Enlist the aid and support of family and friends. Telling them about your plans can help keep you on track. In addition to the emotional support, you may need their support in other ways.

And, most importantly, never give up.

Sally A. Connolly, a retired school counselor and teacher, is editor of A BOY FROM LAWRENCE: The Collected Writings of Eugene F. Connolly (2006). Midwest Book Review says this verbal scrapbook of a teacher’s spiritual journey is “filled with such treasures. It is recommended for those in need of comfort, illumination, redirection, grace, or prayer.” For more information, go to http://www.freewebs.com/aboyfromlawrence.

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by Elaine Currie

Self motivation is essential to success, but sometimes it is difficult to maintain. If our self motivation lapses, it is a struggle to restore it. To avoid this unnecessary struggle, we can use tricks and rewards to maintain the positive mental attitude that will enable us to forge ahead towards our goals.

No matter what goal you are aiming for, staying motivated is a challenge for everyone at times. Even though you have set those goals for yourself, it will be hard to stay focused at times. Using self motivation techniques is a great way to ensure that you stay positive and have the mental attitude needed to achieve your goals.

One of the best things that you can do is to map out a plan detailing your goal and the steps that you will take to achieve your dreams. It is also a good idea to regularly reassess your plan and make sure that you still feel that your original strategy is the best one. There is nothing wrong with changing your plan if you feel that changes will improve it, the plan is not carved in stone and should always be considered as a flexible tool. Life is full of unexpected surprises and this can mean your initial steps will no longer lead you to where you want to arrive, you can change your written plan to take any surprise changes into account.

Making your written plan is the first step. After that, you might find that you still need sources of inspiration and encouragement.

Self motivation techniques, such as breaking your plan into small tasks that you can achieve daily, will help give you a sense of accomplishment as each task is finished. This is a great technique and will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed or feeling that your goal is too hard for you to accomplish.

Remember, the way to eat a whole elephant is one bite at a time. Make a written list of tasks for each day and cross them off, one by one, as you complete them. Each time you cross off a completed item, your spirits will get a boost that will encourage you to tackle the next task on your list.

Rewarding yourself after you complete your tasks will also help keep you feeling mentally positive and optimistic. The reward can be anything -- a coffee break or ten minutes to chat to a friend on the phone. The reward doesn't need to be anything big but, by giving yourself an incentive, you will have something to help motivate you to take the next step towards reaching your goal.

Procrastination is called "the thief of time" for very good reasons. Procrastination is an easy habit to adopt and a very hard one to break, so it is best to have a scheme in place to avoid it all together.

Avoiding procrastination is one of the simplest and biggest ways that you can increase your motivation and remain focused on taking the necessary small steps towards achieving your goals.

Making written lists (and following them!) is an excellent way to avoid procrastination. Try taking your yearly goals and breaking them down into manageable monthly chunks. Next, break the monthly lists down further into weekly parts. Finally, make daily lists that involve small steps towards your yearly goals.

By working on your yearly goals in this step-by-step fashion, you will reduce the opportunities for being tempted to procrastinate. Once you get into the habit of following your daily task list, the temptation to put things off will be overridden by the desire to see all the items crossed through by the end of your working day.

When you finish your daily tasks, be sure to reward yourself. If you finish earlier than normal, award yourself some extra time off to spend as you please. If you are keeping to your step-by-step plan, there is no need to put in extra hours. The days of procrastinating and then needing to work longer hours will be over.

List making sounds simple (and it is), but it is a powerful way to keep yourself on track day by day, to accomplish your ultimate goals.

To read more articles by Elaine Currie visit http://www.elainecurrie.com or her Work At Home Directory at http://www.huntingvenus.com.

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by Angela Stringfellow

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Instill new positive habits into your daily routine and discover the key to gradually becoming a better person with minimal effort.
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Do you know how long it takes to form a new habit? On average, it is said that it takes about 21 days, or three weeks, to form a habit. So, with the New Year approaching us, I thought it appropriate to talk about instilling new positive habits for those of us who set New Year's resolutions.

With that being said, also note that it takes about twenty-one days to break an old, bad habit.

So -- whether you're trying to start something positive, or rid yourself of a negative habit, the news is good -- three weeks. Three weeks doesn't seem all that long if you think about it, now does it?

With the three-week goal in mind, developing new habits or getting rid of old doesn't seem that intimidating. All you have to do is focus on those first three weeks, and after that, the going gets easier. Even if you don't have any bad habits you want to get rid of (if that's you, I'd encourage you to take a closer look, we all can improve somewhere), it's important to continue the self-improvement process by trying to pick up little positive habits here and there. It doesn't even have to be anyting major, such as vowing to get up three hours early every morning to do a high-intensity cardio workout. The little things are sometimes just as important.

Decide to make a habit of taking the dog for a walk each morning, or taking a bag of baby carrots to work to snack on instead of buying potato chips from the vending machine.

It takes three weeks to form a new habit, so if you pick a little thing here and there and work on it for awhile, you can pick up new little positive habits pretty frequently. When all those little positive habits start to build up, you can look back and be proud of all the positive changes you've made in your life.

Start small before tackling the big ones. Take five minutes each morning before you get out of bed, to think positive affirmations. This alone could make a tremendous difference in each day of your life, and allow you to start your day in a positive and happy mood. Once you've tackled several small things, you will start to feel more confident in your abilities to change your behaviors and you'll feel like you can do anything (and, of course, you can!).

The key here is to make sure you diligently follow through each and every day for the first three weeks. We want to make a new habit, so these things become part of your daily routine without you even thinking about them. We don't want you to do something and have to force yourself to suck it up and do it each and every time. We want it to come naturally, so you feel good about it.

Think about how good it will feel when a friend asks you how you manage to stay so fit, and you casually respond that you get up half an hour early every single day and go for a jog. Your friend will then praise you for being so driven and dedicated.

You can secretly chuckle because it's not that big a deal for you -- it's just what you do without even thinking.

Once you master a new habit, pick another one. Soon, you will find yourself doing all sorts of wonderful things that are good for you, and it's just your way of life.

Hopefully, picking a new positive habit will also eventually become a habit for you, and a part of your routine that you look forward to. It's a small step to take towards becoming the person you know you can be.

Angela Stringfellow is a life coach, and is Webmaster and owner of the Website Life Synergy Solutions (http://www.24success.com/), a site dedicated to being the best, most comprehensive guide to personal and professional development.

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By: Deam Rass

Your Website is only good if it has these three components implemented:

1. Targeted Traffic – You want to have visitors that are pre-qualified for your offer.

2. Engaging copy – The good copy should attract visitors’ attention and pull them into your offer.

3. Tools to convert visitors into sales – Your visitor should perceive the buying decision as a low-risk action.

Let's go over the most important aspects that, when applied synergistically, will take your Internet sales to the next level.

Bring the traffic

What to keep in mind when optimizing for search engines and basics of Pay-per-Click campaigns. Harnessing the power of E-mail marketing and newsletters (do not confuse with SPAM).

Hypnotic copywriting

How to write a copy that will attract the reader's attention and then pull them into your offer.

Get your visitors to take action

Strategically placed "calls to action" will retain your Website visitors and many of them will come back for more.

Search Engine Optimization

One of the most effective ways to bring targeted traffic to your Website is through the use of search engines. Those who came from search engines are the best kind of visitor! They are already looking for what you have to offer.

Optimizing for search engines is a multi-tier on-going process. Search Engines continue to evolve, so your Website must evolve with them.

These are a few things to keep in mind when optimizing for search engines:

• Keyword density - Use keywords you want to rank on search engines in your Website text copy wisely. Place them in the Website's title tag and use them a few times throughout the page. However, overdoing it may result in a ban of your Website from the search engines alltogether.

• Linking with other Websites - It makes sense to participate in link exchange with non-competitive Websites in your industry. Not only can this bring you immediate traffic, but you will gain long-term benefits in the search engines.

• Update the content often - Create a news section on your Website and add articles regularly. Search engines love Websites that grow with relevant information.

Per-Per-Click

While search engine optimization may take months to bring you desired results and is considered a long-term investment, Pay-Per-Click, on the other hand, allows you to bring hot leads to your site immediately.

Using the Pay-Per-Click search engines and an advertising campaign can effectively maximize traffic. Pay-per-click is also the ideal way of testing your Website.

e-Mail Marketing

Never send out unsolicited E-mails - we all hate SPAM and your prospective buyers hate it, too. On the other hand, picking a good newsletter to place your advertising in is a good idea. There are thousands of e-Zines, categorized by interest and industries. When choosing an e-Zine, ask yourself these questions:

• Where do they get their subscribers and are all subscribers opted-in? These are verified subscribers who want to receive their newsletters.

• What are your advertising options? People tend to click more on text links vs banners. It's even better is if you can use a small article educating prospects about your business, instead of placing a banner.

• When advertising via a newsletter keep in mind, that it takes at least 4 consecutive issues before readers will click on you advertisement. Brand recognition will play a very important role in this type of advertising.

Create Your Own Newsletter

Creating your own newsletter is efficient and a low-cost way to keep in touch with your existing clients. If you have important information to share, then you're almost obligated to have a newsletter. You will gain trust with your subscribers and they will reward you by buying. You also can create a new stream of revenue by selling advertisements in your newsletter.

Hypnotic Copywriting

Is your Website generating the inquiries and sales you want?

You could be missing out on selling opportunities because your home page isn't using effective sales copy and a structure designed to get your prospects to pick up the phone and call you for more information.

Your copy must be written in such a way that you attract the reader's attention and then pull them into your offer.

The basic rules to writing effective copy on the Website are:

1. Interrupt qualified prospects to pay attention to your marketing by creating an important and relevant header.

2. Engage by promising that the information forthcoming will facilitate their decision-making process.

3. Educate by identifying the important and relevant issues that prospects need to be aware of, and then demonstrate how you can provide the solution against those issues.

4. Give your prospects a low-risk offer to take next step in the buying process.

Fail to accomplish this and you are wasting your marketing investment. Not only have you lost a chance to land a new customer, you may have steered the sales opportunity right into the hands of a competitor.

Get Your Visitors to Take Action

Calls to action will help you make the most of your Website. A strong and effective call to action should literally persuade a site visitor looking at your Web page to take action.

It pays to spend some time thinking carefully about what call to action you want on every single page of your Website and what you really want people to do on your Website. It's amazing how many companies forget that people need to know (and want to know) what to do next and get easily frustrated online when it's not obvious.

You can use calls to action, such as these listed below, not only to get your customer to take action, but to help direct your customer around your Website and encourage them to get off the home page and explore more of your Website:

• Sign up to our newsletter
• Contact us for more information
• View more information about our Search Engine Optimization Services
• Get your free quotation today!
• Buy / book / email / phone now

Making Calls to Action More Effective

To make your calls to action stronger and more effective, you can use incentives in order to get your site visitor to take action. Incentive calls to action can be styled like these:

• Sign up to our newsletter for free tips and advice on marketing your business.

• Contact us today and get your free copy of Industry Report.

• Book before the end of May and receive 2 pairs of shoes for the price of 1!

Deam Rass | Toronto Search Engine Optimization Specialist

Over the last 7 years in the industry his Search Engine Optimization in Toronto - ASF Design Inc helped and continues to help dozens of customers to generate millions of dollars in Internet Sales.

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By Leonard Bartholomew

I have not been happy with my full time jobs. You may not have been either. Being of sound mind and judgement, you may be on an adventure to change your fortunes. You wonder to yourself about the prospects of starting an online home-based business. What led you to this decision and what course of action do you take to increase the chances of being successful online?

Let's start with me and see if you can relate to my circumstance.

I started working when I was twelve years old. Didn't make much money and spent what I made on anything I could get my hands on. I worked for fast food establishments as a teenager, because that is what we all do at that age. It's hard work. There is not much appreciation at the workplace. You can be replaced easily, even though you think you may not be easy to replace.

Keep working hard and you may keep your job. This just sets the precedent for the rest of your life.

I joined the military in my early twenties. They pushed the concept of NCO (No chance outside), telling you that you have the best job available for your skill set ... for about half what you would make if your were doing the same thing in a civilian job.

Even so, you join their clubs and socialize (in the 80s, we called this drinking).

I got out of the military and finished a B.S. in Computer Science while unloading trucks, and setting records, for the largest employer in the United States. I'm a big guy. I've worked on training applications for a sister company to a Fortune 500 engineering and construction company, data collection applications for the largest vending and food distribution company in the United States, and cardiology computer systems for one of the largest employers in the Carolinas.

I continue to work for these companies and find myself broke, stressed out, disenchanted, and desperate. Being computer literate, and having used the Internet for about 15 years, I asked myself the question: "Why have I not tried to start an online home-based business? Len, you're smart enough to do something like this and you are not happy doing what you are doing now, why don't you try doing something different?"

So -- I did do something different, part time. I love this online home-based business so much that my biggest hope is to make it a full-time venture.

My market is other people who want to do the same, and who are asking lots of questions about how to do it.

I spend most of my spare time -- about two hours a day -- researching and writing articles. You can find them all if you search hard enough (search for my name in Google and look at the top). I don't have a lot at this point. I'm still pretty new at this. The results of my efforts are evident though; because I am already on page one of Google and MSN for some of my keywords after only 5 months of work.

I'm sure I'm making some other online home-based business owners very angry, because now they have to work a little harder to maintain their placement in the search engines. Oh well!

I don't get real fancy about marketing my online home-based business. I'm not spamming with because I don't do any E-mail marketing. I don't do it because I don't like the spam I'm currently receiving. I'm more likely to stop an E-zine subscription just because I'm receiving the same message over and over again. I haven't been able to figure out the science of Google Adwords, so I don't spend any money on ads.

That's for later -- when my business is more profitable than it is now and I can afford it. I've never been able to generate the kind of traffic with Adwords that I get from articles anyway.

Here are the things that I do on a routine basis, so far:

1. Articles - Write original content for the article directories and use Article Submitter Pro to submit them.

2. Search Engine Optimization -- Brad Callen's SEO Made Easy is a guideline to optimize articles and Web pages (online and offline optimization).

3. Linking Popularity -- Research external link partners and link to as many as is humanly possible. I also do a lot of internal linking.

4. Blogging - This is a great source for content and internal linking. I always link my posts back to all of my Web pages.

5. Article Directory - Owning an article directory is the fastest way to get internal back links. Every article contains a sponsor link back to the main web page.

6. Directory Submission - Directory Submitter has hundreds of internet directories for both one way and reciprocal links.

7. Forum Posting - Here it is again with the one-way links. I think the search engines just like to see the online home-based business owner engaged regularly!

8. Looking at junk E-mail. Sorry if I step on any toes here, but I made the mistake of submitting my Website to the FFAs (Free For All). They sent me a thousand E-mails in one day!

I didn't know! This has tapered off now. Something about reporting it as SPAM to Yahoo (Oops!). I got banned from one of them, but that's OK. I don't like it when someone E-mails me saying that my ads are not working. I wish SPAM would go away.

9. Take lots of pictures - Used effectively, photos in your article directory profiles and on your own Web pages is an extraordinary introduction!

10. Relax and enjoy it - My main Web page got 399 visits yesterday. The trend is up. My Alexa rank is down, which is a good thing.

11. Start thinking - you know, this might just make it!

Expect no support from friends or family. Look at the surprise on their faces when your Web page shows up on page one of the search engines. The online home-based business owner looks for a rescue that can only come from within and is expressed in the design of something like a Web page or an article. That and their friends in the forums who are going through the same thing. Relief from the markets of drudgery and slavery could be just around the corner with all that great help.

Leonard Bartholomew, B.S. Computer Science. Satisfy your craving for a home based online business of your very own.

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by Dean Mercado

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While websites are a key component of Internet marketing, they are not the“be all, end all”. So here are 7 killer Internet marketing tools that you can implement on a shoestring budget without having to have a website of your own.

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When most people think of Internet marketing, they think solely of Websites. Are they right or wrong? Well -- both. While Websites are a key component of Internet marketing and, in many cases, they are the only Internet marketing tool businesses use, they are not the “be-all, end-all”. They are not required for Internet marketing. I do highly recommend them as they are best-suited to sit at the core of your Internet marketing plan, the hub. so to speak -- but that’s a topic for another conversation.

Here are 7 killer Internet marketing tools that you can implement on a shoestring budget without having to have a Website of your own:

1. E-mail Marketing – When properly implemented, there probably isn’t a quicker, better, and less expensive way to stay in front of your prospects and clients than to leverage the power of E-mail. You can literally touch an unlimited amount of prospects and clients with a single click – how’s that for power?!

2. Blogs – Blogging is a great tool when you would like to step it up a notch and stay in constant contact with your prospects and clients. Some ideas on how to use a blog: post what’s new with you or your business, post informative content as a value-add to your clients, or hold an interactive forum with your clients geared towards understanding how to better serve them.

There are a handful of free or low-cost blog hosts out there that really make this process simple (e.g. Blogger and TypePad).

3. Article Marketing – This is a phenomenal approach to bringing notoriety, interest and, ultimately, leads for many types of businesses. You can use article marketing as a major differentiator or value-add, literally telling the readers why they should buy from you, instead of your competitors. Whether your clients are local, regional, national or global -- articles are portable and usable in all situations -- that's part of their charm.

4. eZines – Much like blogs and article marketing, eZines are a great way to stay in touch with your prospects on a more scheduled basis. They are probably the forerunner in helping you develop a list of prospects, so you can easily market and sell your wares.

5. Affiliate Programs -- Get others promoting and selling for you. This tool can become the equivalent of having both a full-blown marketing and a sales staff that gets paid only on performance. If they don’t promote and directly lead to a sale for you, they don’t get paid.

For the do-it-yourselfers, there are plenty of tools to help you set up this type of program. For everyone else, there are excellent service providers who can coordinate and manage this process for you (e.g. Clickbank and Commission Junction).

6. Viral Marketing – Again, a great approach for getting others to promote and help create a buzz about you, your business, your products and/or your services. The best, most genuine way to get this started is by creating raving fans out of your existing clients and then helping them help you spread the word.

7. Public Relations – If I tell you I’m the best at what I do, you’ll take it with a grain of salt. Maybe you’ll believe me, maybe you won’t. However, people tend to believe what they read. If a respected publication tells you that I’m the best at what I do, that usually holds more weight and adds instant credibility to me.

Spend some effort here. Become a resource for the press. You help them and they can significantly help you.

I highly recommend you spend some time with these. Explore how you can implement one, some, or all of these Internet marketing tools to help explode your business.

© 2005 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Online entrepreneur Dean Mercado, "The Motivational Marketer," is creator of the acclaimed 'Pumped-Up Networking' system geared to explode your business through professional relationships. To learn more about it and to sign up for his FREE eZine, the 'Marketing Minute' – a weekly multimedia eZine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes, visit www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com.

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by Josh Neumann

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So you've heard the rumors-you can make a fortune with an online business. You've also heard you can just sit on the beach, sip your lemonade and watch the money come pouring in. For those of you, I've got some good news and bad news.
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Now, I have to admit, I was VERY hesitant to share this information with you. After all, I don’t want to give away my biggest secrets for the whole world to see! However, after giving it some thought, I decided everyone should have the same chance that I do. I’ve got to tell you, though -- very few, if any of the top marketers I’ve listened to have revealed this information. If you’re ready for a breakthrough with your online business, than you MUST read this!

So -- you want to make money with an Internet business. You've searched the Web, looking for that perfect product. You've heard the rumors -- you can earn a fortune on the Internet, without spending a penny, and without lifting a finger.

I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is, you can earn a fortune. The bad news is, it’s not easy. In fact, in the beginning, it can be downright gruesome!

You'll spend long hours optimizing your site, reading manuals, and just plain learning your way through the Web. (It’s called the Web for a reason). There is nobody out there, despite the outrageous claims, that has earned a fortune without spending a dime and without lifting a finger! I got some more news for you -- you're not going to be the first, either!

You see, the Internet, like life in general, rewards the diligent. If you study hard, apply yourself, and get to work, you can and likely will make a killing with your Web business. I'm just warning you in advance -- it’s not going to be easy.

This information is not for the faint of heart. Most on the road to Internet riches fall by the wayside within the first few months, if not earlier. They get lost in a sea of information. Where should they start? What should they market? Where should they advertise? What kind of Website do they need?

The list goes on and on and on.

Now, I'm not going to cover everything here (I wouldn't be able to if I had a thousand pages!) but I will try to give you the most important pieces of information you'll ever hear in Internet marketing. It took me hundreds of E-books and pages and pages of information before I found this out, so this will save you some serious time on your learning curve.

There are two keys to making money on the internet:

Key #1) The money is in the E-mail list.

Quite simply, your income is generally as big as your opt-in E-mail list. Most Websites don't have a place to capture their visitor’s names and E-mails. This is HUGE! Think about it. If you're selling a high-ticket item (which I highly recommend) for, say, $1,000 or more, and you had an opt-in list of 10,000 people, even if only 100 ended up signing up (1%), you'd still make some SERIOUS CASH.

The list is huge -- it is the difference between success and failure on the Internet. And, yet, so few marketers understand the importance of this! They view success or failure based on whether a visitor buys the product or not.

Studies have shown that it takes the average consumer about 7 or 8 exposures to you before they are ready to buy. Very, very few ever buy on their first visit to your site -- particularly with a high-ticket item.

Key #2) If you want to generate a HUGE E-MAIL LIST, then you need to learn search engine optimization (SEO). This is the key to making money on the Internet.

You won’t have a list without this. Forget Google Adwords. It’s very expensive, and gets much less views than optimized sites. The marketers who are really making the big bucks are the ones with the top-ranked Websites, especially with competitive keywords.

Unfortunately, the how’s of getting your site highly ranked are WAY beyond the scope of this article. However, there are many great resources out there to show you the way. Just remember these two keys, and you’ll be WELL on your way to making it big with your online business!

Josh Neumann distributes vacation packages online, and helps others make a fortune with their online business. You can visit his website at www.handsoffcash.net.

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by Brandon Hall

As Web 2.0 becomes less of just a buzzword and more of a reality, the types of sites webmasters need to publish will increasingly become more important. In other words, mini-sites are slowly dying and cookie-cutter article sites are on the way out as well.

Web surfers will become more value-focused and web companies will become larger.

Over the next few years, expect larger conglomerates to be buying up profitable websites in their chosen markets. Expect smaller sites to either be bought or driven out of business.

My intention is not to scare you, but this outcome is inevitable.

Large businesses have always taken two approaches to their desired markets. They either buy their competition, or they push them out of business.

You want to be prepared when this trend begins on the Internet.

Being a webmaster and online marketer, you should be preparing for one of two scenarios: To position yourself for a buyout to a larger company, or to become the larger company that dominates your chosen market.

Whichever route you choose is entirely up to you, but I would suggest that it would be in your best interest to begin focusing on authority sites. You can either start building them, or you can start turning your current sites into them. Whatever your approach may be, I assure you it will help you sleep better at night.

What Is the Definition of an Authority Site?

A fairly comprehensible authority site definition was put forward by Jason Dowdell, of Global Promoter. Jason defined it this way: ... "Authority sites are sites that have been linked to and referenced on other web sites covering the same subject matter and they also will have hundreds if not thousands of pages covering that subject matter and nearly every facet of it...."

That definition is one man’s opinion, albeit a good one -- but let us go directly to the source. Many search engine optimization and search engine marketing experts believe Google has derived their primary algorithm from a document titled, "Hilltop: A Search Engine based on Expert Documents."

The PageRank formula, as we know it today, was derived from this paper, and the authors -- Bharat and Mihaila -- define an authority site in the text below:

"We believe a page is an authority on the query topic if and only if some of the best experts on the query topic point to it. Of course in practice some expert pages may be experts on a broader or related topic. If so, only a subset of the hyperlinks on the expert page may be relevant.

"In such cases the links being considered have to be carefully chosen to ensure that their qualifying text matches the query. By combining relevant out-links from many experts on the query topic we can find the pages that are most highly regarded by the community of pages related to the query topic. This is the basis of the high relevance that our algorithm delivers."

What we have reprinted above is the foundation of the PageRank system and the determination for deciding which sites will be authorities. I highly recommend you read and re-read the full document until you understand every aspect of it.

What Are the Components of an Authority Site?

Allow me to present you with a diagram at: http://www.contentdesk.com/authoritymap that dissects your typical authority site. As you can tell from the diagram, a considerable number of components and systems must be in place for the authority site to function profitably and reap the benefits of the "Authority Site Formula."

The Authority Site Formula = Visitor Optimization (VO) + Content Optimization (CO) * Creative Marketing (CM)

A simple question must be asked. What do 99.9% of authority sites provide? In a sentence, an incredible amount of original content and a superb visitor experience. The search engines want you to succeed and they want you to make money, but you have to play by their rules. In the future, focus your efforts on visitor optimization and content optimization instead of search engine optimization.

What Is the Anatomy of an Authority Site?

About.com is the definition and was the original authority site. Their site has a generic domain name and hundreds of subdomains on different topics.

Your authority site should take the same approach, but not on such a general level. If you launch an authority site, it should be geared towards a well-defined and large market. After you launch the site and generate some traffic, you should create subdomains that cover specific areas inside that larger market.

For example, Diabetic-Resources.Com is not an active site; but if it were, then a typical authority site setup would be something like:

* http://supplies.diabetic-resoures.com
* http://diet.diabetic-resources.com
* http://insurance.diabetic-resources.com
* http://symptoms.diabetic-resources.com
* http://treatment.diabetic-resources.com

Using this approach, you are able to target your general market while generating more targeted traffic pertaining to related sub-markets.

As a rule of thumb, the index pages on your domains and subdomains should be more focused on content, but the article and commentary pages should be more focused on advertising. Just do not ever lose sight of the most important aspect of your site, which is visitor experience otherwise known as visitor optimization.

What Does It Take to Create an Authority Site?

You want to create a site that generates thousands of visitors a day mainly through the major search engines, and would ultimately be the one-stop source for information in that particular market.

Your site must employ three traits to become an authority site. Let’s discuss all three necessary aspects:

Dynamic: You should have as many RSS feeds as you can muster to incorporate throughout your site. Your visitors need to be able to receive RSS feeds for any keyword, category or archive as well as create their own. One feed is no longer enough to satisfy your visitors.

Interactive: You should be engaging the minds of your visitors at all times using surveys, commenting and feedback. Make these features easy for your visitors and your site will grow exponentially. Why? Because they feel like you actually care about them. Interaction is a powerful tool and creates a sense of community on your site.

Consistent: You should post to your blog often, and you should always provide quality and original content. That doesn't mean you need to produce 800-word articles three times a week. Your goal should be to become a news master. You need to be an ..."authority..." on the news happening in your niche.

If you follow the steps and guidelines listed above, then you will be on your way to being the owner of an authority site.

About the Author
Brandon Hall, Johnson City, TN, USA
brandon@contentdesk.com

Brandon is a staff writer for Content Desk Publishing Group. Content Desk is teaching people how to build authority sites that will dominate their niche. For a 21-page free guide on creating authority sites visit: http://www.contentdesk.com/freeguide/.

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By Esther Smith

It doesn’t matter whether you are E-mailing a prospect, composing an ad, or writing a sales letter to promote your newly published E-book – correct grammar and spelling are important. Good or bad, it leaves a lasting impression on the reader and says a whole lot about your credibility.

Consider the company who claims they can put my program at the top of every Search Engine for $97. When I check their site, I notice it's ranked #3. I sigh and roll my eyes: if they can put my website at the top why isn’t theirs ranked up there?

Credibility: it’s something we earn. It’s not a given.

If your sales letter is supposed to convince me to buy your E-book, you ought to have the basic skills of a writer. Offer it to a friend to read for errors in grammar or spelling. If none are available, pay for a professional editor. Anything is better than presenting your offer on a sales page that looks like a fifth grader wrote it.

It won’t attract a buyer and it sure won’t attract a possible sales-affiliate, like me, to promote it.

Programs that offer "spell check" capabilities, such as Notepad or Word Perfect, leave no excuse for the novice writer today. Set up your sales letter and E-book, for that matter, in one of these programs, so that grammatical errors and misspelled words will be underlined for your correction.

This is not 100% flawless, however, as these services will not pick up homonyms – words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Hair and hare sound the same but, if you use the wrong one in your sentence, spell-check will not pick it up because it is a real word, even if it’s the wrong one.

One can only imagine trying to read your E-book when the sales letter promises, “… we will offer you a peak at secrets never before revealed”. And further advises me that I should “not waist any time in ordering as the price will be going up after midnight.”

Homonyms give us the most grief as writers, but if you find yourself falling into this grammatical pit, make yourself a list and hang it over your desk. Before long, you will have sidestepped any chance of misusing these words.

Actually, you will smile when you come across others who are still clueless.

Next, I’d like to address your misuse of words like "loose" and "lose." Loose means not tight! Lose means to lack the possession of, to come to be without. please don’t tell me I will “… loose inches in a matter of weeks”.

Also a word on the dreaded apostrophe – avoiding it entirely is not a solution. For example, when you say, "… your going to love the results." Actually, you do not mean "your" but "you are going to love the results." Why not use the apostrophe and join the two words: "you’re going to love the results." Use "it’s" for "it is," and "that’s" for "that is." Try "they’re" for "they are," and "can’t" for "cannot."

Imagine thousands of people buying and reading your E-Book. They love it and write to you about how it has helped them with their weight problems. They even E-mail all their friends and recommend your E-book.

Sound far fetched? Not at all – it can and will happen to you!

As a fellow writer, I hope this hasn't discouraged you -- and that you will keep publishing E-books.

In all fairness, let me add that you are far from an isolated case. More writers than I care to mention need the same advice. If you're reading this article, your next effort will be better and attract more buyers; one of them will be me.

(C) Copyright, 2006 Esther Smith

About the author:

Smith writes and publishes numerous Articles and a weekly syndicated newsletter. She offers editing and/or re-writes by contacting her here: editor@thepermanentventure.com , and she teaches would-be entrepreneurs the long-term value of leveraged incomes: http://thepermanentventure.com/2up.htm Start young, retire early!

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By Stuart Elliott

Wow, what a strange question!

This question, however, has nothing to do with seeing your prospect as a mythical person, like the dragons in fairy tales of old. It asks whether you really know your prospect.

Actually, there is some truth to both sides of the question. A lot of would-be marketers think they have found a killer product and write a sales letter to match, only to find out later (to their cost) that there is no market for that product.

But, what I really want to discuss today is…

Do You Breathe The Same Air As Your Prospect?

I mean, do you really know your prospect? Do you talk the same talk as him/her? Do you live the same life as him/her? In short, can you honestly say that you can identify with your prospect?

When you write a sales letter, not only do you have to know your product intimately, you have to taste it, feel it, own it and use it. But…

You have to also KNOW your prospect intimately.

Too many marketers today, whether they be Internet or Offline marketers, locate a product or service that they think will sell. They research it in depth and start to write a sales letter for it, but fail to put the same amount of effort into identifying who they are writing the sales letter to.

"You may have the best product in the world, but how can you write a killer sales letter for it if you don't know who will buy it?"

You must learn everything there is to know about your target market: what their needs are, what their desires are, how they think, how they talk and, yes, even how they dress.

For instance, say your product is the latest high-tech skateboard. You've researched it endlessly and know that it will benefit your prospect because it is lighter and stronger, thus giving him/her more speed -- and it will never break. How do you think your prospect will react if you walk up to him/her wearing a suit and tie, then try to talk to him/her in language that would be more suitable for the annual financial meetings of a fortune 500 company?

Or -- say you're selling a top-notch financial product. How do you think your prospect would react if your opening words were "Yo, Dude! What's the juice?"

I can tell you that he/she would probably laugh in your face. You certainly wouldn't hold much credibility in his/her eyes.

Far better if you took the time to learn your prospect's habits, then approached him/her wearing similar attire that he/she would wear. Immediately, you'd start to fit in. Now, when you talked to him/her about your product and use familiar language, he/she will listen with open ears and be begging you for a chance to try out your product, because you're talking to him/her on his/her level.

Don't be misled into thinking there is no need to worry about clothes when addressing prospects via the Internet, either. A photo of yoursel