Home Business The Easy Way - EBo Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
By Mohd Sharulnazeri Bin Mohd Ali

Do affiliates really make money just promoting the affiliate program using the adwords or other PPC service? That is the most frequently asked question when the newbie enters the affiliate marketing business and wants to promote the product or business using the adwords or other PPC service. They have heard many stories about the affiliate's success using PPC.

When we research this question on the internet, we will find much discussion regarding this matter. Some are making money and some of them are losing money. The truth about PPC is to help the affiliate or other business to make money, not lose money, provided they have some knowledge in PPC campaign and planned strategy. Many of them lose money because they are blindly using the PPC without any study or necessary preparation, such as keywords and ads.

One question always asked by the internet marketers is, "Do the affiliate marketers make more money from the vendors?" The answer is "YES". Affiliate marketing business provides flexibility and freedom to the affiliate marketers so they will not be limited to one niche only. They can select from several niches that suit the markets. By this factor, the affiliate marketers can generate multiple sources of income from several niches. However, one of the advantages of being the vendor is having a huge pool of affiliate marketers helping you to promote your products. However, let us not forget the commissions they have to pay to the affiliate marketers. The vendors earn from quantities and bear most of the cost of creating and maintaining the business.

You need to ask yourself these two questions:

a.)Do you want to be in this business?

b.)Do you want to work for someone else? With most jobs in the world, there are a learning curve, and remember, learning and practice will make you perfect.

Sharul is one of the successful marketers. Learn more about affiliate marketing business at http://www.affiliate-marketingtips.blogspot.com and get the free adwords coaching at http://www.intincome.biz

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By Richard Henderson

Benefits of Marketing Online

Marketing rules are the same no matter how big or small your business is: (1) brand your product, (2) determine whom your target audience is, (3) get the sales, and (4) establish repeat customers. Online marketing is very effective in managing all four of these rules.

Online Marketing Defined

The definition of online marketing is: Placing your business or product on the Internet for millions of users to access so you can turn your website into a strong tool to maximize your sales and business potential.

However, online marketing is much more than putting your advertising online. Marketing online includes such areas as communicating with your customers, promoting your business or product online, and making sure that your website content is useful and up to date. The great thing about online marketing is you do not need to have a huge budget to put together an effective marketing campaign. There are tools you can use to make your marketing techniques easy and profitable; such as, website templates, shopping cart templates, and online marketing templates.

What You Need for Online Marketing to be Successful

There are some important points to consider before you get into the strategies and intricacies of online marketing:

• Communication. An important part of online marketing is how you respond to your customer's e-mail. You do not want to lose potential customers after you have made the effort to have them visit your website and then contact you for more information. E-mail is a very effective and a cost efficient way for you to generate more sales. The key to this effectiveness is "consistency". You need to be consistent in your response to your customers. You will also want to make sure the tone of your e-mail corresponds with the tone you have set in your website content.

• Human Resources. If you are going to succeed online, you need to have enough people working with you. Efficient websites incorporate a personal touch with a fast response time to customers. Your goal is to turn the visitors to your website into customers. The standard time for a return e-mail is from 48 to 72 hours. If you wait any longer to e-mail back, you risk losing the customer. If you do not have the manpower to return e-mail in two to three days, you need to take another look at your marketing strategy.

• Products people want to buy online. Before you start marketing online, you need to be sure that you have a product or service that people want to buy. Customers need to find a value in what you are selling. There are two motivating factors when it comes to selling online: cost and convenience. Ask yourself if customers will find it easier to buy online than finding a local store. Is it cheaper for them to buy this from you online?

Richard Henderson runs his own internet marketing business from home and enjoys publishing articles and ebooks for websites as well as his own customers. You can visit his latest website, which is about the imminent release of Internet Marketing Quickies Volume 2 from Andrew Fox.
http://www.marketing-quickies-2.com

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By Devin Dozier

Starting an online business can be an exciting adventure. It can create wealth, financial security, and give you loads of time to spend with your family. I mean, who would not want to earn an extra $500-$2,000 a month with their own online business?

However, before you jump into a business online, you must avoid three common mistakes where most people fall victim.

#1: Unrealistic Expectations - With so many websites claiming you can make thousands of dollars overnight, it is very easy to believe the hype. It is not impossible with the programs these websites are promoting. Most people on average do not make it as quickly as they claim. I am sure that a few have made thousands in just days, but realistically that is not the norm. No matter what you hear anyone say, "Making money online takes work!"

This business is just like any other. You must put in the time, money, and effort to make it profitable. Some online businesses require less work than others do, but all take work. If it were possible to throw a website up and make millions, then everyone would do it.

The speed at which you will start making money from your online business depends on how much time and money you have to invest. If you have no money, then you are going to have to roll up your sleeves and put in some work. If you did have some money to start with, it may take longer, but you will get to your destination eventually.

#2: No Goals - Having short-term and long-term goals for your online business is critical. Your goals mark your path and help you stay on track. Sadly, 97% of the people who start an online business are stuck on the hype of making millions tomorrow, and they do not have time to set realistic goals. While the other 3% of people, who did set goals, are making a large profit.

Goals will keep you moving forward, even when times get rough, and times do sometimes get rough. Establish a three, six, and 12-month goal right from the beginning. This way you will know where you are in relation to where you want to be.

Without goals, you are like a little angler's boat floating in a HUGE ocean. When the waters start roaring, you are destined to sink.

#3: Not Seeking Support - You are not alone. There are millions of other people, just like you, trying to make money online. In addition, the saying "Two heads are better than one" is very true.

All successful professionals have a support network. Whether it is a coach, colleague, partner, or friend they have someone who can help them generate ideas. I have a close network of online entrepreneur that I rely on to keep me informed on new techniques.

If you do not have support, you will lose your edge and eventually become obsolete. You do not need to hire an online coach, but you should seek out free online support groups who can assist you when you have a question or need advice. There are free support groups all over the net that you can easily tap. I have a great online money making group that is forming right now. It is called Loot Swoop and this will be a great opportunity for you to learn and contribute. It is free to join. Just go to it and sign in.

Having support will help you to keep focused and realize that others are trying to make it too.

If you can avoid these three mistakes, then you will be well on your way to making money with your online business. Always remember that whatever trials may come, persistence is the key to success!

Devin Dozier is an online entrepreneur. www.lootswoop.com is an online resource for motivated people looking for an online money making opportunity.

http://lootswoop.com

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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.
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by Ba Kiwanuka

Professional snipers (and well-equipped soldiers, for that matter) use night goggles or night scopes to sight their targets.

When driving at night, people flick on their headlights (unless, of course, you're Paris Hilton) -- so they can see where they're going.

Veteran online marketers use sophisticated tracking software and scripts to analyze and evaluate the results of their marketing campaigns and promotions.

The average everyday Internet marketer effects their marketing strategy on hearsay, hope, trial and error! You don't have to be a genius to figure out what's wrong with that picture.

In defense of the average struggling marketer, until fairly recently, having access to top-of-the-line tracking software meant shelling out a hefty monthly or yearly fee. It was only well established marketers with bottomless deep pockets who could afford to use such software.

That has all changed! Now, anybody and everybody who so wishes has access to such software -- and it's free!

WHAT TRACKING SOFTWARE CAN DO FOR YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGN

VISITOR ORIGIN

Wouldn't it be great if you could tell how your visitors got to your Website; you could see whether they got there via a search engine, another Website referral or from a forum.

How about if you knew their country of origin, or even the city from which they hailed? You could then concentrate your promotional efforts in those areas that readily maximize your profit.

In the same vein, once you know which search engines are sending you traffic and which ones aren't, then you can better focus your SEO efforts on the ones that are generating revenue rather than waste time blindly attempting to optimize for all of them at the same time.

KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION

Ever heard of the term "Long-tail Keyword?"

Long-tail keywords are the various word combinations that people use naturally and unconsciously every day, to query search engines. These are word combinations that are rarely listed by keyword research software and, if such word combinations are ever listed, they tend to be way down at the bottom of the list, jumbled up into unnatural incomprehensible arrangements that only a machine would ever consider.

Those long-tail keywords tend to have fantastic conversion rates, but you'd never know it unless you had excellent tracking software to apprise you of the fact.

These days, the search engine algorithms are really smart critters! They have matured to the point that they can identify and combine separate far-apart-spaced words on any Webpage to comprise long-tail keywords that people actually type in as search engine queries.

The search engine algorithms then qualify that Webpage as optimized for that combination of words (long-tail keyword).

The real bonus here is that, most times, you'd never even think up such keywords, let alone optimize for them, even when using keyword research software!

VISITOR DURATION ON YOUR SITE

The best tracking software avails you of stats illustrating how long people spend on your Website (individual time-frame stats for each page, no less!), so you can easily know whether changes you've made to your site have improved conversion performance or, conversely, decreased it.

In this manner, you can readily determine which version of your sales copy or Web page content has a higher conversion ratio.

To summarize, without statistics compiled from sophisticated tracking software, much of your promotional efforts would hinge upon trial and error which, basically, is tantamount to aiming blind.

Get your free tracking software from the author here: http://www.internetbusinessmart.com/got-google-analytics-yet.htm.

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By Titus Hoskins

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

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

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

1. Domain Name/Website

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

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

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

2. Keywords/SEO Strategy

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

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

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

3. AutoResponder/Opt-in Lists

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

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

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

4. RSS/Blogs

Blogs and RSS feeds are essential online business tools. As we saw above, building a trustful relationship is very important to doing business online. Keeping an online Blog or daily journal is another way of building trust and keeping in contact with your customers or clients. Everyone likes to be a part of a group, a member of the club - having a company blog will help keep everyone a member of your business.

Blog and RSS feeds are a way to connect with your visitors or customers. Podcasting and broadcatching (video casting) are excellent ways to connect with your clients. Videos are all the rage right now and savvy marketers are using them in their advertising and marketing. Why should Google and YouTube have all the fun? RSS (Really Simple Syndication; the original acronym stood for Rich Site Summary), will get your sales message out to your customers quickly. With the upcoming release of the RSS powered Windows Vista, it expects RSS to play an even greater role in your whole Internet experience. Make sure you have at least one RSS feed on your online business site.

5. Articles/Syndication Software

People want information first, and products second. Regardless of what is selling or the type of online business you want to create, always keep in mind potential customers want information first and then the sales pitch. Give people good solid information and they will more likely buy from you. You must pre-sell your online business or product.

One of the best ways to pre-sell is by using articles. Simple informative, how-to, 500-700 word articles on all aspects of your online business. Place these articles on your own site and syndicate them around the web by using article distribution software or by submitting to such online article directories as Ezinearticles.com, Goarticles.com, Ideamarketers.com and Articleally.com - make sure you place a link back to your online business within the resource box at the end of each article.

Articles are an effective way of drawing targeted customers to your site or business. Each article is a marketing tool in its own right. Create a whole army of these articles and you will see a marked increase in online visitors and customers.

As mentioned before building a successful online business is not an easy task. It does take some strategic planning and a whole lot of marketing tools with the knowledge to use them properly. However, anyone can create a successful home business with the right equipment and the right attitude. You now have some excellent starting points Psychology Articles, the next step is really up to you.

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous niche websites, including two sites on Internet Marketing. For the latest and most effective web marketing tools try www.bizwaremagic.com If you are trying to start a web business, try these excellent free training manuals and videos: www.bizwaremagic.com/Free_Marketing_Courses.htm 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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Whenever we hear of internet confrontations, we think of crazy people online doing whacky stuff. That is not always the case. "Internet beef" is among the bulls with extremely sharp financial horns. Yes, we're talking about the top internet companies "on steroids" ! Google, YaHoO, Microsoft, eBaY, MySpace and the underdog slowly taking over- Facebook.

MySpace is reported as losing a slight grip on new user signups, due to prohibiting it's users from promoting their URL addresses and e-commerce business on their personal pages. Savvy web publishers desire to utlize the power of MySpace, not just to ask people to buy something, but it's also a great backlink from MySpace to have your domain name linked to. If you go to Alexa and type in MySpace to view their traffic rank, you'll see that it ranks at 6. A ranking of that number on Alexa simply equals out to be well over a billion times over in logins, logouts and new user signups daily. MySpace also prohibits the use of widgets in loading your personal content into and placing it on your page. If you have any kind of affiliate links, Google ads or anything that generates income for yourself, your MySpace account will be instantly deleted.

Google is reported to have bought more companies. Their secret plans are to create search engine friendly widgets, so that they can embed and offer these tools to users of the affiliate-owned companies they have been purchasing left and right. As Google knows they are late, Facebook has Google by the balls in creating social networking applications so that users can increase the social networking effectiveness of their personal pages. And, if you think about it, Facebook will soon have MySpace on its knees. Today, Facebook offers over 8,000 widgets. Google plans on firing back soon with their new social network called "Open Social".

These companies are all at war to grab our loyalty. They offer so many free services. If you look into the deeper picture, the more free stuff they offer, the more ad revenue they generate for their company. If you think hard enough, the same ad revenue they generate, you can too for yourself. How so? They use Google Ad Sense & affiliate links just like everyone else. The key is to network with people, use free widgets to syndicate your content, write good search engine copy, signature forums with your URL links, build many personal social pages and backlink them with your content. More content equals more traffic which equals more money for you, just like how the big boys do!

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

He was born & raised in Brooklyn, New York & has been in the working world for 10 years, including corporate America. As much as he did well in his jobs, someone somewhere he worked with or even the employer themselves found some reason to wrongfully terminate him. 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_EBo_261/user/index.php
It is a widely known fact that marketers are always approached for refunds. This is a very usual occurrence in the market. Generally, about 25 to 100% of the customers who purchase your products will ask you for a refund for whatever article they bought from you.

Your customers could ask for refunds on any article for a wide variety of reasons, but the most common requests for refunds usually occur when people want to return something they bought because of the hype surrounding it, but do not think it worthwhile after purchasing. These refund requests cut down on the profits you initially thought you had made. Thus, you should have a way to decrease this return and refund business as much as you can. This is how:

Make sure that you do not surround your products with too much undeserved hype. You will naturally want to talk only about the positive features of the product you are selling and make it seem better than it actually is or in comparison to all other products in the same group. If you make your product seem like it is the next best thing since sliced bread, you are bound to overexcite your customers’ expectations. When it fails to satisfy these expectations, your subscribers will want to return the product and demand a refund. So, it is actually better to state exactly what the advantages of the product you are selling are and not go overboard in trying to make it sound too good. Be clear about your offers and don’t promise effects your product won’t be able to deliver. Only give your customers what you’re sure you can give them. This will increase their faith in your shop and products and increase your goodwill.

If you have a payment processor, when you send confirmation emails to your subscribers, make sure that you clearly state that their credit cards will be billed by your company. If you don’t have one but use a third-party payment processor instead, then ensure that you mention in the confirmation email what name will appear on your customers’ receipts and credit card bills. You could also include this vital information on the download page or thank you page of your website. Since clients do not remember buying anything from the other company, they ask for a refund, and this leads to loss of business. Thus, by being careful, you can reduce the refund requests.

Include a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on your website, and deal with the most important issues on this page. People lose business when they fail to reply to all the emails sent by subscribers regarding a purchased product, which makes the client want a refund. Hire an assistant who will handle all the mail and phone calls, so that your subscribers have prompt answers to all their questions regarding uses/features of a product they bought from you. When your customers have their questions answered promptly, they will be much less likely to request a refund.

Benjamin Seow is the Founder of NETPRENEURCOLLEGE.COM.

Visit his website at http://www.NetpreneurCollege.com to access hundreds of resources for internet entrepreneurs.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_EBo_261/user/index.php
By Paul Levesque

All businesses that out perform their competitors have two key characteristics in common: a highly energized workforce, plus hordes of delighted customers that keep coming back. Two nice things to have - but of course everyone knows the reason so few businesses enjoy a clear competitive advantage is because these two things are so difficult to achieve. If it’s really that difficult, shouldn’t those few businesses that manage to pull it off be absolutely exhausted by the effort? When you take a closer look, (as I have), at those rare businesses that consistently achieve both objectives - flashpoint businesses, as I refer to them - what you invariably see is just the opposite. Employees at all levels seem perpetually fired up, as if every day they’re engaged in some kind of fun group activity. Is there some big secret about "energized workers" and "delighted customers" that these flashpoint businesses understand, and everyone else seems to have missed?

There most certainly is. It has to do with what most people consider the basic difference between "work" and "play". The first step on a shortcut to competitive advantage is to understand the specific elements that make play so much more satisfying than work.

Play Element 1: Challenge

Achieving better bowling scores would be easier if the bowling pins were closer. On the other hand, who would pay to go to a bowling alley where anyone could knock down all the pins every time with ease? Knocking them all down over and over again would quickly begin to feel like the kind of repetitive, pointless activity most bowlers experience at their jobs, and go bowling precisely to get away from it. To be fun, it has to be a real challenge—that’s key.

In most workplaces, there is not one single well-defined “mission” that takes precedence over everything else. Instead, there are all kinds of tasks, objectives, and deadlines that often make workers feel they’re being pulled in a dozen directions at once. For many, the only real challenge on the job is resisting the temptation to quit.

Contrast this with flashpoint businesses, where the one crystal-clear overriding mission is to draw business away from competitors by attempting to delight every customer every time. In these businesses, the reason it looks like workers are having fun is because in many ways their work feels like a game with a single, challenging, shared objective.

Shortcut to Competitive Advantage, Part One: Challenge everyone in your business to think of -outperforming the competition through superior “customer care” as the primary objective that overrides all others at all times.






Play Element 2: Rules

Every play activity has it own elaborate set of rules. In a new game, even before play begins, all the rules are carefully spelled out. These rules add to the challenge, and keep the game fair for all.

In the work setting, the rules are often vague and unclear. They may even seem to shift and change from time to time, based on different situations as they arise. Workers often feel reluctant to take initiatives, unsure if doing so will later earn them praise (for “thinking outside the box”) or rebukes (for “breaking the rules”). They tend to adopt a play-it-safe approach.

By comparison, most flashpoint businesses spell out their values and their priorities—the rules—over and over again. “Your goal is to delight the customer, but not by doing anything that harms the organization in any way.” “We want to pull business away from our competitors, but never in an unlawful or underhanded way.”

Shortcut to Competitive Advantage, Part Two: Ensure that your workers understand how the game is to be played—how, for example, you will be giving them opportunities to come up with their own ideas for enhancing the customer experience. Clarify what constitutes a “foul” or a violation of the rules.

Play Element 3: Scoring

In play activities of every kind, there exists some sort of scoring mechanism that lets the players know immediately how well they’re doing. This immediacy is critical. How popular would bowling be if the pins were in the dark, and players never found out their score, how well they played, until it arrived in the mail weeks later?

This is what it feels like for most workers on the job. They don’t find out how well they’re doing until the “quarterly reports” come out, or until their annual performance evaluation meeting.

Things are different in flashpoint businesses. There, spontaneous positive feedback from happy customers becomes the number-one scoring mechanism. At the same time it also serves as the number-one employee motivator, the basis for endless internal celebration and recognition.

Shortcut to Competitive Advantage, Part Three: Harvest immediate positive customer feedback by every means at your disposal, (especially informal face-to-face conversation), and direct as much of this feedback as possible to your workers.






Play Element 4: Satisfaction

Bowlers know before every game that they won’t succeed in knocking down every pin every time. Players in every kind of game know they’ll never achieve a perfect score—but this does nothing to diminish their attempts to do so. When their score tells them their performance has moved closer to the unachievable goal, their feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment is profound. There’s shouting, ‘high-fives’ and every kind of exuberant victory dance imaginable.

Flashpoint businesses also know they won’t succeed in delighting every customer every time. When the feedback indicates they’ve moved closer to that unattainable objective, the same kind of cheering and celebration erupt. It’s something that’s almost never experienced in the majority of workplaces, and it’s something that’s almost routine in flashpoint businesses. They once again have beaten the opposing team, once again the dance of victory unites all of them in their shared accomplishment—and in their shared determination to repeatedly play the game, and strive together to win another round.

Shortcut to Competitive Advantage, Part Four: Create a culture of celebration that maximizes workers’ sense of accomplishment with every “rave review” from delighted customers. This is the motivational fuel that quickly gains the most powerful competitive edge in any business—and helps sustain it over the long term.

Customer-focus consultant Paul Levesque’s latest book is, Customer Service From The Inside Out Made Easy (Entrepreneur Press, 2006).

Copyright Paul Levesque. All Rights Reserved.

Paul Levesque is available for speaking engagements through http://www.keynoteresource.com 1-800-420-4155. Paul Levesque has more than 20 years' experience as an international customer-service consultant. He has helped hundreds of corporate and small business clients become more customer-focused.
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Hello and Welcome to Real Estate Channel TV. My name is Rey Ybarra and I host and produce this dynamic Internet On Demand program. Times have definitely changed in this era of digital on demand programming, especially for the Real Estate industry. This industry has changed dramatically over the last few years, and with this change, many professionals in this multi-billion dollar industry have had to change with it.

As we are now approaching the midway point of 2007, I am absolutely amazed at how quickly technology is reshaping how business is being done, especially over the Internet. As a TV talk show host, I have seen first-hand the efficiency and quickness of digital programming. According to the NAR, 94% of all real estate transactions begin on the Internet. The remaining percentages are split up with newspaper ads and For Sale signs listing properties.

This is an incredible shift! What this shift represents to me is how many people conduct business on the Internet. We are a society that is so pressed for time that time is now among the most precious commodities we have. You can say that now we all live in "digital time" created by the Internet. For the Real Estate entrepreneur, this can be a great advantage for you. The playing field has now been leveled and you can compete with the Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies from the privacy of your home.

The disadvantage of this scenario is that many small to medium business owners do not have the time to learn the basics of this fabulous technology for their businesses. And because they do not learn or take the time to do so, countless opportunities pass them by. Here is the major problem with this kind of approach and thinking. We have all heard of the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is the attitude and approach that simultaneously kills the progress of many businesses in this industry. Yet, for those individuals, businnesses and entrepreneurs who adapt and begin to learn the new skills and technology available to them, they can easily quadruple their businesses in a matter of months!

That is why I created Real Estate Channel TV! We produce the highest quality "On Demand" Internet TV programming featuring programming we produced from many of the best trade shows for the real estate industry in Southern California. This trade show industry is a billion dollar a year business and the Southern California market alone is a multi billion dollar a year industry. We also produce in-studio TV interviews and stream those interviews on many of the best Internet Video distribution channels so you can access them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere on the planet. We have also created our award-winning Vlog with daily updates while creating a two-way dialogue with you.

We will also be featuring our Webinar technology which is also dramatically altering how trainings and education is being facilitated over the Internet. Yes, we left no stone unturned in helping you to understand and become an Internet titan by watching and accessing our program. We will be producing an incredible amount of programming during the last half of the year along with creating some outstanding Webinars for your education in the highly competitive real estate industry. So watch and learn and let us know how we are doing. Real Estate Channel TV is for you!

Rey Ybarra is the host and producer of http://www.Realestatechanneltv.com and the http://realestatechanneltv.blogspot.com/ real estate vlog. He has been producing Internet On Demand programming for over 6 years and continues to host, produce and educate individuals and business owners through innovative Internet Video programs. He is a master communicator who understands how technology can help leverage the entrepreneur/business owner in the fast paced world of business. Real Estate Channel TV and the award winning vlog are leading the way in this technilogical revolution!]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_EBo_261/user/index.php
by Madison Lockwood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by Gary Ruplinger

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

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

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

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

What You’ll Need

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

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

Step 1 - Setting Up

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

Step 2 - Recording the video

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

Step 3 – Editing Your Video

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

Step 4 – Saving Your Video

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

Step 5 – Uploading Your Video

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

Step 6 – Publishing To Your Website

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

Viola.

You’ve just put your video online.

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

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

Adding or Changing the Background

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

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

Importing Images

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

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

Adding Music to the Website

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

Posting Quizzes on the Website

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

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

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

Adding Background Music in MySpace

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

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

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

Adding Videos to MySpace

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

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

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

Creating Interactive Features on MySpace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William Perkins writes about how to start an online business, affiliate marketing, and making money online. He has packaged what he knows into a new Affiliate Marketing Handbook. You can get the first 35 pages of the handbook for free when you opt-in at his website. http://www.BigWillySite.com.
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By Suzanne Freiberg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you passionate about your product/service?

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

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

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

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

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

© Copyright 2006 Suzanne Freiberg. All Rights Reserved.

Suzanne Freiberg, with 20 years of executive experience, founded SmartWork Career Coaching to empower women in management and leadership to make the changes necessary to become break through leaders. She has received extensive training in emotional intelligence; leadership development; and managing stress for executives. She is a Certified Career Coach and a Certified Executive Coach, as well as a member of the International Coach Federation. http://www.smartworkcareercoaching.com.
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By Jim Hudson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jonathan Moss has been working in Internet Marketing for over 12 months. To find out more about affiliate marketing please visit http://27daycourse.jvmuk.com. You may reprint this article in full complete with the Author Bio.
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By Paul Speziale

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

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

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

Then something bad happens...

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

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

So what happened?

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

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

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

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

So how do you avoid this bottleneck?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: What is a feed reader?

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

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

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

Question: What is a GUID?

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

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

The age of Internet shopping is taking over the world, and even the brick and the trend is even affecting the brick and mortar store with more and more customers wanting to shop on the Internet. In order to stay competitive, a store must not only have a physical location, but it must be willing to have a website from which customers can shop. It's no longer enough to have a website for customers to see what the store sells, but it must offer an online storefront so that shoppers can make purchases from the privacy of their own homes.

In order for a merchant to have a successful online storefront, it's important that he install reliable and easy to use shopping cart software. For those who are new to online shopping and don't understand the purpose of the shopping cart, let us explain a little about the process. Before the introduction of shopping card software, an online shopper had to purchase each product he wanted individually unless the merchant had an order form where the shopper could include several items. As eCommerce became more popular, the importance of a better system became pertinent. If eCommerce were going to become the wave of the future, merchants would have to make it quick and easy for customers to place an order. Thus, the eCommerce solution was the development of shopping cart software that allows a shopper to make purchases and place them in a "shopping cart" much as you do at the grocery store and pay for everything when you have finished shopping and are ready to "proceed to checkout."

Shopping cart software has opened an entire new media for the online shopper, and as a result, eCommerce has exploded all over the Internet with the introduction of stores like Amazon.com who do not even have a brick and mortar store. Yes, they have a brick and mortar building, but that is a packaging and shipping facility only, not a store where you can walk in and purchase what you like. Amazon is probably the first store of its type on the Internet, but many more have opened since then. Today, instead of just books and videos, Amazon distributes products for a great deal of retailers including ToysRUs. The technology of the shopping cart software has opened up an entire new era of shopping throughout the world, and at the holidays, it's even bigger as people flock to their keyboards and monitors instead of the malls as they used to do.

How has the trend toward eCommerce shopping affected retailers with a concrete building, especially during peak seasons such as Christmas and Easter? For those who are innovative and determined enough to enter the eCommerce market, the seasons will show a boost in business, but for those who choose to limit their business to walk-in trade, they are likely to see a reduction in the sales volume compared to the previous year's figures. With people's busy schedules and the price of gasoline, online shopping is becoming more attractive to the average shopper, especially with the ease of using shopping cart software and the attractive online storefront websites that are available. Interactive websites draw customers to their products with music, games, animation, and other tools that catch the attention of a potential buyer.

New merchants should certainly not hesitate to add a shopping cart feature from the start unless your business is only one product and no choices such as color or size. For instance, if you are selling a book you wrote, and it's only in one format, then there is no need to have a shopping cart. If, however, you offer the same book in hardcover, paperback, and eBook format, a shopping cart may be a good idea in case a buyer wants to buy more than one copy in different formats. Of course, if you have a multi-product eCommerce site, to operate without a shopping cart is courting disaster. Some of the reasons for adding shopping cart technology to your eCommerce site include:

- It allows a shopper to save his purchases and return later to finish shopping

- A shopper can return to his shopping cart and increase or decrease the number of items he wants to purchase

- A shopper as an opportunity to remove products from his shopping cart without deleting the entire order

- Shopping cart software also allows the buyer to track what products he ordered and allows the seller to include shipping information

The shopping cart software makes it easier for the seller as well because he does not have to keep track of numerous orders, and it allows him to see everything a buyer ordered at one time. In many cases, a shopping cart is also connected to online inventory so that a seller knows if he has enough of the product to fulfill his orders. It also allows him to track what customers have bought and thus know what may interest a customer for the future.

Copyright (c) 2006 WebCart

Michael Moshkovich is a web developer and internet marketer who has written over 50 articles on SEO, shopping cart software and PPC marketing. To learn more about WebCart visit us at http://www.webcart.net.
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by John Eberhard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

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

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

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

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

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

Social bookmarking is one of the hottest Web 2.0 online trends. The concept of social bookmarking is about 10 years old, but due to its recent explosive growth, it has just now become one of the new internet "buzz words". It is important for internet marketers to understand social bookmarking; how it can help them promote their products and services.

So, what is social bookmarking? What is the purpose of social bookmarking's? Why is social bookmarking important to internet marketers? What is Social Bookmarking? You are probably already familiar with bookmarking web sites, sites that you want to visit again, using your Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser. The bookmarks you create to these sites are for your personal use and are stored on your computer.

Social Bookmarking is the next step in bookmarking, where you and others can share bookmarks to web sites you think may be of interest to others. This is done via Social Bookmarking services. After you have signed up for the Social Bookmarking service, you will be allowed to register a website, site description and tags (keywords) with the service - this is a bookmark. You will also be allowed to share this bookmark, or you can keep it private (depending on the service). This information is stored by the Social Bookmarking service, and is not stored on your computer.

What is Social Bookmarking's Purpose? There are really two major purposes behind social bookmarking.

1. The main purpose of social bookmarking is to have people with like interests bookmark sites they think would be useful, or interesting, to others who have the same interests. For example, I love fly-fishing. Let us say I find a site that contains some great custom-built fly fishing rods for an inexpensive price. I would bookmark that site with one of several possible bookmarking services. I would give the site I am bookmarking a title, a description and tags (keywords) related to inexpensive custom built fly fishing rods. I would make sure the bookmark is set to public so others could find it, and would then have created a social bookmark.

Now when people search the social bookmarking service, using the tag words used to define the bookmarked sites, they are presented with a list of related sites. Using our fly-fishing example above. When someone searches for "fly fishing rods" they would be given a list of related sites, including the custom fly fishing rod site we bookmarked. Most bookmarking services also have a rating system so the most popular sites are at the top of the list.

2. Another great benefit of social bookmarking is, once you have social bookmarked your favorite sites, you can easily find those bookmarked sites from any computer connected to the internet. You simply log into the online social bookmarking service and find the website you bookmarked. This can be very helpful if you have many websites you like to monitor, when you are away from home and you are not at your primary computer.

Why is social bookmarking important to internet marketers? Social bookmarking sites are very popular sites that get a lot of traffic. They have high Google page rankings and are visited often by search engines. Submitting your site to the social bookmarking services increases the chance your site will be crawled by the search engines. I have seen my sites crawled by Google only one day after registering my site to social bookmarking services.

Submitting to social bookmarking services is also a great way to get one way, incoming, high page rank links coming to your website, which helps increase your page rank.

However, most importantly, if your website is seen as having value to a group of people, your bookmark can be rated highly and can create a ton of very targeted traffic to your website.

Social bookmarking is growing at a phenomenal rate and if you want to market on the internet Feature Articles, you need to add social bookmarking to your set of internet marketing tools.

Mike Gates is a home business entrepreneur, specializing in creating multiple income streams using information products, affiliate programs and network marketing. Mike Gates is the author of the popular affiliate marketing tips guide, AffiliatePayDay (http://www.affiliatepayday.com/). Mike teaches affiliate marketers how to earn residual monthly income from residual affiliate programs.

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By Dave Sherwin

Which is the better opportunity, Network Marketing or Affiliate Marketing? This article gives four STRONG differences between the two, and why, for the money, Network Marketing is the better choice for the average person.

The phase, "Not an MLM" is posted on affiliate web sites as a badge of honor, as if it gives legitimacy to affiliate marketing programs. MLM, or Network Marketing, received a bad rap over the years. There are MANY good Network Marketing companies out there that offer vastly superior opportunities for the average person than any affiliate program can.

Here is a head-to-head comparison of Network Marketing vs. Affiliate Marketing:

1. Infrastructure. Every good network marketing company has a head office, with many employees taking care of paychecks, product ordering and fulfillment, research and development, customer and distributor support, etc. A yuppie in a bathrobe administers the average affiliate program. Customer support? Tech Support? Go fish!

2. Product Line. Network Marketing companies usually have high quality products developed by expensive scientists and formulators. They often have third party laboratories or Universities test their products before they send them to market. Affiliate programs are info products created by a self proclaimed "Guru", and they are successful because a good copywriter creates a compelling sales page that gets sales. These programs come and go, and the "Hot Program" of last month is replaced by this week's sensational, "get rich quick" info product.

3. Assurance of payment. Network Marketing companies pay regularly, have great computer systems and accounting departments, and checks are accurate and timely. The average affiliate marketer has an online shopping cart system that occasionally writes them an e-mail that says something like, "Time to Pay Affiliate Commissions". In addition, I can tell you from personal experience that these checks often just are not written. Even if the marketer is using a reliable payment resource like Clickbank, affiliate commissions are still in jeopardy because affiliate links are not stable. For example, if somebody bookmarks your affiliate link and returns later to buy, but has deleted their cookies in the meantime, they do not go to YOUR site, they go to the PARENT site and you lose the commission. I was an affiliate for a very respectable, large company in the autoresponder business. Two friends of mine wanted to get autoresponder systems, so I sent my affiliate link and both joined the service within hours of getting the link. Yet