Home Business The Easy Way - WKa Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
There are many effective little techniques that encourage forum posting. One of the tricks that helps to encourage forum conversation is to end some of your posts with leading questions. "What do you think?" "How do you do it?" "Does anyone know how to ____?" Questions give an easy opening for the next person to post, just as they help foster conversation in real life.

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

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

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

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

Social network users, visit http://www.wishafriend.com/ac/holidays/christmas/ for Christmas MySpace comments. You can also find Christmas MySpace graphics at http://www.wishafriend.com/graphics/holidays/christmas/, and find Christmas Layouts at http://www.wishafriend.com/layouts/christmas/ to add to your profile.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_WKa_348/user/index.php
by Jay Conners

Having to deal with angry and upset customers is by far one of the worst responsibilities we must face on a day-to-day basis in the world of sales and business. However, this responsibility, like so many others we must face on a daily basis, just comes with the territory.

Customers become angry for all sorts of reasons. Some are legitimate reasons. Some are not. In any event, it's our job to defuse the situation. Here are a few tips on how you can calm your customer down and put them at ease.

1. Give them your hand to shake

When I was in the banking industry, I worked many years as a branch manager. A customer’s body language would speak volumes as they approached my office. This body language allowed me to prepare for what was to come.

It's not difficult to tell when someone is angry. Their face scrunches. Their lips tighten, and their brow wrinkles. They walk quickly with a purpose in their step, and you know they mean business.

My reaction to this type of body language was to reach out my hand to them as an offering of peace. I did this before they had an opportunity to start venting their anger.

I would then calmly introduce myself and ask how I could be of help to them.

This technique will catch your customer off guard, and your acts of professionalism and sincerity will ease the tension and put the rationale back into your customers thought process. This technique is by far the best way to begin any conversation that has the potential to be blown out of proportion.

2. Apologize to your customer

Once you have your customer seated and have allowed for them to vent, the first thing you want to do is apologize on behalf of your company for the way they have made them feel, or for the inconvenience they have been put through.

It really doesn’t matter if your customer is right or wrong, by apologizing to your customer you are being empathetic to their situation. This gives the customer the feeling that you are on their side.

Remember, when a customer has an issue, what they want more than anything else is for someone to listen to their problem and have an understanding of where they are coming from.

There is absolutely no need to take a bad situation and make it worse.

3. Resolve the problem

The last and final thing you want to assure your customer is that the problem will be resolved, or at the very least, the problem will not happen again.

To leave a problem unresolved and your customer hanging will only lead to more confrontations and wasted time down the line.

Remember, when time is wasted, money is wasted.

Again, putting out fires on a daily basis comes with the territory. The sooner you put out the fires the better. Never take a customer complaint personally. Act as your customers' advocate, and you will always prevent a bad situation from escalating.

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of www.jconners.com .

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By Gary Wollin

Batteries not included. These are three of the dumbest words.

Your Company spent millions of dollars to develop this wonderful product. Engineers spent countless hours creating and refining it. You spent additional millions of dollars in advertising to get me to buy it.

I bought it. I took it home and now it will not work because YOU neglected to include the only part that WILL make it work. For a couple of extra bucks, your cost and mine, I am frustrated and angry with you and your Company.

It is the same with customer service.

No matter what you sell; whether its goods or services, big ticket or small, sales and customer service are not two separate pieces. Every sale must come with the customer service built in.

Exceptional customer service is NOT an extra cost of doing business. It is an investment in your own future success.

In the early 1950s, my uncle had a very small clothing store in Miami, Florida. In those days, Miami was a major entertainment center, with the biggest names in show business appearing at the major hotels, very similar to Las Vegas today.

One evening, as he was leaving the stage at the end of the early show, a young singer ripped his tuxedo jacket on a nail sticking out of the wall. It was after 8 P.M., all the clothing stores were closed.

The hotel management called the major stores and owners because the singer did not want to go on stage with a torn jacket or worse, no jacket.

None of the fancy clothing shop owners would leave their homes to accommodate the young man. Finally, in desperation, my uncle got the call. Would he come downtown with a couple of tuxedos?

Within an hour, my uncle was at the hotel with four tuxedos. He did the fitting and tailoring right on the spot.

The young singer and the big hotel management were ecstatic. The singer tried to shove a few extra hundred-dollar bills into my uncle's hand, but he would not take the money, explaining it was an honor to have the opportunity to earn the business.

The singer promised he would never forget my uncle's kindness and would tell his show biz friends about my uncle. True to his word, the singer continued to tell his friends about my uncle, even as his singing career skyrocketed.

The young singer - Frank Sinatra.

My uncle - went from a tiny clothing store on the edges of oblivion to "Mickey Hayes - Clothier to the Stars"; his walls covered with hundreds of photographs of the biggest names in show business.

On the other side of the coin is INTEL, the major manufacturer of computer chips, and, a great company.

Some years ago, Intel's newest chip had a design flaw that caused a problem in only the tiniest number of calculations, and only in highly complex situations. As this problem began to unfold in the press, owners of computers built with these new chips wanted replacements.

Intel's management stated that these customers were somewhat stupid since only highly complex calculations in specialized situations would experience that problem and then, only on the rarest occasions. They said that they would replace the chip if the customer could substantiate the claim that their chip was flawed.

How stupid. If it only goes bad once in a zillion times, why not give a lifetime guarantee? Most of the customers would never run into that problem. If Intel had immediately offered the lifetime replacement guarantee, ALL of the customers would have had a high degree of confidence that they would never need to take Intel up on their offer.

Intel finally did offer lifetime replacement - after worrying, offending, and insulting millions of their customers.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Nordstrom's; the department store famous for customer service. Their service to customers is so incredible, that people go out of their way to shop there.

Mr. Nordstrom calls it 'customer heroics'. "We do it because we want more business - NOT simply because we're nice guys."

I have always told my employees - "don't save me 'MY' money. If it helps the customer, SPEND my money. Even if they make a mistake, they won't be criticized if it helped the customer".

Nordstrom, over a period of many years, has developed a corporate culture of service to the customer. Any corporate culture, if it is going to endure successfully, MUST take on a life of its own, apart from the wishes of management. It has to be adopted by every employee, because each ONE thinks it is a good idea.

Whether you are a one-person operation or the largest company, you know what good customer service is. It's the Golden Rule applied to business - "Do unto others".

Listen to your customers' spoken requests - and unspoken. They will tell you what they want. Add a large portion of your own good common sense. Make a commitment to yourself that you will give your customers, service beyond their highest expectations

If you will do these few simple things, I can guarantee you success beyond YOUR expectations.

Gary Wollin is a Warren Buffet style investment advisor with 45+ years of Wall Street experience. He has been regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and many other publications around the world. He writes and speaks on sales, customer loyalty, and the stock market.

For more information, please visit http://www.garywollin.com.

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By Marcia Bench, MCCC

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

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

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

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

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

3. Two words: gift cards!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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By James Bradley

Creating a content rich link directory is a powerful tool used by any web owner. Building relevant backlinks is a great way to boost your Search Engine Optimization and increase your overall targeted traffic...

It is a well-known fact that adding incoming links to any website is a great method of promotion and search engine optimization. Quality links can increase your page rank and ultimately get you consistent traffic and sales at seemingly no cost. Nothing comes free; the creation of a quality link directory for your website is no different. It will require time and careful planning to get the most out of this valuable tool.

Keep these tips in mind to create a powerful content rich link directory for your website.

1. Do a little planning. The first thing that always leads to success is a clear game plan. Decide what needs to be accomplished and how you can get the job done. Make lists of keywords and link categories relevant to that of your own website. Avoid using categories that are not related.

For instance, if your site is a work at home affiliate web page you would not want to include the categories health & beauty, science, automobiles, etc. To increase your Search Engine Optimization, relate your links to the overall theme and content of your website.

2. Don't become a link farm. Search engines hate "link farms". If each page in your link directory has too many links to other company web sites, your site may be labeled a link farm. Keep the amount of links on each page low, I suggest 15-25 and no more.


3. Ensure every page is keyword rich and has a few links back to your home page. Content is so important for a powerful link directory so keep it filled with keyword rich titles, meta tags, paragraphs, etc. relevant to that pages theme. This will increase the quality of your content and improve the quality of your link directory as a whole.

It is also important to include links back to your home page. This will increase your search engine optimization as the web spiders register more backlinks to your home page.

4. Use link directory software that checks links automatically. There are a lot of different programs and web sites that offer linking services. Be sure to check into them before choosing, some offer many "instant" links for a monthly fee. These links usually do not provide much help, if not hurt your SEO, so be wary.

I suggest using linkmarket.net. There are more than 60,000 potential link partners in every category of the online business world. Links are checked automatically and I have found that at $24.95 a year you cannot go wrong! There are many other programs and services, and finding one that works for you will require a little research on your end.

5. Keep it up! Simply following these simple steps and setting up your link directory is far from the end. You will want to test and retest many different aspects of the linking world. You want to be sure everything works correctly and is content rich before visitors and search engine spiders arrive.

Taking some simple steps can ensure that your link directory works smoothly and increases your Search Engine Optimization. Keep in mind that getting the best links will require some requests from you to other web owners Article Search, and be sure the software you use automatically checks links for effectiveness and removal.

James has been involved in advanced internet marketing and home business opportunities for the last 4 years within the frame work of a multi national billion-dollar company. He is a graduated student of http://www.homeincomeuniversity.com

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The struggle between literate, grammatically correct article composition and keyword seeding should not exist at all. Search engines are able to figure out the relevance of the content on your website to a user’s query. Therefore, an article filled with a jumble of keywords will have lesser relevance than a well-written article containing lesser keywords.

Internet marketers who need SEO articles commonly require grammatically correct and literate compositions from SEO writers like me. The more I read and write about how search engines function and how they equate relevance with a high search result ranking, the more I strive to place overall composition above keyword content.

With relevant articles on your website pertaining to your products, ideas or services, you get more chances of directing the correct kind of surfer traffic to your website. Of course, this will mean a decrease in bulky but irrelevant traffic. However, as a search engine user, I find it annoying to see search results that have no connection to what I need to find.

Admittedly, most web masters prefer bulk traffic over highly relevant web traffic. The more the merrier, so to speak. In my experience, surfing the web without any purpose becomes tedious. It gets even more tedious as your experience in web surfing grows. Nowadays, I specifically surf the web with a purpose in mind. Armed with that purpose, I single-mindedly search for what I need.

It would help me to find what I need faster if the descriptive content of your website were relevant to my search. Having a nicely composed descriptive article about the idea or object I am seeking will make your website more useful to me. Because your website has been highly informative and usable, I will return there again to see if you have something that I need.

In having relevant and highly descriptive articles, your website satisfies two totally different necessities. The more relevant necessity for you would be a high ranking search result. The lesser, and often times unnoticed necessity, is that of having satisfied your customer.

The more relevant your content is, the more chance you have of being able to direct your target market to your website. The percentage of people who buy your product will definitely increase as opposed to a decrease in just passing thru or wrong turn traffic. In counterpoint, the more relevant traffic you get, the higher your sales figures go up.

Targeting traffic that isn’t really interested in your website almost serves no purpose. I definitely won’t try to remember the name of a website that has nothing of what I need. Memory retention of a website by people is very much minimal unless it has served the people well. Furthermore, to be redirected to an irrelevant website by a search engine is very much an annoyance. These websites that bombard their content with nothing but keywords are now getting penalized and banned by search engines so that they can avoid sending people to the wrong place.

How would you feel if directory assistance gave you the wrong listing? Naturally, the supervisor at directory assistance will reprimand the agent who gave the wrong listing. It’s the same thing with search engines and web sites. Search engines are trying to provide internet surfers with good service in order to gain more traffic. The more traffic they have, the more expensive their advertising space becomes. Along comes a web master who abuses their system so that all traffic is directed to his website. How do you think a search engine operator will react to or against the evil web master?

Terry Detty finds Search Engine Marketing and Online Press Release Services his passion. In addition to marketing, he enjoys reading and occasionally goes out for a short walk. His latest interest is a newOnline Email Marketing program he's been using.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_WKa_348/user/index.php
by Kristie Tamsevicius

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

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

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

Plan a space that meets your needs.

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

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

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

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

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

Put it together in a way that makes sense.

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

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

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

Create an inspiring atmosphere you'll love.

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

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

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

Start your Dream Office Today.

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

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

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

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

2005 © Kristie Tamsevicius. All rights reserved.

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

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By Cheow Yu Yuan

There are many ways to increase traffic to your website. You do not have to pay every time.

After some research, I have come out with some methods to drive traffic. Below are some of the ways, which you can group into two main categories: Free and Paid.

Free Ways:
1) Listing of self-created advertisement posts on classified sites. Choose only classified sites, which allow your listings to appear on the top once you update your posts. In this way, people will have a higher chance to view your posts.

2) Conduct cross-linking campaigns with other webmasters who have similar content with your website. Contact them and ask for a reciprocal link exchange. Make sure that your link appears on their pages, which Google indexes.

3) Give away free report/ebook and distribute them actively. Include your website URL and products/services in your free report/ebook.

4) Use article marketing. Write articles about your business industry and submit them to article directories regularly. Include your website URL in the author's resource box and remember to allow viewers to republish your articles freely.

5) Participate in forums and include your website URL in your signature.

6) Apply SEO techniques on your website so that it will rank well in the organic results for various search engines.

7) Submit to all available search engines, esp. Google, Yahoo, and MSN so that they will index your website.

8) Use viral marketing techniques (E.g. "Tell Your Friends" function)

Paid Ways:
9) Use the PPC (Pay Per Click) model by Google. (Google Adwords) Be sure to know what you want to achieve through this PPC campaigns before your start. Do you want to create awareness or generate sales?

10) Online ads banner to create awareness and drive traffic to your website.

About the Author
The author is the co-founder of HomeBizGears.com

HomeBizGears.com strives to provide the resources and gears for you to start YOUR Internet Business. HomeBizGears.com is also the publisher of the e-book "Your Perfect Guide to Start Internet Business". Do visit http://www.homebizgears.com for more information.

Please feel free to republish this article on your website, or distribute it to your friends or clients, as long as you leave the resource box intact.

Cheow Yu Yuan is Co-Founder HomeBizGears.com

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By Chris King

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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So you need to test your new product concepts against prospects, customers, or the trade. Concept testing explores consumers' reactions to a proposed product, message, or ad.

But you have limited time to get voice of the customer reactions and insights about your concepts. And the target segment is difficult to recruit into a traditional focus group room.

Product and marketing managers face these problems all the time. The good news is that online bulletin board focus groups can help you with concept testing.

What are Online Bulletin Board Focus Groups?

The purpose of online bulletin board focus groups (BBFG) is to gain qualitative insights about prospects and customers. You want to understand their perceptions, attitudes, opinions, and behaviors about a topic.

A bulletin board focus group consists of a moderator, 10 to 20 respondents, and observers.

Moderators, respondents and observers meet on a bulletin board focus group web site. But they don’t need to meet at the same time. They can login any time during a BBFG session.

Bulletin board focus groups typically run for three days. The moderator posts questions and concepts, and respondents post their comments. Observers watch.

How Bulletin Board Focus Groups Work

The moderator recruits, screens and invites respondents to a bulletin board focus group.

But, rather than meet face-to-face, participants login to a secure (https) bulletin board web site, using a username and password.

The moderator sets the ground rules, builds rapport, and launches questions, concepts, and probes using a moderator’s discussion guide.

The moderator controls what respondents see, and when they see it: questions, concepts, and respondents’ responses.

Respondents post their comments: opinions, perceptions, attitudes and descriptions of behaviors.

Observers can direct the moderator to probe respondents’ answers. By the way, the respondents cannot see the observers.

Transcripts are immediately available for analysis. You get instant word-for-word quotes and insights.

Qualitative Product Concept Testing

This is how you use bulletin board focus groups for concept testing.

The moderator presents concepts on the BBFG web site. This is where you can show products, ads, messages and web sites. The moderator shows concepts using several formats: written descriptions, images, video clips or web sites.

Respondents mark-up concepts, using mark-up tools available with BBFG technology. For example, they can highlight words and images they like and dislike. And they can add their comments about specific items in the concept.

You gain valuable voice of the customer information about your concepts. You see specific words, sentences and images that respondents like and dislike. They reveal their feelings and thoughts about your concepts.

You can see if customers’ perceptions about concepts match up with your perceptions.

Another useful BBFG tool is “uninfluenced answers.” The moderator can control when respondents see other respondents’ posts. With the uninfluenced answer feature turned on, respondents must answer a question before they can see answers from other respondents about the question. The moderator can reduce group bias, using the uninfluenced answer feature. Uninfluenced answers are an ideal tool for concept testing.

Benefits of Bulletin Board Focus Groups

Using bulletin board focus groups, you can assess customers' or prospects’ reactions to product concepts, ads, messages and web sites quickly. You get rich, voice-of-the-customer, word-for-word quotes and actionable insights.

Plus you avoid travel time associated with traditional face-to-face focus groups and save thousands of dollars in travel expenses.

You can even interview busy executives, subject matter experts, professionals, and on-the-go people who don’t have time to attend face-to-face focus groups.

Also, you get better geographical respondent representation than face-to-face focus groups.

BBFG is a viable research tool. Seventy-one percent of U.S. adults use the Internet (early 2007), according to PEW Internet Research. That is about 160 million U.S. adults.

BBFG is one of the fastest-growing market research tools today. Many companies are turning to professional moderators who use it.

Bulletin board focus groups are effective for concept testing. Test new product ideas, ads, and messages, and gain valuable customer insights. Use insights to develop new products and marketing programs.

Copyright © 2007, Henk Hoets. All rights reserved.

Henk Hoets is an RIVA trained professional focus group moderator and qualitative marketing research consultant.

Henk has moderated hundreds of focus groups and in-depth interviews for major corporations, and small and medium businesses.

He is the founder of Hendriks Research, a qualitative marketing research firm. He also is a former product and marketing manager and 20-year veteran of the wireless industry. He holds an MBA.

For more information about online focus groups and focus group moderating, please visit http://h-focusgroups.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_WKa_348/user/index.php
By Michael Kay

"Designing a Web Business for Success" talks to the deliberate design and creation of a web business to make a profit. It uses critical business science concepts to discuss the idea and implications of effective design using examples from existing web businesses.

Every business everywhere has a design, intentionally or not; a structure that is tuned to generating profit by exploiting what is known as leverage and sustainable competitive advantage.

Let us look at a few offline examples:

If you are a manufacturer, your design involves identifying a market opportunity, developing a product, building a factory, locking in distribution, and handling customer warranties and complaints. Your leverage is in the capital you put into the factory. Your competitive advantage can include superior products and product development, lower manufacturing costs, access to capital, and locking up the distribution. You measure your success by return on investment (the capital bit) and market share (the advantage bit.)

If you were one of the big management consulting firms, your design is simple – hire the best minds – your leverage is usually a few (well-connected) partners selling work at partner prices but done by low cost juniors. Your competitive advantage; the relationships you form with clients who then prefer you to the unknown competition for jobs on which their own employment security may depend.

Things are different on the web and much more fragile. Examples…On the web, you write an e-book, put up a web site and drive traffic to it by locking into search engine keywords. That is your design. The leverage, you are endlessly told, is the small amount of time spent on the book and the competitive advantage is your expertise – captured in the book.

The problem for the web entrepreneur is that digital products are extremely easy to copy eliminating the leverage. Search engine competition is fierce and positions unstable. In addition, the apparent expertise is as easily replicated as the book (no sustainable competitive advantage.)

The bottom line: On the web, most entrepreneurial activity is transient. People enter, create something, and hold on to it as long as they can but then their position is eroded, their profits drop, and they exit. If you want to develop a long-term business, you have to shift to something much different. Thinking about the three components – design, leverage, and competitive advantage will help you enormously. A couple of examples:

In the e-book field, e-Book Wholesaler sells private label e-books to resellers with full resell rights. The design is very simple. Tom Hua, creator of e-Book Wholesaler, sources books from a stable of authors and offers them to the market with resell rights.

Very simple. However, he levers and protects his business cleverly.

The basic leverage is in outsourcing writing and selling the same book many times. He also levers his marketing by allowing each book to be personalized with your address, codes, and favorite affiliations, (generating viral marketing opportunities for the buyer plus selling memberships of the e-Book Wholesaler site at the same time - automated affiliate marketing.)

Even though he uses a membership site formula (levering a single sale into regular income), his sustainable advantage is low, being mainly in the inventory of books he has. His formula is easily copied or muddied, the primary barriers being; getting it organized and building membership. Indeed, there are others like his, including; The Viral Profits Warehouse ™, and the increasing number of private resell rights sellers.

In the AdSense field, JVMembers have built something original. The design is again simple. They set up a number of AdSense sites; they promote them on the web, and populate the sites through contributions by their members. The members write short articles and share in the AdSense revenue generated from their pages.

The leverage is in the writing of the articles. JVMembers need thousands of individuals generating fresh, original content all the time (very attractive to the search engines). These thousands of writers cost JVMembers nothing and for their role in organizing it, they get 50% of the AdSense revenues. Sustainable advantage is not high in that the concept could be easily copied.

Our two examples share the characteristic of having simple structures, using leverage well, but being readily copied. Are there web businesses that cannot be easily copied? Look at the following examples:

Saleshoo is in the eBay drop ship business. They use a regular design – sourcing product and distributing it to members who have pre-sold it on eBay. Members can also buy for their own account and can derive affiliate income (marketing to new members.)

So where is the advantage? It lies in excellence of service. The major problem faced by drop ship users is reliability of supply. If you sell something on eBay, the buyer expects you to deliver it. Failure of a drop shipper can impact your reputation with eBay. Saleshoo's focus is on reliability of supply as well as good prices.

The Internet Marketing Center is a $60m business selling web tools and education. Their sustainable advantage; they started out as a guru business and migrated to a bigger entity. Today, their advantage lies in their exceptional in-house web marketing talent plus their huge affiliate organization and finally their access to capital to build exceptional products with high production values.

The message; design is critical and you need to be aware of it. Leverage is mostly well understood; analyze a few businesses to see the main components. Competitive advantage is difficult and typically found in complexity (the base of reliable sub-suppliers owned by Saleshoo) Science Articles, service (reliable supply) or mass (as in IMC).

Michael Kay edits the * Insights Letter* and *The Home-Based Business Review*. These are FREE publications stuffed with ideas, access to resources and free gifts. Subscribe now at http://www.HBBResearch.comTo find out more about writing sales letters and web business in general find "The Value of Design" athttp://www.HBBReview.com/Main_Index.html

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By Graham Burt

Email Marketing can be a very effective way of getting leads or sales. In this article, Graham Burt explains the dangers of spam. How can it harm a business? It is a very important subject. Not knowing the laws of spam can indeed close down your business.

Advertise Yes, But Do not Spam

There is a big difference between advertising and spam. It is unfortunate that a high percentage of new internet business owners do not realize the distinction between the two. This is critical. While an interesting, adequately written Internet marketing campaign can help to entice new clients and have existing clients stay with you, spam is liable to distance both new clients and existing clients. This can be harmful to profit margins for a business owner.

Email campaigns can be effective tools in the business of Internet marketing. Email campaigns may incorporate mailing regular e-newsletters that contain useful information, as well as advertisements, short instructive email courses, or emails giving discounts on goods and services. Trusted clients who opt into your email list may not label these emails as spam. They may buy other goods and services from your business as an upshot of this marketing procedure. In addition, other internet users who have specifically requested more details about your products and services normally also find this kind of advertising to be useful.

Email recipients who did not ask for information are liable to see your emails as spam. Making use of email addresses is a deceiving approach and using such addresses to send out a hoard of emails will usually be considered spam. Take heed, if you are reported for spam on a regular basis, you are likely to endanger your business. Having said that, most companies will allow you to explain your actions and let you off with a warning. However, there are those who are much stricter and will just close your account.

It is in your best interest that you learn as much as possible about the laws of Spam. Many mail providers have built-in spam filters. It will automatically block certain words; stopping your marketing email from getting through. Purchasing a software program that can check your emails before you send them so that your efforts are not wasted.

Lastly, Focus Groups provide a marvelous possibility for business owners to promote their business. By taking part in a discussion, you will unearth a huge number of Internet users who probably have an interest in your market. You could consider including a link back to your website in your signature or posting the link to the dialogue. In all events, care should be taken to study the Focus Group guidelines to certify you are not carrying out anything improper. Replying to Focus Groups, you stumble on, and posting a message containing a link to your website at a time when it is not relevant to the discussion is liable to be construed as spam by other members. If they start to look at your posts as spam, they are not likely to look in on your website via the links you post and more likely, the administrators will exclude you from their Focus Group.

Banner ads are one of the utmost favorite marketing strategies, which go along with an Internet Marketing program. These ads emerge at the top of websites and they are displayed across the width of the website. It is vital to recognize how they can be overused and be labeled as spam. Randomly placing your banner ad on a few websites, which are expected to captivate visitors similar to your target market, is streetwise marketing Free Articles, placement of your banner ad on any website, which will advertise the ad heedless of the target audience, can be construed as spam.

Graham Burt is a very experienced Internet Marketer because he learned from the experts. It is well known that 95% of new online business entrepreneurs fail due to a lack of knowledge. This website: http://www.roadmap-to-millions.com has ample content provided by Internet Millionaires to give anyone wishing to be successful at Internet Marketing an advantage over most.

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By Graham Burt

Getting traffic to a website can be expensive. In this article, Graham Burt explains the benefits of writing and publishing articles, which is one of the most inexpensive ways of driving traffic to a website.

You can achieve marketing your website and product for absolutely nothing. Article writing is one of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase earnings.

How does this happen? Create articles relative to your website content and submit them to "free content" article submission sites. This is simple to do. It takes very little time and can very quickly increase your website visitors, sales, and in turn, your revenue.

How can article writing increase traffic and revenue? The article on the free content submission site contains a link connecting back to the website. Readers, after studying your articles, may opt to click on this link and pay you an unplanned visit. Having articles on the free content submission sites is also allowing these articles to be obtainable to many other webmasters who may choose to publicize that particular article on their website.

If they do, your article will still contain a link back to your website. Anyone who reads the article can choose to click on the link back, in order to look in on your website. As the amount of your published articles multiply in numbers, and even more and more of them are appearing on numerous websites, the increasing number of links to your website increases as well.

Main search engines are paying a lot of respect to incoming links to websites so they can judge the worth of a particular website. Search engines attach extra value to a website that has more incoming links. Some normally then increase your website's positioning in the search engine results.

If you website is marketing a particular product, the links that your articles have achieved may mean new potential business for you. If visitors skim through it, you never know if they could be in need of what you are offering now or maybe in the future. Many people may have particular information on their minds, but cannot choose between the numerous choices online. They read one of your articles, get attracted by the topic written, go to your website, and became enticed by what you have to offer.

Most search engines do not only index the websites, they also index published articles. They are likely to index any story written about your own site's subject. Therefore, when somebody searches for s specific subject, the list of results will probably have your website accredited, or may, display the articles that you have authored. In addition, you got this attention through no effort of your own, except for the submission, which took only a few minutes.

Innumerable webmasters are rapidly reviving their old essay styles. They are setting aside a part of their week to pen new articles relating to their website rather than carrying out alternative and more expensive means of marketing. Marketing a website to make it known is easier if you have articles multiplying the links and making it easy for visitors browsing the internet to find what they are looking for. The fact is that vast amounts of people are now bringing their buying needs online. Having your website on the search engines by virtue of your articles is one way of letting visitors find out about you and the type of business you specialize in.

The commendable thing about articles is you can pen about subjects that internet surfers would wish to learn about, achieving this in the lightest of moods, but still in a proficient way. If you stop to think about it, penning one article and submitting it to the free content websites only takes a few minutes of your day. In no time at all, the articles are distributed to more sites than you can imagine possible. Before you can grasp what is taking place, you are acquiring many more visitors than you had previously.

If you believe you are wasting your day creating these articles, think ahead to the future when you will see them printed and extensively broadcasted on the internet. Not to forget the immediate regard and scrutiny that people are allocating to your website and your goods or services. Try penning various subject articles. You should be guaranteed of a rapid gush in site visitors Science Articles, link value and attentiveness.

Not anything comes close to acquiring gains for something you got for nothing.

Graham Burt is a very experienced Internet Marketer. It is well known that 95% of new online business entrepreneurs fail due to a lack of knowledge. This website: http://www.roadmap-to-millions.com has ample content provided by Internet Millionaires to get anyone wishing to be successful at Internet Marketing an advantage over most.

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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 when I logged in to check my back office, neither person showed. To their credit, the company believed me and paid me the commissions, but it made me wonder how many times that has happened, as I had marketed their system online for several months. I am sure I sent them a lot of business I was never paid for.

4. Training. In Network Marketing, your sponsor is motivated to GIVE YOU all their best stuff. The better educated you are, the more money they make. In Affiliate Marketing, the whole game is to SELL you the information you need to succeed. If you join a good Network Marketing company that is web savvy, you will get free training that any web marketer would charge you thousands of dollars for.

I have spent thousands of hours, and tens of thousands of dollars marketing affiliate programs in my Network Marketing business, and the bottom line is this: the e-mail that says, "Congratulations, a new distributor has joined your business" is much more satisfying than the notification letting you know you sold an e-book or online program.

In the battle between Network Marketing and Affiliate Marketing, there is no comparison. Affiliate marketing is, for most people, a flimsy business with a revolving door of "hot programs" that come and go on a monthly basis. On the other hand, Network Marketing offers growing residual leveraged income, marketing consumable products to a growing network of distributors and retail customers. For the average person who wants to create his or her own business from home, it is still the easiest, least expensive and most rewarding way to go.

Dave Sherwin is a master network marketer that has discovered how to build a massive global organization using little more than his computer internet connection. To learn more see:http://escapethematrix.net/x2o .

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By Steven Gerber

Sometimes staying at home has its own advantages. Not going to work on the other hand may pose other problems. For instance, where will you get the money to finance your daily expenses? Some people may just laugh about this fact, but staying at home does not necessarily mean that you cannot earn money.

Yes, you heard it right. You can actually make money even if you do not leave the house. How you might ask, it is through reseller programs. Many people are attracted to take part in many forums on the net, and most people are into affiliate marketing. Why not participate in a different venture like reseller programs.

If you have second thoughts, then first familiarize yourself with what reseller programs are. It is simple; a reseller program means that you will be a retailer for a certain company. So how do you do this? Start by signing up for a reselling program. The company, which supports the program, will tell you what products you are going to sell, and the equal charge for each item sold. In most cases, you will need your own website, and this is where you are going to sell your products. If a certain customer is interested, put all his/her personal information in your control panel, and the hosting company will be the one to set them up for a particular program.

There are also companies that provide a website, and you will just build it according to your preferences and set the prices. This is much better because the website is already there, and you just need to make little improvements so the site will suit your preference.

There are free programs, while others require you to pay membership fees or set up fees. Do a bit of research on the different reseller programs. You can find one that will work for you.

Reseller programs are potential income generators, especially for those who want to conduct a living in their homes. Although this is less popular compared to the affiliates, it also offers opportunities for earning income. You just need to get things done in the proper manner. It requires low maintenance but produces high profit for financial independence.

Being a reseller does not make you an employee of a certain company. You act independently. You will be paid based on the sign ups made and this will done on a recurring basis. This means you can do the work at your most preferred time.

Before signing up for any reseller program, there are certain things to consider.

First, identify what you want to resell. Almost all hosting companies prefer outsourcing so they can focus more on running their business.

Then choose among the programs available on the internet. Make sure you choose one having a positive record and already well established. Do not jump at offerings, which promises high yields, yet is not well experienced or established.

After choosing the program, its time to attract prospects Psychology Articles, and the best way is to look for smaller firms or individuals.

Hosting companies prefer reseller programs because they are able to cut down costs on staffing and/or equipments. They only need to pay a minimal amount in exchange for your services. It would be best to find a particular situation in which you will be comfortable to resell in order to be successful in this venture.

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

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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 Steven Gerber

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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By Steven Gerber

Many people prefer to start a home business on the Internet to provide extra cash or to provide extra income for the household. Aside from their regular jobs, people today are now also starting home businesses. With the increasing prices of basic commodities, you would want some extra money to keep up with the household expenses.

However, you should consider many online businesses. The number of online businesses available tends to create confusion as to which online business is the best kind of business to become involved. One good online home business that you can definitely earn money from is through affiliate programs.

Affiliate programs are now one of the things you will constantly see and hear on the Internet. Because you do not actually need to sell anything, this kind of business is ideal for someone who does not have enough capital to start a home business. In addition, this kind of home business is a good moneymaking venture, recommended for everyone.

You do not have to have an MBA to start this kind of business. All you need is a website with a particular theme. For example, if you are a fitness expert, you can take advantage of this knowledge not only in the gym as a fitness trainer, but you can also use this knowledge for an affiliate program business. Try to build a website that has a fitness-training topic. You can compose an article about fitness training and post them in your website.

After making a website about fitness, you can now choose an affiliate program representing the same niche. It can be about fitness supplements, such as protein powders or pills, or it can also be about fitness equipment. This will be like a banner or advertising on your website. Once someone clicks on that banner or advertising, the visitor is directed to your affiliate company's website where all the fitness products are displayed for them to buy. They will enter the website with your name as the person who referred that person to the company's website. If they purchase something, you will automatically earn a commission for every product purchased.

Now you know how affiliate programs work. Now you have to learn how to let people online know that your website exists. You have to advertise your website in order to generate targeted traffic. One way to do this is by publishing articles related to your website's niche in popular article publishing websites. You have to remember that you should include your website's URL in order to let them click on the link included in the article and instantly direct them to your website.

Since your article is related to your website's niche, you can be sure that people who are reading your article is interested in visiting your website. This means you will be increasing the chances of generating targeted traffic and decreasing spam traffic.

Remember the key to affiliate program is laser-targeted traffic. This is why you should advertise your website well. Spend a little money on programs that will improve your chances of generating targeted traffic. There are many ways you can generate targeted traffic Free Reprint Articles, and making articles, and publishing them on article publishing websites is just one of them.

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

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By Lynn VanDyke

Auto-responders can generate sales, increase customer satisfaction and save you time. You can get innovative ideas on using auto-responders and know why your customers will appreciate you more for it.

When you walk into a department store and the sales assistants are smiling, it creates a sense of camaraderie, which makes you want to return. Personalized attention is the best marketing strategy for improving sales. Everyone likes to feel important and like knowing his or her business is appreciated.

It takes more creativity to generate these kinds of feelings online. Computers and websites can be very impersonal. Auto-responders were developed to help you make sure your website customer knows how much you appreciate their business. They replace the smiles you would give them on a one-to-one basis.

Grinning With Success Customers can be very demanding. They do not like waiting and they want to know their order is being processed quickly. It is just a fact in the marketplace. If you own an online business or have a business where customers can contact you via email, then you probably know how quickly your inbox can fill up with customer emails.

You can pay someone to answer all the emails, but that may not be cost effective. Auto-responders are software programs that will automatically respond to emails with no intervention by you. When someone sends you an email or orders a product from your website, the auto-responder immediately sends a message of acknowledgment.

This assures the customer that he or she is not lost in cyberspace. The customer is smiling with satisfaction and you are grinning with success.

Auto-responders are used as web-based and non web-based programs. The web-based programs run on the server and usually have a specialized script written by the company. Auto-responders attached to email programs usually have programmed pre-set responses to make choices.

The auto-responder has an actual email address. It responds to the customer and gives the customer a way to answer with questions or concerns. However, auto-responders are used in a variety of ways to build business.

- Can send auto-responder emails at predetermined times to maintain contact with the customer

- Used as a way to distribute newsletters and articles to current and potential customers

- Creates mailing lists of email addresses

- Broadcasts advertisements, sales events, and special discount opportunities

- Distributes new product information

- Offer topical courses that are split up over several lessons encouraging repeated customer contact- Send reminders

- Send trial versions of a service you sell

- Use to transmit links that the customer can access and that lead to your website

- Email testimonials about products or services

Auto-responders are used to keep existing customers and generate new business. They are marketing and time management tools. They are also cost effective.

Beaming With Pride Choosing the right auto-responder depends upon your particular circumstances.

- Budget Limitations

- Desire to prevent spam emails being sent from your automated email address collection

- Need for multiple email responses

There are simple and free programs available online, but their capabilities are limited. If you can afford it, the best option is a web-based auto-responder program that offers a large amount of flexibility.

In between the free and web-based programs are stand-alone programs you run with your email program. Whatever program you choose Article Submission, auto-responders will help you create a customer friendly business whether it is online or not. They are a way to show your customers that you and your company strongly value customer relations.

Auto-responders are technology that can also create an opt-in customer base. An opt-in is when a potential customer responds to a pop-up or online form and requests to be added to your customer email list. The uses of auto-responders are unlimited. Anyone who needs to develop a satisfied customer bases should be using auto-responders.

Lynn VanDyke is a highly in-demand SBI Certified Webmaster. She creates web businesses that generate hot, targeted and free leads from all major search engines. Learn more about her and her services (http://www.lynnvandyke.com/).

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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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By Karl Stadler

Some AdSense sites are performing well and others just exist in the abyss of cyberspace. Make sure your AdSense site is the successful one and keep it out of the abyss.

What makes AdSense work? There are many ideas, as there are theories. Some maintain it is the placement of the ad on the page, some say integrate it into the page, and it must have the look and feel of the webpage. It should be at the top, in this format, and so the secrets continue.

There is only one secret to AdSense success; it is nothing more than traffic. Without substantial traffic, your AdSense pages will not make you money. There is proof of this statement, just look at the click through rate you are receiving on your current pages. You will immediately notice that it takes many visitors to generate a click.

If things go really well, you could have as high as fifty percent and upwards CTR. This is possible, has been done and proven, but it will not just happen on any old page.

Placement of the ad does play a role but it is not as big as many would like you to believe. Information on the best placement of AdSense code on your page is no secret and is free information on Google. It is called a heat map. It will show you exactly where to place your ads for maximum exposure and CTR.

The problem with most AdSense driven sites is exactly that, they are AdSense driven. Nobody seems to care about the visitor landing on the page, becoming click machines supposed to make you money. According to most AdSense sites, they are there for you and not the other way around. No second thought is given to the surfing experience of the visitor.

You have been made to believe that you need a multitude of sites and use all sorts of templates and secret positioning tactics for maximum income. Therefore, every second some would-be AdSense millionaire is putting up thousands of crappy pages all over the internet to get those AdSense clicks that will elevate them to the illusive four and five figure AdSense earners. They tend to forget the internet marketplace is probably the most dynamic market there is, and changes every day. Certain elements remain the same. You have to be able to broaden your thinking and think out of the box.

Let us go back to the least important person for most AdSense publishers, the visitor to the page. These poor souls land on your pages through either generic or PPC traffic. Either way, you have the possibility t they might be clicking on one of your AdSense links. The only driving force for the visitor to click your link is he found the information on your page that related to his search. After going through your page, he will click on one of your links in AdSense to further his search.

Now AdSense displays relevant ads on your page based on the content of the page. If the visitor is not finding what they are looking for, how do you expect AdSense to find related content ads to place on your page?

By considering your visitor and actually providing for them, you are also insuring for yourself that the correct AdSense ads will be displaying on your pages, and hence will deliver a good CTR. Just putting up one thousand new pages with some template or other automatic page-creating device will certainly not hit the mark.

You would probably be better off with ten well designed and optimized pages, not only for the search engines, but also for your visitors Business Management Articles, and you might be able to ensure a profitable AdSense campaign.

There will always be elements that remain a constant no matter how dynamic the market. Utilize these to their best effect, and change with the dynamics and be as profitable as you can. To get the real information visit http://www.yourenterprize.com/adsense/adsense-secrets.htm

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By Elaine Currie

Working at home gives you the freedom to use your time in a flexible way. With no boss to set deadlines for you, it is up to you to ensure no element of time wasting creeps into your flexible schedule.

If you are new to working at home online, one of the hardest things you have to do will be to learn effective time management. Time is too precious to be wasted. It is essential to remain focused on the task you set out to do and complete that task before starting another. There will be numerous distractions inviting you to wander off course spending a little time in some completely unplanned activity. For anyone working at home, there will be distractions; such as a ringing phone, a parcel delivery, a demanding child, a bright day that just begs you to wax the car, a dog that wants walking, etc.

When working at home online, in addition to all the normal domestic distractions, you contend with the Internet's own array of distractions. If you thought controlling domestic life while working at home was complicated, the early days of working online will seem like trying to perform delicate surgery in the middle of a three-ring circus. Offline distractions will quietly tempt you to wander off course. The distractions you will encounter on the Internet positively clamor for your attention.

Working at home provides the freedom to make your own schedule and the flexibility to work any hour of day or night you choose. The main attraction of working at home is there will be no boss breathing down your neck. In the absence of deadlines set by a boss, it is up to you to use self-discipline to get your work done.

When you work for yourself, you will undoubtedly start with every intention of managing your time sensibly and following a schedule that will enable you to balance work and family life. Working at home online involves more than just good intentions. It requires planning, determination, persistence, and unwavering self-discipline.

When you first start working at home online, you will be tempted to check your website at regular intervals. You will be tempted to check your sales figures several times a day. You will feel the need to check in at your favorite forums, and your email inbox will have an almost irresistible attraction. It is natural to feel like this. Each of these detours from your planned day will not take long on its own. If you add up the time spent on each one, you will be looking at an hour or more wasted each day.

Those self-inflicted time wasters are a danger in themselves, but the danger lurking within them is worse. Every visit you make to a forum and every email you read can contain a link that you will not be able to resist clicking. This is where working at home online has unique dangers you would not experience if you had an offline home business. Clicking any one of those links can lead you to a website full of information that looks as if it might be of benefit to you. There will be offers of tools to save you time, e-books to educate you, and advertising that promises to make you a fortune. Your decision to read just one email can lead you down a path that costs you another half hour in wasted time.

The problem with these online temptations is they tend to arrive disguised as something to help you in your home business. Ironically, many will claim to save you time while you are building your business. You will develop an instinct that enables you to ignore these offers because you have seen it all, (or something very similar) before, but the early days are a dangerous time. Your best defense in the early days is self-discipline. The solution is not always easy but it is simple: make a plan and stick to it. Have a list of things to do each day and make yourself work through the list systematically. The best way to do this is to use a system of small goals and rewards to keep you on the straight and narrow path until good time management replaces those bad habits.

If you fail to exercise self-discipline and resist the temptation to wander the Internet back roadsFree Reprint Articles, you will find yourself spending long hours at your computer with nothing to show for the time spent apart maybe from a touch of eyestrain.

Do you earn money working at home? For more time management tips and useful home business resources, visit Elaine Currie's Work At Home Directory (http://www.huntingvenus.com/).

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By Elaine Currie

You probably think working at home, just you and your computer, in splendid isolation with phone calls diverted to message, would make it impossible for enemies to get to you and disrupt your working day. Well, this works with most enemies but there are two villains who can get past your defenses.

Starting your own Internet home based business can be the best career move you ever make. No other occupation, self-employed or otherwise, can give you the freedom and flexibility you get when you work at home online. You can relax and enjoy working at home in peace managing your time to suit yourself and just concentrate on the important goal of earning money.

Anyone working online from home will tell you, that you might spend all your working time completely on your own without speaking to another human being, you will still encounter enemies who will do their utmost to steal your most valuable commodity: time. Watch out for two particular villains; they are procrastination and loss of focus. If you let either one of them into your life, you will find time vanishing with nothing left to show for the lost hours.

Most people will admit to allowing procrastination to steer them off course. If you know you have to perform a task you do not enjoy, it is only human wishing to postpone it and do something more enjoyable. The Internet is full of enjoyable distractions just a click away from where you are working. If you want to succeed with your Internet home based business, you cannot afford to give in to the temptation to procrastinate. The unwavering exercise of self-discipline is essential for effective time management.

You can strengthen your self-discipline by creating a protective force field around yourself. Make a list of each task you need to complete during the day. Check off each task as you complete it. Allow yourself a small reward in the form of a coffee break, exercise break, or even just an imagined congratulatory pat on the back. Then continue with the next task. As long as you stay focused on the list, the force field will remain intact and procrastination will be unable to attack you or influence you in any way. Set one foot off the list, breach the force field, and that old thief, procrastination, will grab you by the ankle and drag you off into the deep dark Internet forest in less time than it takes to blink.

Procrastination is easy to spot but loss of focus is sneaky. Loss of focus pops out from behind trees and beckons you to make a detour from your planned route. Loss of focus wears many disguises ranging from irresistibly friendly to impressively businesslike. If you manage to catch the bandit and strip away the disguise, you will see the ugly little gremlin for what it really is. If you let loss of focus lead you off the path, you will find yourself miles from home without a trail of breadcrumbs to help you retrace your steps. The minutes will seem to flash by in fast forward. You hear a faint gremlin chuckle as your workday is devoured.

One sure weapon will keep you safe from the ‘loss of focus’ gremlins. It is not really a stun gun, but it acts like one against these gremlins. Fortunately, the weapon is free and you already have it in your possession - it is the bookmark button on your computer. Never make eye contact or try to negotiate with ‘loss of focus’. Immediately, when he pops up, zap him with the bookmark button and he will disappear from your working hours. Better still, he will be held captive until you have finished your work and are ready to deal with him when you choose. Don't be afraid to zap’ loss of focus’ any time he puts in an appearance, it won't hurt him and you will find that this enemy has been transformed into a useful ally through a few hours confinement in your bookmarks folder.

There is no substitute for self-discipline in time management when you are trying to earn a living online, but backing it up with a couple of free weapons Find Article, will help to keep self-discipline strong.

Do you earn money working at home? For more time management tips and useful home business resources visit Elaine Currie's Work At Home Directory (http://www.huntingvenus.com/).

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By Wendy Maynard

Let us just start by saying that you MUST have a website, no ifs, ands, or buts. Without one, your prospects will not perceive you as a professional. In addition, you are missing so many potential sales and marketing opportunities if you do not have a website.

A website is one of the most powerful marketing tools that you can implement. You can update it immediately; it is unique to your business; thousands of people who are searching for EXACTLY what you have to offer can see it; and it works as your sales force 24/7. In addition, it can be expanded and changed over time.

A website is a crucial marketing tool that can do the following for your business:

-Increase your visibility and credibility.

-Provide instant information and answers to your prospects' questions.

-Show your prospects that "I know how you feel."

-Allow your prospects and customers the ability to see the full spectrum of your services/products.

-Give your site visitors a taste of your personality – you are already building a relationship with them before you ever talk to them!-Tie together all of your other marketing efforts.

-Offer a storefront to sell your info products including reports, books, teleclasses, e-courses, and digital videos.

-Expand your geographic reach to a much broader audience.

-Provide a place for referrers to send their friends and associates.

-Decrease the length of your sales cycle because by the time your prospects call you, they have had an opportunity to learn about your business online.

Ask yourself a question, "If your website were a salesperson, would you fire him or her?" If the answer is "yes," well…we have some work to do! Do not try to design your own website (unless you are a web designer). There is a steep learning curve and you should devote your time to revenue-making activities. In addition, unless you have a background in web design, your site will look like YOU designed it.

When you hire a firm to design your website, make sure you find a company that understands marketing, as well. There are some web designers who can make your website look pretty, but it may not be effective as a sales tool. You want a team who can make your site easy to navigate with a compelling design AND works for you to sell your services and products.

Key pages for your website include:

-home page: Your home page is the most important page – this is what people will see first. This must be a page that operates as a Sales Letter that explains what you offer, how you will solve your prospects' problems, and what action you want your website visitors to take.

-About: All about you, your business, your staff, company history, and philosophy. You can explain how you work and your approach.

-Services/Products: This is a place where your site visitors can go to find out more about what you are selling.

-Contact: Provide a place to give your contact information. Make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch with you.

-Other Key Pages: Other pages could include Clients (list of your customers), Case Studies (demonstrates who you have helped and how), Testimonials (your customers' raving reviews), Resources (things that your prospects and customers may find helpful.

People do not read websites as if they read a newspaper or book. Instead, they scan until they find a link that looks interesting and then they click on it. Therefore, it is crucial that you make your website pages compelling and make it obvious what a person is supposed to do next. For example, "Purchase now" or "Read more."

On your homepage, start with a compelling headline that speaks directly to your target audience. Next, create a series of "pull" marketing questions or statements for your home page. These are problem-oriented - your prospects should be able to read these and answer, "Yes!” Then, tell your site visitors that they have a way out. Explain exactly what your prospects can do to solve the problems you have just laid out. Always provide a call to action. Be sure to explain EXACTLY what you want your visitors to do. For instance, you may want to get them to subscribe to your ezine, go to a specific page, or to register for a seminar.

In your website, be sure to include pages in your website that give a comprehensive explanation of your services, products, or programs. Be sure to give visitors information about you and your staff, your clients, the way you work, and be sure to include testimonials. I also recommend that you provide a way to capture the names of your prospects. There are many effective online tools to do this. Otherwise, they can move on and you may never hear from them again. So, offer a free report and/or an ezine in exchange for your visitors' contact information.

ACTION ITEM: Do you have a website currently? If you do not yet have a website, what can you do to build an online presence? What pages will you include? If you already have a website Article Submission, is it working for you? What can you do to your current website to improve its selling power? What areas can you add to your website (or plan for a new site) to enhance its stickiness – how can you keep people coming back? Get started now as it can often take weeks or months to overhaul a website to make it a super selling machine.

Wendy Maynard, the Marketing Maven, publishes REMARKABLE MARKETING, a weekly ezine for business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. If you are ready to skyrocket your sales and easily attract customers, subscribe today at http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/ezine.html.

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By Steven Gerber

Selling is one of the best ways to earn money. Actual selling can be difficult, especially if you need to go to different places, carry your products, and offer it face to face with your customer. Some are even ashamed to do the actual physical selling, because they do not want to face rejection.

Selling, nowadays, is done through physical product selling, and through affiliate programs. Have you heard of that term before? If you are new on the net, it simply means selling a product or service through commission basis. However, this involves online selling, unlike the physical selling that most people dread.

If you have your own website, it is much easier to start an affiliate program. It is an opportunity that you must not ignore. It can offer you a considerable sum of money, if you know what it is all about, and how it works

Here are important things that you should know before you join an affiliate program:

1. There are different types of affiliate programs; including the pay per sale, pay per click, and pay per lead, bounty, and two-tier.

Once a customer buys a particular item, you will be paid a commission by 'pay per sale'.

The 'pay per click' type pays you every time a customer visits the site, and it does not matter if the customer made a purchase or not, however, you will earn more if the customers purchase something. With a PPC type, companies pay at the range of .05 dollars to .15 dollars.

You are paid a one-time fee only for each customer that visits the site; the payment is usually between two dollars to five dollars. If a customer signs an application, you will get the higher yield.

If you refer a customer, you will get a finder's fee. In the future, if the customer makes any purchases, you will no longer receive a commission, and this is called a bounty.

If you make direct sales, you get a commission; and if your sub-affiliates generate sales, you will also obtain a commission out of their sales, this is called two-tiered.

2. The benefits of an affiliate program include: Bringing prospects to visit your site. You will not deal with people such as wholesalers, brokers, customer service, employees, technical support, process orders, warranties, and many more. You do not need to stay on your computer to keep track of the site. You are free to go for a vacation, rest, etc.; and you can do it from anywhere as long as there is an internet connection.

After weighing all these factors, it is time to decide if you will join an affiliate program. Once you decide to join, the company will give you a URL or a link. This links are used to gain access to the company's website.

This will allow the company to monitor your website, and the payment or commission that should be given to you.

Affiliate programs make money, so why not join the force. The internet is just there waiting for interested people who are willing to venture into different business opportunities. If you are capable, and can become an effective affiliate Computer Technology Articles, act now and join.

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

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By Kevin Sinclair

You need an article for your newsletter, and you need it now. In fact, you can spare only forty minutes to get the article written, edited, and slotted into place.

Breaking it down, this means, you have to write the first draft in around 30 minutes. Not a lot of time - especially if you do not consider yourself much of a writer. The good news is that you can do it - and do it well. Here is how to generate a 400-500-word article in a short time.

1. Turbo-Outlining.

Give yourself 5-10 minutes for this part of the process. If you already have a topic in mind, you are in front. If not, you have exactly 90 seconds to decide. Presumably you understand where your readers are coming from (if not, you are in big trouble.) Use those 90 seconds to jot down words or phrases that summarize anything that is likely to be causing them a problem. Naturally, this needs to be a problem that YOU can help solve in your article.

From this list, choose the topic that appeals to you most. Now - in three and a half minutes - it is time to outline the article. Use these headers to guide you:

a. State the problem - and promise a solution. (Just jot down quick notes at this stage.)

b. Outline the process for solving the problem. Divide this into 3-5 logical steps. Label each step (this will become a sub-heading in your article).

c. Jot down points you want to make in your conclusion. This can be advice on how to ensure that the problem does not recur, or offer links to resources that can help. End on a positive note that leaves the reader feeling glad that he read your advice.

2. Speed-Writing Your First Draft.

Allow 20-25 minutes to write the first draft. Spend an extra few minutes on the first paragraph. This is where your reader will decide whether to continue reading. Your job is to show you understand exactly what the problem is and to sound confident that you can help them solve it. Do not use long-winded sentences or ramble on about how awful it is - just get to the point. By the end of the first half-dozen sentences, your reader needs to feel connected to read more and find out the solution.

Each of your 3-5 sub-headings should clearly indicate what the following paragraphs contain Remember, many readers skim-read an article to see if it is worth reading. Look at the words you have chosen - can you rephrase these headings to make the whole process sound simpler or faster?

Under each sub-heading, write two or three paragraphs pertaining to the problem-solving strategy you are outlining. Since you are writing this quickly, it is likely you will automatically adopt a forthright, casual tone. If you find yourself writing in overly formal language, stop, and reconsider. The best 'how to' articles use simple language and everyday terminology. Make it as easy as possible for your reader to follow.

The ending is just as important as the opening paragraph. It is vital not to let the article fizzle out in a weak conclusion. You need to leave your reader feeling inspired, energized, and confident that they can follow your advice and fix the problem.

You can:
- tell them how much time/energy/money they will save by following your advice
- Share a 'secret' of some kind that will help them move on to the next step (be more successful, save even more time, etc)
- point them to further helps or resources. (These can be provided by you and your web site, or by others who have a level of expertise.)

3. Tweak and Polish.

After thirty minutes, you should have an excellent basis for your article. If you can afford to take fifteen minutes out at this stage for a cup of coffee or a quick walk, do so. It is always better to take a break before editing your work. If not, just start reading it from the beginning. Check for these things:

a. Spelling and grammar. Your computer should do most of the work here, but a computer can miss typos or offer strange advice when it comes to grammar. You need to read it through yourself for flow and overall impact.

b. Wordy sentences or phrases. Weed them out!

c. Badly-phrased advice. If a sentence does not flow, write it again. Think of how you would explain to someone else in a casual conversation. Does your writing reflect this?

d. Missing steps. When you are familiar with a process, or trouble-shooting, it is all too easy to leave out a step or a small but vital piece of information. Run over the whole process in your mind to make sure you have not left anything out.

Now, you should have a finished article that will prove both interesting and helpful to many of your readers. At worst, it will be competent. At best, it will surprise you with what you can achieve in a short time!

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of http://besuccessfulnews.com, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_WKa_348/user/index.php How Can a Piece of Article Boost Your Marketing Efforts?

By Wan Assad

Have you ever thought how a simple article has gigantic capability to boost your marketing effort? Most marketers assume articles are nothing except a tool to highlight specific content for public viewing and better left for the public to judge. However, if you spend your time, judging from another point of view, you will soon realize that an article represents your form of business, in a preliminary way.

An article contains uncounted valuable information either on general topics that we read daily in our local newspapers, or articles directed to specific readers. These articles contain specific information related to health, fitness, properties, religious etc. These forms of topics have their own readers that share the same interests, wishing to expand their knowledge further pertaining to particular issues. These are your targeted clients – in the form of global clients.

You as an individual, psychologically write articles related to your interest. A farmer will not argue among themselves on issues related to medical instruments and/or a mechanic will not be interested to read how to sell digital products. Articles written by you will have a direct correlation with your business nature and the content in your web sites. The same concept applies to those readers. Whoever reads your articles are interested to know