I already know this for a fact, and I’ve encouraged other web cartoonists to deliver content for specific sites, for a fee.
I just found a webcomic called “SPUN” by John Moore, and it’s a sports based webcomic which is now featured on CBS’s Sportsline site. - You can see John posting the news over in the Toontalk forum. — This isn’t a knock on John Moore’s cartooning ability, but his strip isn’t the most polished work around, and will show some of you out there that you don’t have to be the Rembrandt of Cartoonists to be paid for your work. Man, that really seems like a slam on John, but it’s not meant to be at all. I meant, put his comic next to something like Penny Arcade or Atland and you can see varying qualities.
So what does it pay? What do you charge? Well, it’s all negotiations, and there are no real set rates. You have to make your work WORTH paying for, pitch the idea that a regular feature WILL keep people coming back to their page. They already know why that’s good for them. Play TO THEM. While I don’t find the sport strip that compelling personally because I don’t follow sports much, I’m sure the editors of that site were totally thrilled by the humor.
Here’s my suggestion for approaching bigger websites with a pitch:
- Find a topic you can do well. Maybe it’s something you like like or follow like sports, politics, music, etc.
- Make a small list of sites in that category that you’d pitch an idea to. Since we’re already talking about the sports comic, let’s use sports themes as an example, so you’ve collected several sports websites. Collect at least 8 or 9 with webmaster’s e-mails or contact informations for the site owners.
- Before you contact them, draw up three samples of theme you’d like to pitch. Make them as awesome as you possibly can, but follow the simple rules you should already know by now. “Keep it simple, stupid” is almost a golden rule. Don’t be like me and over-write your comics.
- KNow who you’re pitching to. If you’re going to pitch to Sports editors, they KNOW their sports. Same with any other theme or genre. You don’t want to send them a boring e-mail about how you’re a cartoonist and all the cartoony things you’ve done.
- Write a form letter that you can use and insert the different names of the companies, keep it brief and be sure to triple check that you’re sending it to the right people. If it’s addressed to ESPN-ZONE and you’ve sent it to CBS, uh.. you’re doomed.
here’s a sample note:
“Hi guys, I’m a webcartoonist who loves sports and I thought maybe your site could use a regular sports themed webcomic. I’ve went ahead and done up a few samples (insert links here or attach to e-mail) for you to check out. I’d really love to work with you guys and have my work featured on the site. If something like this sparks your interest contact me at (insert email or contact info) and we can talk over details.”
Notice, there is no mention of money. They may offer you the spot for free, which would suck, but bring your work extra exposure. If you’re a smart businessman, you might ask them friendly in a follow up e-mail or phonecall about what kind of budget they could work out for such a thing and what you could do for them. If they don’t have a budget, NO WORRIES! You can most likely easily get them to agree to some adlinks under your strip that you can patch in remotely through an iframe code or javascript. Check out my comic on Crapville.com, look under the strip and you’ll see my googlead code, which helps me pay for bandwidth, etc.
If there’s absolutely NO money in it, consider how big their site is, and get them to link back to you prominantly. Then, keep pitching the same feature to other sports sites for a price or negotiation, saying you’re also featured on that big site already and they could have your feature exclusively for a negotiated price. Pretty nifty, huh?
OR…. if you’re super creative, you could maybe convince the website to sell advertising right on that days comic, and you split the revenues. They likely already have an ad salesman, and they’d see the value in that. Imagine if DICK’s SPORTING GOODS put a little ad saying “Brought to you by DICK’s SPORTING GOODS” under your comic. You could be talking about splitting up a nice $5000-10,000.
If you’re a mastermind… you can work several of those deals into one plan. Ads sold to sponsor that day’s comic feature, your own affilate ads, an a flat rate for having your work on the site, or larger money to make it exclusive.
The sky really is the limit. You can’t sit around and have these offers drop in your lap. You gotta go out there and get em yourself.
And now…
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Next Generation Mini-Site Strategies v2.0" Webinar is Happening Tomorrow
Can you make money online with just a mini-website that has only a few content pages? Yes, you can. A guy named Jim Edwards proves it can. He has made millions dollars of sales through his online business by using mini-websites.
This Thursday, 7:00 - 8:15 P.M. EST, Jim will appear in a live webinar event of Mike Filsaime. Mike will asked Jim to talk about his latest mini-site money making strategies. If you like the idea of profiting online using mini-site, this live event is right for you.
The live webinar event is free. To reserve a seat for attending this webinar, you may visit the below link to register:
http://www.minisitewebinar.com/register
During the webinar, you'll see and hear from Jim Edwards and Mike Filsaime telling you what works and what don't in mini-site online business. They have also prepared to give you a new online business model with a proven step-by-step system you can follow to start making money online with your mini-site.
This Thursday, 7:00 - 8:15 P.M. EST, Jim will appear in a live webinar event of Mike Filsaime. Mike will asked Jim to talk about his latest mini-site money making strategies. If you like the idea of profiting online using mini-site, this live event is right for you.
The live webinar event is free. To reserve a seat for attending this webinar, you may visit the below link to register:
http://www.minisitewebinar.com/register
During the webinar, you'll see and hear from Jim Edwards and Mike Filsaime telling you what works and what don't in mini-site online business. They have also prepared to give you a new online business model with a proven step-by-step system you can follow to start making money online with your mini-site.
Friday, August 29, 2008
10 cara lain dapat uang di Internet
So with that, here we go:
ReviewMe - In order to participate, you must have a blog and it has to be active. Companies go to ReviewMe to advertise a product and ReviewMe asks their members to write a review of the product in exchange for cash.In regards to ethics, ReviewMe mandates that the blogger/site owner indicate that they are being compensated to write the review AND the advertiser cannot insist on a positive review. This is the opposite of other similar services that don't mandate trustworthy behavior. Ultimately the goal is to spread the word honestly.You can expect to earn $20 - $200 per review that you write.
tugas mudah menuliskan review tentang produk mereka di web atau blog yang kita miliki. sayangnya web yang kita daftarkan harus memenuhi persyaratan mereka seperti jumlah pengunjung di web kita. dll. mau daftar klik di sini
Revver - I have no idea how I missed this on the first list. You basically upload your video to Revver and they attach an ad to it. You get 50% of what the ad makes. If any of you have been on YouTube or other video sites, you can easily understand that some videos, even bad ones at times, go viral and thousands of people see it, and your ad! If you want to see a sample of this, here is a link to Revver's 'most watched' page.
Vizu - I really like the sound of this one and may try it on Dumb Little Man. Instead of putting ads on your site, you insert polls. You get paid based on the CPM (cost per thousand) that you set. The better positioning on your site, the better you will do. The nice part of this is that everything is embedded into your site allowing visitors to participate without leaving. That is key. PS - I learned about this site today from Digital Inspiration.
Break.com - Upload your videos and pictures all day. If they like them and place them on their homepage, they will pay you $400 for original videos (you know, snowboarding off a house onto a trampoline and breaking your arm, etc) and up to $2000 for short films. They also have other random contests that pay out $50 a picture.
break.com adalah web yang cikup bagus. kita hanya up load gambar, atau video dapat bayaran. pembayaran lewat paypal.
CelltradeUSA: Refer your visitors to CelltradeUSA. I wrote about them recently, but they offer an affiliate program now. In short, if people need to get out of a cell phone contract, cell trade helps them by matching them with someone that wants to enter into a phone contact without all the fees.
Bitwine - If you are an expert or even mildly knowledgeable on something, Bitwine provides a way for you to set a per minute rate and charge people to talk to you in a private meeting space. Bitwine is currently in "beta" so they are waiving fees which at some point will most likely be a % of your earnings. This sounds similar to Ether, which is a service we discussed in July.
Clickbooth - Clickbooth is a site that blog owners or site owners can join to place Cost Per Action ads on their site. It has a good base of advertisers and is similar to Commission Junction or Linkshare.
LoudLaunch - This service has not officially launched yet but it's something to watch. I first learned about this on Micro Persuasion and the consensus seems to be that it is similar to Review Me (which is on this list).
Rent-A-Coder: As I type this, there are 2,299 requests on this site. These requests are opportunities for coders to earn money. Take on a project, get it done and get paid. I like this concept because Rent-A-Coders doesn't get paid a thing until you do therefore it is in their best interest to keep you busy.
Shopping.com - Add widgets to your site that display products based on keywords. For the ultra-skilled, you can even customize the entire user experience by tapping into their API. I guarantee you've seen sites with this installed and you never realized it.
ReviewMe - In order to participate, you must have a blog and it has to be active. Companies go to ReviewMe to advertise a product and ReviewMe asks their members to write a review of the product in exchange for cash.In regards to ethics, ReviewMe mandates that the blogger/site owner indicate that they are being compensated to write the review AND the advertiser cannot insist on a positive review. This is the opposite of other similar services that don't mandate trustworthy behavior. Ultimately the goal is to spread the word honestly.You can expect to earn $20 - $200 per review that you write.
tugas mudah menuliskan review tentang produk mereka di web atau blog yang kita miliki. sayangnya web yang kita daftarkan harus memenuhi persyaratan mereka seperti jumlah pengunjung di web kita. dll. mau daftar klik di sini
Revver - I have no idea how I missed this on the first list. You basically upload your video to Revver and they attach an ad to it. You get 50% of what the ad makes. If any of you have been on YouTube or other video sites, you can easily understand that some videos, even bad ones at times, go viral and thousands of people see it, and your ad! If you want to see a sample of this, here is a link to Revver's 'most watched' page.
Vizu - I really like the sound of this one and may try it on Dumb Little Man. Instead of putting ads on your site, you insert polls. You get paid based on the CPM (cost per thousand) that you set. The better positioning on your site, the better you will do. The nice part of this is that everything is embedded into your site allowing visitors to participate without leaving. That is key. PS - I learned about this site today from Digital Inspiration.
Break.com - Upload your videos and pictures all day. If they like them and place them on their homepage, they will pay you $400 for original videos (you know, snowboarding off a house onto a trampoline and breaking your arm, etc) and up to $2000 for short films. They also have other random contests that pay out $50 a picture.
break.com adalah web yang cikup bagus. kita hanya up load gambar, atau video dapat bayaran. pembayaran lewat paypal.
CelltradeUSA: Refer your visitors to CelltradeUSA. I wrote about them recently, but they offer an affiliate program now. In short, if people need to get out of a cell phone contract, cell trade helps them by matching them with someone that wants to enter into a phone contact without all the fees.
Bitwine - If you are an expert or even mildly knowledgeable on something, Bitwine provides a way for you to set a per minute rate and charge people to talk to you in a private meeting space. Bitwine is currently in "beta" so they are waiving fees which at some point will most likely be a % of your earnings. This sounds similar to Ether, which is a service we discussed in July.
Clickbooth - Clickbooth is a site that blog owners or site owners can join to place Cost Per Action ads on their site. It has a good base of advertisers and is similar to Commission Junction or Linkshare.
LoudLaunch - This service has not officially launched yet but it's something to watch. I first learned about this on Micro Persuasion and the consensus seems to be that it is similar to Review Me (which is on this list).
Rent-A-Coder: As I type this, there are 2,299 requests on this site. These requests are opportunities for coders to earn money. Take on a project, get it done and get paid. I like this concept because Rent-A-Coders doesn't get paid a thing until you do therefore it is in their best interest to keep you busy.
Shopping.com - Add widgets to your site that display products based on keywords. For the ultra-skilled, you can even customize the entire user experience by tapping into their API. I guarantee you've seen sites with this installed and you never realized it.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
make more money online
Work at Home: Look no further!! Seriously....please read this...There are tens of thousands of ways to make money online. One of the easiest ways is called affiliate marketing. This is when promote and sell other peoples product for a percentage of the profits. In quick terms this means you aquire internet traffic to your page. If you can successfully send visitors to a website, and not just any visitor but a visitor who has an interest in the product or service or product that you are offering, then you will be highly successful. Now this might sound like a simple idea to pursue. But it's only one half of the picture. Provided that you can present the offer in the right way, you will be able to convert a lot of those visitors into people that will buy the products or services you are offering. So basically, you need to know the proven and established internet skillset of making money, and learn the importants steps and use the tools that allow you to get the people who have an interest, which in turn are converted to buyers. There are a few websites that we have found to consistently provide wonderful results and that teach the proven and established methods. Websites such as Profitlance.Com provide courses, online tools and readymade sites to teach people how to be extremely successful in making money online through some of the established guide lines previously mentioned. $300 a day is possible…or more with the help of this system. This system has a members site and it is absolutely the best! It actually is a training course with live free sites to help get you started. With this system you can actually make money from home. If your skeptical ?.,,, Google it. Profitlance….It does work!! Check it out….. http://robcrazy.thebestbizreview.com/
10 Reasons Why Affiliate Business Is The Best Choice
Every business owners have their own reasons when they made a decision on what type of business they want to run. Some will based on working experiences, skills, business potentials, high demands market, new products, budgets, and so on. I myself, also have my own reasons when I chose affiliate business as a first step in internet business marketing. Below are 10 reasons why I chose affiliate business.
1. Easy to set-up. It’s very easy how to set up an affiliate business. For this purpose, I just visit the main site and register as a new affiliate. Some company might charge a fee registration, some provide free registration. I don’t have to wait for days or months to fill up some forms or wait for approval to set up my own business. After registration, normally you will be given a link, for example, http://www.affiliatejunktion.directtrack.com/z/5/CD272. This is your link to promote the company’s products or services. Once you receive link like that, you may start your business immediately.
2. Low cost. Cost is very important in business. As I mentioned above, some company’s might charge fee registration, some free registration. In this case, the lowest business cost is the best, but you also need to think the business prospects. What a waste if you choose a free registration company but the products or services provided are very hard to sell. Remember, your earning is based on the commission and you need a sale to enable for a commission.
3. Low risk. What are the risks when you start up a business? Low profit margin or no profit at all. But if you succeed, the returns might as low as 50% and more. When you join the affiliate business, do you need to think all this? Well, you sign up free registration, promote the affiliate link but let say, you are unable to get any sale. Are you loose your money? I don’t think so. Imagine that if you get a least one sale, think how much is the cost to get your first commission? Nothing!
4. Easy to manage. Affiliate business is very easy to manage. Once you sign up, you already have one business. You may sign up as many as you want, and you will own many affiliate businesses. This will lead you to multiple profits compare than you sign up one company only. 5. High return. As I mentioned above, what is you cost for a free registration affiliate business? Nothing! If you unable to get any sale, you won’t loose anything. But if you succeed, you just calculate your profits only!
6. Big market. If you want to know how big your market is, feel free to visit this site, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. According to the statistic, total internet usage until June 30, 2008 around the world is more than 1.4 billion peoples. If you are a global markerter, just imagine how much profits will you get if you only target 1% from the statistic number. You decide, not me!
7. No products or services needed. No need to think all stupid things when you decide to start affiliate business. The only products you have is the affiliate link. Your job is to promote the link only. Once you start to promote the link, means that you already start to run the business. I think that is very easy and very convenience for anybody, including me!
8. Easy to promote. One question you might ask, what is the best way to promote the link? Well, for me, all the ways that you have tried are the best way. There are lots of approaches to promote the affiliate link, such as, email marketing, free advertising, signature, and so on. You may try paid approaches such as, Google Adwords, Yahoo, etc but this might give extra cost to you. Become a free member to a community site might be the preferred choice because it provide lots of contacts.
9. Personal help and support. Normally, the affiliate company will also provide personal help and support to their affiliates. If their affiliates face some difficulties on the affiliate’s program, they may ask help and support to the affiliate company. The affiliate company need their affiliate to carry on the business. That’s why support division very important when you want to choose affiliate business. Normally, personal help and support are provided 24 hours per day and 7 days per week.
10. Mind strategy. Some affiliate company might give marketing tools together with the affiliate link, some are not. In this case, you need to think what are the best approaches to run your business. This will form a mind strategy on how to win the clients.
Before made up my mind in affiliate business, I already considered these reasons for some times. I believe, in whatever decision or business you choose, think the above reasons. I didn’t mean to persuade you in business affiliate, but I believe all of us have single simmilarity - $$ profits $$. I hope the above facts or reasons may guide you to a phrospherous life. If you want to know more about me and the programs that I’ve joined, feel free to visit my site and blog.
Author : Tepek Mentibang Blog : http://topaffiliatejunktion.blogspot.com URL : http://www.topexpertlink.com
1. Easy to set-up. It’s very easy how to set up an affiliate business. For this purpose, I just visit the main site and register as a new affiliate. Some company might charge a fee registration, some provide free registration. I don’t have to wait for days or months to fill up some forms or wait for approval to set up my own business. After registration, normally you will be given a link, for example, http://www.affiliatejunktion.directtrack.com/z/5/CD272. This is your link to promote the company’s products or services. Once you receive link like that, you may start your business immediately.
2. Low cost. Cost is very important in business. As I mentioned above, some company’s might charge fee registration, some free registration. In this case, the lowest business cost is the best, but you also need to think the business prospects. What a waste if you choose a free registration company but the products or services provided are very hard to sell. Remember, your earning is based on the commission and you need a sale to enable for a commission.
3. Low risk. What are the risks when you start up a business? Low profit margin or no profit at all. But if you succeed, the returns might as low as 50% and more. When you join the affiliate business, do you need to think all this? Well, you sign up free registration, promote the affiliate link but let say, you are unable to get any sale. Are you loose your money? I don’t think so. Imagine that if you get a least one sale, think how much is the cost to get your first commission? Nothing!
4. Easy to manage. Affiliate business is very easy to manage. Once you sign up, you already have one business. You may sign up as many as you want, and you will own many affiliate businesses. This will lead you to multiple profits compare than you sign up one company only. 5. High return. As I mentioned above, what is you cost for a free registration affiliate business? Nothing! If you unable to get any sale, you won’t loose anything. But if you succeed, you just calculate your profits only!
6. Big market. If you want to know how big your market is, feel free to visit this site, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. According to the statistic, total internet usage until June 30, 2008 around the world is more than 1.4 billion peoples. If you are a global markerter, just imagine how much profits will you get if you only target 1% from the statistic number. You decide, not me!
7. No products or services needed. No need to think all stupid things when you decide to start affiliate business. The only products you have is the affiliate link. Your job is to promote the link only. Once you start to promote the link, means that you already start to run the business. I think that is very easy and very convenience for anybody, including me!
8. Easy to promote. One question you might ask, what is the best way to promote the link? Well, for me, all the ways that you have tried are the best way. There are lots of approaches to promote the affiliate link, such as, email marketing, free advertising, signature, and so on. You may try paid approaches such as, Google Adwords, Yahoo, etc but this might give extra cost to you. Become a free member to a community site might be the preferred choice because it provide lots of contacts.
9. Personal help and support. Normally, the affiliate company will also provide personal help and support to their affiliates. If their affiliates face some difficulties on the affiliate’s program, they may ask help and support to the affiliate company. The affiliate company need their affiliate to carry on the business. That’s why support division very important when you want to choose affiliate business. Normally, personal help and support are provided 24 hours per day and 7 days per week.
10. Mind strategy. Some affiliate company might give marketing tools together with the affiliate link, some are not. In this case, you need to think what are the best approaches to run your business. This will form a mind strategy on how to win the clients.
Before made up my mind in affiliate business, I already considered these reasons for some times. I believe, in whatever decision or business you choose, think the above reasons. I didn’t mean to persuade you in business affiliate, but I believe all of us have single simmilarity - $$ profits $$. I hope the above facts or reasons may guide you to a phrospherous life. If you want to know more about me and the programs that I’ve joined, feel free to visit my site and blog.
Author : Tepek Mentibang Blog : http://topaffiliatejunktion.blogspot.com URL : http://www.topexpertlink.com
Sunday, August 3, 2008
PROBLOGGING: MAKING MONEY FROM BLOGS
A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that 'publishes' or features articles (which are called 'blog posts', 'posts', or 'entries'), written by an individual or a group that make use of any or a combination of the following:
· Straight texts
· Photographs or images (photoblog)
· Video (videoblog)
· Audio files (audioblog)
· Hyperlinks
Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:
· Online journal or a web diary
· Content managament system
· Online publishing platform
A typical blog has the following components:
· Post date -the date and time of the blog entry
· Category - the category that the blog belongs to
· Title - the title of the blog
· Main body - the main content of the blog
· RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites
· Comments - commentaries that are added by readers
· Permalinks - the URL of the full article
· Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins
A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the 'stats' (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).
There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:
1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).
2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.
3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.
4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.
5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.
6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a particular journey.
7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.
8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as 'blawgs'.
9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.
10. Religious blog - on religious topics
11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.
12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.
13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.
14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.
15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).
16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as 'splogs'.
Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.
Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:
· Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.
· Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.
· Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.
· Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.
Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).
Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:
· Advertising programs
· RSS advertising
· Sponsorship
· Affiliate Programs
· Digital assets
· Blog network writing gigs
· Business blog writing gigs
· Non blogging writing gigs
· Donations
· Flipping blogs
· Merchandising
· Consulting and speaking
The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:
1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.
2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.
3. Be an 'expert'. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the "go-to" blogger on that topic.
4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).
5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.
Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.
· Straight texts
· Photographs or images (photoblog)
· Video (videoblog)
· Audio files (audioblog)
· Hyperlinks
Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:
· Online journal or a web diary
· Content managament system
· Online publishing platform
A typical blog has the following components:
· Post date -the date and time of the blog entry
· Category - the category that the blog belongs to
· Title - the title of the blog
· Main body - the main content of the blog
· RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites
· Comments - commentaries that are added by readers
· Permalinks - the URL of the full article
· Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins
A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the 'stats' (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).
There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:
1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).
2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.
3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.
4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.
5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.
6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a particular journey.
7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.
8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as 'blawgs'.
9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.
10. Religious blog - on religious topics
11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.
12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.
13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.
14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.
15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).
16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as 'splogs'.
Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.
Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:
· Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.
· Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.
· Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.
· Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.
Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).
Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:
· Advertising programs
· RSS advertising
· Sponsorship
· Affiliate Programs
· Digital assets
· Blog network writing gigs
· Business blog writing gigs
· Non blogging writing gigs
· Donations
· Flipping blogs
· Merchandising
· Consulting and speaking
The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:
1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.
2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.
3. Be an 'expert'. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the "go-to" blogger on that topic.
4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).
5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.
Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.
Top 3 SEO Tips of 2008
Since 1998 I've spent the first several months of each year looking for the very best search engine optimization (SEO) tips of the previous year's end. This year I've come across the best SEO tips yet.
SEO Tip #1: Make Google Alerts Your Personal Online Spy
Google Alerts is a great way to let the world's biggest search engine be your personal online spy. This takes search engine optimization insider info to whole new level. Here's an excerpt straight from Google....
"Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams"
As you probably guessed, it's the second one we care about most, "keeping current on a competitor or industry."
Here's how it works... Each time Google finds a reference to the query or topic you request you will be sent an email with the details. This is like having an online spy to make sure competitors are not using your protected keywords (trademarked names, company names, etc.) It's also an instant identifier to know when your site or product is mentioned in a news story or even when a topic is hot so you can take advantage of the situation. It's the easiest way in the world to stop competitors' dirty tricks and identify trends that you can take instant advantage of.
It's fast, free and works every minute of every day. Let Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) do your most time consuming legwork while you reap the rewards!
SEO Tip #2: Optimize Your 404 Page and Always Be Found
"Error 404: Page Not Found" is a blessing that most Webmasters curse. Why? Getting a visitor on any page of your site is fantastic! Don't blow the opportunity. Not only can you make your "404" page a valuable sales tool, you can use the following search engine optimization techniques to attract customers in droves.
A.) Use your main keyword in your title, add a "pipe" (usually above the Enter key) and then use your secondary keyword. Here's as example for an SEO site "SEO - Search Engine Optimization Tips"
B.) Add some keyword rich content using one to two keywords for the page. If you have less than 250 words on the page, just use one keyword and use it no more than three times total. Bold the first use and italicize the second or third use. Keep in mind this is an "inactive" page so simply tell the visitor what your site is about and whet their appetite with a good description. Something like this works well... "Thank you for visiting SEO (bold) Group, Inc. We are sorry you landed on a missing page but don't worry, if you're looking for the very best search engine optimizations tips (bold), you're at the right place..." This will go on for a couple paragraphs or as long as you'd like then end it with something to the effect of "Please Click Here (link) to visit our site map or click any link to the left."
C.) Add your site's standard navigation system (bar, column, etc.) as mentioned above.
D.) Make the look and feel of the customized 404 page match your main site as closely as possible with a template, matched palette, cascading style sheets, etc.
E.) Create a link to the site map page if available, and make the link easy to find. You want your visitor off the 404 page and into your main content as quickly as possible.
Setting up a custom 404 page link usually takes less than five minutes on most major Web hosting companies like Godaddy.com. But whatever it takes, it's worth the effort.
SEO Tip #3: Get (Even More) Serious About Linking
I saved the most important for last. If you want to do well on any search engine, especially Google, linking is THE single MOST important thing you can do. It's that simple.
Here are the five things you MUST do to make your site #1 on Google:
A.) Find the highest page rank sites linking to your site AND your competitors' sites.
B.) Run monthly link campaigns and snatch up the best of the above identified Web sites.
C.) Run regular checks on what pages are still linking back to your site. Alsomake sure they did not move you from a high page rank page to a lower one (don't get cheated!)
D.) Eliminate any penalized sites you link to; ASAP!
E.) Check your search engine ranking AND your competitor's for each of your keywords every week. Do this, at the minimum, for Google, Yahoo, MSN and Alta Vista.
Inside Tip: Keeping up can be a lot of work so a lot of SEO Consultants (myself included) use SEO Elite (http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com) to do all the most difficult and time consuming work.
One last thing to know is that Google was originally a college student's project created for the sole purpose of defining a Web site's value by the sites that link to it. Twelve years later this is still it's main job. Linking is EVERYTHING to Google.
These few SEO tips are the very best of the best so use them wisely. Best of luck!
SEO Tip #1: Make Google Alerts Your Personal Online Spy
Google Alerts is a great way to let the world's biggest search engine be your personal online spy. This takes search engine optimization insider info to whole new level. Here's an excerpt straight from Google....
"Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams"
As you probably guessed, it's the second one we care about most, "keeping current on a competitor or industry."
Here's how it works... Each time Google finds a reference to the query or topic you request you will be sent an email with the details. This is like having an online spy to make sure competitors are not using your protected keywords (trademarked names, company names, etc.) It's also an instant identifier to know when your site or product is mentioned in a news story or even when a topic is hot so you can take advantage of the situation. It's the easiest way in the world to stop competitors' dirty tricks and identify trends that you can take instant advantage of.
It's fast, free and works every minute of every day. Let Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) do your most time consuming legwork while you reap the rewards!
SEO Tip #2: Optimize Your 404 Page and Always Be Found
"Error 404: Page Not Found" is a blessing that most Webmasters curse. Why? Getting a visitor on any page of your site is fantastic! Don't blow the opportunity. Not only can you make your "404" page a valuable sales tool, you can use the following search engine optimization techniques to attract customers in droves.
A.) Use your main keyword in your title, add a "pipe" (usually above the Enter key) and then use your secondary keyword. Here's as example for an SEO site "SEO - Search Engine Optimization Tips"
B.) Add some keyword rich content using one to two keywords for the page. If you have less than 250 words on the page, just use one keyword and use it no more than three times total. Bold the first use and italicize the second or third use. Keep in mind this is an "inactive" page so simply tell the visitor what your site is about and whet their appetite with a good description. Something like this works well... "Thank you for visiting SEO (bold) Group, Inc. We are sorry you landed on a missing page but don't worry, if you're looking for the very best search engine optimizations tips (bold), you're at the right place..." This will go on for a couple paragraphs or as long as you'd like then end it with something to the effect of "Please Click Here (link) to visit our site map or click any link to the left."
C.) Add your site's standard navigation system (bar, column, etc.) as mentioned above.
D.) Make the look and feel of the customized 404 page match your main site as closely as possible with a template, matched palette, cascading style sheets, etc.
E.) Create a link to the site map page if available, and make the link easy to find. You want your visitor off the 404 page and into your main content as quickly as possible.
Setting up a custom 404 page link usually takes less than five minutes on most major Web hosting companies like Godaddy.com. But whatever it takes, it's worth the effort.
SEO Tip #3: Get (Even More) Serious About Linking
I saved the most important for last. If you want to do well on any search engine, especially Google, linking is THE single MOST important thing you can do. It's that simple.
Here are the five things you MUST do to make your site #1 on Google:
A.) Find the highest page rank sites linking to your site AND your competitors' sites.
B.) Run monthly link campaigns and snatch up the best of the above identified Web sites.
C.) Run regular checks on what pages are still linking back to your site. Alsomake sure they did not move you from a high page rank page to a lower one (don't get cheated!)
D.) Eliminate any penalized sites you link to; ASAP!
E.) Check your search engine ranking AND your competitor's for each of your keywords every week. Do this, at the minimum, for Google, Yahoo, MSN and Alta Vista.
Inside Tip: Keeping up can be a lot of work so a lot of SEO Consultants (myself included) use SEO Elite (http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com) to do all the most difficult and time consuming work.
One last thing to know is that Google was originally a college student's project created for the sole purpose of defining a Web site's value by the sites that link to it. Twelve years later this is still it's main job. Linking is EVERYTHING to Google.
These few SEO tips are the very best of the best so use them wisely. Best of luck!
Guaranteed Extra Cash Online
For college students and other people who feel burned out trying to balance paying the bills and living at the same time, ads like these can prove to be irresistible. Many of them make perfect sense and easily hook you based on good concepts. Unfortunately, many times the product or service does not match the brilliance of a great idea for making money from home or through the Internet. As I’ve learned myself, the further you go down this road, the more excited you get. You basically get hooked, and if you aren’t careful, you will end up working hard and falling further into debt than you can imagine. Much like gambling, the lure of easy money and independence can make just about anyone fall prey to work at home scams that feed off your dreams to get to your wallet so they can go on to the next victim.
Hopefully, you will never fall victim to these scam artists. However, the fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. And as long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.
The best way to keep a scammer’s claws away from your credit card is to do thorough research on each opportunity that you are considering. This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. In my personal experience, I have been taken by companies who were savvy enough to pollute the Internet with staged testimonials, guarantees, questionable references to big name endorsements, and even appearances in the Better Business Bureau.
A colleague of mine who invested in vending machine placement services even went so far as to physically go to the manufacturing plant to tour the warehouse as well as contact the Better Business Bureau of that state. What he received, in return, were twenty malfunctioning candy machines with a list of local businesses who had apparently agreed to receive them. Not only did none of these businesses know what he was talking about, many of them were hostile when he showed up to place them.
What you want to do is check message boards such as the ASK section of Yahoo.com. Another simple method of weeding out the scams from the genuine opportunities is to go to a search engine and simply type in the company name followed by the word “scam”. If you do this, and you are barraged by an endless list of complaints, you my friend have found a nugget of gold in a sea of mud.
In terms of the Better Business Bureau, it is best to contact them directly to ask about any complaints, and also find out how long a company has been listed. The Better Business Bureau operates state by state. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file. If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs. But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your own research.
Being in the Business Bureau is not necessarily that hard to accomplish. Many scammers can use their money and connections to set up a front to initially qualify for the Better Business Bureau just long enough for them to collect their cash from unsuspecting victims, close shop, create a new identity and start again.
Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Can you get a human being on the phone? Do they have an actually physical address? How long does it take them to respond to your e-mails, if at all? If you cannot even talk to the company before you start, there is not chance that they will be around when you really need them. I once made quite a bit of money selling vacation vouchers on auction sites. The marketing plan was sound, and the money saving vouchers was a hit. Only problem was, I could never get in touch with their customer service department to handle my customer inquiries and complaints once I realized that the promises that existed in writing on the vouchers were misleading at best. This proved to be such a problem that it took me over a year to recover from the negative publicity on my auction site.
Of course, there are legitimate home based businesses out there. With the Internet and all the low cost, web producing tools available, there seems to be a renaissance in entrepreneurship. Basically, just find a product or service you can market online, and do your research. Sell on EBay if you don’t want to build your own website. You can have a website their and all search engine marketing is already done by EBay. The Small Business Association has an office in downtown Tacoma and contains invaluable information on their website http://www.sba.com. Since small business is the backbone of our country economically, sources such as these are eager to help you create a plan with realistic expectations.
However, like anything else worthwhile, you have to do your homework and work hard at it. The problem is that too many people make you think you can practically go online and make money just clicking on a mouse. You want to steer clear of any business that asks to you to pay for their “Top Secret” e-book that will teach you how to make an automated income.”
Think about it, if you are in dire need of cash, can you imagine any other situation in which you would not only work for free, but pay for the privilege to work. There are no magic formals or secrets worth paying for. All of the information in these e-books can be found for free through your own research if you have common internet skills.
If you don’t want to work hard and just make a few easy extra bucks without donating your blood or volunteering to be a guinea pig, it is possible to make some good extra money filling out online surveys or through mystery shopping. There are real opportunities out there which require no fee to get started. Not only that, several of them will even give you a $5 bonus just for signing up. If a company such as this is legitimate, they would be making lots of money through the success of its members. Companies that require that $49.97 start up fee only make money through the fee and only want to teach you how to get other people to do the same. The products are all useless lists and general information that anyone with a functioning mind could figure out on their own, or get for free by doing their own research.
In 12 years of trying to make a living on the Internet, the following are the best companies I have ever encountered for making a few extra bucks filling out surveys, playing games and mystery shopping. They probably won’t pay the rent, but if you’re interested in making an extra $400 or $500 a month or eating out at nice restaurants and going to movies for free, you may want to check these out:
Mystery Shopping Providers Association: ." target=new>http://www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers/">.
This site contains all the information you will ever need on starting up as a mystery shopper. It is also a portal for the best sites to go to for mystery shopping jobs online, and they don’t require that you invest a penny.
InboxDollars.com. (you can sign up for free and get $5 just for signing up. You can make a few hundred dollars in one day, theoretically, if you are willing to use a credit card to sign up for free or paid trials. Just make sure you have the patience to fill out the long surveys and keep detailed records so you can remember to cancel your free trials before you get charged. Also, you can fill out surveys to make a dollar or two which are completely free. I’ve made about $400 with this site.
http://www..sendearnings.com.(almost identical to InboxDollars.com)
http://www.treasuretrooper.com. (a lot of free surveys and cool games).
http://www.tiktikcash.com. By far the best of the survey sites. The free surveys are tremendous. You can make a dollar or two in one minute. This site has the shortest, most painless surveys. I made over thirty bucks in less than after signing up.
Hopefully, you will never fall victim to these scam artists. However, the fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. And as long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.
The best way to keep a scammer’s claws away from your credit card is to do thorough research on each opportunity that you are considering. This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. In my personal experience, I have been taken by companies who were savvy enough to pollute the Internet with staged testimonials, guarantees, questionable references to big name endorsements, and even appearances in the Better Business Bureau.
A colleague of mine who invested in vending machine placement services even went so far as to physically go to the manufacturing plant to tour the warehouse as well as contact the Better Business Bureau of that state. What he received, in return, were twenty malfunctioning candy machines with a list of local businesses who had apparently agreed to receive them. Not only did none of these businesses know what he was talking about, many of them were hostile when he showed up to place them.
What you want to do is check message boards such as the ASK section of Yahoo.com. Another simple method of weeding out the scams from the genuine opportunities is to go to a search engine and simply type in the company name followed by the word “scam”. If you do this, and you are barraged by an endless list of complaints, you my friend have found a nugget of gold in a sea of mud.
In terms of the Better Business Bureau, it is best to contact them directly to ask about any complaints, and also find out how long a company has been listed. The Better Business Bureau operates state by state. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file. If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs. But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your own research.
Being in the Business Bureau is not necessarily that hard to accomplish. Many scammers can use their money and connections to set up a front to initially qualify for the Better Business Bureau just long enough for them to collect their cash from unsuspecting victims, close shop, create a new identity and start again.
Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Can you get a human being on the phone? Do they have an actually physical address? How long does it take them to respond to your e-mails, if at all? If you cannot even talk to the company before you start, there is not chance that they will be around when you really need them. I once made quite a bit of money selling vacation vouchers on auction sites. The marketing plan was sound, and the money saving vouchers was a hit. Only problem was, I could never get in touch with their customer service department to handle my customer inquiries and complaints once I realized that the promises that existed in writing on the vouchers were misleading at best. This proved to be such a problem that it took me over a year to recover from the negative publicity on my auction site.
Of course, there are legitimate home based businesses out there. With the Internet and all the low cost, web producing tools available, there seems to be a renaissance in entrepreneurship. Basically, just find a product or service you can market online, and do your research. Sell on EBay if you don’t want to build your own website. You can have a website their and all search engine marketing is already done by EBay. The Small Business Association has an office in downtown Tacoma and contains invaluable information on their website http://www.sba.com. Since small business is the backbone of our country economically, sources such as these are eager to help you create a plan with realistic expectations.
However, like anything else worthwhile, you have to do your homework and work hard at it. The problem is that too many people make you think you can practically go online and make money just clicking on a mouse. You want to steer clear of any business that asks to you to pay for their “Top Secret” e-book that will teach you how to make an automated income.”
Think about it, if you are in dire need of cash, can you imagine any other situation in which you would not only work for free, but pay for the privilege to work. There are no magic formals or secrets worth paying for. All of the information in these e-books can be found for free through your own research if you have common internet skills.
If you don’t want to work hard and just make a few easy extra bucks without donating your blood or volunteering to be a guinea pig, it is possible to make some good extra money filling out online surveys or through mystery shopping. There are real opportunities out there which require no fee to get started. Not only that, several of them will even give you a $5 bonus just for signing up. If a company such as this is legitimate, they would be making lots of money through the success of its members. Companies that require that $49.97 start up fee only make money through the fee and only want to teach you how to get other people to do the same. The products are all useless lists and general information that anyone with a functioning mind could figure out on their own, or get for free by doing their own research.
In 12 years of trying to make a living on the Internet, the following are the best companies I have ever encountered for making a few extra bucks filling out surveys, playing games and mystery shopping. They probably won’t pay the rent, but if you’re interested in making an extra $400 or $500 a month or eating out at nice restaurants and going to movies for free, you may want to check these out:
Mystery Shopping Providers Association: ." target=new>http://www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers/">.
This site contains all the information you will ever need on starting up as a mystery shopper. It is also a portal for the best sites to go to for mystery shopping jobs online, and they don’t require that you invest a penny.
InboxDollars.com. (you can sign up for free and get $5 just for signing up. You can make a few hundred dollars in one day, theoretically, if you are willing to use a credit card to sign up for free or paid trials. Just make sure you have the patience to fill out the long surveys and keep detailed records so you can remember to cancel your free trials before you get charged. Also, you can fill out surveys to make a dollar or two which are completely free. I’ve made about $400 with this site.
http://www..sendearnings.com.(almost identical to InboxDollars.com)
http://www.treasuretrooper.com. (a lot of free surveys and cool games).
http://www.tiktikcash.com. By far the best of the survey sites. The free surveys are tremendous. You can make a dollar or two in one minute. This site has the shortest, most painless surveys. I made over thirty bucks in less than after signing up.
How to Make Email Marketing Works for Your Business
Topic 1 ~ Your Email Subject Lines ~
How To Write A Good E-mail Subject Lines That Works?
Here are the 5 tips:
1. Ask a question. One of the best ways to get a reader's attention is to ask a question. But like a trial lawyer questioning a witness on the stand, make sure it'll get you the response you're looking for. "What's the best way to grow your business?" is a great subject line for business owners. After all, what business owner wouldn't want to grow his or her business? Or let's say you run a health club. An e-mail with the subject line, "How can you lose 5 pounds in one month?" would certainly be compelling. It's important your question be relevant to your audience.
2. Be a tease. A clever subject line can be enticing. When it's done right, reader curiosity is piqued. They want to know more--and they'll open your e-mail. Writing a teaser-style subject line requires some creativity, and your content needs to deliver. A company that sells high-definition TVs could use the subject line, "You're not going to believe your eyes" as a teaser to introduce a new addition to their product line.
3. Tell it like it is. Often, what works best is to say exactly what you want your reader to know. Examples of this straightforward approach are, "Sale on all sweaters this weekend," "Master jazz pianist plays live this Friday" and "The seven secrets of a profitable business." This just-the-facts approach works especially well when you can appeal directly to your audience's interests. It's also the best approach to use when you send a newsletter.
4. Remember "WIIFM". When a person gets your e-mail, the first thing they consider is "what's in it for me?" They have a decision to make. Do they open your e-mail, leave it for later or delete it? If there isn't something about the subject line that lets them know why it's worth their precious time to see what's inside, then the choice will be clear. Keep WIIFM in mind when creating every aspect of your e-mails, including the offer, content, images--and most definitely the subject line. It's all about them. They know that; just make sure you know it, too.
5. Get personal. The more you can make each contact feel you're speaking directly to them, the more effective your communication will be. Whatever style of subject line you use, you can make it personal by using the word "you." Professional copywriters know the secret of using this powerful little word. Just look at the advertisements, mail and e-mail you receive. A few examples are, "Find the right swimsuit for you," "You can save 50 percent on travel," and "You'd look phenomenal in a custom-tailored suit." "You" is ideal, but "your" works too.
6. Not sure which approach is right for you? Try them all, and then show a friend or colleague to get their feedback. Pick the one you believe will be most effective for your audience. Whichever approach you choose, it's always worth spending the time and effort to write a great subject line. Because if your readers don't open your e-mail, they'll never have the chance to read the important message you've created for them inside.
Topic 2 ~ Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR) ~
How to Increased Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
Here are some guidelines:
1. Include a feature, a benefit, and an advantage in the opening. This needs to be used in a subtle way, but in the opening you're really doing a small marketing job for this issue of your email newsletter. Highlight an article or two that are important, explain what you're providing the readers that they won't get elsewhere, and tell them what the benefit will be. A great example is something like "Nokia and Sprint announced second quarter earnings today. Learn what our Wireless Week experts say about the results, and what effect you can expect them to have on the industry at large."
2. Put the email newsletter in the context of your readers' day. This goes hand in hand with the last point. Your readers are busy, and if you can make a compelling case for why they should stop what they are doing and take a few minutes now to read your email newsletter, you'll get them in. We recommend editors reference important events, upcoming trade shows, or other things that say to the reader "You will find it worthwhile to stop and read this email newsletter now, because the information in it will help you stay on top of your business."
3. Keep it fresh. Don't craft a "perfect paragraph" and use it issue after issue after issue. One of the keys to success is to keep the copy fresh and highlight items in that issue of the email newsletter. If you use the same generic language repeatedly, people will stop reading it and it'll be a waste of your time.
4. Keep it short. This is critical. We recommend no more than two to three sentences -- just enough to get them interested and pull them in to read the rest of your email newsletter.
Try it out and see the results! This is just one of the simple things you can do to engage your reader and optimize your CTR.
Topic 3 ~ Killer Email Sales Letter ~
How to Write Killer Email Sales Letter That Get Results?
Here are what we've found works best. Use these tips properly and your results will skyrocket.
1. Your email "from" sender line should be your brand name or company name and stay consistent. Use your own personal name only if that is your brand image.
2. Send emails only when you have something to say that will benefit the reader. No fluff. No filler. You must be relevant. If you can't be, don't send an email until you have something beneficial to say.
3. Start your emails with the specific benefit the reader can get from your message. You have no more than 3 seconds to pass the crucial "what's in it for me?" test.
4. The copywriting tone and language should be personal and conversational, instead of stuffy and "corporate".
5. Make a specific offer to the reader and, if possible, include a short deadline by which he must respond to get it.
6. Use as much copy as is needed to fully pile on all the benefits the reader will get by ordering, answer objections, create urgency, and close the sale.
7. Test your subject lines and offers on small segments of your list before you send the email to your entire list.
8. Include "Email this to a friend" service in all your communications for pass along and viral marketing.
Topic 4 ~ Good Call-to-Action ~
Get More Clicks With a Good Call-to-Action!
The call-to-action is a determining factor of your click-through rate. It is an important component of your email copy because it answers three important questions for the recipient. They are:
1. What you want them to do
2. Why they should do it, and
3. How to take that next step.
Whatever action you want your recipients to take, you can make it happen more often with a good call-to-action. First, decide what you want them to do:
1. Buy something
2. Sign up for a service
3. Fill out a form
4. Read an article or get more information
5. Visit your website or store
6. Make an appointment
Etc…
Then, make sure you incorporate these 6 characteristics to get the results you're looking for. Make your call-to action:
1. Visible - People read, react, make decisions and take action differently. Some make decisions right away ("You had me at hello.") and some need more details ("I'm from Missouri."). Place call-to-action links in the beginning, middle and end of the email so that recipients can click whenever they are ready.
2. Clear - Stick to simple words, short phrases, bulleted benefits and paragraphs of 1-3 short sentences. Include appropriate graphics and cut the clutter by making effective use of white space.
3. Compelling - Use action-oriented verbs and phrases: "buy now," "call today," "save" and so on.
4. Rewarding - Offer an incentive or reward for action. For example, "Act now and also receives...," or "the First 100 respondents will be entered into a raffle to win..." The giveaway, or prize, you choose should be closely related to your product or service. That way, you will be targeting customers who are interested in what you have to offer, not just the latest gadget.
5. Urgent - The longer an email sits in an inbox, the less likely it is to be acted on. Create a sense of urgency to get a more immediate response. Try limiting the offer to a specific time period, to the "first 50 customers," "while supplies last," etc.
6. Direct - Your call-to-action links should go to the appropriate page on your website with more details on the specific product or service you're promoting. If you don't have a website, the call-to-action might be store locations to visit or a number to call for an appointment.
Keep in mind that, in addition to repeating your call-to-action, you can vary your call-to-action to appeal to different types of buyers (and to fit your sales cycle). For example: "Click here to buy now" will naturally work better with loyal customers. The softer, "Click here to learn more" may be better for newer prospects.
Topic 5 ~ Avoid Common Pitfalls ~
Read Your Email Message Backwards to Avoid Common Pitfalls
Here are some common problems to look out for:
1. Misspelled words - It's a good idea to spell-check a document, but it's not enough. A spell checker won't catch every error.
2. Wrong word used - This is why a spell checker isn't enough. A spell checker will only flag words it doesn't recognize. It can't tell if a legitimate word is used incorrectly. Some words commonly confused: accept, except; your, you're; then, than; there, their, they're; cite, site, sight; lay, lie; loose, loosen, lose. Also, look out for a missing "r" in the word "your." It's easy to overlook a sentence such as "Visit our Web site now to receive you free copy."
3. Grammar error - Again, if you know you're not a good writer, have someone else check your writing for grammatical errors. Mistakes make you look bad.
4. Punctuation error - This is another area where you'll benefit from a review by someone who knows their stuff. If you're determined to do it yourself, purchase a good grammar or style book. One of the most common punctuation problems: Too many stupid commas!
5. Vague or confusing statement - Make sure every sentence is crystal-clear. You don't want your promotional message to raise more questions than it answers.
6. Illogical statement - Read over what you have written slowly. At the end of each paragraph, ask yourself: "Did that make sense?" Rewrite so that it does.
Topic 6 ~ Frequency of Sending Emails ~
How Often (Frequency) Should You Send Email?
There's no quick answer to the frequency question. It depends on the goals for your email and the type of content you send. Some rough guidelines:
1. Mail at least once a month. Mail less often than this, and you risk being forgotten by recipients. Monthly is the bare minimum if you want to keep your brand or company name top of mind (a common email goal).
2. Let content be your guide. Look at what you provide readers and you'll get a feel for proper frequency. Analyze how often the information changes and how quickly readers must receive it to act on it.
3. Work within your resources. A daily email requires many more resources than a monthly. Better a well-done monthly email than shoddy weekly or daily. It's recommended to start with a monthly. Once that's going smoothly, they can think about moving to weekly. You need to walk before you can run!
4. Watch for trends. Declining response, open, and click-through rates can be signs of list fatigue. Though some decrease is normal, watch carefully and cut back frequency if you see a problem. Don't assume if the unsubscribe rate is stable you're OK. Many people prefer to forward email directly to their delete folder rather than unsubscribe.
Topic 7 ~ Understanding Spam Filters ~
Understanding Spam Filters to Avoid Your Emails Get Junked!
If you send email campaigns long enough, you will inevitably run into spam filter issues. On average, you can expect 10-20% of your emails to just get lost in cyberspace, mostly due to overzealous spam filters. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. If you want to avoid getting your emails junked by spam filters, you have to understand how they work.
Generally speaking, spam filters look at a long list of criteria to judge whether or not your email is junk. For example, they might look for spammy phrases like "CLICK HERE!" or "FREE! BUY NOW!". They'll assign points each time they see one of those phrases. Certain criteria get more points than others. Here's a sample of criteria from Spam Assassin, one of the most popular spam filters out there:
• Talks about lots of money (.193 points)
• Describes some sort of breakthrough (.232 points)
• Looks like mortgage pitch (.297 points)
• Contains urgent matter (.288 points)
• Money back guarantee (2.051 points)
• Why Pay More? (1.249 points)
It's easy to use "spammy" keywords in your email without even knowing it. Here are some common ways marketers unwittingly trigger spam filters with their campaigns:
1. Using spammy phrases, like "Click here!" or "Once in a lifetime opportunity!" too many times in your email. Sometimes, you can't avoid phrases like "FREE SHIPPING!" but use them sparingly, and don't do anything else risky.
2. Going crazy with exclamation points!!!!!!
3. USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE YELLING IN EMAIL
4. Coloring their fonts bright red, or green
5. Coding sloppy HTML (such as by converting a Microsoft Word file to HTML)
6. Creating an HTML email that's nothing but one big image, with no text (since spam filters can't read images, they assume you're a spammer that's trying to trick 'em)
7. Using the word "Test" in the subject line (agencies run into this all the time, when sending drafts to clients for approval)
Topic 8 ~ Why Email Marketing Does not Work? ~
If Your Email Marketing Does not Work, Think Again Why?
Before you arrive at the faulty conclusion that email marketing doesn't work, let’s look at this from a different perspective for a moment that would make your emails ineffective.
First there's what you are writing in the body of the email. If this is your first attempt to get in touch with a prospect, what are you putting in the email? A dissertation? If it's longer than one or two paragraphs, it's too long. Look at your emails like an initial cold call. You need to laser in and deliver a compelling opening statement that's going to grab their interest and stimulate a conversation. Because there's no one to cut you off in an email or stop you from persistent pontification, people have tendency to ramble on and on in an email, giving the prospect the life story of the product or service they want them to consider. Keep it short and focus on the one or two benefits, opening up the opportunity to have a dialogue. That's it.
Second, are you sending attachments in the first email? No attachments! It's hard enough sending an unsolicited email to a prospect. Now you're adding more barriers and increasing the chances of your email winding up in their spam box or junk email folder. Some people have filters on their email that if an attachment is sent it automatically gets deleted. No attachment until that information in the attachment is solicited by the person.
Third, html or text? Once again, with all the email filters people use today, you will increase your odds by sending a text message only rather than trying to get fancy with formatting, graphics and pictures. The prospect really doesn't care about how beautiful your email looks; they care about the core message. Besides, they will never even get a chance to see your beautiful masterpiece in an html email if it's winding up in the trash.
Finally, you are using way too many spam words. As mentioned, the biggest enemy to email marketing or selling via email is the additional security that companies and individuals have on their network or computer. As such, the specific words you are using in the body of the email can be the culprit who is sending your email directly into the trash or spam box. In other words, you are using words that are often identified is spam and in turn, you email is getting flagged and deleted. Not even eye contact! The prospect is not getting a chance to, at the very least, see your email let alone read it and have a chance to respond accordingly.
Ending ~ Please Forward ~
Feel Free To Forward This E-Book To Your Friends!
Thank you for reading this e-book on “How to Make Email Marketing Works for Your Business”. This e-book provides useful guides on email marketing, and helps e-marketers to avoid several pitfalls in email marketing.
We hope you may regard this e-book as a book of guidance and that we can help you in your e-marketing effort.
If you think the outlined tips can help you, please take a few seconds to help us distribute or forward this e-book to as many people as possible.
I appreciate your time taken to read this e-book and I always appreciate reading your thoughtful and well considered comments, please drop an email to me at sales@blastsg.com if you have something to say about this e-book.
Thank you!
Regards,
About The Author
Mr. JH Saw
Visit us @ http://www.BlastSG.com
How To Write A Good E-mail Subject Lines That Works?
Here are the 5 tips:
1. Ask a question. One of the best ways to get a reader's attention is to ask a question. But like a trial lawyer questioning a witness on the stand, make sure it'll get you the response you're looking for. "What's the best way to grow your business?" is a great subject line for business owners. After all, what business owner wouldn't want to grow his or her business? Or let's say you run a health club. An e-mail with the subject line, "How can you lose 5 pounds in one month?" would certainly be compelling. It's important your question be relevant to your audience.
2. Be a tease. A clever subject line can be enticing. When it's done right, reader curiosity is piqued. They want to know more--and they'll open your e-mail. Writing a teaser-style subject line requires some creativity, and your content needs to deliver. A company that sells high-definition TVs could use the subject line, "You're not going to believe your eyes" as a teaser to introduce a new addition to their product line.
3. Tell it like it is. Often, what works best is to say exactly what you want your reader to know. Examples of this straightforward approach are, "Sale on all sweaters this weekend," "Master jazz pianist plays live this Friday" and "The seven secrets of a profitable business." This just-the-facts approach works especially well when you can appeal directly to your audience's interests. It's also the best approach to use when you send a newsletter.
4. Remember "WIIFM". When a person gets your e-mail, the first thing they consider is "what's in it for me?" They have a decision to make. Do they open your e-mail, leave it for later or delete it? If there isn't something about the subject line that lets them know why it's worth their precious time to see what's inside, then the choice will be clear. Keep WIIFM in mind when creating every aspect of your e-mails, including the offer, content, images--and most definitely the subject line. It's all about them. They know that; just make sure you know it, too.
5. Get personal. The more you can make each contact feel you're speaking directly to them, the more effective your communication will be. Whatever style of subject line you use, you can make it personal by using the word "you." Professional copywriters know the secret of using this powerful little word. Just look at the advertisements, mail and e-mail you receive. A few examples are, "Find the right swimsuit for you," "You can save 50 percent on travel," and "You'd look phenomenal in a custom-tailored suit." "You" is ideal, but "your" works too.
6. Not sure which approach is right for you? Try them all, and then show a friend or colleague to get their feedback. Pick the one you believe will be most effective for your audience. Whichever approach you choose, it's always worth spending the time and effort to write a great subject line. Because if your readers don't open your e-mail, they'll never have the chance to read the important message you've created for them inside.
Topic 2 ~ Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR) ~
How to Increased Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
Here are some guidelines:
1. Include a feature, a benefit, and an advantage in the opening. This needs to be used in a subtle way, but in the opening you're really doing a small marketing job for this issue of your email newsletter. Highlight an article or two that are important, explain what you're providing the readers that they won't get elsewhere, and tell them what the benefit will be. A great example is something like "Nokia and Sprint announced second quarter earnings today. Learn what our Wireless Week experts say about the results, and what effect you can expect them to have on the industry at large."
2. Put the email newsletter in the context of your readers' day. This goes hand in hand with the last point. Your readers are busy, and if you can make a compelling case for why they should stop what they are doing and take a few minutes now to read your email newsletter, you'll get them in. We recommend editors reference important events, upcoming trade shows, or other things that say to the reader "You will find it worthwhile to stop and read this email newsletter now, because the information in it will help you stay on top of your business."
3. Keep it fresh. Don't craft a "perfect paragraph" and use it issue after issue after issue. One of the keys to success is to keep the copy fresh and highlight items in that issue of the email newsletter. If you use the same generic language repeatedly, people will stop reading it and it'll be a waste of your time.
4. Keep it short. This is critical. We recommend no more than two to three sentences -- just enough to get them interested and pull them in to read the rest of your email newsletter.
Try it out and see the results! This is just one of the simple things you can do to engage your reader and optimize your CTR.
Topic 3 ~ Killer Email Sales Letter ~
How to Write Killer Email Sales Letter That Get Results?
Here are what we've found works best. Use these tips properly and your results will skyrocket.
1. Your email "from" sender line should be your brand name or company name and stay consistent. Use your own personal name only if that is your brand image.
2. Send emails only when you have something to say that will benefit the reader. No fluff. No filler. You must be relevant. If you can't be, don't send an email until you have something beneficial to say.
3. Start your emails with the specific benefit the reader can get from your message. You have no more than 3 seconds to pass the crucial "what's in it for me?" test.
4. The copywriting tone and language should be personal and conversational, instead of stuffy and "corporate".
5. Make a specific offer to the reader and, if possible, include a short deadline by which he must respond to get it.
6. Use as much copy as is needed to fully pile on all the benefits the reader will get by ordering, answer objections, create urgency, and close the sale.
7. Test your subject lines and offers on small segments of your list before you send the email to your entire list.
8. Include "Email this to a friend" service in all your communications for pass along and viral marketing.
Topic 4 ~ Good Call-to-Action ~
Get More Clicks With a Good Call-to-Action!
The call-to-action is a determining factor of your click-through rate. It is an important component of your email copy because it answers three important questions for the recipient. They are:
1. What you want them to do
2. Why they should do it, and
3. How to take that next step.
Whatever action you want your recipients to take, you can make it happen more often with a good call-to-action. First, decide what you want them to do:
1. Buy something
2. Sign up for a service
3. Fill out a form
4. Read an article or get more information
5. Visit your website or store
6. Make an appointment
Etc…
Then, make sure you incorporate these 6 characteristics to get the results you're looking for. Make your call-to action:
1. Visible - People read, react, make decisions and take action differently. Some make decisions right away ("You had me at hello.") and some need more details ("I'm from Missouri."). Place call-to-action links in the beginning, middle and end of the email so that recipients can click whenever they are ready.
2. Clear - Stick to simple words, short phrases, bulleted benefits and paragraphs of 1-3 short sentences. Include appropriate graphics and cut the clutter by making effective use of white space.
3. Compelling - Use action-oriented verbs and phrases: "buy now," "call today," "save" and so on.
4. Rewarding - Offer an incentive or reward for action. For example, "Act now and also receives...," or "the First 100 respondents will be entered into a raffle to win..." The giveaway, or prize, you choose should be closely related to your product or service. That way, you will be targeting customers who are interested in what you have to offer, not just the latest gadget.
5. Urgent - The longer an email sits in an inbox, the less likely it is to be acted on. Create a sense of urgency to get a more immediate response. Try limiting the offer to a specific time period, to the "first 50 customers," "while supplies last," etc.
6. Direct - Your call-to-action links should go to the appropriate page on your website with more details on the specific product or service you're promoting. If you don't have a website, the call-to-action might be store locations to visit or a number to call for an appointment.
Keep in mind that, in addition to repeating your call-to-action, you can vary your call-to-action to appeal to different types of buyers (and to fit your sales cycle). For example: "Click here to buy now" will naturally work better with loyal customers. The softer, "Click here to learn more" may be better for newer prospects.
Topic 5 ~ Avoid Common Pitfalls ~
Read Your Email Message Backwards to Avoid Common Pitfalls
Here are some common problems to look out for:
1. Misspelled words - It's a good idea to spell-check a document, but it's not enough. A spell checker won't catch every error.
2. Wrong word used - This is why a spell checker isn't enough. A spell checker will only flag words it doesn't recognize. It can't tell if a legitimate word is used incorrectly. Some words commonly confused: accept, except; your, you're; then, than; there, their, they're; cite, site, sight; lay, lie; loose, loosen, lose. Also, look out for a missing "r" in the word "your." It's easy to overlook a sentence such as "Visit our Web site now to receive you free copy."
3. Grammar error - Again, if you know you're not a good writer, have someone else check your writing for grammatical errors. Mistakes make you look bad.
4. Punctuation error - This is another area where you'll benefit from a review by someone who knows their stuff. If you're determined to do it yourself, purchase a good grammar or style book. One of the most common punctuation problems: Too many stupid commas!
5. Vague or confusing statement - Make sure every sentence is crystal-clear. You don't want your promotional message to raise more questions than it answers.
6. Illogical statement - Read over what you have written slowly. At the end of each paragraph, ask yourself: "Did that make sense?" Rewrite so that it does.
Topic 6 ~ Frequency of Sending Emails ~
How Often (Frequency) Should You Send Email?
There's no quick answer to the frequency question. It depends on the goals for your email and the type of content you send. Some rough guidelines:
1. Mail at least once a month. Mail less often than this, and you risk being forgotten by recipients. Monthly is the bare minimum if you want to keep your brand or company name top of mind (a common email goal).
2. Let content be your guide. Look at what you provide readers and you'll get a feel for proper frequency. Analyze how often the information changes and how quickly readers must receive it to act on it.
3. Work within your resources. A daily email requires many more resources than a monthly. Better a well-done monthly email than shoddy weekly or daily. It's recommended to start with a monthly. Once that's going smoothly, they can think about moving to weekly. You need to walk before you can run!
4. Watch for trends. Declining response, open, and click-through rates can be signs of list fatigue. Though some decrease is normal, watch carefully and cut back frequency if you see a problem. Don't assume if the unsubscribe rate is stable you're OK. Many people prefer to forward email directly to their delete folder rather than unsubscribe.
Topic 7 ~ Understanding Spam Filters ~
Understanding Spam Filters to Avoid Your Emails Get Junked!
If you send email campaigns long enough, you will inevitably run into spam filter issues. On average, you can expect 10-20% of your emails to just get lost in cyberspace, mostly due to overzealous spam filters. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. If you want to avoid getting your emails junked by spam filters, you have to understand how they work.
Generally speaking, spam filters look at a long list of criteria to judge whether or not your email is junk. For example, they might look for spammy phrases like "CLICK HERE!" or "FREE! BUY NOW!". They'll assign points each time they see one of those phrases. Certain criteria get more points than others. Here's a sample of criteria from Spam Assassin, one of the most popular spam filters out there:
• Talks about lots of money (.193 points)
• Describes some sort of breakthrough (.232 points)
• Looks like mortgage pitch (.297 points)
• Contains urgent matter (.288 points)
• Money back guarantee (2.051 points)
• Why Pay More? (1.249 points)
It's easy to use "spammy" keywords in your email without even knowing it. Here are some common ways marketers unwittingly trigger spam filters with their campaigns:
1. Using spammy phrases, like "Click here!" or "Once in a lifetime opportunity!" too many times in your email. Sometimes, you can't avoid phrases like "FREE SHIPPING!" but use them sparingly, and don't do anything else risky.
2. Going crazy with exclamation points!!!!!!
3. USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE YELLING IN EMAIL
4. Coloring their fonts bright red, or green
5. Coding sloppy HTML (such as by converting a Microsoft Word file to HTML)
6. Creating an HTML email that's nothing but one big image, with no text (since spam filters can't read images, they assume you're a spammer that's trying to trick 'em)
7. Using the word "Test" in the subject line (agencies run into this all the time, when sending drafts to clients for approval)
Topic 8 ~ Why Email Marketing Does not Work? ~
If Your Email Marketing Does not Work, Think Again Why?
Before you arrive at the faulty conclusion that email marketing doesn't work, let’s look at this from a different perspective for a moment that would make your emails ineffective.
First there's what you are writing in the body of the email. If this is your first attempt to get in touch with a prospect, what are you putting in the email? A dissertation? If it's longer than one or two paragraphs, it's too long. Look at your emails like an initial cold call. You need to laser in and deliver a compelling opening statement that's going to grab their interest and stimulate a conversation. Because there's no one to cut you off in an email or stop you from persistent pontification, people have tendency to ramble on and on in an email, giving the prospect the life story of the product or service they want them to consider. Keep it short and focus on the one or two benefits, opening up the opportunity to have a dialogue. That's it.
Second, are you sending attachments in the first email? No attachments! It's hard enough sending an unsolicited email to a prospect. Now you're adding more barriers and increasing the chances of your email winding up in their spam box or junk email folder. Some people have filters on their email that if an attachment is sent it automatically gets deleted. No attachment until that information in the attachment is solicited by the person.
Third, html or text? Once again, with all the email filters people use today, you will increase your odds by sending a text message only rather than trying to get fancy with formatting, graphics and pictures. The prospect really doesn't care about how beautiful your email looks; they care about the core message. Besides, they will never even get a chance to see your beautiful masterpiece in an html email if it's winding up in the trash.
Finally, you are using way too many spam words. As mentioned, the biggest enemy to email marketing or selling via email is the additional security that companies and individuals have on their network or computer. As such, the specific words you are using in the body of the email can be the culprit who is sending your email directly into the trash or spam box. In other words, you are using words that are often identified is spam and in turn, you email is getting flagged and deleted. Not even eye contact! The prospect is not getting a chance to, at the very least, see your email let alone read it and have a chance to respond accordingly.
Ending ~ Please Forward ~
Feel Free To Forward This E-Book To Your Friends!
Thank you for reading this e-book on “How to Make Email Marketing Works for Your Business”. This e-book provides useful guides on email marketing, and helps e-marketers to avoid several pitfalls in email marketing.
We hope you may regard this e-book as a book of guidance and that we can help you in your e-marketing effort.
If you think the outlined tips can help you, please take a few seconds to help us distribute or forward this e-book to as many people as possible.
I appreciate your time taken to read this e-book and I always appreciate reading your thoughtful and well considered comments, please drop an email to me at sales@blastsg.com if you have something to say about this e-book.
Thank you!
Regards,
About The Author
Mr. JH Saw
Visit us @ http://www.BlastSG.com
The Top 7 Overlooked E-bay Success Tips
Last year alone, millions of people made a profit on e-bay. Some were just selling odds and ends, while some ran huge businesses exclusively on e-bay. The amount of commerce done on the internet is only expected to increase, making prospects for e-bay users bright. You very well may be one of the people who's discovered the great benefits of making money from e-bay auctions. I myself have been an e-bay user for a little over a year and have had great success with my auctions.
When my friend began her business on e-bay selling high end purses, it started out quite rocky. Her auctions weren't getting the hits she wanted and usually sold off of one bid, instead of creating the bidding frenzy that beautiful bags like she had should have!
So, she called me up knowing I had been successfully using e-bay for almost a year at the time. She gave me her login information (we're best friends- she trusts me!) and asked me to check her her sales and current auctions and see if I noticed where the problem was. When I saw her current auctions, alot became obvious!
So, I compiled a list of things that I had used which had made me successful which I suggested she implement into her own auctions. I even revised the auctions she had active at the time. One of those auctions- a gorgeous brown Coach purse- sold for $546.00. She had listed it for $125.00. It was her biggest sale yet and she was thrilled.
The funny thing is, the methods I use are not some internet guru secrets. They are just things I picked up during my time using e-bay, but seem to be overlooked alot of the time. Here are what I have found to be the top 7 overlooked tips for successful e-bay auctions:
1. The Importance of a Good Title- When you're creating a title for your auction, you've gotta think like a buyer. When I checked my friend's listings, she had a beautiful, brand new brown patchwork Coach purse titled as 'coach purse'. This is way too general! A buyer knows what they want; in your title, include color, any brand name, main keywords that people will search, and condition is possible. I changed her title to "Brown & Beige Patchwork Coach Purse-Brand New". By the next day, it had over 100 new hits. Previously her auctions were hardly even reaching 100 hits throughout the whole 5 days.
Another mistake people often make is writing things like 'The best wristwatch ever!!!!" Even if you do believe you're selling the best wristwatch ever, is this really what a buyer is searching for? Of course not. Use a more descriptive, detailed title like 'Gold Armani Wrist Watch w/ Leather Band-New".
One more thing when it comes to titles: make sure keywords are included. For example, whatever the item you're selling actually IS, include that in the title. On e-bay, I mostly sell high end women's heels. I always make sure to include in my title 'Womens Shoes" because this is a common keyword. An example of a title I would use is:
"Brown Marc Jacobs Womens Silver Stud Pumps Shoes"- I know that 'pumps shoes' sounds awkward, but many women will search for "marc jacobs womens shoes", and I want to be sure my item shows up in the results. Use these tips when creating your title and you'll be sure to see increased traffic to your auction.
2. Give honest descriptions- Sure, that stain, tear, or other defect may be sooo small that it's almost impossible to notice. Still, mention it in your auction. If you send an item out and a buyer realizes that the item has a defect that you didn't mention in the auction description, they will be disappointed and very possibly leave you negative feedback. Anyone familiar with e-bay knows that feedback is everything. It is what makes people feel comfortable buying from you and proves that you are a trustworthy, reliable buyer.
It's best to provide a photo of any defects so potential buyers can see what they're getting. And believe me, if you say that there's a defect but don't show a picture, people will e-mail you asking for some. I have sometimes had a defect so tiny on a shoe that I couldn't even get it to show up in a picture. If that's the case, say it! Provide a picture of the area where the defect is and also explain in your listing that it's so miniscule that you can't get it to show up in the picture. Buyers will trust you much more and be way more willing to buy from you in the future. You also won't have to deal with an unsatisfied customer who can damage your feedback rating and make future potential buyers hesitant or even completely dissaude them from buying from you.
3. Offer International Shipping- So often I see sellers who are providing great products but don't offer international shipping. Let me tell you- about 30% of my sales are to international buyers, and very often international buyers will pay more for products. I never understood why people are restraining their own sales potential by not offering international shipping.
Remember, the buyer is the one who pays the shipping, not you!! Even though international shipping is expensive, you are not paying it! And don't be discouraged thinking sending things internationally is difficult- it's super simple and not much different then sending things within the country. If you use USPS (the method I find most efficient for prices and service), you may have to fill out a short customs sheet that takes no more than a minute. Don't be lazy! Offer international shipping and see your sales soar!
4. Send a Thank You card with your purchase- You can get packs of black decorative cards from any general store, WalMart, or even discount chains like TJ Maxx. Buy a couple packs and with people's packages, send a nice thank you card.
You don't have to write a dialog, just a simple "Name of Buyer, Thanks so much for your bid! Enjoy your purchase, and I hope to do business with you in the future! Your Name or Business Name" If you want to really go all out and rake in some super feedback, include a small free gift. When I sell a pair of shoes I usually include a free headband or pair of earrings. If you'd like to try this out, try to find something that compliments whatever it is that you're selling. You could also include a little bag of candy or some tea light candles (go to the dollar store for great knick knacks and free gift ideas). Use your imagination to make your customers satisfied and loyal!
5. Offer combined shipping Buyers love combined shipping. If you offer a good combined shipping deal, and have more than one item they're interested in, they're ten times more likely to buy both items. Some people choose to determine combined shipping depending upon the two items the buyer is interested in, while others have set shipping rules. A good example is to charge $_.__ for the first item and offer to send the second item free, or for $1.00-$2.00 more. Usually the additional weight of the package isn't much so it's possible to offer combined shipping without losing any profit at all. Determine your own rates depending on the weight of the items you sell and the shipping service you use.
6.Keep communication with Buyers open and offer more pictures upon request. Of course in your listing you must include good pictures to attract buyers. Most people include 2-4 pictures per listing, depending on the size of the items and any special details you've got to show. I always include at least 3 pictures, and more if I feel the item needs more pictures of some detail it has that is unique.
Even though you have already provided your buyers with good pictures, it's helpful to write in your listing "Contact me with any questions or for more pictures. (with your contact info)" This is another method that makes buyers instantly trust you more and feel more comfortable placing bids. They feel that the communication lines are open and that they can get more info on the item if needed. And don't be discouraged thinking that you'll spend the whole day responding to e-mails requesting more photos; If you've already included good pictures, most people won't bother asking for more. Of over 50 listings where I've written this, only one person ever asked me for additional pictures. Check your e-mail though at least once a day to see if you've got any questions, people love quick responses and will reward you with good feedback for your effective communication.
7. Always use Delivery Confirmation- This is a biggie! Make sure that when you post your shipping costs, delivery confirmation costs are included so buyers aren't questioning the extrra expense when they receive their invoice. Delivery confirmation is a cheap effective way to ensure both your own and the buyer's investment.
First of all, you do not want to get scammed. What? Scammed? Yes, it happens. I know that most of the scamming referred to on e-bay is about sellers who scam their buyers, but don't be naive; we sellers are also at risk. Although the majority of the e-bay community is good people who are just trying to conduct legitimate transactions, there are those rotten apples which make it hard for all of us.
The usefulness of delivery confirmation was brought to my attention my an acquaintence of mine who does some selling on e-bay. He sold some very high quality digital remote for around $250.00. He shipped the item using delivery confirmation, and after about a week told me he received an e-mail from the buyer saing she'd never received the product. She filed a whole complaint with e-bay and made a big fuss about it. GOOD THING he had the delivery confirmation number and was able to prove that the product had been shipped to her address. Don't let one of these scammers get a chance to cheat you out of your money.
Making delivery confirmation a requirement is also something that will make serious bidders trust you more and see that you're a legitimate business person who wants to secure shipment. Think about it; if someone requests NOT to use delivery confirmation, you can guess where their intentions are. The extra .75 is not breaking anyone's piggy bank, so don't feel bad about it.
There you have it! Use these highly useful yet highly overlooked tips to generate more traffic to your auctions and enjoy higher sale prices. To e-bay success!
Check out http://www.freelancemommystudio.com for more e-bay and work at home tips and programs!
When my friend began her business on e-bay selling high end purses, it started out quite rocky. Her auctions weren't getting the hits she wanted and usually sold off of one bid, instead of creating the bidding frenzy that beautiful bags like she had should have!
So, she called me up knowing I had been successfully using e-bay for almost a year at the time. She gave me her login information (we're best friends- she trusts me!) and asked me to check her her sales and current auctions and see if I noticed where the problem was. When I saw her current auctions, alot became obvious!
So, I compiled a list of things that I had used which had made me successful which I suggested she implement into her own auctions. I even revised the auctions she had active at the time. One of those auctions- a gorgeous brown Coach purse- sold for $546.00. She had listed it for $125.00. It was her biggest sale yet and she was thrilled.
The funny thing is, the methods I use are not some internet guru secrets. They are just things I picked up during my time using e-bay, but seem to be overlooked alot of the time. Here are what I have found to be the top 7 overlooked tips for successful e-bay auctions:
1. The Importance of a Good Title- When you're creating a title for your auction, you've gotta think like a buyer. When I checked my friend's listings, she had a beautiful, brand new brown patchwork Coach purse titled as 'coach purse'. This is way too general! A buyer knows what they want; in your title, include color, any brand name, main keywords that people will search, and condition is possible. I changed her title to "Brown & Beige Patchwork Coach Purse-Brand New". By the next day, it had over 100 new hits. Previously her auctions were hardly even reaching 100 hits throughout the whole 5 days.
Another mistake people often make is writing things like 'The best wristwatch ever!!!!" Even if you do believe you're selling the best wristwatch ever, is this really what a buyer is searching for? Of course not. Use a more descriptive, detailed title like 'Gold Armani Wrist Watch w/ Leather Band-New".
One more thing when it comes to titles: make sure keywords are included. For example, whatever the item you're selling actually IS, include that in the title. On e-bay, I mostly sell high end women's heels. I always make sure to include in my title 'Womens Shoes" because this is a common keyword. An example of a title I would use is:
"Brown Marc Jacobs Womens Silver Stud Pumps Shoes"- I know that 'pumps shoes' sounds awkward, but many women will search for "marc jacobs womens shoes", and I want to be sure my item shows up in the results. Use these tips when creating your title and you'll be sure to see increased traffic to your auction.
2. Give honest descriptions- Sure, that stain, tear, or other defect may be sooo small that it's almost impossible to notice. Still, mention it in your auction. If you send an item out and a buyer realizes that the item has a defect that you didn't mention in the auction description, they will be disappointed and very possibly leave you negative feedback. Anyone familiar with e-bay knows that feedback is everything. It is what makes people feel comfortable buying from you and proves that you are a trustworthy, reliable buyer.
It's best to provide a photo of any defects so potential buyers can see what they're getting. And believe me, if you say that there's a defect but don't show a picture, people will e-mail you asking for some. I have sometimes had a defect so tiny on a shoe that I couldn't even get it to show up in a picture. If that's the case, say it! Provide a picture of the area where the defect is and also explain in your listing that it's so miniscule that you can't get it to show up in the picture. Buyers will trust you much more and be way more willing to buy from you in the future. You also won't have to deal with an unsatisfied customer who can damage your feedback rating and make future potential buyers hesitant or even completely dissaude them from buying from you.
3. Offer International Shipping- So often I see sellers who are providing great products but don't offer international shipping. Let me tell you- about 30% of my sales are to international buyers, and very often international buyers will pay more for products. I never understood why people are restraining their own sales potential by not offering international shipping.
Remember, the buyer is the one who pays the shipping, not you!! Even though international shipping is expensive, you are not paying it! And don't be discouraged thinking sending things internationally is difficult- it's super simple and not much different then sending things within the country. If you use USPS (the method I find most efficient for prices and service), you may have to fill out a short customs sheet that takes no more than a minute. Don't be lazy! Offer international shipping and see your sales soar!
4. Send a Thank You card with your purchase- You can get packs of black decorative cards from any general store, WalMart, or even discount chains like TJ Maxx. Buy a couple packs and with people's packages, send a nice thank you card.
You don't have to write a dialog, just a simple "Name of Buyer, Thanks so much for your bid! Enjoy your purchase, and I hope to do business with you in the future! Your Name or Business Name" If you want to really go all out and rake in some super feedback, include a small free gift. When I sell a pair of shoes I usually include a free headband or pair of earrings. If you'd like to try this out, try to find something that compliments whatever it is that you're selling. You could also include a little bag of candy or some tea light candles (go to the dollar store for great knick knacks and free gift ideas). Use your imagination to make your customers satisfied and loyal!
5. Offer combined shipping Buyers love combined shipping. If you offer a good combined shipping deal, and have more than one item they're interested in, they're ten times more likely to buy both items. Some people choose to determine combined shipping depending upon the two items the buyer is interested in, while others have set shipping rules. A good example is to charge $_.__ for the first item and offer to send the second item free, or for $1.00-$2.00 more. Usually the additional weight of the package isn't much so it's possible to offer combined shipping without losing any profit at all. Determine your own rates depending on the weight of the items you sell and the shipping service you use.
6.Keep communication with Buyers open and offer more pictures upon request. Of course in your listing you must include good pictures to attract buyers. Most people include 2-4 pictures per listing, depending on the size of the items and any special details you've got to show. I always include at least 3 pictures, and more if I feel the item needs more pictures of some detail it has that is unique.
Even though you have already provided your buyers with good pictures, it's helpful to write in your listing "Contact me with any questions or for more pictures. (with your contact info)" This is another method that makes buyers instantly trust you more and feel more comfortable placing bids. They feel that the communication lines are open and that they can get more info on the item if needed. And don't be discouraged thinking that you'll spend the whole day responding to e-mails requesting more photos; If you've already included good pictures, most people won't bother asking for more. Of over 50 listings where I've written this, only one person ever asked me for additional pictures. Check your e-mail though at least once a day to see if you've got any questions, people love quick responses and will reward you with good feedback for your effective communication.
7. Always use Delivery Confirmation- This is a biggie! Make sure that when you post your shipping costs, delivery confirmation costs are included so buyers aren't questioning the extrra expense when they receive their invoice. Delivery confirmation is a cheap effective way to ensure both your own and the buyer's investment.
First of all, you do not want to get scammed. What? Scammed? Yes, it happens. I know that most of the scamming referred to on e-bay is about sellers who scam their buyers, but don't be naive; we sellers are also at risk. Although the majority of the e-bay community is good people who are just trying to conduct legitimate transactions, there are those rotten apples which make it hard for all of us.
The usefulness of delivery confirmation was brought to my attention my an acquaintence of mine who does some selling on e-bay. He sold some very high quality digital remote for around $250.00. He shipped the item using delivery confirmation, and after about a week told me he received an e-mail from the buyer saing she'd never received the product. She filed a whole complaint with e-bay and made a big fuss about it. GOOD THING he had the delivery confirmation number and was able to prove that the product had been shipped to her address. Don't let one of these scammers get a chance to cheat you out of your money.
Making delivery confirmation a requirement is also something that will make serious bidders trust you more and see that you're a legitimate business person who wants to secure shipment. Think about it; if someone requests NOT to use delivery confirmation, you can guess where their intentions are. The extra .75 is not breaking anyone's piggy bank, so don't feel bad about it.
There you have it! Use these highly useful yet highly overlooked tips to generate more traffic to your auctions and enjoy higher sale prices. To e-bay success!
Check out http://www.freelancemommystudio.com for more e-bay and work at home tips and programs!
Starting An Internet Business In As Little As Within Hours With These 9 Proven Secrets
With the right guidance, an Internet business can start generating income almost immediately. A home internet business can be very successful for people who have the dedication, skills and patience to await agradual increase in business and income. There are several ways how an internet business can be started. However, no matter which internet business is being initiated, it won't make an impact at first.
The start up costs for an internet home business are next to nothing compared to the offline world of business start ups. In fact it is a lot more simple to start and grow a business on the internet. Of course you need some knowledge to begin your internet home business enterprise. But you don't need a "Bacc" to do business on the web.
All you need is some computer knowledge and some internet marketing basis and a good dose of determination.
Here is some basic tips on how to start an internet home business.
== 1.Write Your Business Goals ==
It is important to set goals and objectives and then take action to accomplish them. This will be your Business Plan.
Here Are Some questions you should ask yourself:
- Why do I want to start up an Internet Home Business?
- What product or service can I provide?
- Do I have the knowledge and expertise to provide this service?
- Do I know enough about the competition?
- Where will my customers come from?
Take the time to write down your questions and answers and thoroughly research your chosen market.
== 2. Choose A Product or Service To Sell ==
On the internet you can find hundreds of product or services to sell.
You can sell your own product by creating your own, or purchasing resale rights or being an affiliate with a good internet company.
Don't put your personal gains first. Make sure that the product will deliver what it promises. When you promote a product that leaves the buyer dissatisfied, you' ll only be ruining your business. So sell solutions and the money will come.
== 3. Business Domain Name ==
One important first step is to choose the best domain name you can. Keep it as short and simple as possible.
Think of domain name like " Google " or " Yahoo ". They are short and easy to remember.
I know that some people say to use keyword in you're domain name. But if you choose " Internet Business " there is million of site with this term.
So are you going to use for example "AprofitableInternethomebusiness.com" it might be a nice name but it is too long and not simple.
== 4. Your Business Web Site ==
Having A good business website is essential to succeed with an internet home business.
Here is the thing you have to plan to build your website
A) Decide on the website design (color schemes, buttons, special effects etc). However, you may have a preference for a certain color or look. To help you choose a design, you may wish to check out other people's websites or work with your web designer's pre-set templates.
(b) The content. There are many items you may wish to include on your website. The most common ones include:
1 Products And Services
2. Contact Information
3. Pricing
4. Testimonials
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Resources & Articles
7. Refund Policy
8. Privacy Policy
9. About Us
10. Site Map
11. Useful Links
12. On-line store
== 5. Choose a Web Hosting Company ==
What is a Web hosting Company?
A Web host is a company that provides server space for your website. You can think of a web host as a commercial building. The web host provides space for your website just as a commercial building provides space for your shop or office.
What are some of the things you should look for when choosing a web host? The criteria for choosing a free web host and a commercial web hosting solution are slightly different although they do overlap.
A) Web Space
Does it have enough space for your needs? If you envisage that you will expand your site eventually, you might want to cater for future expansion. Most sites use less than 5MB of web space. Indeed, at one time, one of my other web sites, thefreecountry.com, used less than 5MB of space although it had about 150 pages on the site. Your needs will vary, depending on how many pictures your pages use, whether you need sound files, video clips, etc.
B) Bandwidth allotment
Nowadays, many free web hosts impose a limit on the amount of traffic your website can use per day and per month. This means that if the pages (and graphic images) on your site is loaded by visitors beyond a certain number of times per day (or per month), the web host will disable your web site (or perhaps send you a bill).
It is difficult to recommend a specific minimum amount of bandwidth, since it depends on how you design your site, your target audience, and the number of visitors you're able to attract to your site. In general, 100MB traffic per month is too little for anything other than your personal home page and 1-3GB traffic per month is usually adequate for a simple site just starting out. Your mileage, however, will vary.
C) Reliability and speed of access
This is extremely important. A site that is frequently down will lose a lot of visitors. If someone finds your site on the search engine, and he tries to access it but find that it is down, he'll simply go down the list to find another site. Slow access is also very frustrating for visitors (and for you too, when you upload your site).
How do you know if a host is reliable or fast? If you can't get feedback from anyone, one way is to try it out yourself over a period of time, both during peak as well as non-peak hours. After all, it is free, so you can always experiment with it.
== 6. Shopping Cart ==
No e-commerce website is complete without a secure shopping cart. There are many shopping cart options. Many e-commerce business owners make the mistake of using Pay Pal to accept payments, which immediately tells visitors that their company is very small and not professional.
A good alternative to Pay Pal is a remotely hosted shopping cart. Remote shopping carts take the burden of maintaining security and credit card numbers off your shoulder and places the responsibility on another company. Remote shopping carts can usually be configured to look similar to your website.
In fact, your customers may not realize that they have left your website to place an order. The remote shopping cart provider will give you the HTML to add to your website. When your potential customer clicks on the Buy Now button, he or she is taken to the remote shopping cart to enter the personal information and payment details.
Depending on your choice of a shopping cart, you may or may not need a merchant account to process transactions. Some shopping cart services allow you to use their merchant accounts for a slightly higher fee.
== 7. How To Promote Your Business Website ==
Write An Article: Write an article promoting your site or product. Write an article on a hot topic many people would like more information on and submit it to various e-zines. How do you find out what's hot? Visit a few of the message boards and see what questions are raised often.
Search Engines: Thousands of search engines exist on the Internet. But, you should only be concerned with the top eight or ten. You should manually submit to the top eight: Alta Vista, Excite, Yahoo, Hotbot, Lycos, Northern Light, Infoseek, Webcrawler, and use one of the FREE automatic submission services like *SubmitPlus* to handle the smaller search engines.
Directories: List your site here too. Directories organize sites into categories. Good examples of Directories: Yahoo, Magellan.
Ezine Listings: If you have an e-zine to promote along with your site. Why not list it with one of the many e-zine services on the Internet. E-zine Library is a good one to start with.
Free Classifieds: You will have to submit to a ton of FREE classifieds to get any significant traffic. Why? You are competing with thousands of other Ads. Remember to work on your Ad copy and make it attention grabbing. Go to one of the popular search engines, type in Free Classifieds, and surf to the top 20 classified sites for beginners.
Often, these sites will lead you to several other Free Classified Sites. In response you'll get a stack of e-mail thanking you for listing your site while barking their promo. Best to get one of those free email accounts. Hot mail is a good one. So is Yahoo mail.
FFA Pages. Free For All's are worth a try. Be prepared for a avalanche of e-mails from FFA web site owners. If your title is attention grabbing you will get a few clicks. Good Attention grabbing headlines, FREE, Limited Time, Limited Offer, Proven, Secrets, and many more if you brainstorm. Check out the sales literature delivered to you by regular mail. Check and see what headlines grab your attention. And why? Incorporate them into your Online Ads.
Tell Friends And Family: If your friends, family, acquaintances, have an Internet Connection, e-mail them telling them about your new website, and ask them to visit often. Offer a FREE incentive if they tell a few friends to surf over. Perhaps, a FREE Ad in your e-zine.
Leave Business Cards or Flyers: Leave these promo pieces with small businesses in your community. All relevant contact information; email address, URL, telephone number, should be included. Offer a freebie to anyone who visits your site. A free e-book, report.
== 8. TRACK YOUR MARKETING ==
Here are some questions to consider:
1) How many unique visitors come to your website?
2) How many visitors opt-in to your mailing list or order your products?
3) When you send emails, how many are opened and how many people actually click through to your website?
The reason these question are so important is because if you don't know these stats, you won't know what to improve. It could be different things; like your headlines, the content or navigation on your website. You won't know until you start checking all your marketing offer.
== 9. YOUR BUSINESS IN CONCLUSION ==
Think of your first six months primarily as a training period. Don't expect large earnings until after you've educated yourself.
Even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs in the industry took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance with their internet home business.
Don't be a negative thinker and don't let the negative attitudes of others (even if they're family members, friends, or peers) influence you.
All the great men and women in history had to overcome the naysayers who said it couldn't be done and then went out and did it. Think for yourself!
As long as you think positive and focused on your internet home business target you re on the right way to a rich life, which is directed by you and it will lead you to tremendous success and personnal satisfaction.
Building an Internet business can be very rewarding when you start making money online out of the comforts of your own home. If you've always wanted to be self-employed and be your own boss. Then having an internet business will open this up for you. You just need to work on it.
The start up costs for an internet home business are next to nothing compared to the offline world of business start ups. In fact it is a lot more simple to start and grow a business on the internet. Of course you need some knowledge to begin your internet home business enterprise. But you don't need a "Bacc" to do business on the web.
All you need is some computer knowledge and some internet marketing basis and a good dose of determination.
Here is some basic tips on how to start an internet home business.
== 1.Write Your Business Goals ==
It is important to set goals and objectives and then take action to accomplish them. This will be your Business Plan.
Here Are Some questions you should ask yourself:
- Why do I want to start up an Internet Home Business?
- What product or service can I provide?
- Do I have the knowledge and expertise to provide this service?
- Do I know enough about the competition?
- Where will my customers come from?
Take the time to write down your questions and answers and thoroughly research your chosen market.
== 2. Choose A Product or Service To Sell ==
On the internet you can find hundreds of product or services to sell.
You can sell your own product by creating your own, or purchasing resale rights or being an affiliate with a good internet company.
Don't put your personal gains first. Make sure that the product will deliver what it promises. When you promote a product that leaves the buyer dissatisfied, you' ll only be ruining your business. So sell solutions and the money will come.
== 3. Business Domain Name ==
One important first step is to choose the best domain name you can. Keep it as short and simple as possible.
Think of domain name like " Google " or " Yahoo ". They are short and easy to remember.
I know that some people say to use keyword in you're domain name. But if you choose " Internet Business " there is million of site with this term.
So are you going to use for example "AprofitableInternethomebusiness.com" it might be a nice name but it is too long and not simple.
== 4. Your Business Web Site ==
Having A good business website is essential to succeed with an internet home business.
Here is the thing you have to plan to build your website
A) Decide on the website design (color schemes, buttons, special effects etc). However, you may have a preference for a certain color or look. To help you choose a design, you may wish to check out other people's websites or work with your web designer's pre-set templates.
(b) The content. There are many items you may wish to include on your website. The most common ones include:
1 Products And Services
2. Contact Information
3. Pricing
4. Testimonials
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Resources & Articles
7. Refund Policy
8. Privacy Policy
9. About Us
10. Site Map
11. Useful Links
12. On-line store
== 5. Choose a Web Hosting Company ==
What is a Web hosting Company?
A Web host is a company that provides server space for your website. You can think of a web host as a commercial building. The web host provides space for your website just as a commercial building provides space for your shop or office.
What are some of the things you should look for when choosing a web host? The criteria for choosing a free web host and a commercial web hosting solution are slightly different although they do overlap.
A) Web Space
Does it have enough space for your needs? If you envisage that you will expand your site eventually, you might want to cater for future expansion. Most sites use less than 5MB of web space. Indeed, at one time, one of my other web sites, thefreecountry.com, used less than 5MB of space although it had about 150 pages on the site. Your needs will vary, depending on how many pictures your pages use, whether you need sound files, video clips, etc.
B) Bandwidth allotment
Nowadays, many free web hosts impose a limit on the amount of traffic your website can use per day and per month. This means that if the pages (and graphic images) on your site is loaded by visitors beyond a certain number of times per day (or per month), the web host will disable your web site (or perhaps send you a bill).
It is difficult to recommend a specific minimum amount of bandwidth, since it depends on how you design your site, your target audience, and the number of visitors you're able to attract to your site. In general, 100MB traffic per month is too little for anything other than your personal home page and 1-3GB traffic per month is usually adequate for a simple site just starting out. Your mileage, however, will vary.
C) Reliability and speed of access
This is extremely important. A site that is frequently down will lose a lot of visitors. If someone finds your site on the search engine, and he tries to access it but find that it is down, he'll simply go down the list to find another site. Slow access is also very frustrating for visitors (and for you too, when you upload your site).
How do you know if a host is reliable or fast? If you can't get feedback from anyone, one way is to try it out yourself over a period of time, both during peak as well as non-peak hours. After all, it is free, so you can always experiment with it.
== 6. Shopping Cart ==
No e-commerce website is complete without a secure shopping cart. There are many shopping cart options. Many e-commerce business owners make the mistake of using Pay Pal to accept payments, which immediately tells visitors that their company is very small and not professional.
A good alternative to Pay Pal is a remotely hosted shopping cart. Remote shopping carts take the burden of maintaining security and credit card numbers off your shoulder and places the responsibility on another company. Remote shopping carts can usually be configured to look similar to your website.
In fact, your customers may not realize that they have left your website to place an order. The remote shopping cart provider will give you the HTML to add to your website. When your potential customer clicks on the Buy Now button, he or she is taken to the remote shopping cart to enter the personal information and payment details.
Depending on your choice of a shopping cart, you may or may not need a merchant account to process transactions. Some shopping cart services allow you to use their merchant accounts for a slightly higher fee.
== 7. How To Promote Your Business Website ==
Write An Article: Write an article promoting your site or product. Write an article on a hot topic many people would like more information on and submit it to various e-zines. How do you find out what's hot? Visit a few of the message boards and see what questions are raised often.
Search Engines: Thousands of search engines exist on the Internet. But, you should only be concerned with the top eight or ten. You should manually submit to the top eight: Alta Vista, Excite, Yahoo, Hotbot, Lycos, Northern Light, Infoseek, Webcrawler, and use one of the FREE automatic submission services like *SubmitPlus* to handle the smaller search engines.
Directories: List your site here too. Directories organize sites into categories. Good examples of Directories: Yahoo, Magellan.
Ezine Listings: If you have an e-zine to promote along with your site. Why not list it with one of the many e-zine services on the Internet. E-zine Library is a good one to start with.
Free Classifieds: You will have to submit to a ton of FREE classifieds to get any significant traffic. Why? You are competing with thousands of other Ads. Remember to work on your Ad copy and make it attention grabbing. Go to one of the popular search engines, type in Free Classifieds, and surf to the top 20 classified sites for beginners.
Often, these sites will lead you to several other Free Classified Sites. In response you'll get a stack of e-mail thanking you for listing your site while barking their promo. Best to get one of those free email accounts. Hot mail is a good one. So is Yahoo mail.
FFA Pages. Free For All's are worth a try. Be prepared for a avalanche of e-mails from FFA web site owners. If your title is attention grabbing you will get a few clicks. Good Attention grabbing headlines, FREE, Limited Time, Limited Offer, Proven, Secrets, and many more if you brainstorm. Check out the sales literature delivered to you by regular mail. Check and see what headlines grab your attention. And why? Incorporate them into your Online Ads.
Tell Friends And Family: If your friends, family, acquaintances, have an Internet Connection, e-mail them telling them about your new website, and ask them to visit often. Offer a FREE incentive if they tell a few friends to surf over. Perhaps, a FREE Ad in your e-zine.
Leave Business Cards or Flyers: Leave these promo pieces with small businesses in your community. All relevant contact information; email address, URL, telephone number, should be included. Offer a freebie to anyone who visits your site. A free e-book, report.
== 8. TRACK YOUR MARKETING ==
Here are some questions to consider:
1) How many unique visitors come to your website?
2) How many visitors opt-in to your mailing list or order your products?
3) When you send emails, how many are opened and how many people actually click through to your website?
The reason these question are so important is because if you don't know these stats, you won't know what to improve. It could be different things; like your headlines, the content or navigation on your website. You won't know until you start checking all your marketing offer.
== 9. YOUR BUSINESS IN CONCLUSION ==
Think of your first six months primarily as a training period. Don't expect large earnings until after you've educated yourself.
Even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs in the industry took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance with their internet home business.
Don't be a negative thinker and don't let the negative attitudes of others (even if they're family members, friends, or peers) influence you.
All the great men and women in history had to overcome the naysayers who said it couldn't be done and then went out and did it. Think for yourself!
As long as you think positive and focused on your internet home business target you re on the right way to a rich life, which is directed by you and it will lead you to tremendous success and personnal satisfaction.
Building an Internet business can be very rewarding when you start making money online out of the comforts of your own home. If you've always wanted to be self-employed and be your own boss. Then having an internet business will open this up for you. You just need to work on it.
4 Things Affiliate Marketers Need
Here's my response, along with some information on what it takes to be successful as an affiliate marketer and tips on how to make affiliate marketing work for you as an online home business. You may not think that having a home business provides as much security, but you won't get laid off and you won't be called back into the office, and you should almost always get along with the Boss. In my mind, all of this makes the idea of starting a home business all the more appealing. There are thousands of work at home jobs and home business opportunities on the Internet.
After a LOT of research, as well as plenty of trial and error, I have learned some very important things to look for in home businesses, work at home jobs, affiliate programs and all the other types of work at home business opportunities. My preferred niche is in affiliate marketing, this vs. traditional marketing is by far easier and more lucrative in the long run. You can build a higher residual and passive income this way. My opinion, of course, but try it out for yourself and see that I know what I am talking about.
Useful Tips
1) Starting a successful online business begins with research.
Look into every aspect of your business, Are you going to need inventory, storage, up front money? Websites, domains, and hosts are very important factors in research! The wrong web host and you are doomed from the beginning*. Write it all down so you can look back from time to time. Research your niche, by that I mean what kind of business would best suit you and your needs. What are you good at? Think about this question before you go any further and write down your answers so you can research them.
2) Websites, domains, and web hosts are crucial in your success.
Like I said above*, Most Internet businesses, that have a drive to succeed, focus all of their time and resources on building a great site, and then trying to drive tons of traffic to that site. I recommend staying away from Free web hosting for a business , Most free hosting has drawbacks such as they reserve the right to place ads of all kinds on your site, this looks very unprofessional and will make you lose business in the long run, so beware, free isn’t always good. Check out reviews on the host of your choice to make sure they have good credibility standards on the internet. I personally recommend Host 4 Profit as they have always had great customer service, and they, to my knowledge, are rarely if ever down like some hosts I’ve ran across in the past. Anyway, research this one immensely.
3) One of the biggest key factors in building a successful online business is traffic. Only after you have chosen the right name and host for your business should you move to this step. There are many Free ways to get traffic on the web; Articles, blogs, free advertising sites there are plenty of, traffic exchanges like Traffic Swarm, Traffic G, etc. Making sure you get enough backlinks to your site makes the Big difference. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN will not pick you up if they can’t find you. Make your website available to be found by getting your link on everything you can, but always staying within the rules of advertising, otherwise you do more damage than good to your business. If you have NO traffic, you have NO sales. No sales equals No Business. You see the effect here.
4) Perseverance, it’s not something you can find online it’s something you have to find within. I know you’re thinking now why did I put that in there. Perseverance is what you will need most when you start and try to maintain an affiliate marketing online business. When you work at home you get to set your own hours and granted you can even work while still in your PJ’s but at home there are constant distractions to stop you from staying on task. Someone will stop by, the kids will start fighting, emergencies arise, the phone never stops ringing, etc… You name it, it will be sure to happen. This is why perseverance is in my top 10 tips to maintain a successful online business. You must make it a point every night before going to bed to make a ‘to do’ list for the next day concerning your business. This strategy has helped me most of all and it keeps me on task.
Quote of the Day:
"Any Statement made after the phrase 'I AM' has power, whether positive or negative, it will have power"
To Your Success and Happiness In your NEW Life!
Copyright © Tabitha Palmer
After a LOT of research, as well as plenty of trial and error, I have learned some very important things to look for in home businesses, work at home jobs, affiliate programs and all the other types of work at home business opportunities. My preferred niche is in affiliate marketing, this vs. traditional marketing is by far easier and more lucrative in the long run. You can build a higher residual and passive income this way. My opinion, of course, but try it out for yourself and see that I know what I am talking about.
Useful Tips
1) Starting a successful online business begins with research.
Look into every aspect of your business, Are you going to need inventory, storage, up front money? Websites, domains, and hosts are very important factors in research! The wrong web host and you are doomed from the beginning*. Write it all down so you can look back from time to time. Research your niche, by that I mean what kind of business would best suit you and your needs. What are you good at? Think about this question before you go any further and write down your answers so you can research them.
2) Websites, domains, and web hosts are crucial in your success.
Like I said above*, Most Internet businesses, that have a drive to succeed, focus all of their time and resources on building a great site, and then trying to drive tons of traffic to that site. I recommend staying away from Free web hosting for a business , Most free hosting has drawbacks such as they reserve the right to place ads of all kinds on your site, this looks very unprofessional and will make you lose business in the long run, so beware, free isn’t always good. Check out reviews on the host of your choice to make sure they have good credibility standards on the internet. I personally recommend Host 4 Profit as they have always had great customer service, and they, to my knowledge, are rarely if ever down like some hosts I’ve ran across in the past. Anyway, research this one immensely.
3) One of the biggest key factors in building a successful online business is traffic. Only after you have chosen the right name and host for your business should you move to this step. There are many Free ways to get traffic on the web; Articles, blogs, free advertising sites there are plenty of, traffic exchanges like Traffic Swarm, Traffic G, etc. Making sure you get enough backlinks to your site makes the Big difference. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN will not pick you up if they can’t find you. Make your website available to be found by getting your link on everything you can, but always staying within the rules of advertising, otherwise you do more damage than good to your business. If you have NO traffic, you have NO sales. No sales equals No Business. You see the effect here.
4) Perseverance, it’s not something you can find online it’s something you have to find within. I know you’re thinking now why did I put that in there. Perseverance is what you will need most when you start and try to maintain an affiliate marketing online business. When you work at home you get to set your own hours and granted you can even work while still in your PJ’s but at home there are constant distractions to stop you from staying on task. Someone will stop by, the kids will start fighting, emergencies arise, the phone never stops ringing, etc… You name it, it will be sure to happen. This is why perseverance is in my top 10 tips to maintain a successful online business. You must make it a point every night before going to bed to make a ‘to do’ list for the next day concerning your business. This strategy has helped me most of all and it keeps me on task.
Quote of the Day:
"Any Statement made after the phrase 'I AM' has power, whether positive or negative, it will have power"
To Your Success and Happiness In your NEW Life!
Copyright © Tabitha Palmer
Thursday, July 24, 2008
3 Big Tips for Effective Phone Follow Up
Business professionals, students and entrepreneurs can use networking as an effective tool for sales, marketing, research and build a professional network. A part of networking is following up with potential clients, customers and colleagues and building relationships. The manner in which you present yourself and your company is crucial. Also, the way in which you communicate is very important and effects the relationships that you are trying to maintain.
After meeting someone at a networking event, it is important to follow up with that person and beginning building a premature relationship. You should take the time to learn as much as you can about your business counterpart and eventually conduct business for ongoing success. A good and direct way to follow up with your business counter part is to contact them via phone. Listed below are tips on connecting with others in an effective and timely manner.
Tip #1
When you decide to call your business counterpart, make sure that you are calling them within a reasonable hour. Keep in mind that people are busy and time is a very important asset. You should not schedule your phone call too early in the morning or too late in the afternoon/evening. Phone calls should generally be made after lunch time. Usually professionals are less busy and have more time to take and conduct business before the day is over.
Tip #2
If you call your business counterpart and he/she is not available always leave a message. In your message, you should be concise and speak clearly and slowly on the voice message. In the message, you should include your contact information and number so that your counter part can write down the message and reach you quickly. Also have an upbeat or cheerful tone and rehearse your message so that you refrain from making mistakes or repeating yourself.
Tip #3
Follow up the phone message with an email message. Many times, people can accidently delete a phone message or fail to receive it for various reasons. To avoid any confusion or delays, it is highly recommended that you send out a short email message informing your counterpart that you are trying to get in touch with them. It is a subtle way of follow up but it is not pushy or overbearing.
Chi Chi Okezie is owner/producer of SIMPLEnetworking, LLC in Metro-Atlanta, GA. Newly published author of "SIMPLEnetworking: Creating Opportunities ... The new form of success!" View excerpts of the book and polish your professional approach: http://www.snseminars.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chi_Chi_Okezie
After meeting someone at a networking event, it is important to follow up with that person and beginning building a premature relationship. You should take the time to learn as much as you can about your business counterpart and eventually conduct business for ongoing success. A good and direct way to follow up with your business counter part is to contact them via phone. Listed below are tips on connecting with others in an effective and timely manner.
Tip #1
When you decide to call your business counterpart, make sure that you are calling them within a reasonable hour. Keep in mind that people are busy and time is a very important asset. You should not schedule your phone call too early in the morning or too late in the afternoon/evening. Phone calls should generally be made after lunch time. Usually professionals are less busy and have more time to take and conduct business before the day is over.
Tip #2
If you call your business counterpart and he/she is not available always leave a message. In your message, you should be concise and speak clearly and slowly on the voice message. In the message, you should include your contact information and number so that your counter part can write down the message and reach you quickly. Also have an upbeat or cheerful tone and rehearse your message so that you refrain from making mistakes or repeating yourself.
Tip #3
Follow up the phone message with an email message. Many times, people can accidently delete a phone message or fail to receive it for various reasons. To avoid any confusion or delays, it is highly recommended that you send out a short email message informing your counterpart that you are trying to get in touch with them. It is a subtle way of follow up but it is not pushy or overbearing.
Chi Chi Okezie is owner/producer of SIMPLEnetworking, LLC in Metro-Atlanta, GA. Newly published author of "SIMPLEnetworking: Creating Opportunities ... The new form of success!" View excerpts of the book and polish your professional approach: http://www.snseminars.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chi_Chi_Okezie
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
13 Networking Secrets
This article is written especially for entrepreneurs and small business owners and anyone who needs to meet a lot of people and build relationships in order to promote and increase their business.
I built my marketing consulting business through extensive networking and here are My 13 Networking Secrets to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck and Time....
1. Research Events
Make sure to research the networking events you want to attend before you attend them so you don't waste your time at events or meetings that may not have your target market readily available at them. To find local events in your area, first find all of your area chambers of commerce, there might be many of them and any specialty associations or organizations that would pertain to your business or target market. Then locate all of your area large venues, meeting rooms, convention centers, concert halls and anywhere an event could be held more than likely they will have a website with an events calendar. Finally, read and go online to look up events in your local newspaper on their business calendar or in the main section, inside business publications and social magazines (plus watch TV and listen to radio shows who will promote events these usually get promoted really close to the event however to plan).
2. Be Prepared
Now that you know where to network, make sure you are prepared for the event. Order yourself a name badge that you can wear to all events and even out running errands you never know where you'll meet a potential client! It is important of course to also make sure to use your logo, company colors and a good, descriptive title under your name on your badge for branding as well as it adds credibility and professionalism.
3. Keep Materials On Hand
Make sure to always keep any of your sales flyers, brochures and business cards in your car at all times, keeping them current and never running out; you never know when you will be able to display or hand them out at an event or meeting.
4. Your Commercial
Practice your 10 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec commercials because most events and meetings will ask for different lengths of commercials if you get a chance to stand up and tell who you are and what you do. The 10 sec commercial is for casual one-on-one conversation or a quick introduction typically and the 30 or 60 second ones are for stand up opportunities. Stick to your name, your business name, and a one sentence description about what you do and/or a question to make people think. Then make sure you mention your website and some sort of call to action.
5. Timing
Always arrive at meetings and events a few minutes early and be prepared to stay late and meet those people you don't know yet, meet and get to know EVERYONE! Also, you should attend a function for the networking purposes (that's why it's important to research which events), not for a specific speaker (unless you are going purely for self-improvement); if the speaker turns out to be good then that's a bonus! It's tempting to hang out with the same people however you want to continually look out for those you don't know and go up and introduce yourself to them.
6. Go with a Goal
If you are at all shy or afraid of going to an event by yourself or networking in a group of strangers you will want to go with a goal. First of all, know the types of people you want to meet; do you want to meet prospects who are your target market, referral sources or just friends? Say you want to meet 10 people then make sure you introduce yourself to and ask for 10 people's business cards.
7. First Impressions
Making a good first impression is important and it's the one thing you can't make up for if it goes wrong. Practice your handshake and eye contact prior to attending events to make sure you have a firm handshake, not limp or half grasp and that you are consistently looking into the eyes of the person you are talking to rather than looking around the room for the next person to talk to. For the best results, act like you are really interested in each person you talk to, asking pertinent questions to get to know them better and steer the conversation so you can ease away quickly while still showing you are interested.
8. Card Passing No No
Never "lead" with a card when you enter a room or circle of people, "leave" the card or wait until someone asks you for your card. Don't presume everyone wants your card. If they don't want it, they won't do anything with it anyways so why waste it on them? It's more important for you to get their card because you want to build your database, email marketing list and you want to be able to follow up with them. You can always mail them your card later if you have theirs; they will appreciate it more and possibly think more highly of you since you took the time to follow up.
9. Build Relationships
Your goal of networking should be to build rapport and long-lasting relationships with the people that you meet, it should not be to SELL, SELL, SELL; that's a big turnoff. Don't expect people to use your services the first time they meet you; if they do, great, but don't depend on it. More than likely it will take 5-7 meetings before people will warm up to you so be prepared to network in certain organizations you choose for some time, try each of them for at least 6-12 months or one year of membership. Remember however, you will get out of a membership what you put into it so if you are not active or don't attend a lot of functions, you won't meet enough people in order to reach your desired 'expert' status or 'top of mind awareness'.
10. Help Others
Another main reason for your networking should be to give; give referrals to others you meet, give free 'expert' advice about what you know, give suggestions on business or practices, make connections between people who need to do business with one another, even if that doesn't involve you or your business. If you make this the main reason for networking, karma will reward you with more than enough referrals and direct business that you could ever expect.
11. Don't 'Feature Dump'
'Feature Dumping' occurs when you're talking to people and you proceed to list all your services, benefits, features and everything about you and your business when maybe no one even asked you. You ideally want to find out what the other person wants and needs by asking questions and getting them to tell you. Their needs and wants might have something to do with your business or they might not. If they need your services or products, then of course after you LISTEN to what they need, you can respond with the solution to that need (NOT EVERYTHING, just that need).
12. Take Notes
When you ask for someone's business card and talk to them briefly, remember something unique about them or your conversation or something you need to follow up with them about and write a note on the back of their card. You can do this right then and there or wait until you get to your car. I also suggest writing on the back bottom of each card where you met them, use an acronym if need be. This is good for sorting in your database by group, organization or event for follow up letters, etc.
13. Follow Up
This is the most critical part of any networking NO MATTER WHAT! If you aren't doing your follow up, you've wasted your time and money attending the event. Follow up on every person within 48 hours. Call the hot prospects and email or mail them info about how you can help them (assuming they told you what they need/want from you). Call, email and/or drop a note to the warm prospects or referral sources and email or drop a note to the colder ones or those who you aren't sure about yet.
If you have an email newsletter, be very careful NOT to just add anyone you meet networking to your list; they need to opt in either in person when you meet them (you can write a note about adding them to your email on the back of their card) or you can send them a follow up email telling them about your newsletter and offer to sign them up or respond if they want to sign up for it.
I hope these tips have helped you now GET OUT NETWORKING!
(c) Copyright 2008 K.Sawa Marketing Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next level in business, revenues and life. She offers one-on-one coaching, group coaching and do-it-yourself marketing planning products. Go online now to get started with her Free Report and Free Audio at http://jumpstartyourmarketing.com!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Katrina_Sawa
I built my marketing consulting business through extensive networking and here are My 13 Networking Secrets to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck and Time....
1. Research Events
Make sure to research the networking events you want to attend before you attend them so you don't waste your time at events or meetings that may not have your target market readily available at them. To find local events in your area, first find all of your area chambers of commerce, there might be many of them and any specialty associations or organizations that would pertain to your business or target market. Then locate all of your area large venues, meeting rooms, convention centers, concert halls and anywhere an event could be held more than likely they will have a website with an events calendar. Finally, read and go online to look up events in your local newspaper on their business calendar or in the main section, inside business publications and social magazines (plus watch TV and listen to radio shows who will promote events these usually get promoted really close to the event however to plan).
2. Be Prepared
Now that you know where to network, make sure you are prepared for the event. Order yourself a name badge that you can wear to all events and even out running errands you never know where you'll meet a potential client! It is important of course to also make sure to use your logo, company colors and a good, descriptive title under your name on your badge for branding as well as it adds credibility and professionalism.
3. Keep Materials On Hand
Make sure to always keep any of your sales flyers, brochures and business cards in your car at all times, keeping them current and never running out; you never know when you will be able to display or hand them out at an event or meeting.
4. Your Commercial
Practice your 10 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec commercials because most events and meetings will ask for different lengths of commercials if you get a chance to stand up and tell who you are and what you do. The 10 sec commercial is for casual one-on-one conversation or a quick introduction typically and the 30 or 60 second ones are for stand up opportunities. Stick to your name, your business name, and a one sentence description about what you do and/or a question to make people think. Then make sure you mention your website and some sort of call to action.
5. Timing
Always arrive at meetings and events a few minutes early and be prepared to stay late and meet those people you don't know yet, meet and get to know EVERYONE! Also, you should attend a function for the networking purposes (that's why it's important to research which events), not for a specific speaker (unless you are going purely for self-improvement); if the speaker turns out to be good then that's a bonus! It's tempting to hang out with the same people however you want to continually look out for those you don't know and go up and introduce yourself to them.
6. Go with a Goal
If you are at all shy or afraid of going to an event by yourself or networking in a group of strangers you will want to go with a goal. First of all, know the types of people you want to meet; do you want to meet prospects who are your target market, referral sources or just friends? Say you want to meet 10 people then make sure you introduce yourself to and ask for 10 people's business cards.
7. First Impressions
Making a good first impression is important and it's the one thing you can't make up for if it goes wrong. Practice your handshake and eye contact prior to attending events to make sure you have a firm handshake, not limp or half grasp and that you are consistently looking into the eyes of the person you are talking to rather than looking around the room for the next person to talk to. For the best results, act like you are really interested in each person you talk to, asking pertinent questions to get to know them better and steer the conversation so you can ease away quickly while still showing you are interested.
8. Card Passing No No
Never "lead" with a card when you enter a room or circle of people, "leave" the card or wait until someone asks you for your card. Don't presume everyone wants your card. If they don't want it, they won't do anything with it anyways so why waste it on them? It's more important for you to get their card because you want to build your database, email marketing list and you want to be able to follow up with them. You can always mail them your card later if you have theirs; they will appreciate it more and possibly think more highly of you since you took the time to follow up.
9. Build Relationships
Your goal of networking should be to build rapport and long-lasting relationships with the people that you meet, it should not be to SELL, SELL, SELL; that's a big turnoff. Don't expect people to use your services the first time they meet you; if they do, great, but don't depend on it. More than likely it will take 5-7 meetings before people will warm up to you so be prepared to network in certain organizations you choose for some time, try each of them for at least 6-12 months or one year of membership. Remember however, you will get out of a membership what you put into it so if you are not active or don't attend a lot of functions, you won't meet enough people in order to reach your desired 'expert' status or 'top of mind awareness'.
10. Help Others
Another main reason for your networking should be to give; give referrals to others you meet, give free 'expert' advice about what you know, give suggestions on business or practices, make connections between people who need to do business with one another, even if that doesn't involve you or your business. If you make this the main reason for networking, karma will reward you with more than enough referrals and direct business that you could ever expect.
11. Don't 'Feature Dump'
'Feature Dumping' occurs when you're talking to people and you proceed to list all your services, benefits, features and everything about you and your business when maybe no one even asked you. You ideally want to find out what the other person wants and needs by asking questions and getting them to tell you. Their needs and wants might have something to do with your business or they might not. If they need your services or products, then of course after you LISTEN to what they need, you can respond with the solution to that need (NOT EVERYTHING, just that need).
12. Take Notes
When you ask for someone's business card and talk to them briefly, remember something unique about them or your conversation or something you need to follow up with them about and write a note on the back of their card. You can do this right then and there or wait until you get to your car. I also suggest writing on the back bottom of each card where you met them, use an acronym if need be. This is good for sorting in your database by group, organization or event for follow up letters, etc.
13. Follow Up
This is the most critical part of any networking NO MATTER WHAT! If you aren't doing your follow up, you've wasted your time and money attending the event. Follow up on every person within 48 hours. Call the hot prospects and email or mail them info about how you can help them (assuming they told you what they need/want from you). Call, email and/or drop a note to the warm prospects or referral sources and email or drop a note to the colder ones or those who you aren't sure about yet.
If you have an email newsletter, be very careful NOT to just add anyone you meet networking to your list; they need to opt in either in person when you meet them (you can write a note about adding them to your email on the back of their card) or you can send them a follow up email telling them about your newsletter and offer to sign them up or respond if they want to sign up for it.
I hope these tips have helped you now GET OUT NETWORKING!
(c) Copyright 2008 K.Sawa Marketing Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next level in business, revenues and life. She offers one-on-one coaching, group coaching and do-it-yourself marketing planning products. Go online now to get started with her Free Report and Free Audio at http://jumpstartyourmarketing.com!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Katrina_Sawa
For the Love of Networking
How much time do you personally spend networking? How much energy do you put in following up with potential clients and customers? How much time do you spend each week following up and reaching out to your customer base? How much time do you spend finding ways to improve your business process and methods to retain customer/client loyalty? Business professionals and entrepreneurs spend a lot of time fostering and developing key relationships for business growth. Many are finding out that the latest software for marketing and advertising are not as beneficial as meeting a client and discussing business affairs face to face. Several business people are extending themselves to become more visible and available for business to appease their clients/customers.
Business people can find easy and unique ways to network with their clientele and customers though networking which can be beneficial for both parties. Listed below are helpful tips and tactics for networking like a pro!
It's Better to Give
A great way to stay connected and develop relationships after the networking event is to give a gift or give back to your business counterpart. Gifts can be big or small, depending on the nature of your relationship with your business counterpart. Gifts can be very simple or elaborate depending on the nature of the business relationship. All gifts should be well thought out before they are presented to the recipient. Professionals should keep in mind, gender, age, ethnic background and personal preferences before purchasing the gift.
Out of the Blue
Spend fifteen minutes each day talking with one of your business counter parts or customers on non related business issues. This might go against typical business tradition, but this tactic is an excellent way to stay in touch. Professionals have the ability to make a deep and favorable impact by surprisingly reaching out to their network. The receiving part will probably be shocked by your random act of kindness and be more apt to doing business with you. In the phone call, the professional should be friendly and talk about non related business issues for the customer/client side. This can also be applicable with correspondence letters and emails.
Word of Mouth
A great way to network is to refer your clients to other business colleagues, friends and family. This type of gesture will benefit the relationship of both parties and creates a higher level of trust and accountability. Your customer/client will be impressed with your willingness to believe and grow their business
Chi Chi Okezie is owner/producer of SIMPLEnetworking, LLC in Metro-Atlanta, GA. Newly published author of "SIMPLEnetworking: Creating Opportunities ... The new form of success!" View excerpts of the book and polish your professional approach: http://www.snseminars.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chi_Chi_Okezie
Chi Chi Okezie - EzineArticles Expert Author
Business people can find easy and unique ways to network with their clientele and customers though networking which can be beneficial for both parties. Listed below are helpful tips and tactics for networking like a pro!
It's Better to Give
A great way to stay connected and develop relationships after the networking event is to give a gift or give back to your business counterpart. Gifts can be big or small, depending on the nature of your relationship with your business counterpart. Gifts can be very simple or elaborate depending on the nature of the business relationship. All gifts should be well thought out before they are presented to the recipient. Professionals should keep in mind, gender, age, ethnic background and personal preferences before purchasing the gift.
Out of the Blue
Spend fifteen minutes each day talking with one of your business counter parts or customers on non related business issues. This might go against typical business tradition, but this tactic is an excellent way to stay in touch. Professionals have the ability to make a deep and favorable impact by surprisingly reaching out to their network. The receiving part will probably be shocked by your random act of kindness and be more apt to doing business with you. In the phone call, the professional should be friendly and talk about non related business issues for the customer/client side. This can also be applicable with correspondence letters and emails.
Word of Mouth
A great way to network is to refer your clients to other business colleagues, friends and family. This type of gesture will benefit the relationship of both parties and creates a higher level of trust and accountability. Your customer/client will be impressed with your willingness to believe and grow their business
Chi Chi Okezie is owner/producer of SIMPLEnetworking, LLC in Metro-Atlanta, GA. Newly published author of "SIMPLEnetworking: Creating Opportunities ... The new form of success!" View excerpts of the book and polish your professional approach: http://www.snseminars.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chi_Chi_Okezie
Chi Chi Okezie - EzineArticles Expert Author
Great Promotional Tote Bags
Do you own a small business and are looking for ways to advertise in a fresh and unconventional way? The answer just may be promotional tote bags. These cheap tote bags can be used in a myriad of ways and are relatively inexpensive to produce. Some companies may compromise on quality in order to get you a lower price, but this is not usually the way to go. You want your custom printed tote bags to last as long as possible because the longer they last, the more people will have the chance to see them and consider using your products or services.
One method of getting your tote bags to a large audience is to give them away for free at trade shows. Trade show bags can be used for many purposes one of which is a way to transport groceries. When you set up your booth at a trade show, you want to attract as many people as possible. You are guaranteed to receive attendants if you are giving something away, so why not give away an attractive trade show bag which advertises your company? Many people are trying to cut down on the amount of waste they create and are utilizing reusable grocery bags. Imagine all the people who will see the bag when it is being reused every week. The fact that it is promoting environmental cleanliness should impress them as well.
You have a few choices when it comes to the material that your custom printed tote bags are made out of, the most popular being cotton tote bags, non-woven tote bags, nylon tote bags, and polyester tote bags. Cotton, being a natural material, is a great choice because it is inexpensive to produce, perfect for when you're looking to produce cheap tote bags. They are available in a number of colors, and are reusable and affordable. Non-woven tote bags possess numerous positive features; they are liquid and flame retardant, easily washed, are incredibly soft, and can stretch. They mimic the appearance of woven materials but aren't nearly as bulky. Nylon tote bags are great because nylon is one of the most used fabrics today, and for good reason. Nylon is strong, flexible, easy to use, and doesn't cost much. And finally, polyester tote bags are popular because they are made of a great man-made fabric that is used for just about everything as it is inexpensive and durable.
In business it's important to always think of new ways to advertise because you always have to be one step ahead of the competition. Unlike silly pens or other gimmicks, when you give away a custom printed tote bag, you are giving away something that they not only will use, but will use for years to come. When the time comes that they will desire your services, they will immediately think of you and you are almost guaranteed their business. Not to mention that many people will see them carrying it and become interested in the company. You can even give away these cheap tote bags to all of your clients and they can use them to help tell encourage their friends to seek your business!
Sarah Shepherd is a e-marketing specialist for Motivators, Inc., a Long Island based promotional products distributor. The company's website, Motivators.com boasts over 30,000 e-commerce enabled promotional products.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Shepherd
One method of getting your tote bags to a large audience is to give them away for free at trade shows. Trade show bags can be used for many purposes one of which is a way to transport groceries. When you set up your booth at a trade show, you want to attract as many people as possible. You are guaranteed to receive attendants if you are giving something away, so why not give away an attractive trade show bag which advertises your company? Many people are trying to cut down on the amount of waste they create and are utilizing reusable grocery bags. Imagine all the people who will see the bag when it is being reused every week. The fact that it is promoting environmental cleanliness should impress them as well.
You have a few choices when it comes to the material that your custom printed tote bags are made out of, the most popular being cotton tote bags, non-woven tote bags, nylon tote bags, and polyester tote bags. Cotton, being a natural material, is a great choice because it is inexpensive to produce, perfect for when you're looking to produce cheap tote bags. They are available in a number of colors, and are reusable and affordable. Non-woven tote bags possess numerous positive features; they are liquid and flame retardant, easily washed, are incredibly soft, and can stretch. They mimic the appearance of woven materials but aren't nearly as bulky. Nylon tote bags are great because nylon is one of the most used fabrics today, and for good reason. Nylon is strong, flexible, easy to use, and doesn't cost much. And finally, polyester tote bags are popular because they are made of a great man-made fabric that is used for just about everything as it is inexpensive and durable.
In business it's important to always think of new ways to advertise because you always have to be one step ahead of the competition. Unlike silly pens or other gimmicks, when you give away a custom printed tote bag, you are giving away something that they not only will use, but will use for years to come. When the time comes that they will desire your services, they will immediately think of you and you are almost guaranteed their business. Not to mention that many people will see them carrying it and become interested in the company. You can even give away these cheap tote bags to all of your clients and they can use them to help tell encourage their friends to seek your business!
Sarah Shepherd is a e-marketing specialist for Motivators, Inc., a Long Island based promotional products distributor. The company's website, Motivators.com boasts over 30,000 e-commerce enabled promotional products.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Shepherd
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Increase Traffic`s Blog
Increase Traffic`s BlogYou've got your blog set up and you've started posting pithy, useful information that your niche market would benefit from and enjoy. Days go by, you keep publishing, but no one comments and your traffic stats are barely registering. What do you do?
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
Http://www.bloglet.com
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on http://www.biztipsblog.com)
http://www.my.yahoo.com
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
http://www.pingomatic.com
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines: http://www.submitfire.com
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Tip: Create a form to track your submissions; this can take several hours when you first start so schedule an hour a day for submitting or hire a VA to do it for you.
7. Add a link to your blog in your email signature file.
8. Put a link to your blog on every page of your website.
9. If you publish a newsletter, make sure you have a link to your blog in every issue.
10. Include a link to your blog as a standard part of all outgoing correspondence such as autoresponder sequences, sales letters, reports, white papers, etc.
11. Print your blog URL on your business cards, brochures and flyers.
12. Make sure you have an RSS feed URL that people can subscribe to. The acronym RSS means Rich Site Summary, or some may consider its meaning as Really Simple Syndication. It is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators (news readers). RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries.
To learn how news aggregators/RSS readers work, see this site: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-readers.htm
13. Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts
14. Use Trackback links when you quote or refer to other blog posts. What is TrackBack? Essentially what this does is send a message from one server to another server letting it know you have posted a reference to their post. The beauty is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
15. Write articles to post around the web in article directories. Include a link to your blog in the author info box (See example in our signature below).
16. Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time.
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
Http://www.bloglet.com
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on http://www.biztipsblog.com)
http://www.my.yahoo.com
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
http://www.pingomatic.com
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines: http://www.submitfire.com
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Tip: Create a form to track your submissions; this can take several hours when you first start so schedule an hour a day for submitting or hire a VA to do it for you.
7. Add a link to your blog in your email signature file.
8. Put a link to your blog on every page of your website.
9. If you publish a newsletter, make sure you have a link to your blog in every issue.
10. Include a link to your blog as a standard part of all outgoing correspondence such as autoresponder sequences, sales letters, reports, white papers, etc.
11. Print your blog URL on your business cards, brochures and flyers.
12. Make sure you have an RSS feed URL that people can subscribe to. The acronym RSS means Rich Site Summary, or some may consider its meaning as Really Simple Syndication. It is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators (news readers). RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries.
To learn how news aggregators/RSS readers work, see this site: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-readers.htm
13. Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts
14. Use Trackback links when you quote or refer to other blog posts. What is TrackBack? Essentially what this does is send a message from one server to another server letting it know you have posted a reference to their post. The beauty is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
15. Write articles to post around the web in article directories. Include a link to your blog in the author info box (See example in our signature below).
16. Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time.
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