HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210 Home Business The Easy Way - CSi Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS Effective Marketing Means More Than Advertising
by Theresa Cahill

Online Website owners know that buyers don't just come to their sites, they must be enticed to visit and purchase.

For many, the sum total of promoting their Website revolves around "advertising." But ... did you know that there is much more to pulling in customers than advertising alone can do?

According to Wikipedia, a simplified definition of marketing is: "...the ongoing process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow ... or conform to someone else's products, services or values."

In a nutshell, "... if it doesn't facilitiate a 'sale,' then it's not marketing."

Does advertising facilitiate sales? There's no doubt that an effective online or offline ad works. However, the difference between advertising and marketing, especially online, is advertising involves a cold market process. You must be persuasive using text and graphics to create an interest in someone, an interest they were not actively aware they had. You must create that interest from scratch to get that all-important site visit.

Marketing, conversely, seeks out the warm market. Your warm market is in the mood, it is actively searching for what you have to offer.

Bringing the two of you together is the sole focus of a great marketing campaign.

Philip Kotler's definition explains:

"Marketing is human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange process."

Simply put, your buyer was already looking, now all you need to ensure that purchase is a sales-converting Website.

So -- does advertising alone cover enough ground to accomplish this goal? Not on its own.

Market research, product development, the management of the life-cycle of that product, pricing, and promotion are but a few aspects defining the term "marketing."

Strategic Internet marketing is geared toward defining, creating, growing, developing, maintaining, defending, and "owning" your market.

How does one "own" their market?

On the 'net, the one sure-fire way of dominating any market is exceptional placement in the search engines. When an Internet shopper heads to Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista ... wherever ... they have one goal and one goal in mind ... find what they are looking for.

Website owners who know what they want to accomplish also know they must strive to rise to the top of the search engines, and do so quickly.

Hundreds of thousands of new Websites pop up daily. Millions, if not billions, of Web pages already exist - before your site even hits the launch pad. Conquering and butting your competition out of the prime search engine positions needs to be your focus.

"If you build it, they will come" only works in the movies. Take the steps needed to make your Website a success.

Advertising is necessary. Marketing is critical!

Copyright 2006 - All Rights Reserved

Theresa Cahill has over two decades of online and offline marketing experience. Teaming up with Jeff Greer, of Everenterprise, they put their talents and experience to work assisting business, home business, and store-front owners in promoting their Websites. You are invited to receive a preliminary and free strategic Internet marketing site evaluation at http://www.Market-For-Me.com

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Find the Best-Rated Home Based Business for You
By Dan

If there is one troublesome thing about a home based business, it is deciding what kind of business to start. There are many different ways to start a home based business, and many different questions you must ask yourself before deciding. You also need to figure out what options are within your reach, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each one. There are several kinds of home based business opportunities, each one claiming to be the "best rated home based business" you can find. The big question is "what is best for you"?

On the internet, there is no shortage of the so-called best-rated home based business. From affiliate marketing, to making money with blogs, to creating your own product, you could find information on every kind of home business you could think of. You can also check the classifieds section in your newspaper and see what opportunities are available to you.

Start figuring out what you can do to start earning money on the internet, and create a list of opportunities that interest you. The next thing is to research every opportunity you find. Read reviews on it, read online forums, and find information about it. Find any kind of information you can about that opportunity. You cannot dive head first into a home business without knowing what you are getting.

One important thing to find out is how much start-up capital it costs, and any other expenses it could potentially cost. If you start a website, you are going to have to pay for the domain name and web hosting. Some opportunities include a membership or upgrade fee if you join a program or company. Decide how much money you are willing to spend to start your business.

Another thing to research is how much work and dedication it takes to succeed in that business. Also, determine how much business experience it requires to succeed, and compare that with your own experience. If you have little or no experience, then you should see if the opportunity comes with some help, training, or support to help the newcomers.

Whatever you decide, it should be a business you are willing to put enough effort into to ensure its success. If you choose an opportunity and decide it is a flop, you just wasted a lot of precious time, effort, and money.

Once you find what you consider the best-rated home based business; all you have to do is start it, and make it succeed.

Dan is an internet marketer and runs his own online business. Visit Dan's site to find the
Best rated home based business for you or if you want to improve your existing business. Find more information on an internet business income opportunity that suits you best at http://www.ez-online-money.com.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/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_CSi_210/user/index.php Keeping in Touch: 5 Alternatives to an Ezine
By Alicia Forest

As an online business owner, you know you must stay in touch with your email list on a regular basis to have a successful and sustainable business. Publishing an ezine is one of the most effective ways to do so, but sometimes that can feel overwhelming and cumbersome. This article gives you five alternatives to putting out an ezine.

I often hear from my clients and ezine subscribers that they are not sure they can commit to writing a regular ezine as a way to keep in touch with their list, even though they know they "should."

My response is usually something like, "if it's going to be an albatross, then don't do it!" They know they must stay in touch with their email list on a regular basis to have a successful and sustainable business. They are stumped. What are their options?

Here are five ideas I typically share with them:

1. Evergreen Ezine

I first learned of this concept on a teleclass last year, and it seemed so simple. I was amazed I hadn't thought of it myself - which is usually the reaction I get from my clients.

An evergreen newsletter is one where content is applicable all the time. It is not based on trends or on what's hot in your industry now. It is solid need-to-know information based on principles or strategies that rarely change.

To create an evergreen newsletter, you simply gather your content for as many issues as you plan to publish, create each issue, and then drop each one into an autoresponder system to go out automatically at whatever interval you set.

This method takes a bit of work on the front end, but then you 'set it and forget it' until you run out of issues. Then you can let it simply repeat or create a new set of issues by repeating the process above.

2. Ecourse

You can create an ecourse, which is simply a series of emails sharing valuable information with your reader over a time period.

This is a method I use myself. When you sign up for my mini-ecourse, you also get a subscription to this ezine. I could simply offer the ecourse as a stand alone, though, if I did, I would add more days to the series (say from its current 5 to 26) and send them out every couple of weeks as a way to stay in touch with my list.

You set up an ecourse in an autoresponder service, so it's another 'set it and forget it' option once you finish the initial work.

3. Audio Tip

If you prefer to talk than type, then consider an audio tip. When I coach clients who are just starting their written ezines, I remind them it doesn't have to be longer than one valuable tip for each issue.

The same is true if you prefer to create an audio keep-in-touch vehicle for your list. A colleague of mine sends out a 1-minute audio (and video) marketing tip each week and it's incredibly successful.

The easiest way to create and publish audios online is through an inexpensive service like AudioAcrobat.

4. Blog

A blog can be a great alternative to an ezine IF you love to write and are willing to post regularly, if you use search engine optimization to increase your blog's exposure to your market on a continual basis, and if you put a subscription form on your blog so your readers know when you add a new post.

You can start free blogging, at blogger.com or very inexpensively, with Typepad, (which is the service I use for my personal and business blog).

5. VIP List

Invite people to sign up to receive special offers from you. Many of us do this in our personal lives for places we frequently shop (a quick look at my inbox reveals offers from Eddie Bauer, Old Navy, Red Envelope, etc.). People will sign up to receive discounts and other special offers from you if you invite them to do so.

It's best to use this strategy with a group of people who have already gotten to know you, say from a live event or if you have a blog, where you stay in touch with people by posting on a regular basis.

BONUS TIP: If you're writing a regular ezine now, you can add one of these methods as another way to stay in touch with your list. Some people who are on your list may not always read your ezineFree Reprint Articles, but may listen to a short audio or may prefer to read brief posts at your blog instead. Giving your list options as to how they receive your message will increase your ability to connect with more people in your niche.

Copyright 2006 Alicia M Forest and Client Abundance

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™ and creator of "21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System™, teaches coaches, consultants, and other solo professionals and online entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.clientabundance.com/.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Low Budget Affiliate Marketing
By Ian Simpson

You want to start an online business, but do not have your own product to sell. However, you do have the option of starting with affiliate marketing - selling other peoples' products for a commission. Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money. In just the last few years, affiliate marketing has become a very powerful force in ecommerce. Everyday, thousands, if not millions, of merchants rely on affiliate marketing to drive their businesses.

So, is online affiliate marketing right for you? You will never know unless you take the necessary steps. If you do not try, then you cannot expect to succeed. Make today the day that you commit to changing the direction of your life. However, like any other business, whether it is online or off line, affiliate marketing cannot guarantee you success unless you work at it.

As with any business, start up, and affiliate marketing is no exception, you will need to spend some money on the basics to get you started. Through proper budgeting, you can reduce your initial outlay. Therefore, decide how much money you can afford to invest in your affiliate marketing business. You will have some expenses, if you want to be successful, and you can put off, until the time you start earning income from your affiliate products. Some items that you will need to budget for are:

Domain Name. The domain name should relate to the subject and keep your domain name simple and easy to remember. There is quite a span between the low-cost and the high-end cost of domain names. If you shop around, you may even be able to find something less expensive. However, make sure it is a well-established company! You do not want to lose your domain name once you have decided on it! You will likely get a better deal if you register your domain name for two or more years in advance. Namecheap.com and Godaddy.com are both excellent domain providers.

Website Hosting. Web hosting fees will vary dramatically between hosting providers. Set up a comparison chart and write down each company you are considering. Some companies offer rates as low as $2 a month, while others charge over $100. The highest rates do not always translate into the best service. Some of the lower-priced hosts offer a reliable, stable environment that allows your website to have access around the clock for years. Hostgator.com provides quality hosting at reasonable prices. Shop carefully, and if possible, avoid free hosting which can be unreliable.

Merchant Account. You do not have to invest thousands of dollars to open a merchant account. Find a merchant account vendor through a local financial institution, like a bank, and discuss the possibilities that will best suit your business and your customers. A merchant account will let you start accepting credit card payments for customer purchases, which will enhance the shopping experience for most customers and earn your company a progressive reputation. Never assume you will have extravagant monthly charges when you open a merchant account. Shop around, ask questions, and compare costs to get the best, low cost merchant account available for your business. Your customers will thank you with repeat and additional business.

Software. You will need to track your expenses and income from your affiliate business and the simplest way is to use Microsoft Excel or similar program. Seeing your expenses for the whole year is a great way to keep them under control. What is the final total? Does that seem extreme? Remember, this is for an entire year. Keep it in perspective. If you intend to have a real business, you must treat it as a real business.

Advertising. The best marketing tip you will ever hear is to advertise your product or business. In today's market, anyone in business knows that advertising is the backbone to his or her success. Even with the greatest product on the planet, a product that you know everyone needs and wants, without advertising, it is just an idea going nowhere. Make sure you check out the best ways to advertise your business. It can be a fun, profitable, and easy experience with the right tools.

Education. Ongoing education is going to be extremely important to your affiliate marketing success. You will not have to purchase many educational materials if you do not want to. There are many free resources, such as newsletters, that you can study. Sign up for a few newsletters and use the information to gain experience.

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to create a business on the internet. You will need to learn and understand the basics before you set off on your online adventure. Choose your affiliate programs carefully and make sure you get the support and backup from the affiliate program.

Ian Simpson reviews and writes about software and informational products on the internet. Further affiliate business advice can be found at http://information4income.com/sfpr.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Kick-Starting Your Newsletter
You are just a click away from contact with your clients and prospects by e-newsletter. The savings in postage, printing and sorting by the post office is nothing short of wonderful. And by adding photos and images, your newsletter is a full-color, graphically-enhanced image of your business for only a fraction of the time that paper newsletters require.

Elegant graphics are great, but newsletters are all about NEWS. Make your newsletter a "must-read" in everyone's crowded email box by presenting exciting, interesting and boldly-presented information.

The Not-So-Hot Newsletter is filled with:

* boring product descriptions
* long, rambling paragraphs as dense as a forest
* poor quality photos without cropping or enhancements
* selling features instead of benefits
* grammar and spelling errors
* sloppy formatting
* "all-about-me" attitude that makes clients feel unimportant

The Must-Read Newsletter is known to contain:

* brief, dazzling product descriptions that leave the reader wanting to know more
* crisp writing in conversational style
* high-quality digital photos
* additional ideas that clients find interesting
* special offers that can only be found by reading the newsletter
* creative ways to use the product or service
* interaction with clients through question/answer column

From this comparison, you can see that an effective e-newsletter starts with planning. A tried and true place to start is to answer the classic news reporter’s questions: who, what, when, where, how and why. Who is your audience? Set up specific criteria for the gender, age, income, interest or other qualities that define your target reader. Knowing the demographics of your reader makes preparing the e-newsletter so much easier.

What is the purpose of your e-newsletter? Your newsletter can sell, inform, take a political or social stand, incite discussion, share hobbies or define you as an expert in your field.

When will you send the newsletter? Preparing a polished newsletter takes time, especially if this is new for you. Start with monthly. Before you take on a weekly newsletter, get in the flow of twice monthly and see if it meets the need. Whatever frequency you choose, let your readers know and be faithful to the promised dates.

Where will you find readers for your e-newsletter? You want to add to your client base by connecting with others online who have similar interests. That means advertising, blogging, sharing mail lists, affiliate links or any means possible to find new readers from other sources.

How can you get your newsletter prepared with the highest quality? Remember you can find writers, graphic designers and other support services locally or online. You don't need to be a Lone Ranger. Help is available at a wide range of prices.

Why do you need a newsletter? Maybe this needs to be the first question. Don't do it because your competition does. Make your e-newsletter an important communication tool that is as informative and comfortable as chatting with a friend over coffee.

Aurelius Tjin is The Publisher of The 'Unstoppable Profits Blog' With Over 22,000 Readers. Discover His Secret Strategies To Skyrocket Your Internet Marketing Business. To Get Free Internet Business Videos, Tips, and Strategies Go To http://www.aureliustjin.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php How To Create Your Own e-Commerce Site## e-commerce, e-commerce business, online business, online business website, internet business, internet sales, online sales, website, website commerce http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Laughing All the Way to the Bank Laughing All the Way to the Bank
 
I really enjoy a good laugh. Humor gets rid of stress (and we all know that too much stress can kill you) while it relaxes tensions between two or more people. It reminds us that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously and it helps us to see the lighter side of life.
 
Have you ever met a total stranger who told a good clean joke? You both had a great laugh and for a few minutes, (maybe even for just a moment) you actually bonded.
 
That’s the power of humor. It can lift you out of the doldrums or out of a perpetual state of depression. And the memory of a good joke can act as a trigger to bring a little smile to your face when things are rather bleak.
 
Humor also creates community.
 
When I was a teacher in the inner city, we had a running joke about who was to blame when something went wrong in the school. When the problem was publicly declared by the principal, invariably some teacher would turn to another and whisper, “It’s your fault. I know you did it.” It was our way of being able to laugh about the fact that we were often used as “scapegoats”.
 
A while back, I was sent an email from someone whose entrepreneurial friend had created a discount software site. Now I suppose that’s not the most original idea in the world except for one thing – the entire site is peppered with humor including the sales page, the “what is this” page, the “submit product” page, the “talk to us” page and the “new account signup” page.
 
So aside from being a site that gives you the opportunity to create yet another easy income stream by telling your friends, associates and customers about great software deals, you’re also getting a free lesson in how to incorporate humor in marketing.
 
You can sign up for a free account at tinyurl.com/2ceam3 and have a few chuckles to boot!
______________________________________________________________________________
 
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_CSi_210/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_CSi_210/user/index.php Social Bookmarking & SEO
by Amit Kothiyal

Social bookmarking is a new trend in search engine optimization, which has gained recognition as part of a new type of Website optimization, termed "social media optimization (SMO)."

Social Bookmarking, also referred to sometimes as "social bookmarketing," is the term used for bookmarking sites on the Web and sharing them with friends. It is similar to bookmarking a site on your pc, in the "favorites" of your Web browser.

There are an increasing number of Websites available that provide this as a free service for bookmarking your favorite sites or blogs on the Web. These sites are known as social bookmarking sites. Once you have created a free account, you may begin adding bookmarks to your account.

The advantage is that, once you have bookmarked any site, then you can access them from anywhere on the Web -- and also share them with friends.

These are some popular social bookmarking sites:

del.icio.us, Digg.com, Simpy.com, blogmarks.net, feedmarker.com, myweb2.search.yahoo.com, lookmarks.com, bluedot.com, furl.net.

So -- how is social bookmarking useful for SEO?

Social bookmarking sites are "tag based" - which means you can "tag" them with keywords, so your visitors that bookmark your site can find them easily later. Search engines index these tags, as well as the link, so you are essentially getting free one-way links from high-traffic sites, with all of your keywords attached to them!

It's a great way to get your Website visitors working for you. However, choosing proper tag names is critical and plays a very important role, if you want to truly get social bookmarking to work for you in your search engine optimization process.

The interesting thing is that there are no limitations for the number of tags you can attach to your link. The extent to which you declare tags will allow for your site’s information to be stored. Additionally, when someone bookmarks your site, the bookmarking site checks the tags to see if the link already exists.

By periodically changing your bookmark tags, you can get multiple links with different tags on the same site. In other words, your site will be stored in different pages and you will get links from the different pages of the same sites.

Because these sites are regularly crawled by search engines, your site will most likely also be crawled more often by having bookmarked links on these Websites.

Amit Kothiyal is a Website marketing executive for Phoenix- and Las Vegas-based Web design & marketing firm Vision Media Corporation. Vision Media specializes in rich Web application development (http://www.vizmarketing.com/), search engine optimization (http://www.vizmarketing.com/web-marketing-and-search-engine-optimization-i-8.html), custom Website design, multimedia production and other rich Web applications.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Business Start Up Funding Silver Bullet
By Wil Schroter

Business Start Up Funding

Startup companies often get frustrated when they are unable to find investors willing to fund their new idea. They don’t realize, that in order to get an investment, they need more than just a good idea and the promise of future profits. What investors are looking for is a “silver bullet” in the business that ensures their small investment will yield a huge return.

Business Start Up Funding - You Need a Silver Bullet

The silver bullet is the aspect of your business plan that proves your company is able to grow quickly. For example, you’ve proven that 100 customers are willing to pay $99 for your newly developed product. To sell more at that price, you’ve got a silver bullet, if all you need is additional cash to build 1,000 more items.

Investors are compelled to make investments in startup companies that have proven some aspect of their business model “works” and that what they really need is more capital to make it work better, or to sell more products.

When entrepreneurs wander around in search of business start up funding to find the silver bullet in their business plan that becomes an unattractive proposition. In this scenario, you’re asking an investor to put money into a treasure hunt, not into a business. Until you demonstrate you can sell something (at a profit), you do not have a business worthy of investment. Therefore, you need to re-focus your efforts on finding your silver bullet.

Investors Love Paying Customers

Every business model is different, and as a consequence, the silver bullet of one business may look somewhat different than another. The common thread, however, is that each of them shows your investors, you have found a facet of your business that works well and simply needs business start up funding to be exploited.

A great place to start is with paying customers. Even a few customers create proof that there is an active buying market for your product that could be even bigger, if you had the capital to reach more of them.

Notice, you’re not telling an investor, “if we build it, they (customers) will come”. What you want to say here is “we built it, and they already came”. This puts you in a much stronger position to suggest that if you are capable of repeating the process provided, you will have more business start up funding.



Understanding Conversion Works, Too

Maybe you don’t have 10,000 paying customers but have found, on a more modest scale, that for every $1 you spend in marketing, you can earn $2 back. This information is a silver bullet, too. In this case, you’ve proven that you understand how to acquire a customer for less than they are spending, which is a big deal!

This may seem like an obvious necessity for any successful business (let alone one looking for business start up funding), but there are plenty of companies that overlook this point. If you haven’t proven that you can profitably acquire a customer, perhaps this is a good place to start.

Analyze the costs involved in acquiring your first batch of customers. Try to project this cost out to the next round of new customers and the round after that. Try this for those next customers and see if your results match up with your predictions. Once you feel comfortable that you understand your cost to acquire customers, you can begin to identify specific capital needs to accelerate that process.

Speed Things Up

Speeding up time can also be a good reason to ask for business start up funding. If you find that it takes you two months to service a customer now, but with additional capital you could service a customer in two weeks, (and therefore earn revenue in a shorter time) you’ve found another silver bullet.

Investors are always hungry for businesses that could be even more profitably, or grow faster, if just a little more capital was applied. Creating a strong case for this use of capital will make it easy for investors to understand your needs.

Read, Aim, Fire!

Perhaps you only have one of these silver bullets ready to present to investors. That’s fine, as long as you have prepared a strong argument for why this one single factor will have such a great influence in your growth.

Presenting your case to investors isn’t about coming up with as many reasons for investment as possible. It is not about quantity. It’s about quality. What you need to demonstrate is that you have key factors in your business that have a demonstrated track record for growth, but you need capital to accelerate that growth.

If you’re in the process of raising business start-up funding right now, step back and take a second look at your PowerPoint presentation. Does it clearly articulate the fact that you know how this investment is going to ramp up the value of your startup? If not, try taking another pass with the focus on finding your silver bullet. That’s the type of ammunition your investors are really looking for.

About The Author
Wil Schroter is the Founder and CEO of the Go BIG Network, the largest network of startup companies and entrepreneurs. He is also the author of the new book “Go BIG or Go HOME”, download it for FREE at http://www.GoBIGnetwork.com.

Get your business start up funding at: http://www.GoBIGnetwork.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Is Your Sales Letter Too Long Or Just Plain Old Boring?
By Stuart Elliott

Interestingly enough, the majority of people who ask me if their sales letter is too long have missed the boat somewhat.

Their mind is focused on the length of their sales letter rather than the job the sales letter has to do. When they do that, it is impossible to write in a manner that will convince the reader to take action and buy their product.

No, your main focus when writing a sales letter must be on the job it has to do and that, in a nutshell, is to convince the reader that he or she needs to buy your product.

Pay special attention to the word 'need' here. You must focus upon the emotional need of the reader - this could be nothing more than simple 'one-upmanship' over a neighbor instead of a logical need.

For it is a fact that man…

"Buys based upon emotion and justifies that decision with logic."

Just think about that statement for a second. When was the last time you bought something based purely upon cold hard logic? Probably never, right? It was your emotions that directed you toward the purchase and the logic that justified it.

Take a shiny new car as an example. (And by the way, 'shiny new' is a subtle emotional trigger...)

If you were to look at the purpose of a car through the eyes of cold hard logic, there would be very little reason to buy one with all the latest gizmos that are designed to pamper you. (And cost you more.)

All a car has to do is get you from A to B safely, dryly and quickly. Given that logical explanation, who has need of a radio, electric windows, self-adjusting vibrating seats, automatic distance sensor for reversing, and so on?

They don't help you in the primary purpose of getting from A to B, do they? No, rather they serve to pamper you at an emotional level.

So going back to your sales letter, you need to identify these emotional triggers inside your prospect and write about them in an exciting way that is sure to trigger those emotional needs further.

If this means that you have to write 30 pages of copy to do so then do it!

The more you have to write, the better the chances you will have of getting the sale.

However...

Don't just go and write thirty pages of waffle or repetition. You should ensure that your pages are full of emotional excitement, not just page after page of boring old features.

Also, prove how your product has helped others. Social proof in the form of testimonials from other satisfied customers is a powerful addition to your sales copy. They are usually written in a persuasive, emotional way. The testimonial writer has bought your product and it has helped him or her; often, it is all that needs to be added to your copy to convince your reader to buy.

Going back to the car again...

Here are a couple of features that will do nothing to add excitement to your sales letter:

Auto reversing distance sensor...

It has the latest auto-reversing, distance sensing device.

"So What?" You say, " What use is that to me?"

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

Vibrating Seats:

The seats vibrate as you drive.

"Err... Excuse me?" You think, " Why do I need a car that has seats that shake about when I drive? I mean, if I drive over a bumpy road, I'll get the same effect won't I?"

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

Blah, blah, blah... What is this doing for your prospects emotional needs? Nothing! It's just another page full of boring old words, Goodbye!

Now, if you change the above sentences to something like...

For the auto reversing sensor:

Save Money On Your Insurance Premiums...

The truth about sky rocketing premiums is out. Major insurance companies have admitted that 60% of all claims for minor bumps on vehicles they insure is due to parking bay mishaps.

"Many people just don't know how big their car is and accidentally bump into another one when maneuvering around in busy parking lots..." Quoted an Insurance company spokesperson.

The shocking truth is, your premiums are being loaded due to others carelessness, but...

Now you need never worry about those fools or how big your car is again, because XYZ model will actually tell you when you are getting too close to another car. This means you have the pleasure of driving and saving on your insurance premiums at the same time.

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

For the vibrating seats:

Personal Masseuse, Yours Absolutely Free With Every Car...

Imagine your very own personal masseuse... yours to pamper you as you drive... takes away the stiffness in your back and legs in an instant... You stay fresh and alert while you drive, arriving safely at your destination - No other car has massaging seats that will pamper you like a king.

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

Don't these two paragraphs create a little more excitement in your mind?

All you have to do when you write your sales letter is keep building more excitement with every word until your prospect suddenly says "Wow! I gotta have one of those!"

It doesn't matter if you have to write 50 pages of copy to create that feeling, as long as you keep the excitement building up, your copy won't ever be too long.

Remember that your sales letter has to be exciting and long enough to do its job otherwise you won't get the sale.

Copyright (c) 2006 Stuart Elliott

Stuart Elliott is a world-class copywriter who has written numerous articles about sales letters and copywriting. Drop by: http://howtowritekickbuttcopy.com to pick up your Free Copywriting Power Guide.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Five Tips for Turning Your Web site into a Lead Generator
By David Reske

Remember the days when it seemed as if every Web site began with a home page that featured some sort of animated flash, with the “skip intro” link as a way out? With all due respect to some highly creative interactive Web designers, today’s Web sites need to be highly focused, content-rich, and finely tuned in order to achieve maximum impact, visibility, and usability. In my own experience working with our clients at Nowspeed Marketing, we have found that most companies can take their existing corporate Web site and optimize it for effective lead generation.

Below are five best-practice tips you can use to help turn your Web site in to a lean, mean, lead generation machine.

Tip #1: See your Web site through the eyes of the visitor

Visitors to your Web site want to understand immediately who you are, what you do, and, most of all, what you can do for them. They want clear, logical paths for navigating through the site to get more information. This means you must design content and offers that speak directly to different target audiences, in terms of their demographics and job functions, and that also work well across the buying cycle (“tryers” vs. “buyers”.) Start with your home page, but don’t stop there. Make your interior pages content-rich and offer-specific as well.

Tip #2: Keep it clean, clear and concise

A common mistake is to put so much information and so many links on the home page or interior pages, that they quickly become cluttered. Think of the page in terms of valuable, limited real estate. Utilize it wisely. For the home page, include a SEO-optimized description of who you are and what you do. Provide short blocks of text and clear click-through paths for different types of visitors (customers/prospects/info seekers). Place high-performing, relevant offers where the eye can see them without much effort. Whenever you can, avoid making the user scroll down the page.

Tip #3: Balance search with simplicity

Optimizing your site for organic search is critical. Jupiter Research estimates that organic indexes generate 87% of commercial referrals from search engines. However, you need to weigh the benefits of high keyword placement with simplicity and usability from the visitor’s perspective. Don’t go SEO-overboard. Our advice is to SEO-optimize your copy and tags around keywords that have the following characteristics: high traffic, low competition, and are a good fit with your business. For example, the keyword phrase “B2b lead generation agency” works better for our marketing agency than “interactive agency.” Keep copy targeted around these parameters. You will not only connect well with your audience, but you will also rank high in organic search.

Tip #4: Evaluate traffic patterns for best offer and content placement

Use a Web analytics tool to see where people are clicking through from your home page, and which interior pages are receiving the most click-throughs and/or longest retention. Then, place your best offers there. You may be surprised to find that what you think is important, such company news links on the home page, is in reality a low traffic area. If that is the case, consider replacing that link with one to a page that is more relevant. Or, if your “About Us” page is getting a lot of traffic, place more links and offers on that page to encourage them to explore other areas of your site and request information.

Tip #5: Test, update, and fine-tune

Once you’ve got a solid, lead-based architecture in place, monitor visitor behavior and fine-tune various elements of the site until it is performing at the highest possible level of effectiveness. Utilize Web analytics to perform offer and message testing. Remember that, like content, offers can become outdated fairly quickly. As their popularity begins to wane, refresh your site with new offers.

David Reske
Partner and CEO
Nowspeed Marketing (http://www.nowspeed.com)

In 2003 Dave Reske co-founded Nowspeed Marketing, a direct marketing firm that delivers world-class lead generation solutions for leading business-to-business marketers in the U.S.

Before founding Nowspeed, David was founder and CEO of Onward Technologies, a web marketing and systems integration firm, where he led the company to significant growth. Founded in 1994, Onward Technologies was an early provider of Internet marketing and business-critical web-based applications for Fortune 500 companies.

As CEO of Onward Technologies, Dave provided highly successful Internet, intranet and communications solutions for hundreds of business clients. In 1998, Onward Technologies was acquired by CSC Consulting Group, a division of CSC Corporation that provides information technology consulting services to commercial and government markets. Dave served as Senior Partner at CSC Consulting until 1999.

Dave is a veteran industry speaker at Internet and e-commerce conferences nationwide. Now his leadership, vision and expertise are enabling Nowspeed Marketing clients to lower their marketing costs and increase response rates through innovative online direct marketing programs.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php When to Develop Multiple Streams of Income
By Tim Sales

I've made millions in network marketing, I've made millions through investments, and I've also lost a lot of money too. Profit from my mistakes and learn how to best invest the money you make in your MLM business.

Network Marketing professionals often ask me how to manage the profits earned from their MLM income.

Can you make more money by diversifying into investments such as stocks, bonds, real estate, etc., and have your money working for you in other areas besides an MLM business? Or would you make more money by really focusing and investing your money back into your MLM business?

There are three items to think about when answering this question for yourself.

A. What else would you do with your time?

B. What else would you do with your money?

C. What else would you do with your attention (definition: the ability or power to concentrate mentally)?

Every investment (stocks, bonds, real estate, your sister's business) requires that you learn about it. Just the learning costs time and attention. It is the using up of your attention that rarely gets factored into the "diversify your money" advice.

Probably what's most important here is, the greatest amount of money you will ever lose is that amount you will never make because of misuse of A, B, and C from above.

When listening to a radio talk show 10 years ago, the advice given to me was, "Select the top three stock market sectors based on trends. Put one-third of your investment capital in each. Wait 10 years and you should be wealthy off your passive investments." I was making about 50 thousand dollars a month above my expenses - so I thought, "Why not?"

I chose the following sectors: Health Care, Technology, and Telecommunications. After losing about half of my investment, I changed to three different sectors. I look at my portfolio today and I have lost another $11,848.78.

Don't get me wrong; there have been times I've made over $50,000 dollars in the stock market in a day. Fun! And there have been times I've lost $150,000 dollars in a day. Not fun.

In addition to that, I've spent an enormous amount of time on my "passive" investments. Many hours (per week) have gone into "pondering" (wasting item C from above) what the stock market is going to do next. Reading newsletters, magazines, newspapers, watching the stock market news and commentaries on TV. Still, my return has been negative.

The only thing that has remained very stable and predictable is my network marketing income. Had I taken the same amount of money, roughly $500,000 and invested it into promoting my MLM home-based business would I have had a greater return? Yes.

So what about the "Rich Dad Poor Dad" philosophy of "Buy assets that produce more income?" Or more commonly stated, "Create multiple streams of income?"

As you may know, I created a prospecting tool based on that philosophy where I explain to prospects how wealth is created by investing in assets. (www.mlmbrilliance.com) So I'm very close to this subject.

However, if you listen closely to the way I stated it in the online movie, I say, "So what are assets? Well the most obvious ones are: stocks, bonds, real estate..." Then I say, "...education and businesses." I'm referring to educating yourself about businesses; whether that is your MLM home-based business or your pinball machine business.

Two common mistakes in making decisions on A, B, and C from above are:

1. Making decisions based on now vs. decisions based on future. Of course, you need to pay your bills now. They're screaming at you! Keep in mind what I talk about in Brilliant Compensation - it's not faster, (in the long run), to tie your young son's shoes than teaching him how to do it himself. If you tie his shoes for him, you silence the screaming urgency, but you're still stuck with the job, UNTIL, you teach him to tie his own shoes. When you make financial decisions, make sure you're looking at the long-term. Residual income that can be generated from an MLM business is sweet.

2. Making decisions based on "could you" instead of what "will you" do with your time, money, or attention. Example: A guy determines that it's a poor use of his time and attention to mow his own yard, so he hires the boy down the street to cut his grass. Now, what does he do with that extra time (A), and the extra attention (B)? He watches TV. Bad choice. When he was making the decision to hire the lawn boy he thought, "It's a waste of my time to mow the grass when I could be doing more important things like building my MLM business." Make sure when you free up any of the three resources you use them wisely.

Summary: My personal opinion is; invest your time, money and attention into KNOWING your MLM home-based business and become really good and profitable at it. Find and study MLM training that is proven and effective, and master it.

Continually reinvest your profit back into your network marketing business by promoting it more, that’s where the high return is. When you have a surplus of income, buy a secure investment like Treasury Bills http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/of/ofbasics.htm, until you're ready to learn another business FULLY. By business, I'm including all investment activities as well. Then focus your time, money, and attention (from the surplus only) on knowing THAT business.

From my experience, diversifying my money has done nothing more than dissipated my focus, which has in turn lost a lot of money, time, and attention.

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the confidence and skills to be an MLM success. Discover what you must know to become a true network marketing professional. Sign up for his free MLM training newsletter and listen to free training at http://www.brilliantexchange.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php How to Boost Your Business With Testimonials
By Biba Pedron

Networking is my favorite, low-cost marketing tool. However, a large number of people often find it a challenge to get results and turn prospects into clients, by networking.

Here is another very effective marketing tool requiring no skills. It can be applied to your business immediately, and will help you to gain new clients.

Simply get testimonials from your current clients!

Testimonials from satisfied customers are the best way to promote your business. It doesn’t cost you a thing. Stop selling; let your clients and raving fans do it for you.

Contact your best clients, who know and appreciate you and the value your products and services. They will be happy to help you; providing you with testimonials that praise your products and services.

Be sure to obtain their permission before using their information in your brochure and on your website.

Use their testimonials on your website. This way your clients will make the sales for you. When people see the results and the benefits your clients reaped from using your products and services, they will want the same results for themselves or their businesses.

Don’t use a testimonial like “Mary it was great working with you” John S., NY. This is useless.

Use effective testimonials where your clients mention the benefits of working with you. What was their experience and results in their businesses after they bought your product/service or program? Make sure that you mention their name, website, and eventually their email and phone number. Give your prospects the opportunity to see that there are real people like them, who can be contacted or websites to check out to verify who they are and what they do. The new clientel will probably never contact them to ask about the experience they had with you, but they will feel more comfortable if they can identify themselves with your current clients.

When it comes to testimonials, I always mention one of my businesses, my French consulting business, www.focusoncareer.com, I don’t have to promote it. Because I am working within a specific niche - French solo-entrepreneurs who want to start their own businesses in the US -, and my website has a very rich content providing a great deal of free information, including some very powerful testimonials from clients. I have at least 3 to 4 people weekly, who contact me for consultation. I don’t have to chase them; they just come to me. When I ask them why they decided to contact me, they always mention the testimonials. They say, “You did so much for so many people that I imagine you can do the same for me”. Because my clients did the sell for me, after the first consultation, 50% decide to work with me immediately. Others may need to talk further or find out a little more about my services and me.

Have a complete page with all of your testimonials on your brochure or website.

If you promote a special product or program, insert your testimonials, along with the description and benefits of your program.

As an example see my program at http://www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com

I work with lots of people who are just starting their businesses, so their question is always, “But I don’t have clients yet. How can I get testimonials?” Well, offer to trade your services with a couple of people who really need your services but who perhaps cannot afford them, in exchange for a testimonial. That is a good way to start.

Don’t hesitate to contact your best clients now. Ask them for a testimonial. Make a list of clients you could contact today; those raving fans that enjoyed working with you and for whom your products made a significant impact on their businesses. You will see they will be more than happy to help you in return for what you did for them.

When asking for testimonials, don’t forget to ask for referrals: friends, colleagues, or family who would benefit from your products or programs also.

Another way to use your testimonials is to prepare a direct mail campaign, and send it to the list of referrals your clients just gave you.

Don’t you think that when the targets see their friends’ names in your brochure or mailing campaign, they will trust you and be keen to work with you also? You will get a better response to your campaign than advertising in a magazine, where nobody knows you and most readers won’t even notice your ad.

Need more techniques and strategies to boost your business and turn more prospects into clients? Then learn more about “The Power of Networking”. In this 5 step program, you will find everything you need on how to maximize your networking results.

You will learn: how to create an outstanding business card – how to polish an elevator pitch, which will hook your audience so that people will remember you – how to create a 7 step follow-up system to turn more prospects into clients – how to use testimonials - how to use your newsletter to promote your products or services without hard selling – how to create strategic alliances to grow our business faster. For complete details of the program “The Power of Networking” visit http://www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com

(c) 2006 Biba F. Pédron

Biba F. Pédron, also known as The Connection Queen, is a marketing consultant, founder of Biba4Network, that specializes in networking for small business owners in the greater New York area. Biba helps entrepreneurs to maximize their networking results so that they can grow their businesses faster.

Biba is the author of “Start Your Dream Business Today! The Proven 11 Steps to Start and Grow Your Own Business”. http://www.startyourdreambusinesstoday.com.

For more information or to receive free tips like this one, please visit http://www.theconnectionqueen.com
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Success Is Simple When You Make Sense Of The Numbers
By Joseph Kennedy

The vast majority of people in business really do not like numbers. They remember Math as being one of the hardest subjects in school. They never got interested in accounting.

Most of us go into business, because we like the thrill of designing a new product, the joy of making a sale, or simply the freedom of being your own boss; not because we love to pour through financial sheets.

When you look at how many businesses fail, and WHY they fail, you have to step back and rethink things. A venture can have the most exciting products or services ever devised and plenty of customers and STILL not make a go of it.

Why? The answer is in the financial numbers.

Most businesses don't work out because their owners and managers don't fully understand the business' financial picture. When you have a complete and accurate view of your firm's finances, you know:

* How much money you are making
* How much money you're spending
* How much money you'll make or loose in the months ahead
* Know if your product is succeeding
* Know if your advertising is a waste of time
* Know if you need to order more product, or less, or even how to make money with your unused inventory

Your company's numbers quickly tell you all this and more. So how do you get access to these truths? Most small business experts will tell you to get a good accounting program like MS Money or QuickBooks. But that's not nearly enough.

Even though these programs are good, maybe even essential, you'll need to fully understand what is going on in your company. That's why a whole industry has sprung up to supply these much needed forms, databases, and software.

Big box stores and other large retail and service organizations have always had access to this kind of advanced accounting power. They either use their own teams of in-house MBAs or sign up for very expensive outsourced financial management services.

Today you can have that same kind of expert help simply by logging onto the Internet. Many of the forms you'll need are available free. And you can gain access to even more software and databases for a very small monthly fee.

Finally, BIG company financial power is readily in the hands of small and medium-sized businesses. Make sure you make full use of these resources. Your probability of success will be far higher and you may never have to worry about your company suffering serous setbacks.

Joseph Kennedy is a veteran of the banking industry and a former computer analyst. He is founder and CEO of http://www.businessbuilderonline.com, offering extensive financial, legal, and administrative forms you need to quickly succeed in business, plus much more. info@businessbuilderonline.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Choosing The Best System For Managing Your Website Content
By Lynette Chandler

Just when you think you understand the content publishing trend of the day, here comes another one to mess up your plans. If you're frustrated, confused and don't know how to fit everything or if you even should. It's not easy coming up with a web content publishing management strategy. It's something I struggle with from time to time, as well.

I believe it's a personal choice. All these are just different methods of publishing your content. There are some key questions you might want to consider.

What is your audience most predisposed to?

The reason we publish web content is so people will find it, read it, use it, and hopefully generate a sale for your products. It doesn't matter which is the best format but what is best for your audience. Which content format do they respond to most? Are they highly mobile people, always on the road? Do they prefer reading to listening? Are they technically savvy enough to understand how to use an RSS reader? If you don't know, ask them.

You'll naturally have a hodge-podge of answers. Sometimes even after asking, the result is not always clear. Overall, written content still triumphs over multimedia for several reasons. People cannot scan an audio or video file. If they want just one piece of information from that hour-long recording, they are forced to find an hour of their time that they may not be willing to give.

Why are you building that site?

How do you picture your website? For example, if you start a site answering 'questions about coaching' then a Blog would be an ideal type of publishing to use, and you can easily publish the questions and answers. Blogs are perfect for sites like product reviews; launch updates, deal of the day, news and event reporting and FAQ's. You can always use a Blog and articles as a compliment to existing sites.

Other sites, especially those built for educating and dispensing information, would be better off with a regular article based site. While you can use a Blog as a content management tool for your articles, a regular website offers much more control when you're trying to optimize each web page individually. True, you can optimize a Blog, however, overall I find it's easier to optimize a website.

Relevance

This is where a good long look at your overall business helps. Some people build sites in all kinds of niches, from gadgets to babies. Others find their niche and build upon it by creating different sites related to that niche. Example: the main business is coaching. They have one site on coaching FAQ's, one for coaches, one for life and balance articles for a working mother, and so on. If your business is structured like the latter, it's going to be easier for you to figure out which approach you should opt for.

This is because all of these sites are working in tandem to support your main business. It doesn't matter which you use, in the end, the focus is on your business, you are promoting your services no matter where people go and you'll reap the rewards. Each of these sites also becomes a network of content. Doing so also means you could keep only one Blog and use it to direct people to new articles, highlight special articles or alert people about a teleseminar call, kind of like a news hub just for your business. Another nice plus to this is, you don't have to build so many Blogs that you’re unable to keep up with.

An example is this page you're on. Some of you are directed here because I mentioned the article on my Blog. Some of you come here from my newsletter, and some from reading the Blog's RSS feed.

When to pod cast

There are many benefits to pod casting. It can take up an awful lot of time. It's hard work publishing a show every week or every other week for that matter. So, make sure you can commit that kind of time before doing so. That doesn't mean you can't publish audio your Blog when you have an audio to publish.

Many people misunderstand pod casts; they look at it like they see radio and magazine, which are totally different things. Fact is, many pod casts are Blogs and vice versa.

If you think pod casts are just a little too much to handle right now, here's one way you can leverage them without committing yourself to it. Become a guest on someone else's pod cast who’s reaching the same niche as you. Pod cast publishers are always looking for great content and people to interview so, fill their need. Why create your own when you can piggyback?

There are many things to consider, it could go on forever, but given this time slot I'll make it quick and point out a few key areas.

Some sites are just made for Blogs – reviews, FAQs, deals, news and updates.

Look for synergy. I'll usually start off with a regular articles based website. I think you can’t go wrong with it. It's the basis of the Internet and will be for a long time; just like books are still in publication today, it's not going anywhere. However, also try to see if an existing Blog can help drive traffic to this site simply by highlighting articles or mentioning certain things about the content.

Sometimes time itself is of the essence and we just do not have enough of it. If you find this to be true you can still create an influence of a pod cast by being a guest on a show or by contributing recorded segments. You could create an audio of an article that you've already got written so that it doesn't take up much of your time. This could also apply to Blogs. If you find you don't have time to write a Blog, or another Blog, then see if you can be a contributor to a relevant Blog. You could even set up a 'Community Blog' where three or four people will add there posts; so that it is busy without one person having to do all the work.

Lynette Chandler helps entrepreneurs recognize and apply the power of technology to their marketing. Discover how web conferencing can work for your business today at http://www.webconferencingworks.com.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Business/Product Publicity: Market To The Media First
By Todd Brabender

When starting a successful business venture or launching a new product, most entrepreneurs or business owners conduct some type of marketing research to determine the extent of their prospective customer base. When getting the word out to that customer base, many entrepreneurs may turn to the media to help generate a buzz for them. However, as detailed as their marketing research might have been, very few business owners are as meticulous at determining their proper "media market" – that is, all those media outlets whose editorial profiles are a match to a product/business profile and would be appropriate for generating media exposure and publicity.

One of my favorite things to do is educate my clients about their "media market." Consider this, in North America there are more than 75,000 media outlets and almost one million reporters, editors & producers in the entire media market. However, only a small percentage of those may be appropriate and applicable to your business/product. Which ones are they? Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned entrepreneurs are either uninformed or misinformed regarding what it takes to attract media attention for their business. I recently surveyed 100 business owners and entrepreneurs who contacted my business about a publicity/media exposure campaign. Here's what I found:

11% - "Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless"
19% - "Have Unrealistic Media Market Perceptions"
29% - "Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media"
41% - "Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits"

Here are the descriptions of these categories and the lessons I try to teach those who fall into each category:
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11% - "Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless" These are the business owners who know their product and market inside and out, BUT they have never thought about launching a publicity/media exposure campaign before now. They know very little about their potential media market or how to generate publicity therein.

The Lesson: For these types of business owners I recommend asking for help from a smaller PR agency or publicity specialist who is willing to "hand hold" to get the client educated. Research to find one who doesn't mind spending the time to educate you about what should be included in your specific media market and the pitch. Make sure the agency or publicist understands the product/business as well as you do and can in turn educate you about your media market – one that will be able to benefit your business for years to come.
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19% - "Have Unrealistic Media Perceptions" These are the business owners who are CONVINCED that EVERY newspaper, consumer interest magazine and TV show will run a feature on their new products when they launch a publicity campaign.

The Lesson: No product or business, no matter how big or great can be assured media coverage in every outlet in a media market. But you can get coverage in a good number of them given the right media tending. Every media pitch will be weighed against the media outlet's editorial lead-time, its available editorial space, and availability of an editorial staff member to cover your pitch. It is totally up to the discretion of each media outlet as to whether your pitch makes it to the pages or on air. It can be an uphill battle if you target the wrong media with the wrong message. With a little expertise and media market know-how, you can greatly increase the chances generating those media placements.
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29% - "Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media" These are the ones who think of their media market in two simple terms: LOCAL & LARGE LOCAL, as you might imagine, means the media outlets in their city or surrounding geographic region -- the local newspaper, a regional business magazine or two, a few shows at local radio/TV stations. LARGE, on the other hand, are media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Good Morning America, Oprah or your other favorite large circulation, trade specific media outlet.

The Lesson: The reality is local and large are indeed part of your media market, but not the only ones. The best media market opportunities may well be the dozens of other smaller scale papers, magazines, newsletters or TV/radio/cable shows that may generate more customer interest and sales than a placement in the big media might. Because of a lack of media market knowledge, many business owners don't even know these smaller, more targeted media outlets exist. This is where a PR agency or publicity specialist can be integral in your publicity campaign. They know the media market very well and will be able to find those media members who will be the best for generating editorial features on your business or product. They also have great media contacts that can turn one feature into a syndicated story that runs in multiple media outlets nationwide.
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41% - "Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits" These are media-savvy entrepreneurs and business owners who are realistic and knowledgeable about how the media can benefit their business. They know that they have to narrowcast their media pitch to a select segment of the media in order to get coverage that will increase exposure for the business.

The Lesson: Don't let a PR agency or publicity specialist tell you they will send your pitch to 20,000, 30,000 or 50,000 media outlets. The reality is, of the 8,000 daily & weekly newspapers, 11,000 magazines & newsletters, 15,000 radio/TV/cable stations and 7,000 Internet news sites in North America, only about 25% of those accept press releases from outside their geographic area. They cover only LOCAL issues, businesses and products, and it is a waste of time to target them. The key is researching to discover which media outlets will be receptive to your pitch and knowing how to parlay those media contacts into positive consumer interest features that will educate and entice customers about your product or business.
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Just like marketing to find the right customers, one should be equally diligent about finding and pitching the right media market. Bottom line – whether you have a general interest product that has widespread consumer appeal or a trade specific business with a very narrow customer base, knowing your appropriate media market can mean the difference between product/business publicity and product/business obscurity.

Copyright (c) 2006 Todd Brabender

Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions.
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com
mailto:todd@spreadthenewspr.com
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php 7 Crucial Tips for Web 2.0 Marketing
Web 2.0 offers the next generation of online marketing tools, enabling businesses to harness the power of the Internet to reach customers in unique and varied ways.

Web 2.0's primary focus is getting people together to share their expertise and thoughts through social interaction. Web 2.0 principles embrace those tools and services with social networking applications.

Just as the open source movement changed the face of software development, so has Web 2.0's open source content model changed online marketing-- a change which has the potential to accelerate your business' profits.

Think YouTube, MySpace, del.cio.us, Technorati, Digg and Flickr. These are only a few of the more popular services which have revolutionized the way businesses are reaching their online target markets.

If you are considering jumping into Web 2.0 marketing, use the following tips to help you integrate Web 2.0 into your marketing arsenal.

1. Simple but not easy: Contrary to many claims, Web 2.0 marketing takes hard work and creativity to stay ahead of your competition. Your content will have to be tended to and updated continuously. Make sure you dedicate enough time and budget to keep multiple projects running. Like any marketing strategy, time and patience are critical. Committing to a long-term strategy is ideal.

2. You have to be appealing: Adding fresh and interesting content should be a priority. News becomes old fast. This is when you will have to step up your creative activity. Experiment with podcasts, quirky background information, and news about upcoming events.

3. Check your spin at the door: People who engage in social networks do so either to share knowledge or gain new knowledge, not necessarily to buy something. Recycling old information without offering anything valuable up front is detrimental. There's no getting around it-- you must give first before you can get. If your first response is to sell, people will take notice and you will eventually be pushed aside.

4. You must stay active: Web 2.0 marketing is a two-way street that allows a business to interact with a buyer on a familiar level. You can join in by including videocasts, blogs and wikis on your own site. But, creating your own social network is only half the story. You have to be willing to seek out and participate in other active online communities.

5. Authenticity required: The internet is conducive to anonymity on every level. However, using web 2.0 marketing makes you part of a community. Misuse of that very anonymity that encourages participation can hamper or ruin your plan. You have to be willing to encourage participation without encouraging abuse.

6. Get thick skin: Not everyone will say positive things about your business. Quite the contrary. You will more than likely have to prove yourself before you're given the privilege to participate, much less sell. The way in which you handle critics will go a long way towards demonstrating your poise under difficult situations. No one likes a cry baby.

7. Multimedia rules: Traffic statistics on video sharing sites tell a tremendous story about where consumers are spending their time online. With bandwidth costs continuing to decrease, consumers' appetite for the multimedia experience will only grow. This presents an amazing opportunity for those businesses willing to invest in the latest online communication technologies.

Web 2.0 is still in its infancy. Consumers have already shown they are willing to participate in open source communities. Content, especially multimedia content, will continue to be the deciding factor in whether a business succeeds or fails online. Are you ready for the Web 2.0 marketing challenge?

Relativity is pleased to offer [http://www.relativitycorp.com/]Web 2.0 Advertising - Web 2.0 Marketing - Web 2.0 Promotions - iMedia services to the internet business public. You can download a free e-book with our latest insights into the Web 2.0 marketing world by signing up to our list at [http://www.relativitycorp.com]http://www.relativitycorp.com. We look forward to providing you with fresh creative information and insight into this emerging industry.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Carve a Niche for Your Site Via Social Media Optimization
The Internet has changed our lifestyle to such a great extent that we rely on it for every little thing we are involved in. In fact, it is one of the best ways to get connected with our family and friends, as we are constantly swinging between the pendulum of time and work. The latest method of staying connecting is social media optimization. It is, in fact, a perfect way to churn out endless profits. Moreover, the internet is a huge platform for sharing information and interacting.

Social media optimization has become one of the most popular methods through which one can interact and gain knowledge on various serious and miscellaneous topics and issues. It has, in fact, raised the level of internet services by enhancing the visibility of the site and at the same time getting the site a higher rank amongst the famous search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo. Social media optimization, however, involves carefully planned and laid-out strategies that help many websites in gaining popularity and more business. What exactly is social media optimization? Well, it is a set of methods that generate publicity through the internet and connect online communities and websites together.

Social media optimization is possibly the best method to attract traffic to your website. Today, many businessmen prefer business conducted through social media optimization as it gives an edge over various other publicity methods. In fact, search engine marketing firms have certainly made social media optimization an excellent medium of interaction. With the evolution of information technology, net savvy people frequently visit a number of websites to get knowledge and the appeal of social media optimization is that it acts as an interactive platform. You have most likely come across videos uploaded on various sites that also offer blogging services, forums and discussion panels that further enhances the effect of social media optimization. In addition, social media optimization uses viral marketing techniques that spread their word across the web.

In this instance, the sole purpose is to get people talking about a product, service or an idea. The conventional method of word-of-mouth serves as the publicity vehicle that in turn popularizes the website amongst the users. The various other techniques utilized by social media optimization include video and photo sharing, social bookmarking and blogging. In social media optimization, the emphasis is laid upon the elevation of the link-ability of the website that encourages the inbound links. Social media optimization additionally creates tags and book marks for the website so that it becomes user friendly and is accessed 24 hours a day. With this, the user is able to bookmark it easily as well as go back to it whenever required without any hassle or trouble. Hence, the visitor attains a comfort level with the website. As a result, the website will get recognition and simultaneously gain popularity amongst the internet users. The purpose of social media optimization will be achieved. Therefore, the website will be able to create its own space amongst various search engines and also earn a rank as a top website.

Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search engine optimization,Search engine marketing, [http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com/social_media_optimization.html]Social media optimizationTo get the SEO tips from SEO firm for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Know Your Financials Like The Back Of Your Hand
By Casey Gollan

You know what I find funny?

Most people start a business so they can enjoy the benefits of the ‘extra’ money and wealth that owning a business can create.

Yet many business owners have no idea about understanding their own financial statements, and that’s where their money is!

To me, it’s such an irony.

And it’s something that I definitely rectify with every client I work one-on-one with.

By the time they’ve finished with me – they know their financials like the back of their hand… in fact they showing their accountants a thing or two…

Over the years I have noticed that most small business owners don’t look at or understand their financial statements.

This can be for any number of reasons.

Maybe your accountant hasn’t taken the time to explain it to you.

Maybe you don’t want to learn them; after all, who understand Math at school, or enjoyed doing it?

In my experience I have found that the typical business owner starts a business because they have the drive and the personality to influence and convince people.

I have found that on most occasions, not all, that this type of a personality doesn’t enjoy doing paperwork and financials.

And that’s okay… but to make it as a successful business owner, and add another million or so to your business - I suggest that you really become excellent at reading and understanding financial statements.

Because the best and wealthiest business owners do.

As with any area of your business – you should know what you’re doing – but it doesn’t mean you have to do it.

So employ people to do your financials – but you’ve got to have the knowledge and the experience to know that the people you are employing are doing it properly.

And this is certainly the case with your businesses and your personal financials.

If you don’t know how to read and understand them, you’ll wind up in big trouble with them at some point in your career… be assured of that.

So start now.

Don’t fall into the trap of LEAVING it to your accountant. It’s the biggest mistake you can make. You should be doing it WITH your accountant.

If you have an accountant now that you have started with, chances are that your business is heading into areas that they are not as competent in. When you started your business –it was small and you probably weren’t making great money. For this reason, you probably hired a ‘lower end’ accountant at that time.

And that’s fine. You just need to know that as your business grows this ‘lower end – accountant’ may not have the skill-set to cope with your growth.

It’s like different levels of sport.

Take football for example.

There’s local football, inter-district football, state level football, and National Level football.

As the level increases – so does the expertise needed by the players, the coaches, and the administrators.

And so it is with Businesses.

It’s the same with me.

My skill-set is excellent with taking $1 million businesses up to $2 to $5 million. I can work with businesses that are smaller than that, or that are bigger than that – but I’m perfectly suited to the niche of taking $1 million business to $2 to $5 million.

So I concentrate on businesses in that niche.

Above this mark, or below it comes a whole new set of skills that I don’t particularly want to be involved in.

Now back to you…

You’ve got to take an active role in creating your financials.

Ideally, you should know all your expense categories so that for any payment made in your business you know which category it should go into.

You should know all your allowable tax deductions; like the back of your hand.

It’s your business, your money, and your life – so control them.

You should also have up to date and accurate financial statements.

Some of these statements you should be looking at daily. Some weekly. Some monthly. Some quarterly.

You should be actively involving your bookkeeper and your accountant in this analysis. Then you are all up to date and focused on growing the business.

It’s what all top business owners do, and it’s what helps them to continue to grow and prosper – so that they can not only grow their business – but also enjoy the rewards that only a well-controlled and profitable business can provide.

On my ‘1-on-1 Business Coach Program’, I’ll take you through a process that will have your head spinning with how easy it is for you to understand your accounting reports. And how easy it will be for you to understand your financial position.

I’ll also take you through the best ways to work with your accountants so that you are kept up to date and accurate and so you know exactly what’s going on in your business at all times.

It’s such a refreshingly simple ‘demystifying’ process. All of my clients love it once they’ve learned it because they really know where every cent of their money goes. It gives them more control and understanding of their business.

They all realize just how important knowing their financials is for their business growth and success.

Know your financials like the back of your hand.

Copyright © 2006 by Casey Gollan. All Rights Reserved

http://www.caseygollan.com.au - Business Coach, Mentor And Growth Specialist - Casey Gollan, Business Coach, Mentor And Growth Specialist. Grows $1 Million p.a. Small Businesses Into $2 to $5 Million p.a. Businesses Over a 2 to 3 Year Period.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Year-end Health Savings Account Tax Strategies
By Wiley Long

The year 2007 is here. There are several issues to consider if you currently have a Health Savings Account (HSA), or are planning on getting one in the near future.

The deposit you place in your HSA is 100% deductible on your federal income taxes. HSA contributions are tax-deductible on state income taxes, except in four states. If you’re looking to reduce your 2006 tax burden and put more money away for retirement, your HSA is the first place to consider putting your money if you have not yet maximized your contribution.

The maximum that can be contributed to your HSA in 2006 is the lesser amount of your deductible, or $2,700 for single persons, and $5,450 for families. Individuals, who are age 55 or older, may contribute an additional $700. Be aware, the contribution limits are pro-rated, based on the number of complete months during the year in which you have a qualifying HSA health insurance plan.

The deadline is April 15, (or later if you file for an extension), to make your 2006 contribution. If you do not fully fund your account for the current year, you can’t make a “catch-up” contribution for 2006 after this deadline. However, you can reimburse yourself in later years for qualified expenses incurred in 2006, even if you don’t have the funds in your account to reimburse yourself at this time.

In 2007, the maximum annual HSA contribution will go up to $2,850 for individuals and $5,650 for families. Individuals 55 or older will be allowed to contribute an additional $800.

It is also important to have your HSA-qualified health coverage in place no later than January 1, to maximize your tax benefit for 2007

To pay for a medical expense from your HSA, it must be a qualified expense. Some of these qualified expenses include: dental expenses, eyeglasses, chiropractic visits, over-the-counter medications, and sometimes even nutritional supplements.

Make sure you have an accurate record of your medical expenses for the year. Separate the expenses for which you have reimbursed yourself from your HSA from those that you have paid for out-of-pocket. Keep receipts for all medical expenditures paid from your HSA with your 2006 tax records. Place the "non-reimbursed medical expenses" in a separate file, and keep these receipts with the concurrent year's tax records with the year you decide to reimburse yourself.

There is a 6% penalty for over-funding your HAS. You have until April 15, 2007 to withdraw excess funds for the 2006 tax year to avoid this penalty. Your HSA administrator may notify you of any over-funding, however, they are under no obligation to do so. It is your responsibility! Make sure you check into this if you think your may have over-funded you account.

The minimum deductibles for HSA-compatible health insurance plans in 2006 were $1,050 for individuals, and $2,100 for families. This amount will increase to $1,100 for individuals, and $2,200 for families in 2007. If you currently have an HSA-qualified plan with the lowest eligible 2006 deductible, this deductible will automatically go up on January 1 to the new minimum.

Strategies to Maximize Your Tax Benefits

There are basically three different strategies you can take to decide how to fund your health savings account:

1. Put no money in the account, except when you incur a medical expense. This strategy allows you to legally "launder" any money used to pay medical expenses. By depositing money into your HSA, then immediately withdrawing it to reimburse yourself for medical expenses, you’re making all your medical expenses tax-deductible. Use this strategy if you are on a tight budget and need to keep your cash outlay as low as possible.

2. Fully fund the account, or put in as much as possible, based on your budget. When medical expenses are incurred, take money out of the account to cover your costs. Then let the rest grow tax-deferred. This strategy will maximize your tax deduction, while making your HSA funds available to pay any non-covered medical expenses before your deductible is met.

3. Fully fund the account, but pay all medical expenses from a non-HSA account. Reimburse yourself for medical expenses at a later date. This strategy will allow you to maximize your tax deduction, and also allow you to maximize the tax-deferred growth of your HSA. You can reimburse yourself, tax-free, at any time in the future for medical expenses incurred over the ensuing years.

To maximize the potential growth of your funds, you may want to make your 2007 deposits as early in the year as possible. Any growth in your account is tax-deferred, like an IRA. If possible, plan to make your deposits the first week in January.


Wiley Long - President, HSA for America (http://www.health--savings--accounts.com) - The nation's leading independent health insurance firm specializing in Health Savings Plans that works with Health Savings Accounts.
]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php How To Find The Most Successful Business And Alternative Networking People On Myspace
In today's information age lies a hidden goldmine of opportunity in all areas of business interests. When you have been through certain things in life, it helps you to tap into the creative mind. One of the things I've been doing recently, in which I have been successful, is finding quality, business networking professionals-- some of whom are famous-- all on MySpace.

One way I like to find quality business people to network with on MySpace is to head on over to my local Walmart. In their magazine section, you'll find every topic of interest ranging from fitness, Windows Vista, PC and digital camera reviews, WWE wrestling, fishing, hunting, investing and so forth. The first thing I do is head to the business magazines and randomly select any one that may deem appealing to my eye at that very moment. If it's Forbes magazine, I'll pick it up. Then, I skim through the Table of Contents to see what sounds most interesting. From there, I select what's most useful and head on over to that section. Once I am there, I skim through the introductory paragraph, looking for people's names to use as visual keywords to myself. I do it like this sometimes because if I don't feel like buying the magazine, I can still skim for fresh names of people to look for as potential business contacts to network with on MySpace

From there, I make a list of people by specific profession. For example, "Chris De Wolfe - MySpace". I then make lists by that topic under "Social Media Folk", "Affiliate Marketing Connects", "Corporate Business Execs", and so on. Once my list is compiled, if I didn't buy the magazine, I'll then take the list home with me and turn on the computer right away. Once I am logged into MySpace, I then plug in each name into the search bar, select "People" and scan the MySpace search results. Sometimes, it may be a lot of people with the same name, but finding the right person will require making your best judgment. If you happen to know the zip code the person resides in, that helps too, as does having their e-mail address.

Another savvy way of finding quality business connects is to send a friend request to associates of persons whom you've already friend requested. For example, if Steve Forbes had a MySpace page, and I friend request him, and I see that Bill Gates of Microsoft , Steve Jobs of Apple, Jay-Z of DefJam, and perhaps Steven Spielberg are on his top friends list, I'll friend request them too. This is a very effective, yet viral way of locating quality business connections on MySpace. From this point, if some of them accept you as a friend, be sure to be courteous and sound very professional when contacting high-profile business people on MySpace. Play your cards right and you'll be surprised how much the "big wigs" pay much more attention to the "little people" like you!

Shawn Drewry is the CEO of http://www.Drewryonline.net

He was born & raised in Brooklyn, New York and has been in the working world for 10 years, including corporate america. As much as he did well on his jobs, someone somewhere he worked with or even the employer themselves found some reason to wrongfully terminate them. He has learned the hard way to become an independent person, breaking the shackles of traditionally following the working class.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Admin Advantage - Building Credibility Using Forums
Black Hat SEOss will definitely impress you with all the aces up their sleeves, but if you do not want your website to be black-listed by popular search engines such as Google, then it is recommended that you try other better options that are available. Generating traffic to your website is no doubt important, but if you have long-term business plans then you need to realize that what is even more important is building and maintaining the credibility of your website. It is only when credibility is maintained that you can you hope to retain users on your website and, most importantly, motivate them to buy products or services that you might be selling through your website.

So, what is the best way of building credibility? Well, the truth is that there are many ways of doing that. However, if you are looking for the best solution, then I will recommend that you opt for forums that act as the perfect platform for user interaction. You see, when you start a forum on your website, what happens is that users develop positive perceptions about your website-- something that helps a lot in building the desired level of credibility. Since forums are places where users are allowed to share their views and experiences, both negative as well as positive, it naturally leads to a feeling of communion amongst those who throng your website. This helps a lot because users then feel more at ease while using your website or when buying products and services that you might be offering through your website.

Building credibility through forums should be your first priority because by doing so you not only increase traffic to your website, but also reduces costs and improves profitability of your online business. This becomes a possibility because when you have a successful forum, you no longer have to invest huge amounts on Internet marketing or hiring writers, bloggers, and SEOs. All the marketing and content gets done automatically by forum members without you having to spend a single penny. Even the mundane SEO tasks such as keyword optimization get done in the process and that, too, without raising the hackles of search engines, something that is always a possibility with SEO-assisted optimization techniques. You see, when users discuss topics related to your website, it automatically leads to the requisite keyword insertions, something that the search engines are most likely to take notice of in a positive way. That’s the magic of forums!

So now that you understand the importance of building credibility through forums, it is all up to you how well you implement that on your website. However, before you actually start a forum, you need to take certain precautions because just like any other technique, forums too have their limitations and disadvantages, especially when not used in the prescribed manner. You may be planning to get the best forum software, but believe me, if you do not know the tricks and techniques involved, you will not be able to make much progress even with the most advanced software programs. So, instead of risking your investments, I would recommend that you first learn the intricacies and the tricks of the trade.

Ryan Chua is a professional IT and Onlne marketing consultant for the past 5 years. Ever since running his own traffic and profit-generating websites, he has been teaching others how to do the same for their own online endeavours. For more information, visit http://www.ForumSecretsRevealed.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php 5 Reasons Forums May be Hazardous to Your Website's Health
When used correctly, forums offer new as well as experienced business owners the perfect platform for promoting new ideas and products. They're also a great way to acquire one-way links. While forums have their benefits, they also have the potential of creating huge damage to your business. One wrong thread could send a lot of bad press to your site as well as to your email account.

Forums can be a great place to learn new ideas and bounce ideas off other people. But they require a lot of time. More often than not, it's far better to spend that time concentrating on marketing your business rather than trolling the forums.

The following five points underscore why spending time in forums can be hazardous to your site's health.

1) It's not a matter of if but when you'll get flamed

The problem with forums is that you never know when things are going to get out of hand. Without any reason or warning, you can become a flame target.

I can guarantee that at least one person will not agree with you. This isn't so bad as long as the dialog takes place within the forum. But these online arguments can get out of hand and spill over into blogs, other forums, and through email.

2) Link bandwagons and useless comments

One of the low points of any forum is that 95% of the posts tend to be completely useless. Many posters are only participating in the hope of getting some mileage from a forum. For people who own a similar business, posting on a forum is the perfect way to gain some exposure and get one-way links to boot. Many times, they don't add any value to the forum.

Then there's the typical flood of "I agree" comments. These "valueless" comments can suck an excessive amount of your time.

3) Everyone's an expert

There's an old saying, "If everything is important, then nothing is important." I believe this applies to forums as well.

The problem isn't for lack of experts. The problem is trying to decipher the real experts from the flack. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to differentiate good advice from bad. This is somewhat like the blind leading the blind. Misleading advice abounds. It takes time to acknowledge the good experts from the "wannabe" experts. Time better spent elsewhere.

4) Old and stale information

People post comments and information based on what they've read or heard about. Unlike a typical publication, with its overabundance of editors, assistant editors, and fact checkers, forums are open source. You have to do your own fact checking.

Another problem is information that's just plain old. What may have been true a few years ago may not apply today. For instance, web rings were very popular in the late 1990s. Now, they're simply known as link farms. But there's plenty of information-- old information-- that shows up in search results concerning web rings; much of it in forums.

5) Writing truthful, thoughtful comments is a fad

While some forum discussions have their golden moments, many threads are one sided or between two or three parties. I liken it to two groups of people, each standing on opposite walls in a gym screaming at each other. Unfortunately, many times the good comments get stuffed underneath the bad, disrespectful, disparaging comments.

While forums certainly have their place, they shouldn't be an all too often hangout. Most webmasters would find they can achieve their site goals faster and more efficiently if they focused on their sites rather than the forums.

Jerret Turner, CEO of LinkAcquire.com, can help you build one-way links for better search results. Visit him at http://www.linkacquire.com. Download a free copy of Jerret's new work, The Little Linking Instruction Book, by visiting http://www.linkacquire.com/signup.html.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Tips on Encouraging Forum Conversation
There are many effective little techniques that encourage forum posting. One of the tricks that helps to encourage forum conversation is to end some of your posts with leading questions. "What do you think?" "How do you do it?" "Does anyone know how to ____?" Questions give an easy opening for the next person to post, just as they help foster conversation in real life.

If you start a new thread, it often is more successful if your first post is short and asks a question, as opposed to being several paragraphs in length that cover a topic more thoroughly. This is kind of surprising because you might have thought a longer post would be more intriguing, but try it and see! You'll notice a difference. So, even if you've thought about a topic a lot, try not to say much in the first post. This lets other people be "experts" too, and they will enjoy the conversation.

In writing classes they often teach you to write strong. Strong writing is well thought out, authoritative, doesn't use the word "I," has good grammar, spelling, and punctuation. But on a forum, it can intimidate others so that they won't post. If instead you say, "I think," "Gosh, how do you spell that?", include personal stuff, and so forth, it makes the writing less formal and more like you're sitting across the cafe table from an old friend! This makes others comfortable so they are more likely to open up.

Compliments about what someone posted before you also helps many of the readers to be comfortable posting because they interpret it as a friendly, gentle place. Whether face to face or online, other people will like it when they receive positive comments or are asked questions. It simply makes people feel like they are being listened to, and we all like that!

Timing is also important in encouraging good conversation on a forum. It's better to post two or three responses at a time every three or four hours, than to sit down once each evening to post because it keeps the forum fresh and people get the feeling someone is always there for them to talk to. If they check in an hour or two after they posted and they see responses, well, of course they'll be more likely to get involved in the forum than if they have to wait a day for a response.

Social network users, visit http://www.wishafriend.com/ac/holidays/christmas/ for Christmas MySpace comments. You can also find Christmas MySpace graphics at http://www.wishafriend.com/graphics/holidays/christmas/, and find Christmas Layouts at http://www.wishafriend.com/layouts/christmas/ to add to your profile.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Using Forums to Get Back Links
With the present trend in marketing and online business, competition to get the a higher and better ranking is getting stiffer and a lot more complex. In order to attain the best traffic on the net, a lot of marketers and businessmen are engaging into so many highly tremendous methods of marketing. One of the most sought-after marketing tools that many are trying to experiment on is the search engine optimization, particularly the off page optimization process. You may be asking, why search engine optimization? What features does off page optimization have to be considered as one of the most sought-after marketing tools? Well, the answer to that is very basic and fundamental - traffic driven by back links.

Back links are the most essential means of generating traffic on a site nowadays. A lot of marketers and business people have seen the strong potential of off page optimization to obtain successfully numerous quality back links on a site more than its contemporaries. Back links are link addresses that you are able to generate from sites that wish to start a connection with your site. Usually, this happens under the method of SEO that requires it to be done outside the main content of the site - thus, off page optimization.

One of the best ways to get back links is through the use of the forum. If you are able to publish your message on the forum sites where you are a member, you are given the opportunity to include on the message some of your relevant information such as the company name which you represent, as well as a bit of personal information such as your name and your e-mail address. You will be given this opportunity when forum masters see your contribution to the forum site as something that is indispensable. In order to continue getting such opportunity, you continue to submit postings that contain relevancy and pertinence.

As additional information, if you are serious about generating more back links from forum sites, engage yourself into more than one forum site and allot time for each individual site. In that case, you have far better opportunity to gain mileage with considerably more net users.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to forum traffic success, 'Secrets of Generating Traffic With Forums'

Download it free here: http://www.secrets-of-internet-success.com/2ezforums.html Traffic Generation With Forums

Sean Mize is a full-time internet marketer who has written over 1,574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Banner Economics
Business online-- like business offline-- always boils down to math: the difference between cost and revenue. If your banner campaign is costing more than it’s earning, you won’t be in business for very long. To figure out how your campaign is doing, you’re going to need to know your Cost Per Mille, your Click Through Rate and your Conversion Rate. These are your basic tools. If you don’t know them, find out!

Let’s say your CPM is $20, your CTR is 1%, and your Conversion Rate is 4%. (So you’re paying $20 every 1,000 times your banner is shown, it brings you 10 new users, and you make one sale for every 25 users the ad brings). The question you need to ask yourself is how much are you wasting on the 24 users who don’t buy.

Cost per visitor = $20 / 10 = $2 So each visitor costs you $2, but you need 25 visitors to make one sale, so...

Cost per sale = $2 * 25 = $50 ...if your product is worth less than $50, you’re taking a loss.

That’s pretty simple, and as you can see, there’s not a lot of room to maneuver here. Margins are tight on banner advertising, and that applies to both the site selling the advertising space and the webmaster buying it.

Of course, hard cash isn’t the only way to measure the success of a banner ad, and one reason they’re still popular is that they’re a pretty effective branding tool. After all, advertisers spend millions on billboards without expecting motorists to drive straight through them and make a purchase! On the Web, those advertisers can even be reasonably sure that the people who see their ads will be interested in them. But branding costs money—lots of it—with no guarantee of results. It’s usually best left to the big boys.

The banner ads on my sites usually send users to my affiliate partners, and the banner ads I place on other people’s sites usually come from my affiliate programs. They don’t cost me anything and as long I’m making the sales to pay my affiliate partners, everybody’s happy.

If you do decide to purchase banner advertisements though, and if you have a very specific market in mind, make sure they are strategically placed—on sites where the traffic will most definitely be interested in your product or service. Find a site that suits exactly your specific product and you’re going to be appealing directly to your target market.

Tim Yu is the owner of http://www.Online2Biz.com providing information on Creating Your Own Business Online. To get Free “Internet Marketing Guide & 49 Ways To Find A Profitable Niche Market Instantly! course, go to http://www.Online2Biz.com .]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CSi_210/user/index.php Pixel Advertising - How It Could Make A Comeback
In 2005, The MillionDollarHomepage (MDH) made internet history by selling one million pixels for one dollar per pixel, generating a whopping one million dollars for its owner. Now, almost 2 years and thousands of copy-cat sites later, pixel advertising is all but dead. This writer believes that with the proper implementation, pixel advertising could rise again.

The MDH was a brilliant idea and, while it served its purpose, had several flaws that prevented it from thriving after the million pixels were sold. In case the reader isn't familiar with the MDH, I'll provide some basic history. MDH had a 1 megapixel image on its homepage and it sold 10 X 10 pixel blocks of this image for people to advertise on, which would link to their websites when clicked. They could not change the image and were limited as to what details people would see when they moved their mouse over the micro-ad. It sold these 10 X 10 blocks (100 pixels) for one dollar a pixel (the minimum purchase was 100 dollars). All one million pixels sold in just over 4 months (give or take). The site was getting an insane amount of traffic, so advertisers were chomping at the bit to get their ad on the website. Some of the space even went up on eBay towards the end for much more than the original price.

The problem with MDH was the price was too high (relatively speaking) and most ads were really too small to see. It was really by the luck of the draw or how flashy your 10 X 10 image was whether your ad got clicked or not. As the dust settled, the advertisers on MDH realized that people were really only coming to the webpage to see if it was filling up and what click traffic they were receiving from the site was "trash" traffic. The copy-cat sites that emerged only compounded the problem by trying to exploit what MDH had already done wrong. A very negative tone echoed throughout the web about micro-advertising and the "fad" has died out over the last 12 months or so. Don't get me wrong, this was obviously a good idea since MDH did achieve its goal. It could have been so much more, though.

So how can pixel advertising make a comeback? The same idea as the original site can still be applied, but something has to be done to keep visitors coming back for more. Advertisers will no longer pay the one dollar per pixel price for such small, unnoticeable ads, so the price must be lowered. Advertisers also need other incentives to advertise on the site. Advertisers need to be able to change their ads when they want. The system needs to be fully automated. The ads need to be accessible in ways other than just having the ad displayed on a grid. There needs to be more space available to advertise on but not so much that it becomes a commodity. And finally, the site must be promoted. A good site will just sit there without the proper promotion, regardless of how unique and innovative it is.

These few small changes could really turn a good idea into a gre