Home Business The Easy Way 619 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/HomeBusinessTips619/user/index.php
by Eva Browne-Paterson - www.evieb.com

1. Allow other e-zine publishers or web site owners to republish small nuggets or excerpts of information from your E-book with your byline or ad included.

2. Make extra profits from selling monthly updates of your E-book. You could also back-end sell the extra never released chapters of your E-book.

3. Give away a free E-book and then give people an option of buying the paid version of the E-book. Also let others give away the free version of your E-book.

4. Divide your E-book content into reports then give people the option of just purchasing the info they want.

5. Purchase reprint rights to other people's E-books and combine them with yours in a large package deal or private E-book library web site.

6. Change the benefits on your E-book ad copy into links. When people click on it take them right to the order page. It'll give them a urge to buy your E-book.

7. Charge people a cheap price to read half of your E-book. If they like it, they can pay full price to read the other half.

8. Offer freebies that are related to the E-book you're selling. It could be free monthly E-book updates, a free E-zine, free consulting, etc.

9. Show your prospects a sample page out of your E-book. Just black out some of the important info. This will make your prospects curious to buy.

10. Provide a low and high priced version of your E-book. Show benefits of each version side by side. People usually spend a little more for extra info.

11. Offer the reprint rights to your E-book. You can sell the rights with the regular purchase price or as a separate higher price.

12. Make your E-book available for offline people. You could turn it into a print book, report, video, audio book, print newsletter, etc.

13. Redesign your E-book for specific niches. You can create multiple profits with very little work. Example: Turn a business E-book into a craft business E-book.

14. Give your prospects discount coupons on other products when they purchase your E-book. It could be your products or others that you made deals with.

15. Divide your E-book into online newsletter issues. You could charge a recurring monthly subscription for people to view each issue.

Eva Browne-Paterson is a popular information publisher and has recently created an amazing system for increasing your free time AND profits in under 7 days at: http://tinyurl.com/akoeq.

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by Charlie Cook http://www.marketingforsuccess.com

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Most teenagers don't communicate to you everything you need to know, and the same goes for most marketing. Learn how to get your message across. No promises about your teenagers communication.
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My kids taught me a lot about marketing communication when they were teenagers. My son had me playing 20 questions. When I asked what he'd done at school or out with his friends the night before, I'd get one of two classic teenage responses; "Stuff" or "Nothing". I'd have to pepper him with questions to learn any more.

With my daughter, I could hardly get a word in edgewise. She's a great storyteller, but she wanted to tell me everything about everyone. Neither of them were really giving me what I wanted.

If these had been sales calls and I'd been a business prospect instead of a devoted parent, I'd have ended the conversation or walked away. I'd have thought, "Great people, but they don't understand my point of view or my problems."

Does your marketing turn prospects off with too little or too much information?

Do you approach your marketing from your customers' point of view?

Is your marketing generating the leads you need to grow your business?

If a prospect asked you what you do, you'd never respond by just saying "Stuff". But, what do you say? Do you tell them that you're in advertising, or that you are a lawyer, accountant, designer, entrepreneur, franchise consultant, realtor, trainer, or software developer? Statements like this don't start a conversation fully explain what you do or how a prospect could benefit from your products or services. These one- or two-word answers are the equivalent of your teenager telling you they've been doing "Stuff".

Don't make your prospects play "20 Questions" with you to understand your business. Give them a clear, succinct marketing message that describes how you can help them and why they need you.

Once you've got their attention with your marketing message, follow it up with the information they need, a clarification of the problems you solve, the solutions you provide and a reason to contact you. Make it easy for your prospects to get what they want from your marketing materials, whether you use ads, brochures, a web site or other media.

- Define your prospects' most common concerns and the problems they want resolved.

- Present the solutions your provide in the context of these problems.

- Explain why they need you, from their point of view.

- Anticipate and answer their questions.

I was on the phone with Marilyn, who wanted to know what her firm could do to spread the word and get more clients. Last year they made over a million dollars, but so far this year they haven't gotten the number of inquires they need to continue to grow the company. What's getting in the way?

While I was talking with Marilyn, I typed her firm's URL into my web browser to take a look at the way they are promoting themselves. I had two reactions when her site came up in my browser. One, it was very attractive and professionally done. Two, after looking at it for a few minutes, I had no idea what the company actually did, who they helped or how.

There was a lot of information on the site, but it wasn't telling me what I needed to know. It took me another ten minutes and a number of questions to find out what her small business software development and computer-networking firm did.

Your prospects don't have the motivation of a parent talking to a teenager. If its hard for your prospects to figure out whether or not you can help them from your marketing materials, they're gone. Don't expect them to decipher unclear copy or hunt through your web site to find the information they need.

Generate more leads and sales by using a marketing message, supporting marketing copy and a coordinated marketing system that helps your prospects understand why they need you and how you can solve their problems.

- 2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. -

The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business' at http://http://www.marketingforsuccess.com.

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by Kristie Tamsevicius

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Home business expert, Kristie T, gives tips on how to plan the perfect workspace; one that keeps you organized, inspires you, and boosts your productivity. - Excerpt from the book, Build it Big 2: 101 Insider Secrets from Top Direct Sellers
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One of the great privileges of the direct selling profession is being able to work from home. But, with the freedom of your career, also come the challenges. The sink is full of dishes, your son left his crayons on your desk, and the laundry is piled up in the corner.

A well-designed home office will help you transition from the role of domestic goddess to high power entrepreneurial executive. Just like Clark Kent changes in the phone booth to become Superman, as you enter your office space, you turn into queen of your home business empire. Instantly your mind shifts from the laundry list of household chores, to strategies for earning that big check next month and enjoying a hard earned Hawaiian vacation.

But -- how can you plan the perfect workspace; one that keeps you organized, inspires you, and boosts your productivity? Here are some rules of thumb to follow when designing your home office space.

Plan a space that meets your needs.

* Space: Imagine your dream space. You have the freedom to create the space of your dreams. Where is it? What items do you need to have in it? Some questions to ask yourself are: what equipment you'll need, what things you'll have to store, and how much privacy you'll need. Do you need to stay close so you can keep an eye on the kids? Do you need a meeting space? Will you have customers or other consultants stopping by?

* Location. Choose a space in your home that best supports those needs. Whether it's a spare bedroom, a corner of the living room, a large closet, an attic or a converted garage; find a room that that has enough space for the equipment and furniture you need.

* Storage. While not every direct seller needs to keep inventory on hand, those that do know that having an organized space to store product is critical. Make sure the space you choose has ample room for shelving and storage. Think about the items you handle on a day-to-day basis in your business. Now make a list of the items. Do you need a bookshelf or wall holders for catalogs and brochures? With the proper space and containers to keep your office tidy, you'll have a clutter-free, organized work space.

* Furniture. Next it's time to outfit your work space with a desk, bookcase, and filing cabinets. Today, with the boom in home-based careers, there is such a variety of office furniture to choose from. Whether it's a simple desk, an office armoire, or a complete L-shaped unit, make sure you'll have the desktop space you need to keep key items at your fingertips. Dare to splurge a little on getting yourself a comfortable and ergonomically supportive chair. It's a back-saver and worthwhile investment.

* Equipment. Plan a spot to put your computer, phone, and fax. Buying an all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine is a smart choice that saves you desktop space and money!

Put it together in a way that makes sense.

* Placement. Decide what goes where. Place key equipment in a way that flows with the way you work.

* Organization. One great way to stay organized is to create centers for the tasks you frequently perform. For instance, you might want to put all your brochures, order forms, and catalogs together in one place. Other "centers" may include a mailing center, a faxing center, and a printing center. Boxes and bins are great for keeping smaller office supplies organized.

* Ergonomics. Place your keyboard, lighting, and monitor at proper heights. By being good to your body, you can function at peak performance without tiring as quickly or getting injured from incorrect positioning.

Create an inspiring atmosphere you'll love.

* Personalize. Now's the chance you have been waiting for to create the office of your dreams. Make your office a space that truly inspires you. Little things make such a difference. Choose a paint color that brings you joy. Pamper yourself with treasured photos, candles, and artwork on the wall. Add a touch of romance and a dash of color with a potted plant or vase with flowers on your desk. Finally, having inspirational quotes, a dream map, and visual reminders of your goals can be powerful tools to keep you motivated and on the track to success.

* Clean and tidy. There's nothing like starting the day with a clean desk. Try to get in the routine of either cleaning your desk at the end of the day or doing a 5 minute tidy first thing in the morning. By having a place for everything and everything in its place, it's easy to stay organized and be more efficient.

* Lighting. Don't skimp on lighting. In addition to creating ambiance in the room, proper lighting keeps you from straining your eyes. As well as having enough overhead lighting, you'll also want task lighting. Today there's a wonderful selection of stylish and functional lamps to choose from.

Start your Dream Office Today.

What are you waiting for? Get a jumpstart on your home office now by taking the following actions in the next 48 hours.

* Walk around your home and visualize your office. What space feels good and inspiring to you? Where can you see yourself spending a lot of time and loving it? Choose the perfect space and clear it out.

* Flip through catalogs and magazines. Clip pictures of furniture, décor, and items you'd like to include in your dream office. By getting crystal clear on the intricate details of your perfect workspace, it makes it easier to spot those items as you come across them.

* Shop around and look for smart buys. Scan the newspapers, store fliers, and online office store coupons for sales and special offers.

2005 © Kristie Tamsevicius. All rights reserved.

Speaker, author, and consultant, Kristie is an entrepreneurial expert who has helped thousands of people to start and succeed in their online businesses. She is the founder of Webmomz.com, president of Branding on the Net, and author of several books: I Love My Life: A Mom's Guide to Working from Home, and Build it Big 2: 101 Insider Secrets from Top Direct Sellers (Dearborn Publishing - April 2006). Claim your free Home Business Success course and expert work at home tips at http://www.webmomz.com.

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5 Steps To Not Let The Power Of A Paycheck Stop You From Starting Your Own Business

by Pamela Stewart

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Fear of losing financial stability is the number one thing that stops people from starting their own business. Learn 5 key steps that will move you from fear to confidence as you evaluate your chances as a successful entrepreneur.

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I recently ran a survey and asked people the question: "If you are not happy in your current work situation, then why haven't you changed it?" The top-rated response was "fear of losing
financial stability."

The financial stability of a paycheck is a big fat illusion. If you are an employee, you probably have a salary, which is divided in monthly or weekly paychecks. Because you get the same amount in each check, you may believe that you have a stable source of income and can live your life without fear of financial instability.

This is dangerous thinking that puts your financial life at risk.

Layoffs, downsizing, mergers, takeovers and incompetent managers are a well-documented part of corporate life. I have seen all of them in my career as a corporate employee, and even more in my career as a corporate consultant. I have been witness to conversations where managers had to lay off long-time employees with no notice. These employees were shocked, hurt, scared and angry. This work was horrible and gut-wrenching, but I learned something very important from it: Never rely on your status as an employee to insulate you from financial instability.

So, if this reason has stopped you from starting your own business, follow these steps to see if any of your fears are warranted.

Step 1: Get crystal clear how much money you will need to start up your venture

· If you have written an effective business plan, you should be able to predict how much money you will need to start and sustain your business. You haven't written a business plan yet? You better get cracking at it. In addition to clarifying your idea, it will force you to organize your thoughts, financials and start-up plans, which will only help you to make it a reality. Good sources are Rhonda Abram's The Successful Business Plan, Rich Dad's The ABC's of Writing Winning Business Plans and the free resources of SCORE.

· Make a budget of your monthly living expenses. This will give you a picture of your overall cash needs.

Step 2: Meet with a solid, professional, well-researched and well-recommended financial planner

· While I don't believe the illusion that a full-time job = security, I don't want you to make a foolish decision that will adversely impact your family and financial health. You need to look at implications of leaving your corporate job in the areas of insurance, investments and retirement benefits. Get the whole picture before you make a quick move. I recently spoke with a smart, competent and capable government employee who wants to start his own business, but has just 5 years to go until retirement. While I think he has what it takes to be successful on his own, I would never counsel him to quit without consulting a professional financial planner and doing tons of research to test his business plans.

Step 3: Set specific financial goals to meet your cash needs

· Savings: how much of your paycheck will you have to save per month in order to meet your goals?

· Raising cash: How much cash do you need to raise from outside sources including investors? (note: although some people recommend it, unless you have no alternatives, I don't recommend borrowing money from your family and close friends. There are too many emotionally-charged issues around relatives and money, and you could damage critical relationships that you need for personal well-being. That is just my 2 cents.)

Step 4: Get creative about funding strategies

· There may be ways that you can cover the costs of start-up expenses by bartering with friends and colleagues. Do you want to start a coaching business? Maybe you can barter some coaching sessions with your accountant.

· Clean out your house of unused valuables and hold a sale. If you live in a warmer climate, have it outside. If not, jump on eBay. Convert things that take up space in your house to money that you need to fund your dreams.

Step 5: Learn everything you can about your new venture

· Write a solid business plan and get honest feedback from knowledgeable experts.

· Read every book you can get your hands on about your business topic.

· Google websites, blogs and online forums to learn about your marketplace.

· Identify very successful entrepreneurs in your field and follow their work, study their business models and ask them what it has taken to be successful.

· Attend teleconferences, webinars and in-person classes.

· The more that you know about your business, the greater chance you have at being successful at it.

It takes a huge amount of work to launch and grow a successful business. Don't get scared off by a perception of financial risk. If you do very careful research and make sure you have a viable plan, you can have some concrete data to weigh your important decision. Whatever you do, please do not be lulled into complacency by your regular paycheck.

© 2005 Pamela Stewart. All rights reserved.

Pamela Stewart is a seasoned corporate consultant with a new mission in life: help corporate warriors to become thriving entrepreneurs! To take a free assessment, "Test Your Small Business Start-up IQ," and get other valuable tools, go to http://www.ganas.com/freestuff. Read Pam's blog at http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.

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by Charlie Cook
http://http://www.marketingforsuccess.com


-----> At least once a year its worth evaluating your marketing plan and tuning it up for to increase your ability to attract new clients. Use this marketing assessment to clean up your marketing for 2005. <-----

Has your once well-organized marketing plan come to resemble the jumble of stuff in your closet (not to mention the garage and the attic)? If you are like most people, each time you come across a new marketing idea, you try to adopt it and add it to your existing approach.

Strategies and tactics tend to accumulate and linger even when they may not be working as well as you'd like. Like the ill-fitting clothes that accumulate in your closet or the broken tools still in the garage, they are hard to get rid of, whether because of habit, emotional attachment or just plain not getting around to cleaning them out.

To improve your marketing, you'll need to clean out some old ways of working. While I don't want to get anywhere near your closet, and in fact I could use some help with mine, I can show you how to clean up your marketing plan so you're ready to take advantage of any new opportunities to grow your business that come along.

Cleaning Up Your Marketing Plan

Every morning, my friend, Michael Angier, of SuccessNet.org, sits down at his desk and asks himself the following three quëstions about his business.

1. What's working?
2. What's not working?
3. What can I improve?

You may not want to review your marketing plan five times a week, but it is a good idea to do it at least once a year. So, take out your pencil or fire up your computer and assess your marketing plan:

Your Marketing Plan

1. Is your plan working?
2. Do you have a well defined marketing strategy that helps you achieve the three phases of marketing: Getting Attention, Positioning, and Selling?
3. Do you need to write or rewrite your marketing plan?
4. Do you need additional information or coaching to complete your marketing plan?
5. What are you going to do to improve your marketing plan?

Getting Attention

6. Does your marketing message prompt prospects to contact you?
7. Do your ads, letters, and web site motivate prospects to contact you?
8. What are your conversion rates?
9. What steps can you take to improve them?

Positioning

10. What are you doing to establish your credibility with prospects, to help them know and trust you?
11. Is it working as well as you'd like?
12. What could you improve?
13. Is the value of your products and services clear to your prospects or do they quëstion you about merits and price?
14. Want to learn how to ensure that your prospects understand the value of your products and services?

Selling

15. How successful are you in selling, that is, in getting commitments for everything from appointments to orders?
16. What's your conversion rate of prospects contacted to clients and customers?
17. Do initial s/ales generate repeat s/ales and referrals for years to come?
18. Want to learn how to generate more s/ales from each client?

Evaluating Your Marketing Plan

Use Michael's three questions to summarize your comments about your marketing plan and your success in getting attention, positioning and selling.

1. What's working?

2. What's not?

3. What do you want to improve?

The hardest part about cleaning out your closet, attic, garage or your marketing is getting started. It may be time to straighten up or throw out some of your old marketing strategies and tactics and replace them with new more effective ones. Start 2005 with a well organized marketing plan, one that helps you Get Attention, Position your products and services and Sell and you'll find your business growing in leaps and bounds in the coming year.

2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

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The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Plan E-Book, '7 Steps to Get More Clients and Grow Your Business' at http://http://www.marketingforsuccess.com.

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(c) Copyright by Eva Browne-Paterson

It's well known that Internet marketers are in the business of marketing. To become successful in business, it's crucial to actively promote your business to gain new customers. Let's face it... No promotion, no new customers. It's as simple as that.

If you've ever spent money on advertising before, you will know that it can be a costly process. Whether the cost is measured in time, effort, money or a mixture of all three - the one thing that counts the most is the results. A lack of results from a marketing campaign can be a real disappointment.

More often than not, it is a case of hit-and-miss which leads to frustration and a wasted advertising budget.

This article will explain three steps that you can take to gauge how effective your marketing campaigns are and to rapidly improve the response rates of future campaigns. It also brings to light some relatively unknown tactics that some advertising companies are employing to rip-off their customers. I hope you're not one of those customers... But you might have been already without even realising it.

Step 1: T&T

You may or may not work out a proper campaign for your promotions, but let me make a suggestion to you if I may? You really should be Tracking and Testing. If you don't know how responsive a particular ad is, how can you possibly gauge the ad's effectiveness? Not by guessing, that's for sure! It is essential that you T&T because this keeps you in control of your earnings.

If your campaigns aren't creating the desired outcome - signups, sales, opt-ins, etc., something needs to be changed. By T&T, you can make changes, retest and gauge the results to repeat the process until you do generate the necessary effect and, therefore, increase your profits.

Step 2: Tweaking

What areas need looking at? Here is a short list of questions you can ask yourself. The answer to these questions should be "Yes". If the answer is "No," then simply tweak the item and T&T to produce a better response.

Ad Copy:

Does it have an eye-catching headline? Is it well written with the correct grammar and punctuation? Have you edited it over and over to create what you'd consider a perfect advertisement? Does it use hypnotic words and phrases that grab the interest of the reader? Does it make the reader want to click through to your Web site while pulling out their credit card? If you wouldn’t respond to the ad yourself, a rewrite is a must.

Product Demand:

If you truly aim to make sales, your advertising needs to be put in front of the people who will want to purchase your product. Have you carried out or have access to market research data on the product you are offering? If it's a niche-target product, are you targeting the appropriate audience? Have you polled your list or web site visitors to find out what they really want? Feedback is precious and should be taken into serious consideration.

Sales Page:

Does your sales page load quickly? Does it look good to the naked eye without making you frown or close the site in pain? Does it have an eye-catching headline? Does it appeal to the reader's sensibilities and rouse their emotions? Have you used short paragraphs? Have you included bullet point lists? Have you
refined the copy over and over again to make it as sharp as possible? Have you made it so there are no unanswered questions for the customer to ask?

Order Page:

Have you included a guarantee that removes the risk taken by the customer? Have you provided several payment options, where applicable? Have you made the purchasing process as quick and simple as possible? Have you included your contact details?

Price:

If everything else appears to be set correctly, but you're still not receiving the response you need, consider revising the price and T&T. Use a split tester, if possible, to see which price receives the better response (and it's not always the cheaper price, surprisingly). 100 is a good number to use for split-testing. ie: If you're testing two pages, the first to receive 100 responses is the one to adopt.

Step 3: QA

Usually QA stands for Quality Assurance and it still does, but in this instance, it also means Quality Advertising. T&T and Tweaking can be an ongoing process that you continually carry out using free or paid advertising.

There are many forms of advertising available on the Internet. Free advertising methods are excellent for T&T because they can illustrate how well an ad pulls through an E-zine or solo ad. You can also gauge how effective your sales page is by click-thru statistics in traffic exchanges, etc. But, for now, let's concentrate on the effective, paid advertising methods. Why? Because paid advertising brings results... Well it should -- but it doesn't always!

It is imperative that you gauge the effectiveness of the advertising vehicle that you are utilizing through T&T. If you don't, you could be throwing your hard-earned dollars straight down the drain.

If you have paid for an advertising campaign through a company and the results are less than you hoped for, you need to look into why the results were dismal. How do you do that? It certainly pays to ask questions and dig deeper to see exactly how your advertisement is being delivered.

In fact, I can save you some time and really open your eyes to some marketing methods that you probably didn't even know existed! These are methods that are being used quite frequently by some online companies who provide traffic and advertising services.

You really need to know about them now so you don't fall into that trap. Most of us have already and didn't even know it, until now...

If you utilise the 3 steps I've described above, you'll discover that your hard work really does pay off. Increased profits can indeed be yours with the right work ethic and the right quality advertising vehicle.

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About the Author: Eva Browne-Paterson lives in Australia and has been marketing online for over 12 years. She has been publishing EvieB's New-Z since 2001 at EvieB.com, is the CEO of INSTAPAY.net and a partner in the JVMoneyMakers.com group.

Looking for Quality Advertising? EQQU Ads are a NEW, Highly Targeted & Responsive form of advertising. Hundreds of thousands of members will see your ads beneath their E-mail display and view your web site. Split campaigns & Full statistics provided.

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by Suzanne Falter-Barns
www.getknownnow.com

Learn tips on how one ezine owner built her list to more than 75,000 names in just a few years. (She bought only 4000 of them.) Guerilla tips from Suzanne Falter-Barns and Jenna Glatzer.

Want your E-zine list to catch fire and really start to fill up? Jenna Glatzer took her own list from the hundreds all the way to 75,000 in 7 years by simple, steady marketing, and using many of these techniques. (Jenna bought only 4000 0pt-in names along the way.) Here are some tips we provided, and some I've pulled from my own experience, building my list for The Joy Letter to 17,000 over five years.

1. Free Stuff.

Pick genuinely useful fr.ee stuff that you know your audience wants and needs. For instance, my brand new
E-zine, Expert Status, attracted 600 readers in just a few weeks by offering a report, "25 Top Self Help Literary Agents." The practical freebie works. Jenna Glatzer offers two free E-books/reports to subscribers on agents who are receptive to new writers, and on writer's markets. She notes: "Before I
did that, my subscriber numbers were in the hundreds, not thousands.

2. Put a subscribe box on every page of the site.

This has worked for both Jenna and me. Mine is parked in the left hand column of the site. Experts advise putting a simple sign up box (with freebie mentioned) in the top left hand corner, as that's where the eye naturally travels first. A simple sign up box that requests only E-mail address works best.

3. Ad swaps.

Exchange plugs for your E-zine with another Website, to run in each other's E-zines. Be sure to mention those freebies! Doing this on a regular basis with a rotating selection of Web partners will keep your subscription page busy.

4. Cross-registration.

I've found subscribers by having a plug for my E-zine on the thank you page of a comparable (but not directly competitive) Website. This offer is made to folks who just signed up for an E-zine, and are therefore deemed 'in the mood for more.' Offer a swap with your site, and try not to list more than about two other E-zines. Also, make a point of including only really good, reliable publications that reach your target market.

5. Give away a bonus for other sites to use, based on your E-zine.

A popular Web marketing technique is the special one- or two-day promo that offers big bonus lists when you buy a certain product on those particular days. (I cover this promo technique in more detail in my E-book/binder, "Get Known Now; How to Build Your Platform as a Self Help Expert.") So, collect some of your best E-zine essays, pack 'em up in a downloadable PDF-based E-book, and offer it as a bonus these sites can use in their special promos. Don't forget juicy descriptive copy about your E-zine, and a subscribe link at the end of your E-book. I've gotten hundreds of new readers this way, and much traffic to my site.

6. Announce E-zine 'events' on PRweb.com and other PR sites.

There's an entire world of web-based press release distribution services out there, some of which are low cost or even free. So, use them. But be sure to only plant press releases that are truly newsworthy, and thus likely to get press attention. Even if the media don't use your words this time, they'll hopefully
file you as an expert for future use.

7. Use discussion boards or groups.

These are sites frequented by gangs of people interested in the same thing. Avoid the unmoderated sites, because they're likely to be spam targets that generate little bonafide traffic. Boards found on member
sites are the best. Don't spam the board with your subscribe message. Instead, offer some genuinely helpful info. Then sign off with a signature line that includes E-zine and subscribe info. You can find some of these groups at groups.yahoo.com, topica.com, mail-list.com, and listfool.com, for starters.

8. Sponsor other people's contests.

Jenna Glatzer gives away products like her paid newsletter, "Absolute Markets Premium Newsletter," to writers' groups, contests, and conferences that request it, regardless of size. I've tried this too, to good effect. Simply run an announcement in your E-zine that you'd be happy to sponsor comparable events. Ask them to provide a URL for an event description, so you know it's legit. Then offer up your gifts, and ask for a plug for your E-zine and for them to talk up your dazzling freebie, as well. Jenna notes that
groups she sponsors "often send out ads for us to their lists … just as a thank you."

9. Run quality content.

There's no substitute for heartfelt writing plus solid information about a subject that matters.

Jenna writes: 'The main reason our list stays so big is our 'letter from the editor' … Each week, I chronicle my writing life and my triumphs and failures … when an article is killed, when I'm having trouble finishing a book … And I share personal things, too, like when my grandfather died…. People write: 'I feel like I know you so well.' And I think that's why they stay on the list, even when their mailbox fills up with dozens of other writer's newsletters.

10. Allow reprints.

Allow any newsletter that wants to reprint your articles to do so. I like to have an E-mail requesting permission, so I can enter their info into a big database I use to track where I can send more articles in the future. I end each article with the line: "You may reprint this article in your own E-zine or Website. Simply send an E-mail requesting permission to EMAIL ADDRESS. Please be sure to include our full
bio box at the end."

11. Create a survey or contest.

This would be one of those newsworthy 'E-zine events' I mentioned above in point # 6. Make it a fun, relevant question that you could really develop a good, newsy story from. I did a survey asking people what they fought with their spouse/partner/boy or girlfriend about. The results made for the kind of reading offline media enjoy running short, 100-word pieces about (fillers.) I made sure to attribute the survey to my E-zine, "The Joy Letter," with a mention of the site's basic URL. You can get the technology to run your own survey and collect responses at surveymonkey.com (for a fee) or bravenet.com (for free.)

I think I could actually go on and on here. The possibilities seem to be endless. If you try even half of these techniques on a regular basis, you'll find your subscriber rates double and even triple. Here's to building your list … the foundation that much of your traffic and success rely on.

Suzanne Falter-Barns' Website at getknownnow.com offers tips and tools that help you build your platform and get known as an expert in your field. Sign up for her free E-zine, "Expert Status," and receive her free report, "25 Top Self Help Literary Agents."

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by Herman Drost

When I surf the Net, I often see Web sites filled with beautiful graphics that strive to capture my attention. Well, they do so for an instant, however I click away when I don't immediately find relevant content. The content you add to your web site needs to attract both visitors and search engines.

Here are 14 ways to add content to your web site and attract visitors:

1. Get into the mind of your visitor. Brainstorm all the ways your visitor would think of your product. Write your content as if you are sitting next to him/her explaining your product. Don't write in the 3rd person, i.e. "we," "they," but use "I," "you," or "your." This makes it more personal.

2. Keep it simple - write as if explaining your Web site material to a 7th grader (12-13 year old). Don't use complicated words that people would have to look up in the dictionary. You want them to understand clearly what your site is about.

3. Convey emotion - people on the Web are often in a great hurry, so you need to appeal to their emotions to stop them clicking away to the next site. Use stories, convey your experiences or include testimonies from others. This adds to your credibility and trust, 2 essential factors for doing business online.

4. Communicate quickly and efficiently - people online tend to scan rather than read everything on the page. Therefore, use single lines of text for your headings and sub headings. Catch your visitor's eye with lists, bullet points and use short, snappy, active (not passive) words in your sentences. Your paragraphs should only consist of 2-5 sentences. Long paragraphs make it hard to read (scan) your
page quickly.

5. Create white space - the layout of your Web page should include plenty of white space. Don't lean text hard up against your graphics. Include white space between headings, sub headings and paragraphs.

6. Use graphics sparingly - you have heard it said, "a picture is worth a 1000 words." That's true, but only if the picture supports your content. Don't overdo the graphics. You may impress your visitors initially, however, to keep them interested in your site, you need high quality content.

7. Create high quality content - make clear points with each paragraph you write. Each paragraph should build on the previous one, so that you are pulling your visitor through your page naturally. You are trying to pre-sell the product or service to your visitor. This puts them in a natural frame of mind to buy (unlike many sites, which may just have pictures of the products and a shopping cart).

8. Web page background - a colorful or busy background can make your text hard to read and may give the impression of an inexperienced Webmaster. If you do use a background image, make sure it complements your site's theme, fits with your visitors' experience and will increase your credibility.

9. Use the correct fonts - the offline world primarily uses "Times New Roman". This works well in print but not online. Sans Serif fonts, such as Arial, Verdana and Helvetica are the best fonts for easy online scanning.

10. Font colors - the best colors for reading online are black text on a white or off-white background. If you want to use multiple colors only use a maximum of 3. Too many text colors on a Web page make it hard on the eyes and spell inexperience. To emphasize text, you can use the bold tag (this text will appear bold) or italic tag (this text will appear in italics).

11. Check spelling and grammar - run your page through spell check in your word processor. It won't pick up all the mistakes, so make sure you read it through yourself, to find other errors. Spelling and grammar mistakes convey an unprofessional impression.

12. Simple navigation - the main purpose of the navigation bar is to make it easy for your visitor to find his way around your site. Place your navigation bar on the left side or top of your page (or both). Repeat the bar at the bottom of the page, so your visitor does not have to scroll back up to move on to another section.

(Read my article "How to Create an Effective Web Site Navigation Structure" http://www.isitebuild.com/navigation for more specific help in this area).

13. Get a critique - don't fall in love with your writing and leave it there. Yes, it's hard to listen to someone criticizing your beautiful piece of work, but swallow your pride and get your friends or family members to do a review of your Web page. This will help you to refine what you have written and make it appeal to a wider audience.

14. Use specific keywords - weave targeted keywords into your Web page as you write your Web page content.

---------------------------------------------------------

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com. Affordable Web Site Design and Web Hosting. Pick up your copy of the 159 page E-book TODAY titled: "Make Your Content Pre-Sell," by going to this link: http://mycps.sitesell.com/webselling83.html

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by James D. Brausch

One of the most effective methods of getting traffic to a sales Webpage is very well-known within Adsense circles (used to send traffic to Adwords advertisers through the Adsense program), but not as well known for traffic generation directly to sales letters.

That method is the content site. There are literally thousands of people making a living online by simply creating content sites, placing Google Adsense code on those content sites and collecting a check from Google every month.

There are literally thousands of others who have sales pages selling products and services who have never created a content site and pay for their traffic through the Google Adwords program. Much of that traffic is coming from those who are creating the content sites and placing Google Adsense code on their pages.

Isn't that interesting? If you have a sales page selling a product or service; how much could you save by cutting Google out of the loop? A lot! If you have been creating content sites and depending on Google for a paycheck, how much more could you earn if you sent that traffic to a site selling an information product of your own? A lot!

There is even more money to be gained with this strategy then you might first imagine. At first, you might be tempted to think that the only money being left on the table is the money going to Google for providing the Adwords and Adsense programs. Nothing could be further from the truth. If that was the only money involved, then, since the percentages that Google keeps are very small ... their
service is well worth that price.

But it's not! That money is only the start. Let's consider the following facts to see that we can actually earn a multiple of whatever you are currently earning from your Adsense check or from your product site if you cut Google out of the loop.

1. The Adsense algorithm isn't perfect. It often shows ads that aren't very relevant. If you cut Google out of the loop, you can make your content site to sales page site traffic 100% relevant, 100% of the time.

2. Adsense publishers often only get 0.5%-15% click-through rates on any Adsense ad, due to a number of factors. The method I will show you in this article will deliver 25% of the hotest buyers from your content site to your traffic site continually.

3. Adsense is currently a negative ranking factor on all three major search engines (see RankingFactors.com for more information on that). That means that, by running Adsense on your content sites, they are slowly losing search engine traffic month after month. By removing the Adsense and sending that traffic directly to a product site, you will retain your search engine traffic.

4. Many have reported getting banned by the Google Adsense program. You came to the Internet to make money because you wanted more control and freedom over your life. By getting a large percentage of your income from a single company (Google), you are sabotaging your efforts. You are at the mercy of Google just like you were/are at the mercy of any employer.

5. If you are selling a product using Adwords traffic, you also are at the mercy of Google and bidding wars. You must continually improve your conversion ratio or the ongoing bidding wars will eventually eat up your profit. Google (or Overture or any other bid-type PPC system) is slowly allowing your competitors to either receive more traffic while you receive less ... or causing you to pay them more and more of your profit every month as you are forced to raise your bids to continue to receive traffic. Wouldn't you rather generate your own traffic and not be held hostage to bidding wars?

So -- we are agreed that you want to cut Google out of the loop, whether you are a content site creator or the seller of a product or service; right? How?

Well, first of all you will nead to learn the skills of the other side. They aren't difficult, whichever side of the fence you currently sit on. If you are a content site creator, you can pick up InfoProdCreation.com and have your own product 35 hours from now with 5 hours of work. If you are a seller of a product or service, you already have the skills to create content sites. Just write articles instead of sales pages, and give information instead of trying to sell. Make it a multi-page site instead of a single page sales letter.

And -- I'm about to give you the secret to traffic delivery from a content site to a traffic site. It's very simple. Create a home page with only the following elements:

1. A very short two-paragraph, three-five sentence description of your product or service (no selling here).

2. A large (size 8) link that says either "Enter Site" or "Enter Here." This link leads to your product site.

3. Three smaller links (size 2) on a single line, below the above link, that lead to the rest of your content site. They can say "Widget Articles," "Widget Reviews," "Widget Forum," or whatever types of content you have on your content site ... about widgets, in this case.

You will find that about 50% of the traffic on a content site eventually ends up at the home page. You will find that about 50% of those that end up at the home page will choose to click the "Enter Site" or "Enter Here" link. You will find that those 25% of the content site visitors (50% of 50%) will be fairly pre-qualified to read your offer. In many, many split tests, this traffic has out-performed Google Adwords traffic!

Have fun and please drop by my blog and let me know how much more money you are making with this strategy. I would love to hear from you.

You can check out the author's marketing blog here: http://www.JamesBrausch.com.

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by Desmond Mantor

So, you have a killer Website that you're just certain will become the next Yahoo or Google, if only you could get people to actually visit your site. The only problem is that you don't have the money to spend on pay-per-click programs or software for e-mailing campaigns. As things stand, your site doesn't even rank in the first ten pages of search results and it's starting to look like your great idea may die a miserable and lonely death. Before you throw in the towel, here are some free ways to increase traffic flow to your site:

Being ranked first in the search engines does not cost a dime, but it does cost effort. If you're going to get to the first page of the search results, you need to do your homework. The first thing to do is to study your competition. The people who rank first already have a winning formula. You just need to figure it out. You need to study their keyword density formula, the sites they are linking to, and their meta tag usage. You will need to alter one variable at a time and test the results.

Finding the right keyword density formula should probably be your first priority. Once you find one that works, start generating a lot of useful content using this formula. Don't worry about getting it perfect, because no one does. Just find one that boosts your rankings and then generate the content.

Aside from having a lot of keyword rich content using the right formula, the second best way to boost rankings is to link with other popular sites. The search engines figure that, if you are linked with other popular sites, then your site must be pretty important. The key is to develop a site with content that is both relevant and useful to other Webmasters. This is why you need to develop your keyword density formula first, then generate content based upon it. This makes it a lot easier to convince Webmasters to link with your site. The more links you establish with popular sites, the higher you will climb in the rankings.

Once you have a site filled with great content, start sending out personal E-mails to Webmasters asking to link with their site. Some sites will even allow you to manually link with them without first obtaining permission. They are probably not the greatest links, but it's a start!

Another great way to generate traffic flow without spending money is using Yahoo classifieds. Yahoo has millions of visitors from all over the world every day, and your ad is sure to get noticed. You are allowed to post up to 10 ads at a time absolutely free of charge. The trick is to write compelling, attention-grabbing copy. You will achieve success if you are willing to experiment. While search engine rankings are more useful than online classifieds, these ads, especially the popular Yahoo classifieds, can provide a great start totally free!

All in all, search engines hold the key to traffic flow. Since almost 90% of all Web surfers use search engines to help them find what they're seeking, as a Website owner, you have to win them over in order to achieve online success. Analyze your competitors' sites closely, arrive at an optimal keyword density formula, and then create lots of useful, relevant and compelling content. Soon, you will be linking to other sites and climbing on the search engine rankings!

Desmond Mantor is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Have Traffic a business specializing in delivering highly targeted traffic for commercial Web sites, proven to convert to sales at higher rates in comparison to regular major pay per click sources. Please visit http://www.havetraffic.com for further details.

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by Charlie Cook
http://www.marketingforsuccess.com

========================================
Summary:
Want to hit your revenue numbers this year? Discover
which numbers to pay attention to.
========================================

Everyone wants to see growth in sales and net revenue. It's important for small business owners to set income goals and to watch sales results, but too much emphasis on these numbers can prevent you from reaching your goals.

Using your revenue figure to guide your marketing is like driving by looking in the rear view mirror the whole time. That number tells you where you've been. It doesn't tell you how to get where you want to go.

There are a couple of key numbers and ratios to keep in front of you that will help you get to your sales 'destination'.

Like an Iowa farmer growing soybeans, you've got to carefully plant seeds and nurture plants to maturity to ensure a good harvest and a good profit. The amount of seed you plant and the percentage that germinates and grows well determines your farm's profitability. The same is true in marketing and sales; the number of leads you generate and the number you convert to sales determine your income.

These are the two most important numbers to pay attention to in marketing. Use them to evaluate your marketing and determine how many sales you'll generate:

1. The number of qualified prospects in your database.

These are people who've told you they have a concern or problem you can help them with and who want to hear from you again.

2. Your prospect-to-client conversion rate.

The percentage of qualified prospects you convert to paying clients.

The math is simple; the more qualified prospects you have and the higher your conversion rates, the more revenue you'll generate.

Your sales will stay frozen at present levels if you focus on how much revenue you're making and ignore the importance of building your list of qualified prospects. You could double your business in the next few months by building your database of qualified prospects and improving your conversion rates.

Marketing Numbers

You don't need to be a math wiz to become an expert at marketing math. Pay attention to these numbers on a weekly basis;

- The number of people who saw your ads, read your articles or received your mailings.

- The percentage of these people that responded to your ad or article. It's not how many ads you run, but how many people pay attention to your ads that matters.

- The percentage of respondents that actually gave you their contact information and added themselves to your database. These are the people who have identified themselves as qualified prospects who are interested in learning more.

If you're marketing through your Website, it's incredibly simple to identify these numbers daily and weekly to track the success of your marketing. Here's how;

1. Look at the number of unique visitors to your Website daily or weekly.

2. Divide this number by the number of people who contacted you. This is your conversion rate of site visitors to qualified prospects. If your site is set up correctly, at least one out of ten people should be contacting you and adding themselves to your list of qualified prospects. If you use Google Ads to drive visitors to your site, you can send visitors to specific landing pages and increase your conversion rate to 20% or even 25%.

What should you expect from your Website? For every hundred unique visitors to your site per week, 10 to 25 should be sending you an E-mail requesting more information about your products and services. Each month, your list of qualified prospects and your sales should grow.

Before you finish this article, make a commitment to apply this simple marketing math to grow your business. Set a goal for your business. Look at how many qualified prospects your marketing is currently generating.

Write this number down, then put a diagonal line across it and next to it write down the number of qualified prospects you want to add to your database each week.

I've been doing this little exercise for two years with my current Website. My goals for acquiring qualified prospects get larger each month as my business grows. My latest goal is 500 new prospects per week. This translates into 6 to 7 percent more business each month. With a little planning, you can see your business grow just as fast.

2006 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up
to receive the Free Marketing Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business' at http://http://www.marketingforsuccess.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips619/user/index.php
by Jonathan Teng
http://www.TheMarketingCraze.com

"It's NOT another wave. It's a PERMANENT wave destroyer!"

I have to admit it...

Article writing is, hands down, the most powerful weapon in the marketing arsenal to date! I have always asked myself why very few marketers are taking advantage of it. It's so easy and so rewarding.

Just watch the article directories and announcement lists; you'll quickly see what I'm talking about...

...and you'll see the same names, over and over again!

These people are consistent in their work. They keep submitting articles, month after month, while they're establishing themselves as leading experts in their fields. They're building their credibility each day ... and their businesses? Well, they are simply thriving.

While most new Internet marketers will come and leave like a blink of an eye, these "article" guys have staying power. Their articles will be around years after they are gone -= a legacy that will outlast them.

Isn't this amazing?

(1) It's free. While other marketers are losing money on pay per click ads, article marketers promote their businesses for free. No hidden cost whatsoever. Their articles will be reprinted on hundreds of Websites, all bringing warm leads and pre-sold customers to their businesses.

(2) It's easy. They don't need to hold a PhD in order to be an article writer. It's as simple as writing a 300- to 500-word article a week, and they're done for the week.

(3) It appreciates. "Hey! I read your article ... It rocks!" "Great article ... I have bookmarked your site for other posts ..." "Fantastic ... I like what you write ..."

Only Article Marketers receive these types of messages in their inboxes. They are respected among their peers. They get their inspiration from the appreciation of other people.

(4) It sets them apart. What's the difference between an article marketer and other marketers? Simple ... Article marketers are smarter. They are a step above the average Joes in the business arena. They are problem solvers. They write for reputation and trust. And they write for profits.

(5) It's the center. Articles are the central part of an E-zine. They stand alone, with no disturbing ads. They get all the reader's attention and their words will gently direct them toward a link to their Website.

(6) It links to others. Articles are the ultimate linking strategy. Article Marketers don't need to beg for incoming links from Webmasters. Their job is to provide free content -- quality content that Webmasters will fight for.

(7) It's viral. While an ad will last only for a few days, articles will last for years. Great articles will be reprinted over and over again, reaching thousands of new potential customers. It's like planting a seed that will take root and then develop a life on it's own.

Article writing is the only complete weapon that a marketer should be equipped with because it's truly the only skill a marketer needs to master to succeed.

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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

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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.
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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 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 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 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 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 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