HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136 Home Business The Easy Way - BBl Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS Pay Per Click (ppc) Marketing for Beginners
By: Paul Wolbers

Here is a simple guide for getting started with PPC advertising. You should find it to be complimentary to your overall marketing program and a good start to finding traffic while you continue to build your natural search engine placement.

- Research Your Keywords -

Don't waste your money bidding on words or phrases that will attract the wrong audience or too broad of an audience or you will quickly go through your advertising budget with very little return on your investment.

Use a program like Wordtracker that can assist you in creating a list of keywords and phrases that will relate to your topic. You can easily find out which words have a large amount of competition as well as the current bids for those words.

When you have made your keyword and phrase list, develop a simple Ad that is both clear and descriptive. Use proven advertising copy words like "How to..., "Discover", "Save", "Free" and "Easy" in your description. Create curiosity while providing enough information that you will not attract under qualified traffic.

Use each keyword or phrase you are bidding on in its own description rather than giving the same ad copy to every word. Test your campaigns and stick to your budget.

Figure out how many customers you need in order to make a sale and based on that figure, you can work out how much you are willing to spend to attract customers through pay per click advertising.

If your product sells on average for $20 and it takes 100 visitors to make a sale, you can afford to spend 20 cents per visitor to make a sale. Obviously you would want to spend less in order to make a profit, so by bidding 10 cents per key phrase, you would spend $10 to make a $20 sale with a $10 profit. This is just a rough example.

Remember, PPC is only one piece of your marketing strategy, so while you may spend more using pay per click when you first start, eventually your content and hyperlinks will attract free visitors organically, which will offset your cost per sale ratio.

Paul Wolbers is an Affiliate SEO Marketer. Visit his website for more great tips, tricks and tactics designed to help you succeed online. http://www.PaulWolbers.com

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php The Net's New Information Highway
For more years than I care to admit, I have depended on either word-of-mouth, catchy ads or Search Engine results to draw me into a new program. I have stopped reading Testimonials altogether because his or her success (real or embellished) is no guarantee of my own – and that’s just common sense.

I’m all about residual or leveraged income anyway and it's the only road for me. I no longer agree to sell someone’s product for twenty bucks and do it over again tomorrow and the next day. For the same amount of effort, I can get a leveraged program up and running with whatever is asked of me to qualify for on-going income with no further attention on my part. This is the only way to go. And once initiated and running on auto pilot, I look for a new money-stream.

The Internet changes faster than the speed of thought, and so must our searches and marketing strategies. Yesterday’s “landing pages” are today’s “splash pages”. Yesterday we heard about a great opportunity from an Ezine ad or a Free Report… today we have new sources: Forums and Blogs.

Advertising and promotional posts are not allowed in most Forums. There are special Forums for posting your Bizop, but I don’t think anyone reads these any more than antiquated FFA pages. But questions and answers do not violate this rule. So I look up Forums whose members are working from home or wish they were, and tune in on what they call “Hot Topics”. I choose three or four Forums and put the websites in my favorites so I can tune in daily and sort of eavesdrop on the hot topics.

Often it goes like this: Act3 is asking if anyone has heard about XYZ program; good or bad. Gemeni responds because he is a member of that program. Then others begin to ask about it. They want to know if Gemeni has been paid yet? How long did it take to return his investment? Gemeni responds with replies giving factual data. BigSpender posts her reply by saying she joined under Gemeni and I begin to read her positive comments also. Act3 joined during my second week of eavesdropping on all of this, and the three of them formed a winning team.

I have given you a short version, but enough to realize that this is a perfect avenue to find a new and promising program. Take what this Forum has offered and check out Scambusters and all other due diligence that you would do for any new opportunity. With everything on go – join and begin to spread the word the same way you heard about it.

When you join Forums, you choose a “username” and post your sentence or two without making it appear like a blatant ad. However, they DO allow you to put your URL at the close of your post.

Go to a Forum that has a “thread” for members who are interested in working from home. Start asking if anyone knows something about XYZ company, good or bad. Wait a day or two to see if anyone posts a reply. If nothing negative comes back, or no one has heard of XYZ, then you might post a new thread giving some of the details you have acquired “from other Forums”. It might go something like this:

Hi everybody – bigbill here – in my last post I asked if anyone could tell me about XYZ company and since I didn’t get any replies, I went to another Forum and posted the same question. I had several people tell me that XYZ’s cyclic target referral system has broken all the conservative boundaries of any other system. Can this be true? http://www.xyzcompany.com/osborn

Notice I did include my URL, and I tried hard not to make my post sound like an advertisement or it would have been deleted by the moderator. Now, let’s look at blogging. Got a website? Got a product? Got a blog?

Yes, Blog your program daily with a free blog that is RSS fed. There are no rules here. Set up a blog; set up two - or three and each day type a few paragraphs that show the benefits of your program. Be sure to RSS it and you will have no trouble getting new participants to look over your program.

Play nice.

2007 Esther Smith

Esther Smith writes and publishes Marketing Articles and is a firm believer in Leveraged Income. She invites others to view an excellent example at: http://www.diamondcashclub.com/pisces and study “the plan”. Invitation to Internet Success is her eBook, a pdf file and free to all. Download yours today. When the student is ready, the master will appear. http://thepermanentventure.com/InternetSuccess.pdf]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php The One-Time Offer and Your Online Marketing Business : Help or Hindrance?
An online marketing business can be very complex when you think of all the ways you can market a business online. You may decide to choose one or two main methods of internet marketing, or you may choose several techniques.

If you're a seasoned internet marketer with an online marketing business, or even a newbie embarking on a new online business venture, you have probably already encountered the One-Time Offer (OTO) as one of these methods of marketing.

A one-time offer is a sales page that might pop up in several different places that allows you to make a purchase - now or never. You only see the page once, so you have to read it carefully and decide whether or not you want to make the purchase or forego the offer forever.

It's a very clever online sales tactic that works for some, but doesn't work so well for others. Successful and well-known internet marketers like Mike Filsaime use the OTO as a method that helps them generate millions of dollars each year.

I have also used the OTO as a method that would supposedly help me generate more extra cash. For example, I tried OTO GoldMine, a system designed for the newbie to make extra cash by offering software and other products related to internet marketing for a (usually) very low price.

At first I jumped at this free opportunity. Who wouldn't when you hear all about how well one-time offers capture those internet surfers who are rushed to make a decision now, or lose the opportunity forever?

I added it to my online marketing business website so that each time a visitor left my site, they were presented with the OTO Goldmine offer page, which, as an exit screen, offered products related to my site, much like you would capture subscribers with an exit pop-up.

After at least a few months, I realized that the OTO – for me and the way I was using it, anyway – goes against what I really believe and value when I think about my online marketing business and what it is intended to do. As excited as I was to put it up, I was equally excited to take it down.

After all, I am not about suckering people into spending their money just because they visited my website. I am really about building an honest business and recommending products as I see fit.

That does not, however, mean that I used the OTO GoldMine product in the best possible way. You really can make a lot of extra money with this system, and it is effective enough that it's used by the pros out there.

Perhaps the one-time offer is meant to be used more carefully. For example, if someone purchased something off my online marketing business website, it would be an ideal time to present a one-time offer--after they have made their initial purchase. Most good salespeople know that it's good practice to offer something else of related value upon making a sale.

I, on the other hand, placed the OTO in a place where people visited my site, decided they didn't want anything I had to offer, and then they saw my OTO sales page. It was as though I made one last desperate attempt to squeeze a few pennies out of those visitors who weren't interested in purchasing anything in the first place! Bad me.

I have learned my lesson, but have not returned to the one-time offer which-- I admit-- did not make me any money.

You may also advertise the OTO as a sales page in traffic exchanges or to your newsletter list. I still maintain that you will only be successful at this if you do it right, put the OTO's in the right places at the right times, and have an incredible offer that can't be refused.

In summary, I believe the one-time can indeed be quite profitable if you are a somewhat experienced online marketer and know exactly how, where, and when to use the one-time offer to your advantage and your customer's benefit.

Online marketing businesses are not all about making money online. That is certainly an added bonus, but be careful about how you go about the one-time offer. You don't want to lose the trust and respect of your valuable customers, so learn all you can about one-time offers, and work on building those customer relationships first.

I may try the OTO again for my online marketing business in the future, but rest assured, I will be smarter about it next time. Live and learn, as they say!

Liane Bate owns a Plug-in Profit Site web business, and is author of 100+ articles related to online business and internet marketing. Visit: http://www.HonestMoneyMaking.com , http://www.HonestMoneyMaking.com/pips.html , and http://www.HonestMoneyMaking.com/blog/]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing
By Miki Zakay

I will keep it as simple as I can - a PRACTICAL TOOL.

First, I would like you to consider these four facts:

*A DIRECT MAIL PIECE costs about 50-cents in postage alone. (Then you have to factor in paper and printing costs).

*A PHONE CALL can cost just as much - or more - than a direct mail piece.

*A PHONE CALL wastes time (and time is money) because you will spend precious minutes - sometimes hours or days - trying to contact the right person.

*A MESSAGE left on voice mail is usually a waste of time, and therefore a waste of money.

Depressing? Not at all. After you read today's "Insider Marketing Strategies" lesson, you'll be able to say "NO" to the downside of phone calls and direct mail, and "YES" to the upside of email.

Read on...

Given the inherent problems with traditional marketing techniques, it is important to master the BASIC STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING EMAIL into your overall campaign.

As I have just shown you, sending out an EMAIL CAN BE MUCH CHEAPER than other marketing methods. Proceed with caution, however. Email can also cost you a fortune -- in lost opportunities AND cold hard cash -- IF you do not know the basics.

Therefore, that is where we are going to start.

First, always keep in mind that your "primary objective", the master key that unlocks your "Success Vault" in Internet Marketing is to build your mailing list - your EMAIL MAILING LIST. (Often referred to as your "In-house list.").

The addresses you collect are going to mean the difference between the middle-of-the-road results that Average Joe and Jane are achieving and the through the roof, over-the-top, to-the-moon-and-back MEGA-success that top online sellers achieve. (The difference really is that dramatic.) So do not miss the boat: The time is NOW to start building your list of email addresses (prospects).

REVIEW

You can begin to grow your list simply by capturing emails from people who visit your website, as we have already discussed in a previous lesson.

=> Pop Quiz: What is the easiest way to convince people to give you their email address? (Answer: Offer an irresistible freebie with a sign-up form on your site or in a pop-up box, drive traffic to your site, and watch as people start entering their email address. Don't have a freebie? Get a good one from the Cashflow Magic treasure chest!).

Okay, so now you're "in the groove". You're capturing people's emails like crazy. If you are just sitting there - well, you know the old saying, "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."

So what is next?

-- Let me take a moment from telling how to build your email list to remind you why. It's been said that - YOU CAN GET RICH WITH AN EMAIL LIST OF JUST 1000 PEOPLE!

Think about that. Then stop thinking and get going on new ways to capture and keep email addresses. (By the way, if you haven't already "gotten with the program" yet, I wanted to remind you that CASHFLOW MAGIC http://mikizakay.cashflow123.com presents an unparalleled opportunity for you to build a mountain of wealth with a program that rewards you quickly and generously).

GIVE 'TIL IT HURTS!

If you want to keep getting addresses, start giving stuff away! Give, give, and keep finding more things to give! In addition, since you can't send a TOASTER through email, why not give the far more valuable -- and far more affordable for you -- INFORMATION PRODUCTS, business tools, and expert advice - maybe even a no-cost/obligation email-marketing course like this one!

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP.

You'll want to have a series of letters already set up so that they can be "dripped" on your prospects on a regular basis. Send a message daily, every other day, or on whatever schedule suits you best, but make contact AT LEAST EVERY 7 DAYS.

If you're not confident in your writing skills, you have two choices: you can hire a professional to write the letters for you or you can use a system already set up with letters to help you build your email list. (I suppose the third choice is to just give up and bury your heard in the sand, but that's no way to make a million!).

If you're serious about this - and you should be, believe me -- you really should consider tapping into the system offered by Paul Birdsall & Cashflow Magic. At Cashflow Magic, you can access an entire AUTOMATED leads/giveaway/database marketing.

ALL-IN-ONE SYSTEM that makes it easy for your revenues to soar.

If you have found that PRACTICAL, which I believe you have, Please do use it. It is only in your power to change your abilities and earn commissions from you E-business.

Remember! "The only LOSERS are the QUITTERS" and "All the beginnings are tough... but it's tougher to stay".

For more information, Please DO CONTACT ME at my FREE INTERNET MARKETING SCHOOL - http://mikizakay.payitforward4profits.com

To your success!
Miki Zakay
MikiZakay@TheNextLeader.ws
http://mikizakay.payitforward4profits.com
http://mikizakay.cashflow123.com

Miki Zakay has been an Internet & Network marketer for the past 8 years.
Miki's monthly income has increased in the past 8 months and is now stable around $25,000 a month. Zakay Served the Israeli Army as an Officers Course Commander and now teaches the skills of war and leadership among the business section as well as the army section. Considered a Pro business consultant, always happy to help others.
All his Knowledge can be found in his Internet Success Guide at http://mikizakay.cashflow123.com

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php List Building: You Need To Get Out There And Do The Split!
By Tellman H. Knudson

Your goal as a marketer is to monetize your site as quickly and as easily as possible. In the process, build your list along the way.

There are all sorts of different ways to think about doing this.

If you are an AdSense publisher, it may be smarter to have AdSense only after people subscribe to your list. In addition, it may be smarter to only show the AdSense after people have told a friend.

Do you see why?

If these people are not on your list, if they are not telling their friends, then you cannot monetize those people again. They visit your site, and then leave, and go to the AdSense ad site, and forget to join your list. If they are on your list, you can monetize them repeatedly with ways that have more impact than AdSense.

Until they subscribe, do not show the AdSense. It may turn people off and they may not join your list. Alternatively, as I said, there are various ways to think about this. Maybe when they subscribe, the AdSense disappears because you already captured their names and addresses for your list, and then you can follow up and make recommendations on products that they would benefit from. Test these!

Perhaps, do an A/B split test, where one page has AdSense and the other does not. See which one works better, and then go with it. However, keep testing. Test your headline; test your subscribe button. You can test all the elements of your page--one test at a time. For instance, do not change your headline and the opt-in button at the same time. You will not know which prompted the viewer to join your list.

Consider the following. When implementing marketing strategies, do not take too much time before you test them. If they do not work, you took a lot of time to think about something, which did not work.

I would recommend that you send out a press release. Do it today, or at least first thing in the morning to drive traffic to your squeeze page, which should lead to your sales letter or the sales letter of the product you are promoting. A press release about your new site will get some traffic.

You also want to use pay-per-click. The reason you want to use pay-per-click is, you can check your conversions and see how everything works before you find list members and everything else. I would use pay-per-click and get rolling with that right away.

Whatever your budget is $5, $10, $100, or $2,000, spend that. You want to go low. You can spend $5 to $10 a day. Focus on split testing and tweaking the squeeze page and the sales page, until it is making money for you on the $10 a day.

The whole thing is... Do not Wait! Take action immediately! Do not let anything stop you. If your squeeze page sucks, you can make changes to it, until it does not suck anymore. Yet, it is out there the whole time, getting some response. If you had nothing working for you, you would be no further in building your list.

Tellman Knudson is CEO of http://OvercomeEverything.com. Learn how to build a powerful and responsive list quickly through his premiere list-building course, http://MyFirstList.com (http:/myfirstlist.com ).

Changing Your Affiliate Formula]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Is your Business a Hobby, a Necessity or a Challenge?  
Is Your Business a Hobby, a Necessity or a Challenge?
 
How do you approach your online work from home business venture?
 
Is the making of money in this way (rather than working a 9-5 job) just a hobby? Maybe for you it’s become a necessity. Or perhaps you’ve set it up to be the greatest challenge of your life.
 
Let’s look at some possible answers.
 
Question: Should an entrepreneur run his online work from home business venture like a hobby?
 
Answer: Only in one respect and that has to do with his or her business being a pleasure. When we choose to work on a business venture that brings us great personal pleasure, we have an unbeatable combination.
 
Question: Should an entrepreneur run their online work from home business venture out of necessity?
 
Answer: Well, think about it. We’re pretty much in the throes of a global recession. The price of everything is going up sky high. Having an online work from home business can give you tremendous control over your personal finances when others are being fired or laid off. Because your business is operating as a financial necessity, you’ll structure it in such a way that the basics of food, clothing and shelter (as well as “life’s little extras”) are taken care of with relative ease.
 
Question: Should an entrepreneur run her online work from home business venture as a challenge?
 
Answer:  Running your business as a challenge is a great way to keep yourself motivated. You can set up multiple challenges with short term goals that measure:
  • How much product is sold (front end)
  • How much product is sold (back end)
  • How much traffic is generated (daily/monthly)
  • How many opt-ins are generated by each campaign (growing your list)
  • How much profit is generated (monthly)
  • How much positive testimonial feedback you’re receiving
 
You can even challenge yourself to become a millionaire and chart your monthly progress along the way.
 
If you’re looking for the resources to run an online work from home business as “a pleasurable necessity filled with exciting online challenges”, then take a few minutes to check out  tinyurl.com/44dc4b
 
Whatever you need to succeed – they’ve got it.
______________________________________________________________________________
 
Marsha Sneed reviews quality business opportunities and online resource tools that can be used effectively by newbies and experienced marketers alike to reach their marketing and financial goals. She can be reached at jcsneed@onebox.com.
 
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Website Success = Content! Content! Content!
by Francois du Toit

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

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

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

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

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

What are the most common mistakes?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To your success!

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

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php The Secret Weapon Every Savvy Exhibitor Should Use
By Susan Friedmann

It is time for a visualization exercise. Are you ready?

Picture this:

You are standing, with your staff, in your exhibit booth at a large tradeshow. This is one of the best shows you regularly participate in. It attracts a sizeable number of your target audience. Your team is prepared. Your display looks terrific. You have interactive demonstrations. You have sponsored a speaker. Your giveaway items convey your marketing message, appealing to your target audience, and are in plentiful supply.

Looks good, right?

There is something in this scene, something I have not mentioned yet, that could make it all even better. Something that will not only boost your ROI, but will create that most vital of marketing tools.

What is it?

It is a secret weapon that is more than come of age. In fact, it has been around since the beginning of time, but only now is it realizing its full potential. This build up and suspense is all about “word of mouth marketing” and how you can use it to your advantage on the tradeshow floor.

I have recently read Seth Godin's “Flipping the Funnel", and it really brought home the concept of how underutilized tradeshow attendees are as a marketing tool. Attendees are more than prospects and contacts: they are a potential sales force, just waiting to tap on your behalf.

According to Godin, we should:

Turn strangers into friends.
Turn friends into customers.
Turn then ... do the most important job
Turn your customers into sales people.

Why?

Why would you want to recruit a whole bunch of amateur salespeople, you might ask, when you already have a perfectly competent, fully trained professional sales team? After all, you have spent considerable resources recruiting, training, and retaining your current team. Isn't that enough?

Frankly, no. Regardless of how big your sales force is, there's no way they are going to be able to connect with every person who might be interested in your products and services. Even working flat out, as Godin suggests, they are not selling as much as you would like.

This is where your friends and customers enter the picture. If you view them as assets, as allies in the world of sales, you have already expanded your potential marketplace. When more people are working on your behalf, you will reach more customers. It is simple mathematics.

There is another benefit as well. When your friends and customers recommend your products and services, their words carry far more weight than anything your sales team can say. People value the opinions of colleagues, peers, and relatives far more than they do the assurances of a salesperson. It is the difference between editorial speech and advertising, played out in a face-to-face setting.

So Now What?

Being convinced that recruiting tradeshow attendees to act on your behalf is one thing, convincing them to do it is another. According to Godin, we continually spend a tremendous amount of time and energy attempting to spread our marketing message to more and more people. This particularly holds true at tradeshows, where the focus is often on how to attract more people to your exhibit. As well, as talk to several people at once.

A slight shift in the priorities might be in order. While starting new business relationships will always be important, a new emphasis exists on strengthening and maintaining existing relationships.

Consider your current customers. Ask yourself -- or even better, ask them, how they feel about your products and services. How about your customer service? What makes doing business with your organization unique, enjoyable, and/or remarkable?

Whatever the answers, what are you doing to help your customers spread the word? Godin offers a number of technical solutions in his free e-book http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/files/flippingfunnelPRO.pdf which I highly recommend that you read, but here are a few more hands-on tools to implement at your next tradeshow:

Be Honest

Tell your best customers how much you appreciate them and how much you would value having more customers like them. It's no secret that you're in business to make money. No one thinks you are at the show as a philanthropic endeavor. Appealing to your customers to spread the word carries with it an implied compliment: You are reinforcing the fact that you think they are important, by extension, that other people think they are important, and that their opinion of you matters.

Encourage Referrals

Do you know how often your customer thinks about your company? It is probably less than 1% of their daily life -- after all, they have their own companies to worry about, and their own customer base, not to mention their own personal lives and world events. Sometimes people need a little prompting to spread the word -- otherwise, it might not occur to them.

Offer Incentives

If you want your customers to do something for you, you need to do something for them. Godin's idea is that by offering superior products and services, in a remarkable fashion, you will transform customers into fans.

Having strong advocates and supporters never hurts. Offering incentives for spreading the word can be a simple thing – an attractive discount on their next order, for example -- or something more elaborate. Remember, as tradeshow attendees skew younger, more than financial savings or benefits to their company may motivate them. Consider offering something more personal: a gift that would appeal to your target audience.

In Conclusion

Transforming customers into fans may not have been the top priority on your exhibiting list -- but it should be. Recruiting an all-volunteer sales force to augment your existing efforts is one of the most cost effective ways to get your marketing message out there.

Remember: people like to share stories about what they find good, interesting, or unique. By offering that at your next tradeshow, you are giving yourself a vital leg up on the competition -- those who are concentrating on the next new thing miss the value of what they might already have.

Written by Susan A. Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. For a free copy of “10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make”, e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Email Newsletters: Turning Words into Dollars
By Carol Solomon

If you want to market your business on the internet, building your business with email newsletters is an extremely important skill.

One reason that email newsletters are so effective is it keeps you, (and your service), in the minds of your potential clients. When your potential clients are ready, and they have a need for your service, they will contact you.

Connecting with people through email newsletters takes a special kind of skill. Email newsletters create familiarity and comfort with the readers. The main purpose of an email newsletter is to build a relationship with your subscribers.

REMEMBER: It is not your readers' job to remember you. It is YOUR job to make sure they do not forget you.

Since I like to respect your time (and follow my own advice), here are eight ‘quick tips’ to increase your success and profit in writing for email newsletters:

1. Spell it out. People want "step by step" instructions – it makes any task seem easier and more manageable. If you can tell someone "how to" solve a problem or manage a difficult situation in steps, your newsletter WILL be read.

2. Send it out often. Many coaches think they do not have time, (or words), to write a newsletter more than once per month. However, anyone who has survived to adulthood has enough material to write for a lifetime :-). Keeping it short and sending it out more often gives people more opportunities to contact you.

3. Give your readers a consistent product with a consistent format. Consistency builds trust and confidence. The number one reason people buy something is trust and confidence in the person making the offer.

4. Make many offers. Put an offer for your services in every issue and encourage people to contact you. Offer different products and services – for example, some clients want individual coaching, others prefer a group. I offer both.

5. Some people will never hire you, but they will purchase an ebook or a teleclass. Find out what your readers want and create it for them.

6. Offer something free (and valuable) – a free consultation, teleclass, or a special report. Even if your readers do not take you up on it, it is beneficial to offer something – your readers will remember that you offered a gift.

7. Don't forget how valuable your information is to people who do not have it. Most professionals underestimate the VALUE of what we know. Personally, I think that the work we do is BEYOND the value of money – how can you put a value on helping someone build a business or be more effective in their life and work?

8. Be patient. You are building a relationship with your readers. It can take about 1000 subscribers before you start seeing income. Once you get that first client Health Fitness Articles, you will never look back.

To get free (and short!) Tech Tips delivered to your inbox - go to Tech Tips for Coaches (http://www.techtipsforcoaches.com/). A few short years ago, Carol Solomon, Ph.D. (http://www.easycoachingwebsites.com/), had ZERO technical knowledge - in fact, she could barely send an email. She adopted the mantra "if other people can do it, then I can do it too." She now trains others who are challenged in the world of technology, but want to use the internet to catapult their businesses.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Making Money on the Net: The Three Features You Should Look For in an Affiliate Marketing Program
By Steven Gerber

If your affiliate-marketing program is not generating as much cash as you expected, you may be doing it wrong or you do not have the right affiliate-marketing program. You should look for the best affiliate program that will make you earn a substantial amount of income.

It is a fact that many people who have chosen the best affiliate-marketing program have earned a lot of money. They even considered leaving their regular jobs to concentrate on the affiliate marketing program business.

You may think the best affiliate program is not easy to come by and they can cost too much, but the best affiliate program is not really, what it seems. You will find that the best affiliate-marketing program is widely available on the Internet and may only cost you a small amount of money and some are even free.

Many people do not really see that a particular affiliate-marketing program is the best even if they always cross paths with it on the Internet. Therefore, in order to recognize that an affiliate-marketing program is the best, you should know how to look for one.

There are three features you should look for in an affiliate-marketing program, to know that it is the best kind, and will generate an excellent amount of income for you.

The first feature to look for in an affiliate marketing program is it should be easy to duplicate. Choosing an affiliate program should not just be easy to implement and get results in terms of income, it should also be easy for you and others to duplicate. Obviously, the reason for this is so you can duplicate your success and with this, you can duplicate your income.

The second feature you should look for in an affiliate program is it should have tasks that have to be repeated everyday. This feature is a sign the affiliate-marketing program is one of the best. It has an income earning potential. With repeated tasks daily, you can expect this program will get you the best results from any marketing program.

The third feature that an affiliate-marketing program will have is it will take in many people who will otherwise not even give it a second look. Many people who see affiliate programs like this tend to think, will this affiliate program work? In fact, affiliate programs like these are what super affiliates use in order to profit a lot of money from and spend little for it. People usually ignore these things.

So, the next time you are looking for the best affiliate-marketing program, consider these three features and look for them in an affiliate-marketing program. You will see that it is widely available on the Internet. All you have to do is find the one that is suited to your website.

By having a good affiliate-marketing program, you will be able to earn a lot of money from it. You should also expect that it will require little maintenance and will generate a substantial amount of income for you and your family. Who knows, maybe this is the answer to all your financial needs. With the best kind of affiliate marketing program Science Articles, you will be able to earn a lot of money, and worry less about maintaining your website.

Steven Gerber is a professional copywriter & marketing consultant. He is a student of Dan Lok, the World's #1 Website Conversion Expert, & in Steven's totally biased opinion simply THE BEST. You will find the latest internet marketing techniques & tricks at: http://www.websiteconversionexpert.com

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Myspace Design Features
by David Riewe

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

Adding or Changing the Background

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

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

Importing Images

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

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

Adding Music to the Website

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

Posting Quizzes on the Website

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

David Riewe is the webmaster of http://www.daves-inforama.com and http://www.daves-inforama.com/myspace.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php The Basics Of Putting Video On Your Website
by Gary Ruplinger

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

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

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

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

What You’ll Need

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

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

Step 1 - Setting Up

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

Step 2 - Recording the video

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

Step 3 – Editing Your Video

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

Step 4 – Saving Your Video

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

Step 5 – Uploading Your Video

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

Step 6 – Publishing To Your Website

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

Viola.

You’ve just put your video online.

Gary Ruplinger is the owner and operator of http://www.AVICoach.com. His site helps people learn about all aspects of online video marketing. You'll find a variety of video tutorials and guides at his site. Also, be sure to download his free report on making your site sell more with video.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php What Is RSS?
by Madison Lockwood

RSS is technology - a simple software program - that allows you to access web and blog content automatically. The acronym's most popular translation is "Really Simple Syndication. Once your browser or computer has an RSS reader on board, you can subscribe to any number of RSS "feeds." A feed is simply a way in which a reader may subscribe to website content - most commonly blogs or news sites. A news site, for example, may list their latest headlines or entire articles in their feed every time a new article is published. A blog would publish this feed as a series of recent posts.

Feeds are published by millions of publishers, from small individuals to large organizations like Newsweek. The value of a feed is that it brings the most current site content to you in a format that is easily scanned; further, you are spared the task of visiting each source site each day. This is typically done through the use of what is called an 'aggregator' or 'feed reader'.

Feed readers or RSS readers, are software programs that run on your computer (or PDA or phone); let you easily subscribe to feeds, and allow you to read through them efficiently. Some are relatively simple, showing the headline and summary. The fancier ones often work with (or in) your browser to make viewing the material look much like the source page. Once you have a reader on your computer, subscribing to a feed with is an easy click or drag from your browser. Sites that provide RSS feeds will usually have a button for that purpose.

There are several RSS feed formats as well as one with an entirely different methodology called Atom. Atom has become popular with some bloggers and blogging tools. Some aggregators can read both. The other acronyms you will see in "feedspeak" are XML, which stands for 'extensible markup language' and is the code standard for these simple text feeds. An 'OPML" file is a format for indexing hierarchical feed lists. If you dive into this web habit in a big way, your aggregator or reader may keep your subscription list in an OPML file.

An RSS feed is a great method for staying abreast of issues and topics that interest you. There are a number of feed "libraries," so to speak, from which you can learn what's out there in your areas of interest. Google has a built-in reader that makes the subscription process easy, as does Yahoo. Firefox has a downloadable extension for the purpose of aggregating RSS feeds, as well as a default ability to save RSS feeds as "live bookmarks" that update via the RSS feed. You can download a number of stand alone readers and aggregators; you can find them through a simple web search.

The whole RSS "movement" is a step towards utilizing the Internet more efficiently. The trick is to avoid overloading your email inbox with daily reports that you end up ignoring most of the time. For that purpose, there are sites like Feedster that will search millions of RSS feeds for articles that are relevant to your interests. Like any search tool, however, these services are hit and miss. They are still working off keywords and sometimes what they find is relevant, sometimes not. But if you want daily news broken into categories, it's great technology once you learn how to make it work for you.

About The Author
Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for http://www.apollohosting.com. She helps clients understand how a website may benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, & VPS hosting to a wide range of customers.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php What Is RSS?
by Madison Lockwood

RSS is technology - a simple software program - that allows you to access web and blog content automatically. The acronym's most popular translation is "Really Simple Syndication. Once your browser or computer has an RSS reader on board, you can subscribe to any number of RSS "feeds." A feed is simply a way in which a reader may subscribe to website content - most commonly blogs or news sites. A news site, for example, may list their latest headlines or entire articles in their feed every time a new article is published. A blog would publish this feed as a series of recent posts.

Feeds are published by millions of publishers, from small individuals to large organizations like Newsweek. The value of a feed is that it brings the most current site content to you in a format that is easily scanned; further, you are spared the task of visiting each source site each day. This is typically done through the use of what is called an 'aggregator' or 'feed reader'.

Feed readers or RSS readers, are software programs that run on your computer (or PDA or phone); let you easily subscribe to feeds, and allow you to read through them efficiently. Some are relatively simple, showing the headline and summary. The fancier ones often work with (or in) your browser to make viewing the material look much like the source page. Once you have a reader on your computer, subscribing to a feed with is an easy click or drag from your browser. Sites that provide RSS feeds will usually have a button for that purpose.

There are several RSS feed formats as well as one with an entirely different methodology called Atom. Atom has become popular with some bloggers and blogging tools. Some aggregators can read both. The other acronyms you will see in "feedspeak" are XML, which stands for 'extensible markup language' and is the code standard for these simple text feeds. An 'OPML" file is a format for indexing hierarchical feed lists. If you dive into this web habit in a big way, your aggregator or reader may keep your subscription list in an OPML file.

An RSS feed is a great method for staying abreast of issues and topics that interest you. There are a number of feed "libraries," so to speak, from which you can learn what's out there in your areas of interest. Google has a built-in reader that makes the subscription process easy, as does Yahoo. Firefox has a downloadable extension for the purpose of aggregating RSS feeds, as well as a default ability to save RSS feeds as "live bookmarks" that update via the RSS feed. You can download a number of stand alone readers and aggregators; you can find them through a simple web search.

The whole RSS "movement" is a step towards utilizing the Internet more efficiently. The trick is to avoid overloading your email inbox with daily reports that you end up ignoring most of the time. For that purpose, there are sites like Feedster that will search millions of RSS feeds for articles that are relevant to your interests. Like any search tool, however, these services are hit and miss. They are still working off keywords and sometimes what they find is relevant, sometimes not. But if you want daily news broken into categories, it's great technology once you learn how to make it work for you.

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

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php The Basics Of Podcasting
by Madison Lockwood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for http://www.apollohosting.com. She helps clients understand how a website may benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, & VPS hosting to a wide range of customers.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Advanced Uses For Myspace
by David Riewe

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

Adding Background Music in MySpace

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

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

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

Adding Videos to MySpace

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

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

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

Creating Interactive Features on MySpace

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

About The Author
David Riewe is the webmaster of http://www.daves-inforama.com and http://www.daves-inforama.com/myspace.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Is this the ULTIMATE Affiliate Marketing Formula?
by Jonathan Moss

Why affiliate marketing ? Well, affiliate marketing allows you to advertise products created by others on your website, and then earn up to 75% commission for each sale. You can choose from affiliate programs that sell almost anything, but you tend to be able to make the most money through selling electronic products such as ebooks, reports, software or videos. This article will provide you with a number of tips to help you make a start in affiliate marketing.

Why participate in affiliate marketing programs? Here are four simple tips.

• Find a program in a niche that you like and are interested in.
• Look for a program that is associated with experts
• Find a product in a growing market to help ensure more and future demand for the niche.
• Make sure the program has a good range of useful tools and resources to help you promote the product and grow your business.

When you have decided on your chosen niche, and selected the products you want to promote you must consider why customers would want to buy from your site. So, you must remember the following when designing your website.

• Develop unique web pages to promote each product you are marketing - your site must focus on each product individually and nothing more.
• Always include product reviews and testimonials on your site, and offer free content or reports to your visitors.
• List the benefits of the product and focus on points like how the product can make life easier and more comfortable.
• Write articles for ezines and ereports highlighting the uses of the product and include them on your site. Try to write a couple of articles per week (300 – 600 words). Remember that search engines like article sites and ezine sites such as ezinearticles.com.

Clearly you want all of your visitors to click the order button, but converting them to customers is a challenge. On average only 1 out of 100 visitors are likely to buy. Therefore, if you can generate as much as 1000 hits to your website every day, on average you can make about 10 sales. But how do you get people to visit your site ?

I have mentioned writing articles already as a way to get people to your site for free. A popular way to generate traffic for your website is by paying for it using pay per click (PPC) advertising on the main search engines such as Google or Yahoo. PPC is one of the most cost effective ways of targeted internet advertising. The idea is that you write really good short adverts which appear on the search result pages, and you only have to pay when someone clicks on your link. Your ranking in the search engine results is determined by the amount you are willing to pay for each click on your advert. The highest bid will be ranked number 1, followed by all equivalent lower bids.

There are of course many other ways to get traffic to your site, and these can be found either by searching the internet, or by reading the answer to my next question - where do you go from here ?

The answer - you should subscribe to a course which can teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, an easy to follow step by step guide. My personal recommendation is a free 27 day course by Matthew Glanfield. Matthew has been marketing online for over three years. In the second half of 2005 he generated over $100,000 of sales from only one of his websites. He now runs a number of really successful websites to help others to be able to start their own Internet business.

This course takes you from planning your first affiliate sales on day one to having a fully active website promoting your selected product by the end of the course. It is packed with valuable information and videos to get you on track as soon as possible. By signing up for this course you will also receive a free chapter, The secret formula for successful Affiliate Marketing, from one of Matthew’s courses. You will also receive a copy of a brand new ebook called Copy 101 which will help you write really effective PPC ads.

Jonathan Moss has been working in Internet Marketing for over 12 months. To find out more about affiliate marketing please visit http://27daycourse.jvmuk.com. You may reprint this article in full complete with the Author Bio.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php A Quiz: Test Your RSS Smarts
by Sharon Housley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: What is a feed reader?

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

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

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

Question: What is a GUID?

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

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. Interested in additional RSS FAQs visit the RSS Knowledgebase http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase.htm or subscribe to the RSS knowledgebase feed http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase.php
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php How to Find a Fast Growth, High Profitability Business!
By Jim Hudson

Which company would you rather own: one in an niche industry or trade where more than half of business owners fail to make a profit, or one with 100, 1,000, even 10,000 percent growth over a period of three to five years, and stunning profitability?

Ask a group of unsuccessful business owners why their business ventures failed and most will probably cite “under capitalization.” There is often a more fundamental reason for business failure: selecting products, services and a business niche for which there aren’t enough paying customers! Of course such companies find themselves undercapitalized. In fact, one can never find enough capital to keep a company afloat if it has a shortage of customers!

Buggy whips aren’t the only product in low demand. Today, product life cycles are typically short, and getting shorter. Entering a market that has matured (and for which you don’t have a highly innovative plan to substantially increase demand, lower costs or differentiate your offering) likely will lead to financial disaster. So will entering a market that is over saturated with reasonably competent competitors.

Why do most business start-up books and business assistance specialists focus little, if any, attention on the most important question an entrepreneur will ever ask: What business should I be in?

In part, because most owners, often unwisely, have already made up their minds about the business they should start. Many entrepreneurs incorrectly assume this decision should be based largely on the specific technical skills, interests and experience they bring to the equation. Or they may know someone who claims, often inaccurately, that the business they own is a raving success, and simply decide to follow their lead. There are far better ways to plan for success.

An entrepreneur with 10 years experience working for someone else in the dog-breeding field may enjoy the work, have great technical skills, and love dogs. Before starting up a dog breeding enterprise, it is important to know that more than 65 percent of dog breeding companies are unprofitable. There are many popular small business categories that share a record of high risk and low profitability. Now, for an individual who is financially independent and for whom earning an income and a profit from their new venture is secondary, this may be fine. But few planning a new business enjoy that luxury.

Another reason most small business authors and specialists focus so little on business selection is that they know very little about the subject. Though vitally important, market research and analysis are topics most business authors, counselors, brokers and advisors have failed to study. Even some business planning consultants gloss over this key aspect of entrepreneurial success.

Our entrepreneur with the dog breeding background can use research to discover that there are many companies in the dog products and services arena that are experiencing dramatic growth. One sells dog biscuits containing only organically grown ingredients via category killer pet stores. A franchise operation teaches dog owners to manage their pets’ behavior, anxiety and frustration using behavioral science methods. A third company offers health insurance for dogs. Dogs bred and trained for explosives detection are also in high demand. Many of our dog breeder’s skills may readily transfer to an enterprise in such a niche area, where with thoughtful research and planning, opportunities for success should prove far better than those for a risk-plagued breeding business.

Does this mean no one ever succeeds in dog breeding? No, but entrepreneurs seeking high income and growth know which odds to defy and which to respect.

How do successful entrepreneurs brainstorm and research high demand, low competition, and highly profitable business ideas?

Many start by listing and analyzing their skills, interests and competencies. But they don’t hesitate to apply these broadly to business ideas they consider. For example, management experience is often transferable to many industries and niches.

Smart entrepreneurs also search for screaming success stories. More than a dozen business publications, including Inc. Magazine, Business Week, and Fortune, rank the fastest growing large and small companies in the U.S. Some target hot growth businesses in Canada, Europe, South America, Asia or other countries and regions. Deloitte Touche Tomatsu ranks companies with growth as high as 20,000 percent across the globe. Links to these high growth companies’ websites are typically listed, too. There are similar ranking sources for top selling products.

When an entrepreneur identifies a company growing as fast as 5,000 to 20,000 percent every three to five years, he or she considers how a new company might partner or piggyback on that white-hot growth. They may slice off a niche, or become a supplier, dealer, representative, distributor or reseller. They brainstorm ways in which their own new company can tap into this hyper growth. When I-Pods exploded on the scene a few years ago, smart entrepreneurs recognized the concurrent demand for accessories, and moved quickly to respond with highly profitable new products.

Wise business owners also study broad, societal trends, as well as trends within narrow industry and customer segments. They learn from futurists (management science consultants, about diverse global trends, risk management and emerging market) opportunities. Some of the best known futurists are Faith Popcorn, who wrote Clicking, Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, and Patricia Dixon, whose website, globalchange.com, is read by thousands daily. Books, magazines (especially industry and trade publications) and websites offer a myriad of free and low cost on trends and the future.

After homing in on a handful of rapid growth industry niches, the entrepreneur’s market research efforts continue with searches for market analysis reports targeted to those niches (many are free and available from your public and university libraries). Successful owners also gather statistics on the product or service and its potential target customers. Much of this data is available from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the IRS, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies. Private sources offer data, too, usually more targeted, but at a price.

Available information includes national, state, county, city and other geographical area statistics on income, total wealth, gender, age, ethnicity, employment, number of companies in the same product or service category, number of stores per company, square footage and square footage costs per store, profitability of companies in the trade or industry, risk of failure, and benchmarking data (typical income and itemized expenses for companies with revenue comparable to your firm’s anticipated revenue), and more.

This information is recorded, logged, sifted and analyzed to determine the prospective niche’s and your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats before being incorporated into the owner’s business plan.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can build a wealth of information around one or two of your own favorite, highly profitable business ideas.

Before you race down to register your business name, complete a IRS form requesting an Employer Identification Number, or run to the store for office supplies, ask yourself this question: Am I satisfied that I’ve found a high demand, high profitability business, with costs I can control (or even cut below the industry benchmark), in a low competition niche that is suitable given a broad application of my skills, interests and experience?

Once you have a well-researched, positive answer to that question, you’ll be ready to realize your own screaming small business success story.

Jim Hudson began his research and writing career in 1969 as a Green Beret Magazine report-photographer in Vietnam. His firm, Blue Ocean Company, helps small business owners identify and exploit blue ocean markets (high demand, low cost, low competition, high profitability business opportunities), and develop their business and marketing plans. The Blue Ocean website, http://www.blueoceanstore.com lists over 50 links to sites that rank fastest growing companies, fastest growing new franchises, and top selling products. It also lists and links you to brainstorming tools, risk and profitability data, trends and futurist resources, free market research reports, and keyword niche-finding software. Most resources are free.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Lucrative List Building: The Squeeze Page
by William Perkins

Most internet marketing professionals agree that if you don’t have a list, then you don’t really have a business. Building a lucrative list is essential to your success. A customer list is the greatest asset of any business. In internet marketing, your customer list is your personal gold mine.

After you solve the problem of generating traffic to your website, it then becomes necessary to capture the name and email address of your visitor so you can build your own customer list. If you fail to do this, your business will fail.

It’s amazing to me how many people spend a ton of effort and money on getting visitors to their site where they pitch a product in hopes of getting a sale and then fail to capture their visitor’s name and email address.

You must focus your attention on building your list instead of on trying to make your initial sale. Remember, only 1 in a 100 people is going to buy your product after arriving at your website. You must capture the other 99 people’s name and email address so that you can show your product(s) to them again in the future.

There are a few techniques you can use to capture your visitor’s information and build a lucrative list. Here are the three “biggies” which are the most effective:

1. The Squeeze Page
2. The Pop-Up, and
3. A Simple Opt-in Form

The best method to use of the three ways to build a list is the squeeze page. A regular opt-in form might get a 10% to 20% opt-in rate, while a squeeze page is more likely to produce a 20% to 40% opt-in rate of the total number of visitors who arrive at your website.

A squeeze page is a web page with only one purpose: to capture the information details of your visitor. The squeeze page is different from using a pop-up or normal opt-in form because you don’t allow your visitor access to your website unless they give you their name and email address, and/or other details.

Therefore, a squeeze page must “sell” the benefits of your website to your visitor. A good squeeze page must have a strong benefit driven headline to grab the reader’s attention, some bullet points outlining the benefits of your website, and a call to action.

The best squeeze pages are not long. Do not make your visitor scroll down the page to opt-in. Other best practices include placing your photo on the page, make bold every other bullet point, and put a box around your "call to action" which is merely your opt-in form. Tell the visitor exactly what to do in no uncertain terms.

You must provide enough information to entice your visitors to leave their name and email address. Use good copywriting and sales techniques to “squeeze” your customers into joining your list. To ensure that people opt-in, you usually have to bribe them.

Offer some kind of free gift to bribe your visitor. A short report, a mini-course, a subscription to your newsletter, or an audio or video file is usually enough to get your visitor to join your list. In your call to action, be sure to let your visitors know that they will be given their free gift immediately after clicking the “submit” button located on your form.

Just a note here: You will not be sending your customers to your web page immediately after they enter their information details. Instead, you will send them to your “One Time Offer” page which is the subject of one of my other articles in this series of articles on list building.

Newbies are often afraid to use a squeeze page. They think that not enough people will choose to opt-in to their list. It’s true that you will need to write convincing copy and you will have to offer a valuable gift to get your visitor to opt-in. But you need not worry about visitors who don’t choose to opt-in. If your visitors are not even interested enough to give you their email address, then they probably won’t be interested enough to buy from you either.

William Perkins writes about how to start an online business, affiliate marketing, and making money online. He has packaged what he knows into a new Affiliate Marketing Handbook. You can get the first 35 pages of the handbook for free when you opt-in at his website. http://www.BigWillySite.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php How to Start Video Blogging?
by Kanicen Nichathavan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kanicen Nichathavan is the owner of Kanicen's Blog, Kanicen's Blog welcomes everyone who intends to share knowledge, interesting products, ideas and those who want to start Internet Online Business. You will find all kind of Internet Marketing Tools and resources. For Newbie and Internet Marketers this blog will be the best option for lowest prices of all kind of Internet Marketing Tools at http://www.kanicen.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php So, You Want To Start Your Own Business? My Congratulations And Deepest Sympathy
By Suzanne Freiberg

So, you’ve just come up with the best one-of-a kind ideas since sliced bread and want to launch your own business. Congratulations, you are on the road to the American dream of becoming an entrepreneur! Now let me extend my deepest sympathies for the pain you will experience as you try to get your business started.

Hey, don’t stone the messenger; I’m not the only Negative Nelly on this topic! The facts are, as stated by the Small Business Administration, 80% of small business start-ups close within the first five years. But, maybe you and your idea are different and you are prepared to beat the odds. If you still want to give it that ol’ college try, read on. (My apologies to those of you whom I have completely devastated. However, keep in mind if you are still reading and I haven’t scared you off yet…you could have what it takes to start your own business.)

Have you ever wondered why we are in awe of the Bill Gates and Martha Stewart’s of the world? Have you ever wondered why they are one-of-a-kind kinda’ guys/gals and are so well known? Well, I think it has something to do with the blood and guts they had to donate to start, build, and be successful in their own businesses. Anyone can start their own business, but only 20% of those starters are still in business after five years and even fewer are actually running a successful business; that means making money. So, this journey definitely takes more than what 80% of us have. Are you still reading? Ok, you may have what it takes.

What it takes to launch your business (we’ll leave the part about actually being successful to another article) is what I refer to as the “Eight Steps to A Successful Start”:

1. Determine Your Niche,
2. Identify Your Ideal Client,
3. Develop Your Unique Value Proposition,
4. Create Your Brand,
5. Prepare a Business Plan,
6. Prepare a Marketing Plan,
7. Develop a Sales Strategy, and
8. Accept failure, learn from it and re-group

Please note that the first eight steps have nothing to do with what you actually want to “do” in your business. In other words, if your dream is to be a career coach, you won’t actually be coaching clients until you have been a marketer, sales person, financial expert, and strategist. Oh, and for those brave Internet entrepreneurs you will also have to become an Internet guru. Note: if you know what mega-tags are, congratulations you are well on your way! Back to my point, what is important to keep in mind is that for most business launches it takes a full two years before you are “doing” whatever it is your business is all about and before you are ever the business owner of your dreams. Still reading? You are already beating the odds!

Let’s take a look at Step One, “Determine Your Niche.” Your niche is determined by defining exactly what group of consumers will be your customers. This group will consist of people who have specialized interests and needs, and have a strong desire for your service or product. An example of a strong need would be an attorney who needs a well organized back office system to keep track of past and current case loads. The group in this case is “attorneys” and the specialized interest/need is all about well-organized back office systems. So, if your product is a well-organized back office system for attorneys, this guy/gal is in your niche.

Once you’ve identified a group with specialized interests and needs, now known as “your niche”, you have to ask and come up with answers to the following questions:

Will this group spend money for my product/service? Do they have the money to spend? A good way to tell is if they have spent money for similar products/services in the past. For instance, “moms” might be a great target market for a new type of stroller, especially since they have spent money on similar products. However, not all new moms have money to spend on a new stroller. You would then want to specifically target moms who have more disposable income – i.e. extra cash for your one of a kind stroller!

Can I easily find and then reach this group of people? Physicians are easier to locate than moms. Why? Physicians are listed as a group in the yellow pages. So, if your have a product/service that targets a professional group such as physicians you will have an easier time reaching your niche. Whereas, if targeting moms, it may be harder to find that group, since they don’t have their own heading in the yellow pages!

Is this group large enough that I can make money selling to them? If your product/service is eye patches for one-eyed pirates, you may need to expand your group. However, if you are selling a new bra to women who have had breast enhancement surgery, you might have a hit!

Is this group small enough that my competition would overlook it? Yes, your competition might have over-looked the one-eyed pirate market, but that is because this group is too small. However, if your product/service is directed towards a specific need that a specific group has; i.e. women who have had breast enhancement, you might just have the perfect small market.

Have you been a part of this group? You must know the needs of your niche market. The best way to know those needs is if you have been in that group and understand the group’s dreams and desires. If you have ever been an attorney, who had need of a well-organized back office, then you would be well prepared to create and offer this service to attorneys.

Is this a group you would enjoy working with exclusively? Perhaps, you were an attorney and that is where you came up with this great back office system. That’s great, but if you got out of the litigation business because you didn't like your peers…you might want to re-think your idea of selling your handy dandy back office system to attorneys.

Can you see yourself creating other product/services for this group? No one wants to be a one-hit-wonder, ala Billy Ray Cyrus and his ‘Achy Breaky Heart’! Once you have sold everyone in your niche one of what you have to offer – where do you go from there? If your price point is high enough, maybe you can retire to Hawaii. If you are selling a $1.99 product, you will need a way to expand your line as your business grows.

Are you passionate about your product/service?

The amount of time and energy, or as I mentioned earlier “blood and guts”, that it will take to launch a business is huge! You had better passionately believe in what you are doing and whom you are doing it for, if you want to successfully launch your business.

Well there you have it, the first step in launching your business: Determining Your Niche. Take some time and answer all of the questions outlined above for your product or service. You may find that you want to make a few modifications to fit your niche or maybe you need to change your niche to better suit your business. Either way, just by taking the time to complete this first step you are already on the road to the American dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Congratulations! (And, a little sympathy for your time and trouble!)

In the coming weeks look for “So, You Want to Launch Your Own Business? May I Offer My Congratulations and Deepest Sympathy? Part II: Identify Your Ideal Client”

Keep in mind that a career coach can help you through all of these business launch steps. Career coaches act as guides on a journey of greater self-awareness and clarity, to help you find your true passion. Your coach can help you create an action plan to get from where you are to where you want to be in your career and in your life. Once you are working in your strengths, you will find you are passionate about what you are doing and the journey is not as painful as if you had made it alone.

To find out how a coach can help you, contact SmartWork Career Coaching @ 805.376.1906 or e-mail @ sfreiberg@verizon.net. One of our Career or Executive Coaches will be happy to discuss your coaching options.

© Copyright 2006 Suzanne Freiberg. All Rights Reserved.

Suzanne Freiberg, with 20 years of executive experience, founded SmartWork Career Coaching to empower women in management and leadership to make the changes necessary to become break through leaders. She has received extensive training in emotional intelligence; leadership development; and managing stress for executives. She is a Certified Career Coach and a Certified Executive Coach, as well as a member of the International Coach Federation. http://www.smartworkcareercoaching.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Marketing with Content Hubs
by John Eberhard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

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

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

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

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

John Eberhard is President of RealWebMarketing.net (http://www.realwebmarketing.net), a marketing consultant, writer and political analyst living in Los Angeles. He can be reached at http://www.realwebmarketing.net/contact.html.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Efficient Business Process Management – A Crucial Requirement for Ensuring Business Success
by Shannon Margolis

In today’s highly competitive business climate, the success and longevity of enterprise businesses of all types and sizes primarily depend on efficient business process management. Considering the fact that a proper business process management plan that incorporates the latest, state-of-the-art business process solutions is what separates the successful, prominent businesses from the rest, all business-oriented companies are permanently looking for improvements in this particular area in order to strengthen their position in the market. By establishing a top-quality business process management plan, customized to fit the exact needs and requirements of your business, you can significantly improve the efficiency of your business, thus ensuring better profits and better exposure.

The concept of business process management encompasses an extensive series of specific activities performed by businesses in order to optimize their regular processes. The activities comprised by business process management can be divided into three distinctive categories: design, execution and monitoring.

The design phase either refers to designing customized business processes or adopting already existing processes and modifying them to fit the specific needs of a certain business. During the stage of business process management design, organizations can also test the efficiency and reliability of the newly developed business processes before introducing them into practice. By integrating specific software for process design to be used for obtaining graphical representations of workflows, as well as for implementing and maintaining workflows, organizations can transform the evolution of business processes into a less demanding and challenging experience.

The phase of process execution, just like the name suggests, basically refers to the execution of the previously designed processes by using various applications. While in the recent past the succession of activities conducted during this stage of business process management depended almost entirely on human intervention, today’s advanced technology allows for a good level of automation, significantly limiting the need for human intervention. Modern software in the category of Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) provides efficient automation solutions, allowing companies to use computer language in performing specific activities. Although the need for human intervention in the phase of process execution hasn’t been completely eliminated, nowadays it represents almost a negligible factor when using highly-competitive software tools.

In order to ensure that their used BPMS is efficient, organizations should check if the software respects the principles of business process architecture (accounts for all the major segments of business process architecture: enterprise architecture, policy and procedures, project management, logistics and so on). Some of the most popular BPMS used at present are built on the Microsoft Platform and include names such as BizTalk Server, SQL Server, InfoPath, MOM and SharePoint. With a good level of training in business process architecture and business process implementation using advanced BPMS, companies can substantially increase business efficiency and prosperity.

The last stage in business process management consists in process monitoring. The process monitoring stage involves performing a series of activities aimed at obtaining conclusive data on the performance of business processes, as well as finding and timely correcting any emerging problems. The monitoring of processes and the reporting of existing problems can nowadays be handled entirely with BPMS. With the right software tools, companies can rapidly identify performance issues, being provided with detailed statistic data and in-depth analyses of each distinctive category of business processes.

The long-term results provided by high-quality business process solutions and efficient business process implementation inside organizations are: significantly increased business efficiency, higher business adaptability, versatility and agility in the market. In order to ensure the optimal performance of your business processes through efficient business process management, you can either employ the services of a reputed business-consulting company and receive the latest solutions, tailored to fit the exact needs of your business, or form your own team of professionals with a good level of training in business process implementation using advanced Business Process Management Systems.

For more information on business process management please visit www.unitekconsulting.com?source=articlesender

Shannon Margolis
Marketing Coordinator
http://www.unitek.com/training

View their website at: http://www.unitek.com/training?source=articlesender/
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php 5 Ways to Avoid the Biggest Bottleneck In Your Business
By Paul Speziale

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

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

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

Then something bad happens...

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

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

So what happened?

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

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

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

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

So how do you avoid this bottleneck?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paul Speziale is a direct marketing consultant / entrepreneur based out of Toronto, Ontario. He has served all industries from manufacturers to retailers, from entrepreneurs to professionals. Besides helping clients, he is working on his own projects. He also volunteers his time for several worthy causes both local and global. You can reach him at: http://www.AnelloSolutions.com: Growing Your Business Through Low-Risk, Optimized and Results Based Marketing
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BBl_136/user/index.php Five Essential Marketing Tools for Starting a Successful Internet Home Business
By Titus Hoskins

Starting a successful Internet home business can be an easy task if you start with the right marketing tools and some basic marketing information. Do yourself a BIG favor and become familiar with these five Essential marketing tools before you start...

Let us start with this one cold fact: creating a successful Internet home business is not an easy task. It takes hard work and a whole lot of strategic planning. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to sell you something! Building any solid business takes hard work and planning. Why should creating a successful business on the Internet be any different? Just because you are dealing with computers and a worldwide marketplace does not mean it will be easy to construct and build a successful enterprise. It will take some work and effort on your part.

However, knowing what tools to use and some vital marketing knowledge will make your task much easier and much quicker. The Internet does have its own unique tools and methods, which you should be familiar with before you start any web business. Complete knowledge of these marketing tools and information will greatly increase your chances of creating a successful Internet business.

1. Domain Name/Website

You must start with a Domain Name - most marketers either make their domain something catchy and short that visitors will quickly remember such as Digg.com, BestBuy.com, Yahoo!.com, or they will directly tie in their main product or service in the domain such as Hotels.com, YouTube.com, Carloans.com, and so on.

Attach your domain to a well designed and easy to navigate website. Preferably, professionally designed and equipped with all the commercial tools you need like a shopping cart and payment system. Like any business, you must try to accept all the major credit cards and display all the proper trust-building icons such as 'Better Business Bureau'...

Most professional online marketers keep graphics to a minimum and highlight their main benefit or product in a headline at the top of your webpage. You only have a few seconds to impress your prospective customer so summarize your whole site in one short benefit-loaded phrase or slogan. Be precise and direct in your presentation.

2. Keywords/SEO Strategy

Keywords, what surfers’ type into search engines to find what they are seeking on the web, are the real cornerstones of any online website or business. You must find out the exact phrases and words people are using to find your product or service and target these keywords with your online site. Create pages and content on your site to draw in this targeted traffic. As a rule, the more targeted your traffic/visitors are, the greater your conversion rate, i.e. the more sales you will make.

Professional online marketers do keyword research and a whole lot of testing to find the right high converting keywords that virtually guarantees sales. These marketers find the buyers at the right stage in the buying process, where customers already have their minds made up and are ready to buy. For example, someone searching for 'cars' is not as targeted as someone searching for '2007 Ford Mustang with Shelby GT exterior design'.

Savvy marketers use professional keyword research software such as Keyword Elite or use such sites as GoodKeywords, or Overture, (Yahoo! Search Marketing), to find the number of monthly searches for the keyword phrases they target with their sites. Many online businesses outsource their keyword/link building to SEO specialists who do this job for them. These firms develop a long-term SEO strategy of building links to targeted keyword phrases, thus building a successful business in the process.

3. AutoResponder/Opt-in Lists

The AR or AutoResponder is one of the most essential tools to building a successful online business. You must set up an Opt-in system on your site to capture the contact information of your visitors, this will increase your traffic and dramatically improve your sales. It has been proven that it takes 5 to 6 follow-up emails before a customer buys your product or service.

It just makes good business sense. You must build a list of potential customers for your business. The AutoResponder makes this possible and is unique to the online world. You simply place a form on all your webpages to capture the name and email address of your visitors for further follow-up and contact. Instead of a surfer visiting your site just once, you draw them back again and again with special offers, deals or a daily/weekly newsletter.

The key element that makes the AutoResponder such a powerful marketing tool is trust! The Internet is still a very distrustful place. You simply use the AutoResponder and your follow-up system to build trust and a sense of loyalty from your potential customers. Once this relationship of trust is built, running a profitable business online will be easy.

4. RSS/Blogs

Blogs and RSS feeds are essential online business tools. As we saw above, building a trustful relationship is very important to doing business online. Keeping an online