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Internet marketing is not only corporate website

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The well-done corporate site creation is a basic option but not unique issue to the Internet marketing. The question, such as "why only a few people visit our site", is common even for well-done web sites owners.
The problem is:
medium sized company wish operated online better to keep buyers loyalty or attract new clients in business to business sector. Its marketing budget is limited and this firm can't afford high cost. A name of a company and its brands aren't widespread. For example, you let out the woodworking machinery, well-known only within a narrow circle of consumers.
Commercial firms have a standard website's structure, which answers the the following questions: Where is this company from? What are the company's products or services? How can I get in contact with the company? Which othercustomers does this firm have? and some more.
The main parts of the site consist of: "About Us", "Contact Us", "Our Products/Our services", "Our clients" and so on. It is possible to add special service such as "Searching" and etc.
From the common side, such site is informed enought. Why doesn't it work well?
Corporate site is not a God
The first reason is corporate name.
The traffic to the corporate resourse can be equal to 0 because of company name. The visitors can open a webpage by typing an address directly. For well-known brands it isn't a barrier sony.Com. These Internet resourses have huge number of daily visitors. And what if corporate site address is woodmanufacturer.Lv?
The 2 reason is absence in searching sites.
Searching engines are the main source of target audience to the corporate page. Commercial site advancement consists of registration in searching engines and on b2b marketplace. By typing in the search line �electrical equipment and supplies�, user enter your page.
This easy way|It is the first step] of initial advancement. After two or three months work can provide from 15 to 150 visits per day. But it is not enough.
Do not concentrate on "free of charge only": paid registration on the most popular [business portals, banners, which urgency to specialized resources increases. Banner's cost depends on many factors: size, quantity of displays for a particular period of time and some more .
Option number one: purchase a vip place in a list of results. The top place belongs to the site which has paid.
Competitive option number 2: purchase targeting displays in the searching engines, then an information blog is shown after corresponding inquiries. As an example, when you type "order an office furniture" a you will see an information blog. It can be: company-manufacturer or supplier of corresponding goods.
Secret number three: business forums. You can learn new information. The main thing is to understand exactly which audience you want to target.

Moving and Relocation as job

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

The best job for people likes to explore the world

You are young and dynamic ?

Or you are not so young but feel young and dynamic ?

You are interested in people and like to see the world or at least more as your neighbourhood or every day the same way to your office ?

- Then I can recommend you my job. You shall start to work in Moving Industry !

I was already 40 and teacher by profession as I had to start caused by some difficulties in my home country after political changing's to start in this job.

I had to start as a surveyor in a world wide operating international moving company.

After 13 years of experience in this field I run now my own moving company. But I do not have own trucks, warehouses or a lot of employees. I run two offices in Germany (Frankfurt am Main and near Chemnitz) and one in Prague (Czech Republic)

My speciality is Consulting & Services in Moving Industry. I works a surveyor for a group of major Moving Companies and also for a small but fine group of own clients.

My job is it to visit clients all over Europe from Budapest, Prague, Paris, London to nearly every bigger or smaller city on that continent.

I go there to calculate the volume of the moving goods and give also advice about special packing, customs clearance (if it goes outside of European Community) and other important questions.

Every Move is unique. We ship the most important personal items of our client and his family maybe thousands of miles by truck, sea or air to every place in the world he likes to move.

In this job you have to handle goods of big managers, artists, people from different countries, different cultures speaking several languages.

Every of them even the old grandmother moving only a small table from point A to point B ist for us a VIP !

That means and my partners have to learn and understand it — every client if rich or poor, if black or white — is for us a VIP. We handle his personal items and so a part of his life and this we are doing in the best quality we can provide.

Christian Papenmeier,
Intl. Relocation Manager

Careers in modelling — how to look good

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Careers in modelling — how to look good
In modelling, your body is your most important asset. If you don't look after your health and your looks, the telltale signs will be obvious to prospective agencies and employers and you'll find it difficult breaking into the industry or progressing in your modelling career. Here are some tips on how to look after your health and your body and how to present yourself well to get ahead in modelling.
Eat a healthy diet
Beauty isn't just on the outside — what we do to the inside of our bodies has a major impact on how healthy we look on the outside. It's therefore important to eat healthily. Aim to eat a balanced diet comprising all the main food groups. The main proportion of your daily calorie intake should be from complex carbohydrates such as wholemeal grains, breads and cereals, which are a good source of energy and nutrition. Avoid refined carbohydrates and sugary foods as much as possible, although it doesn't do any harm to treat yourself now and again — the key is everything in moderation. Also get your five daily portions of fruit and vegetables and eat a good few portions of dairy products and protein every day. Cut out as much saturated fat as possible and try to focus on eating 'good' unsaturated fats such as those found in oily fish, seeds and nuts.

Eating a healthy diet doesn't mean restricting yourself. Although models needs to be slim, being underweight is unhealthy and dangerous and you should never try to starve yourself. Ensure you meet all your nutritional needs while getting the appropriate amount of exercise and you should be able to stay svelte and healthy.
Exercise
Exercise regularly to keep your body in shape. No one type of exercise is better than another — do whatever you enjoy most. Swimming is good all-round exercise and most people have a public pool in their local area, or you could join your local gym where there will be professional instructors on hand to work out an appropriate programme of exercise for you. Alternatively, simply try walking or cycling. As well as two or three dedicated exercise sessions per week, aim to be as active as possible on a daily basis by, for example, walking up to the corner shop to buy a pint of milk rather than taking the car or the bus.
Drink plenty of water
If you're dehydrated, which many of us are, your skin won't look as bright, fresh, soft and glowing as it should. Drink plenty of fluids, particularly water, to keep your skin refreshed.
Cover up in the sun
Sun worshippers may look healthy and tanned in the short-term, but excess sun exposure quickly takes its toll and is one of the most ageing factors on the skin, doing as much damage as nicotine from tobacco smoke. Too much time spent in direct sunlight can cause wrinkles and lessen the elasticity of the skin, and worse still it can cause skin cancer. Any time you go outside, even if it's not a particularly hot or sunny day, cover up appropriately and wear a high-factor sun screen cream.
Facial skincare
Work out a good beauty regime and stick to it. You don't need to spend money on exclusive or designer skincare products. Just understand your skin type (normal, combination, oily) and try out various good-quality products from your local high street beauty care store until you find the ones that are right for you. Never use soap on your face. Always use a gentle cleanser. You'll also need a toner to freshen up your complexion and wipe away excess cleanser, and a moisturiser to keep your skin soft and supple. Choose a moisturiser with UV filters to protect your skin from the sun.
Body care
Use a good moisturiser all over your body to keep your skin soft, toned and fresh. Was your legs, armpits and bikini line rather than shaving — it's a more natural and long-lasting look. Have it done professionally if you want, or simply buy a good-quality home waxing kit. In addition to a good body cream, you'll need a good foot cream to keep your feet in tip-top condition. There's nothing worse than feet with hard skin, blisters or sores. Wear comfortable, flat and supportive shoes whenever you can to help avoid irritation and swelling.
Hair
Get a good haircut regularly to keep your hair in good condition. The more often it's cut, the healthier and glossier it will look. There's nothing worse than straggly hair with split ends. Steer clear of outlandish hairstyles and colours. You want to convey a professional image at all times, and you need to be flexible and adaptable for various modelling purposes. Don't try to dye your hair at home — domestic dyes are of a lesser quality and it's difficult to get a natural and stylish result.
Teeth
Brush your teeth at least twice a day and after meals if possible, and replace your toothbrush regularly to ensure it cleans effectively. Flossing is also an integral part of a good daily dental hygiene regime. Get your teeth looked after professionally too by visiting your dentist every six months for a check-up. Have any treatment that's necessary for your dental health — a good smile is vital for any model. You can also help to limit decay and staining by limiting your intake of tea and coffee and avoiding fizzy drinks as much as possible.
Nails
Attention to detail is important for a model, so keep your fingernails and toenails immaculate — they'll be noticed if they're scruffy. You don't need to go to a professional nail salon on a regular basis. Just use hand cream regularly, keep the cuticles in good condition, and cut, file and buff your nails before covering them in a protective clear varnish. Do this every few days — stale and flaking varnish looks unsightly.
Sleep
It's true — you do need your beauty sleep, not just to keep you looking physically well, but to help you remain alert and confident to face prospective agencies. Aim to get at least eight hours of sleep per night. The hours before midnight are particularly beneficial, so try to get into a routine of going to bed early and getting up early. Never go on big nights out or late night drinking sessions the night before an appointment with an agency or a photo shoot. Your bleary eyes and pale skin won't look very photogenic and won't convey a very professional image!
Posture
Models need to know how to sit up and stand up straight — slouching, arched backs and rounded shoulders don't look good on camera or in front of an audience. Think about how you sit and walk. Keep your back upright and straight, hold your shoulders back, tuck in your tummy and bottom and keep your chin up. This will help you to stand tall and walk confidently as well as sit in an elegant manner. Classes such as yoga, pilates and Alexander Technique can work wonders for your posture.
Underwear
Most women don't wear the right bra size and aren't even aware of it. A good-fitting bra can really boost your assets and accentuate your waist as well as giving you better support to keep your breasts in good condition. Go to a professional lingerie shop, not just a high street department store where the staff are often unqualified and the bras of poor quality, and get yourself measured for a good-quality, good-fitting bra. It's better to fork out for a couple of good bras than to have a wide range of flimsy and ill-fitting ones.
Most women make the mistake of wearing too big a back size, yet the majority of the support that a bra provides should come from the back strap and not from the shoulder straps. The back strap should fit tightly but not uncomfortably — you should still be able to slip two fingers between the strap and your back. Another common mistake is to wear a cup size that's too small, which can result in bulging at the armpits or front of the chest. Ensure that the cup holds your entire breast, from under the armpit all the way round to the front and also above the cup.

Secret Selling Trick To Earn Dollars

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

From: adventmicr Everybody would love to make lots of money quickly, working from home, and only doing a few hours of work per week. I've spent the past two years trying to find a great way of doing this. Only over the course of the past few months have I found any "get rich quick" programs worth buying. I've been trying to make money online for a long time. I had a few small websites, but they never made much more than a few hundred per month. It was easy money and didn't require much work on my part, but I knew there were people out there doing better than I was and I knew I could do as well as them. Now, I've seen a lot of "get rich quick" programs. Most of these people make claims about earning $2000/day with Google or something similarly insane. Almost all of these people are complete liars. Even if they were making $2000/day with Google AdSense, it'd be because they had high- traffic websites with a lot of quality content. I'd know, because in one whole month, I never even made half of what they promised I'd make daily with their programs. Maybe you've already been scammed by one of these fraudsters. Anyway, I finally got sick of what was being offered. I decided I'd look through the all of the "get rich quick" programs I could find and see if there were any that were actually legitimate. I found that there were owners selling their programs for well over $100, but the information in them could be found almost anywhere online for free. Additionally, they all contained out-of-date information, had no e-mail support, no money back guarantees, and broken links in the downloads section. In conclusion, almost all of the programs I found were completely useless. The owners knew it, but they couldn't care less about their customers since they didn't offer refund policies! Amazingly, while looking through all of the programs, I actually did find a few legitimate programs. They were run by ordinary people like you and me, and they had found some great methods of making money from their home by doing very little work. I spent some time working with those programs, and my income is now ten times what it used to be. These programs provided a large amount of great information on how to make extra money on your computer doing very little work. Numerous customers had provided great feedback and reviews for their products. Many of them have started to make money just days after buying! Their programs have excellent prices, and the authors have a group of paid staff who are dedicating to helping you or providing assistance if you need any. I must say I was amazed! If you do decide to purchase any of the programs listed below, I recommend you join quickly. Most of the owners tell me they are getting an overwhelming number of sales and plan on raising prices in the near future, so order while prices are still low! To Your Online Success, adventmicr

Your Own Talent Agency

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

From: http://swasdm.syntal.hop.clickbank.net

Everybody would love to make lots of money quickly, working from home, and only doing a few hours of work per week. I've spent the past two years trying to find a great way of doing this. Only over the course of the past few months have I found any "get rich quick" programs worth buying. I've been trying to make money online for a long time. I had a few small websites, but they never made much more than a few hundred per month. It was easy money and didn't require much work on my part, but I knew there were people out there doing better than I was and I knew I could do as well as them.
Now, I've seen a lot of "get rich quick" programs. Most of these people make claims about earning $2000/day with Google or something similarly insane. Almost all of these people are complete liars. Even if they were making $2000/day with Google AdSense, it'd be because they had high- traffic websites with a lot of quality content. I'd know, because in one whole month, I never even made half of what they promised I'd make daily with their programs. Maybe you've already been scammed by one of these fraudsters. Anyway, I finally got sick of what was being offered.
I decided I'd look through the all of the "get rich quick" programs I could find and see if there were any that were actually legitimate. I found that there were owners selling their programs for well over $100, but the information in them could be found almost anywhere online for free. Additionally, they all contained out-of-date information, had no e-mail support, no money back guarantees, and broken links in the downloads section.
In conclusion, almost all of the programs I found were completely useless. The owners knew it, but they couldn't care less about their customers since they didn't offer refund policies! Amazingly, while looking through all of the programs, I actually did find a few legitimate programs. They were run by ordinary people like you and me, and they had found some great methods of making money from their home by doing very little work.
I spent some time working with those programs, and my income is now ten times what it used to be. These programs provided a large amount of great information on how to make extra money on your computer doing very little work. Numerous customers had provided great feedback and reviews for their products. Many of them have started to make money just days after buying!
Their programs have excellent prices, and the authors have a group of paid staff who are dedicating to helping you or providing assistance if you need any. I must say I was amazed! If you do decide to purchase any of the programs listed below, I recommend you join quickly. Most of the owners tell me they are getting an overwhelming number of sales and plan on raising prices in the near future, so order while prices are still low!
To Your Online Success,
http://swasdm.syntal.hop.clickbank.net

Top 3 Best-Kept Secrets to Always Accomplish on an Interview

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Top 3 Best-Kept Secrets to Always Accomplish on an Interview The most important minutes in the Interview Process are the first five minutes! For that reason, you must make a great first impression. Needless to say, dress professionally. Do not be a trend setter on an interview. Dress in a conservative suit for men, white shirt, contrasting tie, and shined shoes; for women, a skirted suit is still preferable to a pant suit, also a light color blouse, as well as neutral colored hose and heels! You may be wondering why I would even mention this- you wouldn't even believe the amount of people who do not dress professionally on interviews! Very early in my career as a Recruiter, an employer turned down a candidate for a variety of reasons- one being, he didn't bother to shine his shoes! He had made the effort to do everything else right, but wore his 'work shoes' on the interview! I also remember the woman who when I told her to wear stockings during the high heat of the summer, pacified me and decided not to listen to that advice. On my follow-up call to the prospective employer, he was laughing at my advice and had decided to hire her because she had more common sense than her recruiter during a heat wave! Luckily for her, he was one of my most easygoing and relaxed clients; and stockings were not a big concern for him like they would have been to other prospective employers. Both of these stories illustrate the fact that your goal is to make the prospective employer concentrate on YOU and what you have to offer their company instead of what you are wearing! Greet them with a firm handshake and a smile. There is nothing worse than a limp handshake. If you aren't sure how yours is, test it with a friend you can trust to tell you the truth! Also, remember it is always a good idea not to wear after shave or perfume; and if you are a smoker, have your last puff before you leave your house and brush your teeth! At least once a week in the early years of my profession, an employer called to complain about 'not being able to breathe with the smell in the room'- and most importantly, 9 times out of 10, that person was not hired because the first impression was not strong enough to overcome any concerns that might have come up during the interview. After the strong impression is there, the first thing to accomplish is to be you .You are not on a stage! Maintain that' smile in your voice attitude'- Be friendly, poised and confident. Strive to project interest and eagerness in both the company and the interviewer. Secondly, you must go into each interview with the attitude that you want the job! Over the years, I told many people to do that, and the typical response always was- how do I know if I really do want the job? My answer was always the same. If you go in with the correct attitude, you can get the offer! If for some reason the offer is not one you want, it still will give you that extra spark of confidence that you are interviewing well and presenting yourself in the right way. Prior to the interview, take the time to prepare a simple Feature-Benefit Presentation on yourself. Think of your strengths and then turn them into features that the prospective employer will gain if they hire you! For example- You are self-motivated- the Benefit is that the employer can count on you to complete any tasks that your position requires, as well as the fact that you keep yourself Positive and always keep moving forward! The third step to successful interviewing is the CLOSE. Remember, an interview is a sales call on you! You need to close the employer on the fact that you are the answer to their dreams! As you see the interview winding down and you have asked all of your questions, and answered all of theirs- Simply say-'We have been together for an hour now. I feel that I have a very good idea of what you are looking for. Where do I stand in relation to those you have already seen? Is there any other information that I could give you about myself or my background?' Try to find out if there are any objections that you can overcome on the spot; and if there are, answer honestly and confidently. Never leave the interview without a final closing statement- 'I am sure that I could be an asset to your company and I would like to continue to show you how. Can we set up the next meeting in the process?' This is a very important way to end the interview so there is no doubt in the employer's mind that you want the opportunity. Many times as I followed up with employers after an interview, I would tell them how much the candidate enjoyed meeting them and how excited they were about the job , and I would get the comment-' that's nice they told you! I wish they had told me that during our meeting.' I usually had to do a little more selling to get the employer to give the candidate another chance. Without a recruiter interceding, the process would certainly be over for that person! Let them know that you are what they have been looking for- In the unlikely event that you don't get the offer - it probably just wasn't meant to be, and fate has saved you time and aggravation; or if you really do not want to pursue the opportunity, just thank the prospective employer for their time and let them know you will consider it further. You can then follow-up with a note letting them know that you do not feel that it is the right fit for you. You never want to close a door poorly because you never know what might be available with that prospective employer down the road. REMEMBER TO BE CONFIDENT IN YOU! IT WILL SURELY COME THROUGH ON YOUR INTERVIEWS! Get more up to date information on your confident interviewing strategies here: http://www.recruiterstips.com If you have a question that stumped you on an interview, send it to Wendy at wendy@recruiterstips.com Wendy Ahlheim Ahlheim Consulting Services 585-381-2401

Get Express Profits Online

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Everybody would love to make lots of money quickly, working from home, and only doing a few hours of work per week. I've spent the past two years trying to find a great way of doing this. Only over the course of the past few months have I found any "get rich quick" programs worth buying. I've been trying to make money online for a long time. I had a few small websites, but they never made much more than a few hundred per month. It was easy money and didn't require much work on my part, but I knew there were people out there doing better than I was and I knew I could do as well as them. Now, I've seen a lot of "get rich quick" programs. Most of these people make claims about earning $2000/day with Google or something similarly insane. Almost all of these people are complete liars. Even if they were making $2000/day with Google AdSense, it'd be because they had high- traffic websites with a lot of quality content. I'd know, because in one whole month, I never even made half of what they promised I'd make daily with their programs. Maybe you've already been scammed by one of these fraudsters. Anyway, I finally got sick of what was being offered. I decided I'd look through the all of the "get rich quick" programs I could find and see if there were any that were actually legitimate. I found that there were owners selling their programs for well over $100, but the information in them could be found almost anywhere online for free. Additionally, they all contained out-of-date information, had no e-mail support, no money back guarantees, and broken links in the downloads section. In conclusion, almost all of the programs I found were completely useless. The owners knew it, but they couldn't care less about their customers since they didn't offer refund policies! Amazingly, while looking through all of the programs, I actually did find a few legitimate programs. They were run by ordinary people like you and me, and they had found some great methods of making money from their home by doing very little work. I spent some time working with those programs, and my income is now ten times what it used to be. These programs provided a large amount of great information on how to make extra money on your computer doing very little work. Numerous customers had provided great feedback and reviews for their products. Many of them have started to make money just days after buying! Their programs have excellent prices, and the authors have a group of paid staff who are dedicating to helping you or providing assistance if you need any. I must say I was amazed! If you do decide to purchase any of the programs listed below, I recommend you join quickly. Most of the owners tell me they are getting an overwhelming number of sales and plan on raising prices in the near future, so order while prices are still low!

Get Rich Quick Scams Revealed

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Read this article before you consider paying for a "get rich quick" program. From: www.jobinfosys.com Date: July 17th, 2006 Everybody would love to make lots of money quickly, working from home, and only doing a few hours of work per week. I've spent the past two years trying to find a great way of doing this. Only over the course of the past few months have I found any "get rich quick" programs worth buying. I've been trying to make money online for a long time. I had a few small websites, but they never made much more than a few hundred per month. It was easy money and didn't require much work on my part, but I knew there were people out there doing better than I was and I knew I could do as well as them. Now, I've seen a lot of "get rich quick" programs. Most of these people make claims about earning $2000/day with Google or something similarly insane. Almost all of these people are complete liars. Even if they were making $2000/day with Google AdSense, it'd be because they had high- traffic websites with a lot of quality content. I'd know, because in one whole month, I never even made half of what they promised I'd make daily with their programs. Maybe you've already been scammed by one of these fraudsters. Anyway, I finally got sick of what was being offered. I decided I'd look through the all of the "get rich quick" programs I could find and see if there were any that were actually legitimate. I found that there were owners selling their programs for well over $100, but the information in them could be found almost anywhere online for free. Additionally, they all contained out-of-date information, had no e-mail support, no money back guarantees, and broken links in the downloads section. In conclusion, almost all of the programs I found were completely useless. The owners knew it, but they couldn't care less about their customers since they didn't offer refund policies! Amazingly, while looking through all of the programs, I actually did find a few legitimate programs. They were run by ordinary people like you and me, and they had found some great methods of making money from their home by doing very little work. I spent some time working with those programs, and my income is now ten times what it used to be. These programs provided a large amount of great information on how to make extra money on your computer doing very little work. Numerous customers had provided great feedback and reviews for their products. Many of them have started to make money just days after buying! Their programs have excellent prices, and the authors have a group of paid staff who are dedicating to helping you or providing assistance if you need any. I must say I was amazed! If you do decide to purchase any of the programs listed below, I recommend you join quickly. Most of the owners tell me they are getting an overwhelming number of sales and plan on raising prices in the near future, so order while prices are still low! To Your Online Success, www.jobinfosys.com

A Simple Sales Strategy: Define What Selling Is!

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMT

How do you define selling? A lot of people think of selling as persuading/convincing people to buy things they may or may not want or need. To some, selling is all about closing a deal. Thinking of selling like this is not very empowering to you. Frankly, if you have this perspective on selling, it's no wonder if you hate it. I would too!

So what perspective can you take about selling that will make it enjoyable, exciting and something you look forward to? Sounds like a bit of a tall order doesn't it? Read on.

Hopefully by now, you have made the list of all the problems that you can solve for your target market. You're going to be surprised how long that list grows over time. So really, if you look at your list and you think about it, you are a master problem solver. What you're really doing is helping people. Correct?

So try on this perspective about what selling is: Selling is helping people. Selling is serving. Selling is a process of identifying and solving people's problems.

See, feel and know that selling is serving. This will cause a big shift for you. With this perspective, you will really become passionate about wanting to help people. Find this passion and let it shine through.

It is your purpose, your moral obligation, to have as many sales conversations with people as you can so you can help as many people as possible. If you're not having these types of sales conversations, you are holding back the gift you have to offer the world. You owe it to people to be there for them with your expertise and wisdom.

Next time you're talking to a potential client, think about how you can help them, how you can serve them. Forget about trying to sell them something. If what you have to offer does solve their problems, and you facilitate the conversation using the strategies we are covering, people will sell themselves and will subsequently buy from you.

If you have a perspective on selling which is one of service and helping people, how do you think the people you're talking to will feel? Think about this: people hate to be sold. The minute they feel they're being sold, they often want to get away - fast. Don't you? On the other hand, if they feel you are sincerely trying to help them solve their problems, they will relax and open up to you.

If you have a perspective on selling which is one of service and helping people, how do you think you will feel? Does energized, excited, relaxed, and natural come to mind?

This perspective is simple but powerful and very attract-tive to clients.

Small Business Marketing Magic

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Once upon a time, in 1969, there was a young woman who had a dream of starting her own company. She had ideas, talent and work ethic to spare but what she didn't have was cash. After careful research she found that marketing would cost more than all the other aspects of her business combined. Out came the credit cards, family loans and savings. After a few months the woman realized that she had mortgaged her future to the hilt and she still couldn't make enough money to buy her way out of debt. Sadly, she closed up shop and went back to a job she hated at an uncaring corporation.

Fast-forward thirty years and meet a young man working at an insurance company who dreamed of starting his own small business as a financial planner. He had the education and experience but what he didn't have was cash. The year is 1999 and after a few weeks of research the young man realized that marketing and promotion were vital to the success of his business. However, the young man knew about a magical method of promotion that wasn't available to the young woman in 1969. What was the magical method he used to start his business part-time and build it into a full-time thriving practice after six months? The answer, of course, is the internet!

It's true that the internet seems like a capricious magician that selectively waves a magic wand over some small businesses. However, the reasons for this became glaringly clear to the young man after he completed his research. He discovered that success is garnered by avoiding scams such as "business opportunities" that seem too good to be true. In addition to hard work and patience he stayed away from spam, Free For All Links (FFAs), pyramid schemes, network marketing, sweepstakes and investment fraud. He used http://www.scambusters.org to avoid anything that remotely resembled a scam.

The young man developed a marketing plan focusing on the internet and after six months he found the following free or nearly free strategies worked best:

Press Releases - Particularly helpful if the release is tied to an upcoming holiday or a recent event.

Creating Content - Offering articles and case studies is by far the most reliable way to find clients and brand yourself as an expert in your field.

Book Reviews - Some on-line books stores like Amazon.com allow you to post reviews of books you've read. These reviews will be tied to an "About Me" page that can include information about you and your business and your URL.

Forums - Joining forums that cover your area of expertise is a good move. Help people by answering questions about your topic and include your URL in your signature.

Testimonials - Wise marketers ask every existing client for testimonials to be used on their website and/or printed marketing material.

Newsletters - Keeping in touch with customers and prospects with an on-line e-zine is a good way to build a steady stream of loyal clients.

Teleseminars - A small investment in a bridge line allows a group of people to sign up for a free or fee based seminar on your area of expertise.

Referrals - Proactively asking clients for referrals works better if they are offered a discount on products or services in return.

Solo E-zine Ads - Solo ads are an advertisement or article sent by itself to a list of newsletter readers. Many solo ads are competitively priced and offer a generous amount of room for your message.

The young man learned a lesson that we can all appreciate. There is no "get rich quick schemes" that work on or off-line. The only way to prosper hasn't changed over time... build client relationships with hard work and excellent customer service. Cultivate patience and find your own internet magic by following in the footsteps of the young man.

Book Review: Manners That Sell

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT

About The Book:

Title: Manners That Sell: Adding The Polish That Builds Profits
Author: Lydia Ramsey
Publisher: Longfellow Press, Savannah, GA
Publisher Address: P.O. Box 16545, Savannah, GA 31416, 912-598-9812
ISBN: 0-9670012-0-X
Price: $19.95 Date: 2000, Page Count: 188

This beautifully laid out trade paperback has a gorgeous and practical design both inside and out. I recommend you read this book with a highlighter and a pen and be ready to take copious notes in the blank pages thoughtfully provided between chapters.

Manners That Sell: Adding The Polish That Builds Profits should be required reading for high school and college students and for anyone already in the business environment. Once upon a time, good manners were taught in school and at home, but that time has long since passed. This book provides the perfect refresher course for those of us who were taught manners but no longer remember the finer points of etiquette.

While reading this book I discovered that the author, Lydia Ramsey, covered every conceivable point of etiquette including many that I'd never been taught. Each of the twelve chapters covers one main topic broken down into digestible bite sized chunks of rules and guidelines to enhance credibility and professionalism. Topics include first impressions, greetings and introductions, the art of conversation, dressing for business, telephone courtesy, electronic etiquette, correspondence in business, etiquette in the office, gift-giving in business, etiquette out of the office, dining for profit and doing business internationally.

The author of this delightful book, Lydia Ramsey, is a business etiquette expert with over thirty years of experience working with non-profits, corporations, colleges and universities. She is a frequently published author who presents workshops, seminars and keynotes on all aspects of business etiquette.

I recommend businesses buy this book in bulk and present one to every employee from the frontline up to the top management. In this ever changing world with so many consumer choices, the bottom line is often affected by the simple courtesies that can and should be afforded to customers. You need this book if you want your employees to succeed and your business to thrive.

8 Building Blocks to Attracting Customers

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Are you frustrated by the lack of return from your promotional efforts? It may be that your plan for attracting customers is built on a foundation of sand.

Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a one person shop, to be successful, you must have a plan to attract customers and you must implement it consistently. However, it doesn't have to cost a fortune and you don't have to be a creative genius.

The key to attracting customers is developing a marketing strategy that forms a solid foundation for your promotional efforts. Implementing promotional activities such as advertising, direct mail or even networking and one-to-one sales efforts without a marketing plan is like buying curtains for a house you're building before you have an architectural plan. How would you even know how many curtains to buy or what size they needed to be?

To develop a strong marketing foundation:

* Define your product or service: How is your product or service packaged? What is it that your customers are really buying? You may be selling web-based software tools but your clients are buying increased productivity, improved efficiency and cost savings. What problem does your service solve? What need does your product meet? What want does it fulfill?

* Identify your ideal customer: Everyone or anybody might be potential clients for your product. However, you probably don't have the time or money to market to Everyone or Anybody. Who is your ideal customer? Who does it make sense for you to spend your time and money promoting your service to? You might define your ideal customer in terms of income, age, geographic area, number of employees, revenues, industry, etc. For example a massage therapist might decide her target market is women with household incomes of $75,000 or more who live in the Uptown area.

* Differentiate yourself from the competition: Even if there are no direct competitors for your service, there is always competition of some kind. Something besides your product is competing for the potential client's money. What is it and why should the potential customer spend his or her money with you instead? What is your competitive advantage or unique selling proposition?

* Find a niche: Is there a customer group that is not currently being served or is not being served well? Are there customer wants that are not being met? A niche strategy allows you to focus your marketing efforts and dominate your market, even if you are a small player.

* Develop awareness: It is difficult for a potential client to buy your product or service if they don't even know or remember it exists. Generally a potential customer will have to be exposed to your product 5 to 15 times before they are likely to think of your product when the need arises. Needs often arise unexpectedly. You must stay in front of your clients consistently if they are going to remember your product when that need arises.

* Build credibility: Not only must clients be aware of your product or service, they also must have a positive disposition toward it. Potential customers must trust that you will deliver what you say you will. Often, especially with large or risky purchases, you need to give them the opportunity to "sample", "touch", or "taste" the product in some way. For example, a trainer might gain credibility and allow potential customers to "sample" their product by offering free, hour long presentations on topics related to their area of specialty.

* Be Consistent: Be consistent in every way and in everything you do. This includes the look of your collateral materials, the message you deliver, the level of customer service, and the quality of the product. Being consistent is more important than having the "best" product. This in part is the reason for the success of chains.
Whether you're going to Little Rock, Arkansas or New York City, if you reserve a room at a Courtyard Marriott you know exactly what you're going to get.

* Maintain Focus: Focus allows for more effective utilization of the scarce resources of time and money. Your promotional budget will bring you greater return if you use it to promote a single product to a narrowly defined group of customers and if you promote that same product to that same customer group over a continuous period of time.

Before you develop a brochure, run an ad, implement a direct mail campaign, join an organization for networking or even conduct a sales call, ask yourself this question, "Do I really know who my ideal customers are and not only what they need but also what they want?" If you can't honestly answer yes to this question, your promotional strategy may be built on a foundation of sand.

Are You Selling Hotdogs Or Pretzels?

Wed, 28 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT

I live across the river from New York City and on the days I make my way over there, the one thing you immediately notice are the smells of the street. No... not that smell. I'm talking about food.

You'll find all sorts of vendors selling food on the streets. But you won't see 20 different hotdog vendors crowded onto one street corner. Common sense tells you that you won't make much money when you are competing with a bunch of other vendors on one corner who sell the same thing.

Yet that is exactly what has happened to the internet marketing "how to make money" game. You are crowded into one street corner trying to sell the same hotdogs as everyone else and you just won't make much money because their is just too much darn competition.

So then you try to outdo your competitors and
develop ways to make your "hotdog" stand out from everyone else. And your competitors catch on to this little trick and they start doing the same, making the technique ineffective.

You start offering fr-ee toppings with your hotdog but your competitors then also offer those same toppings and even include toppings that you don't offer.

You counter that by doing a little tweeking. You move your hot dog stand a little over to the left, and a little over to the right to see if it can increase your sales. But gosh darn it your competitors start doing the same and you spend more time dancing then you do making sales.

You then implant an edible micropchip that makes hotdogs talk... "Eat Me!" but everyone else then does the same thing and everyone's hotdog talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. (Ok, I know I am getting carried away here)

But then a light bulb goes off in your head... you start selling grilled hot dogs instead and become a "niche" within the hotdog niche. But then your competitors do the same and that silly street corner just got crowded again.

And in the end... no matter how you cook 'em, or market them, you're still trying to sell those darn hotdogs that everyone else is selling. There is just way too much competition for the average Joe to make any "real" money in this type of competitive atmosphere.

It's time to find your niche my friend. Forget the hotdog business. While everyone else is slaving away trying to sell hotdogs...

Use the marketing knowledge you obtained trying to sell those hotdogs... and apply it to sell something else instead, like pretzels.

You'll find that street corner has just gotten a lot less crowded and your making more money to boot. And you'll be laughing all the way to the bank too as you pass by all those poor hotdog vendors who don't know what you know.

The money is in the niche...

What Do Your Customers Really Want? Ask Your Competition

Thu, 22 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT

It's not always an easy task. Sometimes discovering what your customers really want is like pulling teeth. It is imperative for any business owner who hopes to develop new products/services or to write effective advertising copy to know what is important to his customers. But when direct questions don't deliver the results you need, what's the next step?

Actually, your competition can often lend a hand in this area: and without even knowing it! Many marketing pieces such as brochures, sales letters, or Web sites include testimonials. I've found over the years that this is an untapped source for "customer intelligence."

Look at this example from a Web-design site:

"I'm truly speechless! I knew my site design was in need of revamping, but I never imagined how exceptional it could look. You have done an amazing job! The colors, the graphics, the layout: everything shows that you have a good understanding of my business and my target audience. You've made me look as professional as IBM! I often bring the site up in my browser just to remind myself that this really IS my site. I am a loyal customer and would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone in need of professional Web design services."

What do you think this customer wanted based on his comments? A few things he mentioned were:

1. colors
2. graphics
3. layout
4. his target audience
5. professional

Here's another one from a copywriting site:

"I just wanted to thank you for everything. Thank you for bringing my vision to life in words. Thank you for "getting" me. And thanks for your patience."

This customer needed:

1. someone to express his vision in words
2. someone who understood what he had to say

Here's one more:

"You had the product I wanted, it was in stock, at the lowest price I could find. There was no shipping charge or sales tax. Your website was easy to use; you followed up immediately by Email; I was able to track the shipment; and the product arrived on time and in good condition. What is there not to like?"

This customer of an appliance-sales Web site was obviously impressed with:

1. item being in stock
2. low price
3. no shipping charges
4. customer service
5. timely arrival

Doing a good bit of research into the testimonials customers give to your competition can shed a bright light on what they're looking for. I'd recommend visiting several sites each week and creating a chart to track what you find.

Just as I did above, jot down specifically what impressed the customer in each case. Then look for trends. The more times a particular service is mentioned, the more importance it will hold.

Now, look back over your own business. Can you offer what your competition offers? Can you offer something better? Is there a way to improve your service in the areas that those who wrote the testimonials mentioned? If so, do it!

Staying in touch with your customers' needs should be top priority. When you take the time to understand what your customers really want, you stand a better chance of improving sales and increasing customer loyalty.

Network Marketing: How to Make it Work for You.

Thu, 22 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT

How or why some people excell at Network Marketing, while others struggle is not as complicated of a question as many would think.

After researching the reasons why, I have came to the conclusion that there is a common set of personality traits that a successful person possesses.

1. Determination: I have found that individuals who have decided to become self-employed either "in the real world" or "on the internet" are a determined group. Once they become comfortable with the area they have chosen, they pursue it endlessly. The ups and downs of any business can be enough for you to throw in the towel. Being self-employed is not as easy as a task as some imagine when they first decide "I can do this"

2. Motivation: Okay, now you have convinced yourself that you can do this. In the beginning your emotions run on high speed. You advertise, build networks, and spend long hours working each day. Successful Network Marketers do not need a pat on the back every day. They assess what they have or have not accomplished. They go with the flow, they except change as a natural progression of the business.

3. Self-confidence. As changes occur successful Network Marketers assess the changes that need to be made to stay in the "pack" They are knowledge seeking individuals, who will take that "extra step" to gain the information they need to stay on top of their business. They are not afraid to seek out the professionals and ask questions.

4. People-Oriented: Being able to communicate, provide training and services to your customers. Successful Network Marketers have the ability to communicate to their customers. They have gained the knowledge, therefore they are the experts in their field. They provide the training and support their customers need to be successful. They go the "extra mile", they direct, motivate and support their customers.

So in conclusion, the reasons why some people are successful and some fail is dependent on how an individual approaches their business. The secret is in each individual. To be a successsful Network Marketer you need to assess yourself and find the power within.

Hot Tips No 2

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings!

Its election day tomorrow in the US, and many people are fed up with the campaign ads and coverage.

Not me.

Ive often said that we can learn tremendously from the persuasive and communication techniques used by politicians.

For example, I noticed how some TV interviewers ask questions that attempt to put words in the candidates mouths.

"So, what youre saying is ..."

"Whats really happening here is ..."

"Isnt this, then, really a matter of ...?"

Of course our objective as salespeople is not to trap someone into saying something they dont really mean (like many reporters do so they can get a good sound bite for the news). What we can do, though, is help the person clarify, in his mind and ours, something they do believe but have not yet clearly articulated, or perhaps even given much thought to. For example,

"Really, what youre telling me is that youve lost over 50 hours worth of production time just within the past month because of line problems. Is that accurate?"

YOU CAN ALSO HANDLE QUESTIONS LIKE A SKILLED CAMPAIGNER
Ive also noticed how politicians answer questions posed by the media, or at public forums. Depending on their agenda and how comfortable they are with the question, they have a variety of methods of answering. You might be able to use a few of these. (Note: unlike some politicians, be sure you tell the complete truth. Even though some people condone and even expect untruths from elected officials, honesty is still the best way to conduct business.)

Comment on their Questions. "I must have touched on an area of interest, based on the number of questions you have."

Defer the Answer. "To give you the best answer, Im going to need a few more pieces of information from you about the ..."

Shift the Emphasis. "Im glad you asked that, because it gives me the chance to point out ..."

Enlarge the Perspective. "Really, that issue reflects the state of the entire industry, not just our company alone."

SOMETIMES THE SIMPLEST TECHNIQUE WORKS THE BEST
Heres one of the best techniques I saw in a local state campaign commercial. A candidate looked the camera (audience) straight in the eye and said, "Ive lowered your property taxes, created jobs, and will continue to work hard for you. Will you vote for me? Ill appreciate your vote on election day and please bring someone else along with you."

Think about it; understand your customer, present the benefits, then ask for the business.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all he can do."
Henry Drummond

Go and have your best week ever!
Art

Reprinted with permission from Art Sobczak's "TelE-Sales Hot Tips of the Week

About the Author
Art Sobczak

Hot Tips No 1

Mon, 15 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings!

Heres a situation I see quite often with new or struggling salespeople.

They send out literature after a brief prospecting telephone call, and start out the follow-up call with the "postal inspector" opening:

"Hi, I was checking to make sure you received the literature I sent."

Then they follow with the equally ineffective,

"Uh, do you have any questions?"

After hearing "No, no questions," they end with,"Well, keep us in mind if you ever need anything."

The listener, trying to sound as sincere as he can while lying (or laughing) responds,

"Oh, OK, I will."

So why do most follow-up sales calls go nowhere?

Two reasons:

The initial call was ineffective, therefore the follow-up is not much warmer than the first cold call, and,the use of go-nowhere, rejection-inducing approaches and questions on the follow-up. Here are ways to correct both of these problems.

First, you need a good reason to follow up. Make your first call better. Be sure its even worth it for you to call back. These include,

1. the prospect will do something between the initial call and the scheduled follow-up that would make this call worthwhile, such as check your prices vs. what they pay, or use the sample you send, or,

2. a future event will take place that would make the follow-up more appropriate, such as a new budget year beginning.

Next, the opening of the call needs to bring them into a conversation that readdresses the hot points fueling their interest last call, and also serves to move the process closer to the ultimate action youre seeking (the sale or appointment) Heres a simple format for the opening.

1. Identification. The easy part. Name and company will do: "Hi Pat, this is Jan Stevens with Hi Tech Services."

2. Bridge. You need to bring them back to where they were emotionally when you ended the previous call. Remind them of their interest. "...Im calling to pick up where we left off two weeks ago, where we went through the savings youd show with the internal management of your . . ."

3. The Agenda for This Call. This part needs to be proactive:

"Id like to go through the material I sent you to point out the specific cost-cutting features that apply specifically . . ."

Other proactive words and phrases include,"discuss", "analyze," "cover," "review," and "walk through."

Also include some value-added reason for this call. This way, if their interest has waned since the last contact, and/or they didnt follow through with what they said theyd do (which happens quite often) you still have a basis for continuing this contact. For example,

"And I also did some research and came up with a few other examples of something you showed interest in the last time we spoke: how other engineering firms have used this process."

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"It may not be your fault for being down, but its got to be your fault for not getting up."
Steve Davis

Go and have your best week ever!

Reprinted with permission from Art Sobczak's "TelE-Sales Hot Tips of the Week

About the Author
Art Sobczak.

How To Profit From Customer Complaints: Turning Problems into Opportunities

Mon, 15 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Complaining customers are a scary proposition for many professionals, but the complaint situation represents an opportunity, not a problem, in most cases. If you deal with a persons concerns respectfully and helpfully, your effort and consideration will almost always be appreciated, and former complainers will walk away feeling happy and valued.

Businesses encounter real problems far more often because customers dont complain, and the absence of customer complaints is usually a bad sign: It can mean that customers dont feel comfortable voicing their concerns. Or, it can mean that not enough is being done to obtain feedback from clients. Whats important to remember is the following: If people feel they are being listened to, understood, and valued, they will usually give you a second chance.

The Strategic Planning Institute study on customers complaints discovered that the average business does not receive complaints from 96% of its unhappy customers. At least nine out of ten of these non-complainers wont do business with the company again - theyre gone forever. On the other hand, of the four percent of unhappy customers who launch a complaint, seven of ten will do business with the company again so long as their concern is handled properly, and a staggering nineteen out of twenty will do business with the company again if their grievance is dealt with swiftly.

Complaints are good. Ideally you want to receive more of them so you can improve the level of service you offer. In light of this, I recommend following this nine-step approach the next time you deal with a customer complaint:

1. Do not react or try to defend yourself or your company, even when youd like to. Instead, acknowledge what the customer has said, empathize, and apologize for any inconvenience. This should not be considered an admission of guilt. Its about having respect and compassion.

2. Ask the customer "venting questions" so you can comprehend the exact situation and all of the details surrounding the complaint. Youll be surprised to see how this process helps customers release their frustrations while providing you with a better understanding of why they are upset.

3. Listen. Listen to customers as they vent their frustrations, and acknowledge their concerns without comment or defense.

4. Ask even more questions to get them venting and listen some more. You know it is time to stop when they say: "Thats it, thats everything." You might also notice something very interesting when you let clients vent - people will look much more relaxed and their anger should be gone (vented) after such a session. You can now deal with them rationally and avoid costly arguments.

5. Paraphrase your understanding of the situation and the cause of your clients frustration. By repeating what you hear and understand back to a customer, you accomplish two things: First, you confirm that you truly understand why they are complaining and, thereby, ensure you are on the same page. Second, customers will feel truly heard and valued (as they are) because you cared enough to listen and understand. This alone should make them feel much better.

6. Time for the solution. You have 2 options here as well:
a. You can suggest a solution that will most likely make your customer happy and resolve the complaint.

b. You can ask them to recommend a solution themselves. What better way is there to give people what they want than to ask them what they want? Its that simple! It is interesting to note that, in most cases, people actually demand less than you would expect. They usually just want you to take responsibility and apologize for any inconvenience. A "free lunch" isnt usually their goal. People just like to be treated with respect.

7. Remedy any situation NOW and provide solutions that surpass expectations. The key here is to resolve the situation immediately and beyond the customers expectations so they leave more than satisfied.

8. Confirm with the customer that they are happy with the solution, and thank them for bringing the problem to your attention. Appreciate that theyre taking the time and energy to let your company know how to serve them better and keep their business.

9. Follow up later. To ensure satisfaction and loyalty, make a call or write a letter to the person a few weeks later to ensure they are still happy. They will be impressed that you care enough to check up and, who knows, there may be some more dissatisfaction you need to find out about. Consider this follow-up a double check.
The key to remember is this: If you dont ask, you probably wont find out about the problems people may be having with your service or products. As a result, you will lose customers and referrals. Dealing with issues head-on and retaining clients - rather than searching for new ones - should prove to be a lot less stressful. Invest a little time TODAY to save yourself a lot of hassle tomorrow. Your customers will feel good about you, and youll feel good about your bottom line.

About the Author

Kevin Lawrence is a Business-Building Coach, Speaker & Author who works with Professional Financial Advisors (Investment/Insurance Advisors & Accountants) to assist them in building their businesses by increasing referrals and repeat business - the most efficient and profitable growth strategy in existence. He also helps people find balance, accomplish long-term goals, increase personal fulfillment or achieve any other result they desire in life.

You can listen to his educational AudioBook "Generate Endless Referrals & Discover More Repeat Business Than You Thought Possible" and subscribe to his 2 complimentary email newsletters "Successful Life" and "Endless Referrals"Contact at 604 313-2229

How To Start A Mail Order Business

Sun, 14 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

The Mail Order business is not a business of itself, but is another way of doing business. Mail Order is nothing more nor less than selling a product or service via advertising and the offers you send out by mail. Therefore, to start and succeed in a mail order business of your own, you need just as much, and in some cases, more business acumen than you would need in any other mode of business. Remember too, there are good guys in mail order, and there are bad guys, just like in any other business. So, your best bet for a proper start with the greatest chance for success is after a thorough investigation of the products being offered and being sold; an analysis of the costs involved to get a fledgling mail order operation off the ground; and a good sixth sense of what your potential customers will buy. You'll need a great deal of patience, and persistence as well. Mail order is over saturated with plans, directories, sales materials and products that have been around for ten, fifteen, twenty years and longer. Many of these materials were not that good in the beginning, and yet they're still being sold as quick secrets to wealth and fame. This is part of the reason for the junk mail reputation of mail order. Just a little investigation on your part will show that the most successful people doing business by mail are always on the alert for new products and they quickly add these products to their own sales inventories as they become available. This is a must for success rule, regardless of whether you do or don't produce your own products. It's almost impossible to gain much success with a single product report, booklet, book or manual. The best way is to search around for a number of related products, then, after arranging dropshipping deals with the suppliers of the products you want to include in your listing, along with your own self-produced product, make up a catalog listing. It is best if this is a single 8 x 11 sheet of paper, printed on both sides, listing the titles of the reports and/or books you have available, including your own, with a tear off order coupon at the bottom. One of the best programs available in mail order today is offered by Premier Publishers. This company offers you a variety of circulars, with an order coupon on the bottom of each circular. At present, they can provide six different circulars, listing over 100 different low-cost reports and manuals, such as the report you are reading now. The circulars are grouped according to price range and subject matter of the reports described in the circular. There is an open space on the order coupon for you to insert your own name and address. After inserting your name, you can take or send the circular to the printer of your choice, and have copies printed in the quantity you need. The next step is to insert these circulars, along with one of your own product circulars, in all your mailings. Premier Publishers allows you a full 50% commission on each sale of items on their circulars. They will dropship for you, keeping your customers names confidential, and in no way encroaching upon them. In addition, discounts up to 80% off the retail price are available to you when you are ready to carry your own stock, and buy reports or books in quantity. This is what you need for a money-making start in this business: a full page circular advertising your own product, plus another full page circular listing products or titles related to your primary offering. Premier Publishers advises you to send two full page circulars: one advertising your own product (if you don't have a primary product of your own, they'll furnish you with single book circulars to feature), and another advertising a list of related products or titles available to your customer. Once you start receiving orders from this mailing, you must immediately acknowledge receipt of the orders and follow up with other offers. The follow-up offer is where most beginners fail. Either they don't have follow-up materials to send or they just don't send out these follow-up offers. Here again, Premier Publishers can provide the material for the follow-up. They can supply you with a 24-page Unique Books catalog, which lists over 400 titles for your customer to choose from. These catalogs can be ordered in small quantities, and you may rubber stamp your name and address on each one before mailing. These catalogs are also available, for larger quantities, with your name and return address already imprinted. To follow-up after receiving orders from your customers, simply write a short note, thanking your customer for his patronage, and advising him when to expect to receive his order, and then include a follow-up offer, such as the book catalog, in that mailing. And that's how you will build your business, and attain success in mail order. But, let's get back to the beginning and help you to learn what it takes to succeed in mail order. Don't believe those ads that tell you it doesn't take any money. First off, you are going to need envelopes: #10 mailing envelopes with your name and return address imprinted in the upper left corner. You'll also need a return reply envelope with your name and return address on the face of the envelope with each #10 envelope you send out. These can be either #6 or #9 return envelopes. Ask your printer or office supply store to let you inspect samples. To realize profits of any consequence, you'll need to send out at least a thousand, preferably five thousand letters per mailing. And to back this up, you'll need a supply of envelopes for your acknowledgment and follow-up offers. You can purchase imprinted mailing and return reply envelopes from your local quick print shop; but for better prices, and with the thought in mind of keeping your costs in line, it's best to shop around for the best prices. Generally speaking, you'll find the lowest prices offered by those printers who do business by mail. Look for "printing by mail" advertisements in all the mail order publications you come across. Write to them for a price list and a sampling of their work. In order to be properly equipped to run your mail order business properly you are going to need a good supply of envelopes (both normal size and large), shipping labels and letterhead paper. You will also need access to reliable business partners for circular printing, typesetting, graphic layout and design, copywriting assistance, booklet printing, hardback book printing, business cards and poster printing. As you can see, the mail order business is very closely tied in with the printing business. Unless you have your own printing plant, always shop around for the best prices and keep your production costs in line. Once you've gotten your envelopes ready, and your circulars made up, you'll need a potential customer list. Again, don't believe the advertisements and free advice which states that all you have to do is send your materials out to a fresh opportunity seekers list. I have found that the best prospects are those people who have purchased similar or related items. Here again, Premier Publishers can help out. They generally receive 2,000 new names each month. These names come from Premier's national advertising...people who are interested in new ways of making money...easier ways of building a mail order business. Certainly Premier responds to all these inquiries, but they do not offer the same items the various dealers and distributors are offering. Premier offers their mailing lists for rental. Write for current description of names which are available. When selecting a supplier to work with in the mail order business, always be sure they are quick to fill your orders. Customer complaints are the last thing you want, and poor service leads to dissatisfied and lost customers. Always be sure your supplier protects your customer list, and always make sure he goes that extra mile to work with you, and not just for his own profits. This is the kind of service you want from your supplier. Finally, you'll need to consider advertising the different offerings you have for sale. We suggest that you start small with a few experimental ads in your local paper or shopping news. Then you can move on to the bigger publications. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Glanville publishes the "Status Report" which provides a complete multimedia online learning experience to anyone interested in making a serious online income from the comfort of their own home. Subscribe today by sending a blank e-mail to mailto:Publisher@statustron.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tips For Using Google Ad Words

Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

You have heard of Overture I am sure. It is by far the most well known pay per click search engine on the internet. If you are not familiar with Overture, maybe you know it as goto.com. Overture has great response rates no doubt, the problem is, it can be very expensive to run an ad campaign using popular Key words. If you don't believe me, try running an ad campaign with the key word "ebook" and watch your account balance shrink at the rate of $100.00 per day, if you are ranked in the top 3 spots.

Google Ad Words has an extreme advantage to the budget minded Marketer. I am currently running an ad campaign on Google for only 10cents per click, with translates into about $15.00 dollars a day, using the keyword "ebook". Compare that to Overture's $100.00 a day and you can quickly see why I like Google.

However, Google can be harder to maintain in the top rankings because of the format they use. They reward High Pulling ads regardless of the bid for that keyword. That is why I can maintain a top 3 ranking with Google for only 10cents a click. I have a 2.2% click thru rate on my ad, which is pretty impressive and keeps me ranked high, even though other ads have bid a lot higher for that keyword.

I thought I would share with you a couple of the ways I have managed to secure a top ranking without paying out the nose for it. If you pay attention and use what you read here, I am positive you too can be grabbing all the leads your business needs to succeed at a fraction of the cost of other PPC search engines.

TIPS FOR USING Google Ad Words

Write about 50 or so ads on a sheet of paper before you decide to launch your campaign. Keep in mind that Google only allows a Title or Headline of 25 Characters. This can be quite challenging to any marketer. What I like to do is use the keyword in the Headline. That always seems to pull at a higher rate. For example: if I was using the keyword "ice cream" my headline might look like this:

Super Ice Cream-FREE

That headline is only 20 Characters Long, targets the Keyword and uses a power word-FREE. Of course, if you selling a product, using the word free in your ad might bring a lot of clicks of people looking for freebies and not looking to buy. The word FREE is a great puller for sure, but not the best word to use if you are trying to sell something, so keep that in mind. The body of your ad is just as hard to come up with. Google only allows 2 lines of content with each line being a maximum of 35 characters long. The good news here is, that does not include your website link. The body of the ad is important but not as important as the headline. Your really want to concentrate your efforts in coming up with a great headline to grab the attention of the surfer. The key point to this first tip is to keep in mind the limited space you are allowed to use when constructing your ad. This is why you will need to write a bunch of ads on a sheet of paper before you even start. Use every possible selling point you can come up with to promote your product or website. Then Read them all over and over and modify the ads until you come up with about 3 or 4 you feel really good about. Now you are ready to go to Google and get started.

Once you set up your account with Google, you will be asked to place your ad in the correct format. Then you go to keyword selection. This is a critical step. I suggest you start small with just a few keywords. I sell info products on the internet, so I use the keyword "e-book" a lot in my ad placements. The key word e-book generates anywhere from 75-100,000 searches a month. So a 2.2% CTR (Click Thru Rate) means roughly 2,200 targeted leads to my website, at a cost of only $220.00 a month. Not bad if you ask me. It only takes making 4 sales of my product to cover the cost of my Google Ad for a month. When choosing your key word, think about the Meta tags on your website. What keywords did you use to optimize your site? Which one or two of those really target your website? That can be a great place to start if you are having a hard time coming up with keywords to use in your ad placements.

Bidding will be the next step you will go to. Here is where you decide how much you are willing to
Spend per lead for your website. The general Rule of thumb is to never spend over $1.00 per lead. Some keywords have a minimum bid so you will at least have to spend that per lead, but most of those keywords are extremely high traffic keywords like business opportunity or marketing. If you run into that, try to refine the key word to make it more targeted to your audience. For example, if you are promoting an FFA site I would use reverse marketing instead of marketing. The number of leads might be smaller but the traffic would be more targeted providing you with a higher response rate once they get to your site. You will want to bid high enough to be listed on the first page of results when someone does a search for your keyword. I started in the last position on the first page when I launched my ad campaign. You will pay a little more for this ranking to start with. However, if you have a good ad, your CTR should be good even if you are placed low on the first page. Google ranks your ad after every 1000 impressions. So if after 1000 impressions, you have a good click thru rate and your ad is near the top, you can lower your bid some. You will drop down again a few spots, but if your ad continues to pull you will move back up. Using this method can save you some serious money over the life of your ad campaign.

Test, Test and Test Again. You have a great pulling ad in you; you just have to get it out. More than likely your first couple of ads on Google may not pull all that well. Keep trying. Refine your ad keeping in mind that you are writing it to get someone to take action. Forget what you like. Write your ad for the people that will be seeing it. Include a benefit. People respond when there is something in it for them. It is just human nature. So attack this. Give them a benefit right there in your ad. Just remember you have to state this in 35 characters or less.

I hope this little report helps you in your future attempts to use Google Ad words. Google is a great place to advertise if you can master these tips. Once you do, you will see the traffic and sales of your product start taking off like you have always hoped they would.

Good Luck,

Ken Barton
UnrealSales.com

About The Author

Hi, My Name is Ken Barton. I am not an internet "guru" by any means. I own and operate unrealsales.com which is an info product web site. The Internet is a highly competitive place to try and make a living, especially if you are selling info products. So being successful using PPC search engines is a most. In this article I have gave a few tips about Google Ad Words which I have had great success with. I hope you liked it. If you need a good giveaway Item to help build your promotion or downlines, I have over 30 that I give away. If you want them, you can contact me via my website.

Copyright 2002 Kenneth Barton.

About the author.

Please feel free
to pass this article on to your friends,
or use it in your ezine or newsletter.

Its a shareware article.

You are not allowed to alter this article. You may use as much as you like but it must stay intact.

Software to help you create a robots.txt file

Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Robogen is a software for Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT based computers which can help you create robots.txt files without having to worry about the correct syntax of a robots.txt file. It comes in two editions: the free Limited edition and the Standard edition which costs $12.95. You can get Robogen here.

In this article, Ill tell how you can use Robogen to simplify the process of creating a robots.txt file. This article assumes that you have read my article on creating doorway pages, my article on creating hallway pages and my article on what a robots.txt file is and how you can manually create it.

I would recommend that you download the trial version of the Standard Edition. The Limited edition does not support as many search engines as the Standard Edition.

Once you have downloaded Robogen and installed it in your hard drive, start the program. Here are the steps that you should follow to create a robots.txt file:

Step 1: Click on the Logon FTP Server button. In the dialog box that appears, type in the address of the FTP server for your web site, make sure that the "This server requires me to log in" option is checked, and then type in the username and the password which you use to access the server in the appropriate boxes.

Now, depending on how your web host has set up the server, the files for your web site may be present in the root directory of the server itself. Or, it may be present in a sub-directory of the root directory. In the latter case, click on the "Use specified root" option and type the relevant sub-directory in the text box besides the option. If you dont know in which sub-directory the files for your web site are present, ask your web host to give it to you.

Done? Now click on OK. After a while, Robogen will display the directories and files which are present in your site in the right pane of the main Robogen program window. If you find that Robogen has not displayed the files in your site, it means that you did not enter the correct sub-directory in which the files of your web site are present. In this case, ask you web host to give the correct sub-directory to you.

Step 2: In the left pane of the main Robogen window, click on the small button present to the right of the drop-down combo box at the top. In the menu that appears, select "Popular Search Engines".

Step 3: Now, click on the drop-down combo box and choose the search engine that you are targeting (say, Northern Light). In the right pane, select a doorway page which is NOT meant for Northern Light. Now click on the "<<<" button. You will find that the file which you had selected in the right pane is now present in the left pane. In this way, click on each of the doorway pages which are not meant for Northern Light and press the "<<<" button.

Repeat step 3 for each of the search engines that you are targeting. Just select the search engine that you are targeting from the drop-down combo box, select the doorway pages which are not meant for the search engine one by one from the right pane, and click on the "<<<" button after clicking on each doorway page. Repeat this process for all the search engines that you are targeting.

Step 4: Upload the file to your server using the "Upload Robots.Txt" button. If you want, you can also use the Save menu item from the File menu to save a copy of the robots.txt file in your hard drive.

About ther Author

REPRINT PERMISSION
Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most respected and recognized search engine positioning specialists on the Internet.

Sales - A dirty word?

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Salesman, saleswoman, salesperson. No matter how you put it, the "sales" part of that word sends many a person clutching their wallet and scurrying for safety.

To many, the mere word "salesman" conjures up images of a disheveled middle-aged man in a cheap suit, with one foot wedged in your door and a vacuum cleaner in his hand.

"If you just give me a moment of your time maam, I promise to truly dazzle you."

"Sorry. Not interested." the busy housewife replies.

Or, theres always that slick car salesman with a smile as genuine as imitation leather. Yeah, thats the one -- the guy who jacked up the price of your pick-up just before you signed the dotted line.

So whats the story with this whole "sales" stigma? Why is it that the only people who dont consider "sales" a dirty word are the people IN sales? (Actually, some of these folks dont care too much for the word either!)

I think I have a handle on it. It all has to do with a little secret Ive been harboring for the past few years...

Heres my little secret: I too, used to believe that "sales" was a dirty word! Why? Because I was on the technical support side of business most of my life. The fact is, most techies, just dont like salespeople. I started to believe what my co- workers and buddies were always saying, that the sales people were all crooks and rip-off artists.

The fact is, my buddies were wrong. After I got to know some of the folks in sales at the telecomm company I worked for, I learned that they simply wanted the chance to make more money. They were wise enough to know that their best chance at a high income was in sales. Unlike me, they basically wrote their own paycheck.

One of them even explained the word "sales" to me like this: "Hey, Im not taking peoples money, my customers make the conscious decision that what I have to offer is worth a trade for a certain amount of their cash. This is exactly how and why capitalism works." A wise outlook.

When you take this sensible outlook a step further, you realize that selling for yourself, instead of an employer, sets you up for the best earnings potential possible. Simple facts of business.

So, I took these words of wisdom with me as I started my own business. But the fact is, I was still a little worried. I was never a big fan of the traditional selling process. I didnt like to talk on the phone with people I barely knew, especially if I was trying to sell them something. So how in the world would I make a living with my own business? After all, the key to any new business venture is the ability to make sales.

My solution?... The internet came to the rescue!!

Thanks to the internet, the traditional selling process is no longer a standard script. A new model has been formed.

An effective website does all your selling for you! Your prospects are presented with all the facts, from your company information and history, to testimonials from your satisfied customers. Your "sales pitch" is no longer simply a pitch, but a complete delivery. Whats more, prospects are allowed to browse your "delivery" on their own time, without "sales" pressure.

So, to any potential small business owners out there who have been uneasy about the whole "sales" thing, heres a bit of advice... Forget about trying to "make" sales. Instead, sharpen your cyber-delivery and the sales will just come along for the ride.

The best way to do this is to take an honest look at your site. Look at it through your potential customers monitor. What do you see? Would YOU buy from your company? You may think twice if your web presence is not everything it should be.

Here are some tip-offs that you may be scaring people away...

1. You do not have your own website and rely strictly on email or a free site.

I made this mistake for nearly a year! Learn from my mistake. Ive fessed up here.

2. You are not willing to pay $35 a year for your own domain name.

Your own domain name is a must these days. If you are serious about growing a business online, get your own domain name or many potential customers will think twice before ordering from you. Heres a great tool to search for available domain names:

3. You have a website and domain name but do not offer secure credit card purchases.

Secure credit card ordering is another must at your site. A simple solution is to get a merchant account and a simple shopcart program. You can process orders yourself right through your computer. For help with getting a merchant account, see http://www.bizweb2000.com/serv02.htm . For recommended secure shopping solutions at your site, visit this webpage.

4. And last but certainly not least, take a hard look at your delivery!

Does your website sound like that vacuum cleaner salesman? In the real world you may be able to keep a foot lodged in someones door while you force a sales pitch on them, but in cyberspace it is too easy for your prospect to go away. Get too pushy or "salesy" and "click" theyre gone, never to return.

Always remember this...

Sales will always be a dirty word to some people. Cyberspace gives you a better way to sell to these people. (Or to anyone for that matter!) The best way is to first educate your consumer with free assistance and then gently guide them to your offerings.

Take a hard look at your own cyber-sales delivery. Is it everything it should be? Your sales figures should answer that question for you.

About the author:

Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing. Jims site has helped 1000s of regular folks profit online. Visit bizweb2000.com for FREE "how-to" cybermarketing assistance, software, manuals, web services and more. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to their Free, weekly BizWeb E-Gazette: freegazette@bizweb2000.com

How to Earn the Right to Ask For The Order

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

According to recent marketing studies, 62% of sales people do not earn the right to ask closing questions.
Result: They fail to position the sale properly and don't gain commitment they DON'T make a sale. Effective telephone marketing calls consist of much more than just introducing yourself, your company and asking for the order.

EARNING THE RIGHT TO ASK FOR AN ORDER

During a recent study conducted by the Sales Board in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it was found that 62% of sales people do not earn the right to ask closing questions.

This study involved 16,000 customers and 300 sales people in over 25 different industries.

Similar marketing research found that the most SUCCESSFUL sales people used a step-by-step approach when talking with prospects. They did NOT jump from step 1 to step 5. They started at Step 1, then went to #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and then to Step #7 the close. They EARNED the right to ask for the order.

STEP BY STEP

A productive telephone sales call (after you have the buyer on the telephone) includes 7 steps:

(1.) Greeting and introduction

(2.) Connection or attention-getter & reason for calling

(3.) Question relating to a need

(4.) Acknowledge answer

(5.) Sales message & benefit statement

(6.) Respond to objection & restate benefits

(7.) Direct, choice or trial close.

About the Author

Reprint with permission
(Copyright, 2000, Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com) Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears "Reprinted with permission from Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com Weekly E-Mail Sales Tips. To subscribe free, E-mail to: annbarr@sellingsupplies.com with "subscribe" in the subject line."

Why Customers Stop Buying

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Customers stop buying from suppliers for any one of a number of different reasons. It could be that they found a new supplier on the Internet or were contacted by a competitor at a time when products were needed. You won't know why they stopped buying until you ask. It can be dangerous to ASSUME you know why.

WHY CUSTOMERS STOP BUYING
According to U.S. News and World Report from a survey by the Rockefeller Corporation, customers stop buying because:

1% die

3% move away

5% formed other relationships

9% for competitive reasons

14% due to product dissatisfaction

and the majority 68% stop buying because of an attitude of indifference by one or more persons representing the supplier!

DON'T ASSUME IT'S BECAUSE OF PRICE
Recently I heard a sales person ask a customer on the telephone: "Did you stop buying from us because of our prices?"

Wow!

What an opportunity this gave the customer!

Price immediately became the FOCUS of the conversation, whether or not that was the real reason the customer stopped buying. And DOWN went the price DOWN went the profit margin.

USE POSITIVE QUESTIONS
Here is an upbeat, positive question you can ask the customer who has stopped buying from you:

"First I want to thank you for your past business with us. We had the opportunity to provide you with your [fill in with the product they purchased from you, for example, "Sharp copier toner"] last year.

"The reason for my call today is, depending on your current needs and requirements for copier and printer supplies, I have a few options for you that could make your ordering process easier." (Fill in with other specific benefits you offer.)

Then ask questions and LISTEN to the customer's answer.

About the Author

Reprint with permission
(Copyright, 2000, Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com) Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears "Reprinted with permission from Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com Weekly E-Mail Sales Tips. To subscribe free, E-mail to: annbarr@sellingsupplies.com with "subscribe" in the subject line."

Perception Affects Action

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

What's included in your telephone sales presentation is very important. What is MISSING from a sales presentation can ruin the call. And often, what is missing is just common sense and courtesy, which can make a critical difference in the outcome of the sales call.

WHAT'S MISSING IN THIS SALES PRESENTATION?
A few months ago I received a telephone marketing call from our local cable company. After introducing himself, the caller began to read a long, prepared script about a new movie package being offered. I waited to hear a question ANY question - which would involve me in the conversation or find out if I were in any way interested in what he was trying to sell. There were no questions. The script was all about what HE wanted to SELL to me, without regard to MY preferences or viewing habits. He asked for the order WITHOUT ever getting any input from me, the customer.

I said "no, thank you," and ended the call.

What could the sales rep have said that would have made a better impression on me the customer?

How could he have INVOLVED me in the conversation and moved closer to making a SALE? What questions could he have asked me?

1. "How many videos do you rent in a month?"(The answer to this question would let him know if I were a good PROSPECT for what he was selling. He would find out whether or not I rented videos and he could have asked a follow-up question and learned how much money I spent per month, renting videos.)

2. "What kind of movies do you prefer? Classic movies? New movie releases?" (The answer to this question would tell him which movie package I would be interested in.)

PERCEPTION AFFECTS ACTION

What the sales rep SHOULD have said, immediately after he introduced himself was:

"THANK YOU for subscribing to our cable service. We appreciate your business."

This cable company has no competitors in our area and the PERCEPTION among many cable subscribers is that our business is taken for granted. This perception affects the way we - as consumers feel about our cable company. This perception affects the action we take or do not take.

Perception affects action.

Action or lack of action - follows perception.

About the Author

Reprint with permission
(Copyright, 2000, Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com) Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears "Reprinted with permission from Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com Weekly E-Mail Sales Tips. To subscribe free, E-mail to: annbarr@sellingsupplies.com with "subscribe" in the subject line."

Publicity Electricity: Can you plug your business into the media?

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

We all know what an electricity generator is and does but when it comes to getting media exposure for your business, how good is your "publicity generator?" If you think about it, there are a lot of similarities between the two. Whether it's your business' electricity generator or its publicity generator that fails either way you will be left in the dark. The key to "seeing the light" is knowing how to generate your own "publicity electricity" and plugging yourself into multiple outlets media outlets that is.

Whether it's trade magazines, newspapers, TV, radio or the increasingly popular online news outlets, media sources all over the nation are constantly in search of stories from small and large businesses. EVERY business in the world has at least some element of it that is newsworthy. It just requires you to fire up that publicity generator and shine some light on it for the media to see.

WHERE DOES "PUBLICITY ELECTRICITY" COME FROM?

There are a number of PR angles, but the most well received publicity campaigns I have ever managed involved "problem/solution" businesses or products. Media outlets, especially trade specific ones, will often profile businesses or products that are uniquely solving a problem in a respective industry. It helps to present the editor with the problem, then provide some brief research or statistics not sales or ad text, just facts and show how your business/product can help solve the problem. Case studies work great. Show an editor or reporter how your business positively affected one of your clients and how it can provide similar benefits to others. This may also help get some free publicity for your client as well.

Other great "newspegs" are novelty or human-interest elements. If your business has a product or service that is truly unique, unprecedented or cutting-edge, that lends itself very strongly to a n effective publicity campaign. A "newspeg" gives the editor/reporter/producer the reason to run your story as opposed to the hundreds, if not thousands of other story ideas that he/she sees each week. To say that you have a new "paper clip" is not enough. What is different about this paper clip? What implications does the business/product have and how would it affect the industry or consumer market? And finally, and most times overlooked, is there an intriguing human-interest story involved? Where did the idea come from? Did anything interesting happen during the business/product development stage? Or do the people "behind the scenes" of the business have interesting story to tell? All of these newspegs are potential publicity generators for you and your business.

PLUGGING IT IN.

Now that you have your viable publicity generating prongs, how do you find the media outlets in which to plug them? Conduct meticulous media market research to find those outlets applicable to your campaign. In my extensive research for my clients, I find media outlets whose editorial profiles match the client's business/product profile and pitch accordingly. You or your staff can do the media research at a local library or you can find a PR specialist or agency that can help you. Another great way is to use editorial calendars of media outlets and plug yourself into those opportunities. If you find that a magazine or newspaper is planning an upcoming feature on Innovative New Office Products, prepare your media kit for your "new paper clip" and pitch the appropriate editor.

One bit of advice -- "don't expect exclusive and extensive." Very few businesses or products (with the exception of publicly traded ones) get multi-page stories written exclusively about them. Although that can certainly happen, most mentions are smaller and in the context of a themed story or article, but can generate very strong responses.

I'm sure you'll find that once you generate your best "publicity electricity" -- you will be "shocked" at the interest you generate.

About the Author

Todd F. Brabender
Spread The News PR, Inc.

Choice: Privilege, Opportunity and Responsibility

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

One of my absolute favorite quotes is from Dwight D. Eisenhower. If you have been a subscriber for long you may have heard me use it before. Eisenhower said that, The history of free men is never written by chance, but by choice - their choice.

What a powerful truth. We can, and do, write our own history. That is, when our life is nearing the end, we can look back and see that the history we leave behind, the legacy that we leave for our children, is the accumulation of the choices we made all along the way.

As I think about this, I realize that some may view it from the back end and it may seem hopeless, but we can be proactive about it and decide now that we will begin to make choices that will bring us to our desired end.

Before I talk about privilege, opportunity, and responsibility, I want to make something perfectly clear, and it is something that you must embrace if you are going to see your life continually improve and change for the better. I believe that

Anyone can have as much money as they choose to.
Anyone can weigh what they choose to.
Anyone can have the job they choose to have.
Anyone can have the level of peace that they choose to have.
Anyone can do anything they choose to do.
They ability for us humans to choose is incredible, but it also brings with it philosophical truths as well. Primarily the power to choose brings with it privilege, opportunity and responsibility. When we see how all three of these play out in our lives, and when we discipline ourselves to make the choices that will bring us to our desired outcome - watch out - because you will be UNLEASHED!

The Ability to choose is a Privilege. Dogs don't have it. Cows don't have it. Trees and flowers don't have it. The only living creatures that have the ability to choose are humans. All of the rest of living creatures live by instinct, or in the case of trees, flowers etc, they live wherever they are planted (I guess they must have to develop a great deal of contentment!).

Have you ever viewed your ability to choose as a privilege that you have been given? That is one of the more motivating factors in my life for being disciplined and making choices. Exercise your privilege today. Make choices today that will make you, your family and your community better off!

The Ability to choose is an Opportunity. Every one of us has the opportunity to improve ourselves. There are too many stories of people who have lost 200 pounds, left behind fortunes while only earning $20,000 a year and multitudes of other success stories for me to believe otherwise. In fact, I myself have seen it in my own life. What an opportunity! Yet many believe that it is impossible - that they don't even have the opportunity. Not true at all. Take advantage of the opportunity you have every single day of your life to change - because you can!! Make choices today that will make you, your family and your community better off!

The Ability to choose is a Responsibility. We do not live our lives in a vacuum. We live them in the context of our families, our communities, our businesses and the organizations we belong to. We have a responsibility to make right choices that will positively impact all of those around us! I have four children. The choices I make each day, maybe even every moment, will affect them for the rest of their lives. Do I have a responsibility to them? You bet! I want to discipline my life in such a way that they become all that they can be and that our family and eventually the families that they will start, will become great!

When I think of choices that changed history, I think of Rosa Parks who made a choice that would bring her into the forefront of America's news of the day and eventually the history books. One day, Parks, an African-American, decided that she would not give up her seat on the bus to a white person. She made a choice. It was undoubtedly one she had thought of for sometime. It was her privilege as a human to make this choice, regardless of what others thought and regardless of what the outcome would be. It was an opportunity to make a statement and to stand up for what was right. It was her responsibility to generations of minorities who would come after her to make this choice. She did, and America changed.

Like Rosa Parks, and countless others who daily make choices that produce change, it is those who will dare to dream of a better life, those who will risk failure, those who will make the right choices who will change themselves, their families, their businesses and organizations and yes, even their world! The ability to choose is an incredible privilege, an outstanding opportunity, and an awesome responsibility! Use it!

About the author:

Chris Widener is the President of Made for Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams. Get Chris FREE Made for Success Ezine by sending a blank email to success-on@mail-list.com or visit his website at madeforsuccess.com.

Changing Systems is Easier Than Changing People

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

I HAD A RECENT experience that caused me to see more clearly the benefit of altering systems in order to get the results we want.

Everyone in our household, myself included, has been asked to put our dirty dishes into the dishwasher. To say we havent been very good about it would be an understatement of monumental proportion.

I will only say this in our defense: If we knew that the dishes in the dishwasher were dirty, we would sometimes add any dishes we used to the partially full appliance. But most of the time we didnt look to see what the status of the dishes in the dishwasher was.

My wife was understandably frustrated with the fact that she was the one who most often emptied the dishwasher and our dirty dishes usually ended up in the sink. The action she took had surprising results at least to me.

She made a two-sided sign and clipped it to the dishwasher. One side says, "Dishes are Dirty . . . Go Ahead, Fill Me Up." The other side says "Dishes are Clean . . .Go Ahead, Empty Me."

I know it wouldnt have taken much for us all to look inside this wonderful appliance to see if the dishes were dirty or not. You may even have some judgment as to how we "should" have done this. But the fact remains that we did not. But when Dawn made it easier for us all to take this step, we started to do it on a regular basis.

Even though we might want to, we really cant change people. People have to change on their own. The best we can do is influence by making requests, providing incentives and having consequences. The old clich?, "You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink," is true. However, you can take steps to make the horse thirsty. And you can make someone "want" to do something or else you can make it easier for them to do something.

Think about this in your job or your business. Where can you make changes to the system that results in a positive change in peoples behavior?

Theres no question about it. Changing systems is infinitely easier than changing people.

About the author:

Michael Angier is the founder and president of Success Net, publishers of SUCCESS STRATEGIES and SUCCESS DIGEST. Success Net is a worldwide association committed to helping people become more knowledgeable, productive and effective. Their mission is to inform, inspire and empower people to be their best personally and professionally.

Change Happens: How to Accept, Navigate and Master Change

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Not only do we live in a time of unprecedented change, but the changes we're experiencing are happening at a faster and faster rate. The telephone, radio and TV took decades to be placed into common use. Now the time it takes from invention to widespread usage is just a few years sometimes months!

Our lives are significantly unlike that of our parents'. We think differently, act differently, travel differently, and we work differently. Virtually everything about how we interact with the world around us has changed in just one generation.

We're bombarded with new ideas, new systems, new jobs, new technologies and new opportunities. The more we learn, the more we realize how small our personal store of knowledge is in comparison to the vast universe of data.

Most of the change we're experiencing is appreciated. We like most of what we see happening. While we enjoy many of these changes, there are other changes that are not so warmly embraced. There's more uncertainty, less confidence and as a result more stress.

I'm a recreational sailor. There's hardly anything I enjoy more than being out on the water with the wind in my sails. Sailing has taught me many things. Not the least of which is a healthy respect for the wind. You have absolutely no control over the wind only the way you use it. You must master your ability to handle the wind, regardless how hard it blows or which direction it blows.

And change is like the wind. It's neither good nor bad. It just is.

But how we feel about change our attitudes toward it will have much to do with how well we navigate this turbulent sea of change. If we dislike change, resist it, ignore it or resent it, we will lose.

On the other hand, if we use it to our advantage, we'll benefit from it.

What's your attitude toward change? What are your beliefs about the change we see around us and the change that surely lies ahead? When faced with something new and different, do you long for the old way or do you look for what advantages this may bring to you, your family, your business.

Your answer may be different based upon the type of change you face.

Choice or no choice
If the new situation is to your liking or a result of your own choosing, you will likely have a different reaction than if the change seems forced upon you a new responsibility at work, a shopping mall going in next door or your spouse telling you they want a divorce.

On the other hand, the more power you feel you have over a given situation, the easier it is to handle.

Recognize change
Author Phillip McGrath is fond of saying,and he's right, You cannot change what you don't acknowledge. Oftentimes we're slow to realize or even fail to recognize changes that occur. We need to look at what's happening and acknowledge what we need to change in ourselves in order to adapt to the changes around us.

Which brings us to one of the first steps in dealing with change . . .

How will this change affect me?
Too often, people resist change before allowing themselves to explore its potential benefits.

Make a sincere effort to look for the good in what appears to be changing. Because of a natural resistance to the unknown, we must consciously and logically analyze what this difference will mean to us. And it's often not what we first perceive.

How can I exploit this change?
Many fortunes have been made by taking swift advantage of changes and trends before others have realized how to do so.

A change that alters the rules means opportunity only if you're able to see the new connections and exploit them.

If after thoroughly exploring the potential good, we see the change as negatively impacting us, we must then ask the next question . . .

Is there anything I can do about this?
There's no question that some change runs counter to our best interests. If this is the case, we need to find out if we can change the circumstances. This is no time to play victim. Often what LOOKS like a situation totally outside of our control can in fact be altered.

If we cant change the circumstances, then ask . . .

How can I minimize the impact of this change?
First we must accept it. There's no payoff to being upset about it. If your destination is LA and you find yourself in San Francisco due to bad weather or mechanical difficulties, being angry about it will not get you to LA. In fact it will hinder you.

By accepting the reality of the situation, we can then change our strategies. We can take a new tack. We can change sails. We can set a new course.

Only when we accept the change can we make rational, informed and effective decisions. Only then can we use our knowledge and skills to adjust to the changing winds and arrive at our intended destination.

Now is the time for green-light thinking. Now is the time to attack the problem with our intellect, to get the help we need, to do whatever it takes to adjust to this change.

In all of these steps, we need to be creative. As paradigms shift, as new systems go into place and new technologies evolve, we must be open to how this changes the setup as we knew it.

Our success is largely dependent upon our acceptance and response to the change that takes place around us. Extinctions occur as a result of an inability to change. To change is often difficult, but to not change may prove fatal.

Those who will thrive in the new millennium will be those who have positive attitudes toward change. Those who don't will be left behind, or worse yet, they will founder.

About the author:

Michael Angier is the founder and president of Success Net, publishers of SUCCESS STRATEGIES and SUCCESS DIGEST. Success Net is a worldwide association committed to helping people become more knowledgeable, productive and effective. Their mission is to inform, inspire and empower people to be their best personally and professionally.

Want To Do an Online Sales Presentation? Use a Popup Slide Show

Fri, 05 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

A complete slide show can be presented in a popup box.

The Popup Slide Show introduced in this article has all the programming you need in one package to put together your own slide show.

Slide shows have a lot of possibilities. They can:

Diagram your unique selling proposition.

Present a step-by-step procedure.

Tell a text and/or picture story.

Show vacation pictures :)

Give a synopsis of your website.

Present a series of testimonials.

Show detailed information about your product or service.

Present a short course of instruction for visitors or business associates.

Popup Slide Shows can be used to present almost any illustrative, supplemental, or marketing information.

The slide show is presented in a framed popup box. The navigation is in one frame and the slide show pages are presented in the other.

The slide show pages are actual web pages. Thus, you have full control. Just make sure all the pages look good in the slide show window.

Navigation can be with graphic buttons or text links. Popup Slide Show navigation is with "next", "previous", "last", "rewind", and "random" links. Only the "next" navigation link is required. The rest can be used if your slide show needs them.

This is how it works:

Someone clicks on your slide show link and they get a popup window. And they view your slide show by clicking on the navigation link(s).

Somewhere on a web page you will have a link that people click for the slide show. The link is a JavaScript link; other than that, there is nothing special about it. The web page also has a JavaScript function which launches the popup. There is nothing special about the function, either; just a regular window popup function where you specify the height and width of the popup, and where you specify the file name of a page to load into the popup window. The example page contains line by line instructions.

The page you load into the popup window is actually a frameset page. If you are familiar with frameset code, youll notice there is nothing unusual about it. It can be customized but can also be used as is. If you decide to customize it, the example page contains line by line instructions. If you decide to use it as is, your navigation page file name must be "slide_nav.html"

The navigation page is where you list the file names of all the pages in your slide show. It also contains the navigation graphic buttons (or text links, if you prefer). The example page contains line by line instructions.

The slide show itself is composed of regular web pages -- except they need to be designed to fit within the size of your popup window and they should have no clickable links.

To see for yourself how it works, go to the demonstration page
at http://willmaster.com/a/url.pl?ssdemo

A package using the demonstration page as the example is available for free download. The package is a complete set with all files needed to make your own Popup Slide Show. It includes a README file with supplemental instructions.

The download package is compressed in ZIP format. If you do not have a ZIP uncompression program on your computer, links to free downloads for both Macintosh and Windows are on the demonstration page.

This URL is a direct link to the download package:
http://willmaster.com/a/url.pl?ssazip

Happy happy!

About the Author

William Bontrager, Programmer and Publisher
"Screaming Hot CGI" programs http://willmaster.com/hotcgi/
"WillMaster Possibilities" e-Newsletter
http://willmaster.com/possibilities/
or subscribe-possibilities@willmaster.com

This Weeks Clue: Couponing

Thu, 04 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Many ideas Ive advocated since the Web was spun - HTML e-mail, daily news feeds, and compensation for personal information among them - have become a living reality online. One big idea, however, has not yet been adopted at all, and its time to consider why.

That idea is couponing. The concept is that information leading to a sale deserves its price. When someone has learned all they need on your site to make a purchase, they should be able to download a cookie-like file which, when presented to the target merchant, gives the buyer a discount. An equal discount is then given the site offering the coupon, for enabling the sale. If the coupon gives a buyer 10% off on a $300 purchase, in other words, the site the coupon came from earns $30.

There are close analogs to this concept online. Amazon.coms Associates program is one. If you buy a book through a direct link from an associated site to Amazon, the associate gets 15%. The problem is the purchase must be a direct link. If the buyer makes the link, hesitates, then buys later, theres no payment. (Many associates complain bitterly about this.) Firms like Direct Coupons also offer something like grocery store coupons, but the coupons arent worth much - theres no profit to a small site in it.

The problem is, of course, that the path leading from interest to purchase is complex, and the complexity of that process increases with price. If the issue is a can of soda, brand makes the connection. (Especially if, as Robert Woodruff of The Coca-Cola Co. put it, "every can of Coke is the same as any other, anywhere in the world.") For a book, recommendations and reviews are important. For a car, you also need a close comparison of features, and a lot of price shopping, especially when it comes to the money used to buy the car. For a semiconductor that will go into a million toys, theres a rigorous process, and price is paramount. If the same semiconductor goes into a Boeing airplane, the process is equally rigorous, but other factors dominate.

Every purchase proceeds along its own path, making it hard to break down. Yet in the name of seeking and managing sales, businesses spend roughly 50 cents on every dollar they take in. The budget items are marketing, fulfillment, and customer service. And the Web, unlike all other media, can do all these things. The Web can prospect, pitch, cajole, transact business, fulfill orders and deliver support after the sale. Its potential as a medium lies in its doing all these things.

Why havent editorial Web sites captured their share of this money flow? There are some good reasons. Many manufacturers have taken these functions into their own sites. Others prefer to capture all this value for themselves and for their customers, using brand advertising to bring people inside the tent, then closing on price. As weve seen with the Amazon concept, making the direct link between editorial matter and purchases can be awkward. Most important (and this is a bad reason), journalists are taught to be divorced from commerce - the closer association needed for coupons to work is considered sacrilegious.

But just because few have tried something over time, and theres stubborn resistance to a complex idea, doesnt mean the idea itself is invalid. I submit its more valid than ever. (Now that Web software is available for managing complex supply chains and sales chains , the argument of complexity should go away.)

So break down the commerce equation. Use deep links to bring all the elements together before your targeted niche market. Ask your users to help, by letting you know how they arrive at purchase decisions within your niche. Then take your evidence to your vendors. Point out how, for a little give on price, they can generate X amount of profit from your users. Then, when you get your first deal, track the results thoroughly (coupons are cookie-like files, remember?), and use those numbers on other vendors. Its a long, winding road, but remember this. The proper mix of biased, unbiased, and trusted information is what leads to sales. If youre in the information business, these should be happy days, and if theyre not the fault is not in the stars...

About the Author

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business reporter for 20 years. He has written parts of five books, and currently contributes to Advertising Age, Business Marketing, NetMarketing, the Chicago Tribune, Boardwatch, CLEC Magazine and other publications in addition to ClickZ. His own newsletter, A-Clue.Com, is published weekly.

Helping Merchant Accounts and Checking Accounts Play Nicely Together

Thu, 04 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

To Do:
Name my company
Name my web site (and register domain name)
Open checking account
Open merchant account

You've made the arrangements for adding e-commerce capability to your web site. Who wouldn't? Your goal is to make it easy for your customers to buy from you.

Now you're dealing with the merchant application and paperwork. One thing every bank will need is a voided check from your checking account. Your merchant bank will be depositing your revenues into this account. Any fees assessed will be deducted from this same account.

Many people are tempted to use their personal checking accounts in conjunction with their merchant account. This account is already open and functioning, meaning one less to-do item on the list, which just grows longer every day. There would be no extra fees to pay, or new checks to order. Sounds like a solid plan.

It's fairly easy to put this into operation as well. Your merchant bank will require you to add a statement to your order page or shopping cart that reads like this: Your credit card will be charged Jane Q. Public. Simple enough.

What you may not realize is that the name on your personal checking account is the name that your customers will see on their credit card statements. So instead of seeing a charge from My Great Company for $125.00, they'll see a charge from Jane Q. Public. Sure, you told your customer at the time of the order that the charge would be from Jane Q, but who remembers thirty days and no telling how many web sites ago?

It doesn't have to be too expensive to open this account. Of course fees will vary from county to county and bank to bank, but here's a great hint to save some money: Don't order checks. Whoa! you say. Didn't I just read a few paragraphs ago that my merchant bank will need a voided check from this account? I definitely want to make sure the deposits go to the right place! Once again, your friendly neighborhood merchant account expert is on your side: just use a counter check. That's right- your free book of counter checks can satisfy your merchant bank. The routing number and account number are what the merchant bank cares about, and that's printed at the bottom of every check- including counter checks!

Let's presume that you've accepted my astute advice and opened a business account for My Great Company. Next on your to-do list is registering your domain name. Now you find that your company name is not available as a domain name- someone else has already snapped it up. No t to worry! You can register a name related in some way to your company - maybe something like www.mycoolproduct.com. Remember how the name on your checking account will be the name on your merchant account? Banks like to see the web site name match the merchant account name. If your domain name, www.mycoolproduct.com doesn't match your account name of My Great Company, all you need to do is add that statement to your order form or shopping cart: Your credit card will be charged by My Great Company.

If your domain name is different from your company name, you can create awareness by splashing your company name all over your site. Of course it will be on the home page, but including your company name on every page of your web site encourages your customers to remember you.

So make life easy for yourself and simplify the tasks on your to-do list. When you're deciding on your company name, see if it's available as a domain name. You can check to see if it's available here: http://www.aiswebhosting.com/regdomain.htm?co1866xhome . Once you find a domain name you want to keep, register it before someone else finds it! You can then open your checking account and merchant account when you're ready.

About the Author

Karen LaVoy, eCommerce Account Executive, has a vision of helping people establish successful businesses on the internet.If your passion is your Internet Business, contact her today to learn more ways to succeed with your business venture. Call 1-800-784-0919, ext. 112,

Easy steps for merchants to minimize internet fraud

Thu, 04 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

It has been over a year since AIS Media introduced its' merchant services division.

Growth in Internet activity is exploding! Sales levels over the next few years are expected to approach hundreds of billions of dollars. Underscoring this growth is the ease with which merchants can establish web sites on the Internet. Such ease of access provides merchants with tremendous opportunities to grow their businesses. Many new Internet merchants are perfect targets for Internet Fraudsters. Without help in identifying possible fraud schemes new Internet merchants may become victims of sophisticated Internet criminals.

To help merchants minimize their Internet risk, Visa worked with industry experts, banks, and Internet merchants to identify characteristics which, when more than one is present in a transaction may indicate potential fraud.

Merchant banks encourage their merchants to verify all suspicious orders, for example, that huge order from an unknown customer that was shipped to a distant international address. Additional cardholder verification could prevent banks and merchants from being victimized by Internet fraud.

Visa recommends that merchants with businesses on the Internet follow these best practice guidelines to reduce their fraud exposure.

Take caution with Internet transactions with several of these characteristics:
Larger than normal orders that maximize purchases on time-limited stolen or bogus payment card accounts.
Orders consisting of multiples of the same item or big-ticket Items.
Orders shipped rush or overnight.
Orders from Internet addresses using free e-mail services that do not require a billing relationship or verification that an account was opened by a legitimate cardholder.
Orders shipped to an international address.
Develop and maintain customer databases to track buying patterns and identify changes in buying behavior such as:

Transactions charged to similar account numbers fake account numbers tend to be sequential.
Orders shipped to a single address but made on multiple cards.
Multiple transactions charged to one card over a very short period.
Multiple transactions on one card or similar cards with a single billing address but multiple shipping addresses.
Multiple cards used from a single IP address.
Leverage Visa's current risk management tools:

Use the Visa Address Verification Service during authorizations to verify the cardholder's identity and billing address.
Require additional customer information to make it more difficult for buyers to hide their real identities.
Confirm suspicious orders separately before shipping to minimize merchant risk exposure.
Visa Bulletin

In closing, if you take just a few additional steps to reduce fraud you will dramatically reduce your chargebacks which will save you time, money and headaches. You can also focus your time one activities that actually generate sales such as marketing!

It is our goal to continue to update our merchants on changes and implementations that may affect the way you use your merchant account and processing solution. Please contact us if you would like to offer feedback or need a few questions answered.

About the Author

Article by Denise M. Maling, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for AIS Media Corporation. Denise is responsible for achieving AIS Medias sales and customer support objectives.

The Free Ad Myth

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Why would a publisher of an online Ezine or Newsletter give away free ads? The obvious answer is to build their subscription numbers. Notice I specifically did not say readership.

Many people will subscribe to an Ezine or Newsletter that allows them to submit free ads, in the hope that the other subscribers will see theirs. When the Ezine is published, many will simply scan it ooking for their ad. Many times they wont even bother to check out the rest of it.

Publishers who accept free ads are building false subscriber numbers. Simply put, many people are subscribing to place their free ad, and not for the content of the publication. Unless their publication is a "labor of love", it will come back to haunt them when they decide to charge for the ads. They will experience significant defections when the "freebie" goes away.

A better way to build a subscription base is to build a readership base. People are getting the Ezine because of its content. They dont care about ads sprinkled about because the Ezine is informative and good reading.

We have found that the hardest job is to build the initial readership base. Using our newest publication as an example, we started off with an invitation to join in one of our other publications. Within two months, we had 400 subscribers. That number stayed pretty flat for another three months. But once it started to take off, it has averaged several hundred new subscribers a month. We are now over 1,200 which is not big numbers as Ezines go, but it is new and is a start.

Our goal was to build a solid readership, and not have any advertising until it reached 1,000. We will have our first paid ad in the next edition.

So whats the point here? If we had allowed free ads from the onset, it would have taken us that long to build our subscriber base anyway, and a lot of people would have defected when the free ads dried up. In point of fact, it would have been a hard sell when we started to charge. People dont like to pay for something they used to get for nothing, so you wont even have a good advertiser base to show for your efforts.

If the content is there, readers will also be there. It is much easier to sell advertising in a publication that has a solid readership base, than one which was built on free ads. Many advertisers are pretty "savvy" and know which end is up in this regard.

It is a lot of work to schedule and publish the free ads. This time could be much better spent in developing a "first class" publication.

If you are thinking of starting an online publication forget the free ads. Concentrate on getting some good solid information that will build reader loyalty. Once this is accomplished, your subscriber base will grow. Then, you can start to market the ads in your publication. Surprisingly, when you have a decent subscriber base, people will approach you to place their ad.

So how do you get your subscriber base to grow if you are not giving away free ads? There are a number of ways. An ad swap with another Ezine is a good method. Try to find others that are a match with your publication and offer to swap ads with them.

Also, dont be afraid to spend a few bucks and place ads with other Ezines. Place free ads where you can, but dont use automated software which most experienced publishers simply block.

Once you get your subscriber base to a respectable size, you can then consider selling ad space. You should avoid competing ads in the same edition. This is confusing to the readers, and will guarantee that neither one will advertise with you in the future.

The number of online publications is increasing every day. If you are thinking of doing this, stick with your area of expertise, and remember that giving away free ads may hurt more than it will help.

About the Author
Bob Osgoodby

Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter Visit his Web Site at adv-marketing.com/business to subscribe. As a bonus, get over 40,000 Free eBooks & Web Books when you visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com

Subscriber Numbers: Why TreadGround? on Shaky

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Among the wide variety of list-related services that we at Sling Shot Media perform for our clients, is the handling of ad bookings.

If a customer, for example, is embarking on an ezine ad campaign and is looking for the best spread at the best possible prices, well track down and book the right selection of publications that will reward the client with the very best value for the money.

Our experience in this field has yielded some illuminating insights that will prove useful to publishers who sell advertising, or plan to, as well as to those who buy advertising space in other publications.

Since were responsible for ensuring that our clients budget is used in the most effective way, we need to do our homework very carefully before finalizing our strategy and making our bookings. One of the things we have to be continually on guard against is publishers who inflate the size of their lists.

Its always frustrating to have to deal with such cases, but there are a few ways we can detect when list owners are exaggerating their subscriber figures.

The first of these is through assessing the response rates to a given advertising campaign. Untypical rates are usually the first signal that something is amiss.

We track the response of every single ad we place. We dont just track clickthroughs, but also the uniqueness of responses based on IP addresses or email addresses (depending on whether the call to action requires clicking through to a URL or accessing an autoresponder address).

With most campaigns, we book ads in anything from 25 to 100 and more publications. By looking at the results for each one of them, we can arrive at a pretty accurate idea of what the rate of response for a particular publication SHOULD have been.

Notwithstanding that the individual peculiarities of publications could result in some skewing of the data, it should still be possible to anticipate results within reasonable limits.

Take for instance a recent campaign we managed that resulted in an overall response rate of 8.5%.

Three different publications claimed subscription numbers in excess of 10,000. They fell into the same categories as other publications and were comparable with regard to content. Be that as it may, these three publications yielded response rates of 0.01%, 0.02% and 0.022% respectively.

A fourth publication claimed a subscriber base of over 20,000. The only joy we had from this one was one response by email and one through the Web! Its worth noting that the ads in all these four cases were "sponsorships" placed right at the top of the issues.

A second indicator that may point to incorrect subscriber figures is the price charged for advertising space in a given publication.

Sometimes, publishers may deliberately peg their advertising prices below the going market rate, perhaps in order to quickly dispose of their inventory. However, a below-market CPM without selling out inventory is often a signal that somethings wrong, particularly when the response rate is below average. (Were not referring to extreme cases like those we mentioned above, but to instances where there is about a 50% or so deviation from the average.)

Weve noticed an odd trend in a case like this: contrary to what you might predict, for the majority of publications that under-perform (as measured by the response rate), the cost per response still works out to be around the same - UNLESS we can assume gross inflation of subscriber numbers.

Ads that can only command CPMs falling below accepted market figures - taking into account any targeting factors - typically end up with the same cost per response, if not lower, than ads with higher CPMs.

What we can learn from all this is clear.

If youre placing ads in other publications, do your homework carefully, and above all, follow the dictates of common sense. Check out what other advertisers areconsistently using the pub youre considering. Be especially wary of ezines that are only a few months old, yet claim unusually large subscriber numbers. If youre not yet convinced of a certain publications pull, dont pay for multiple insertions in advance!

And if youre a publisher, do go all out to expand your baby both in size and in reputation. But in the midst of all the excitement, never get carried away by temptation!

If youre not yet ready for the big league, its surely no disgrace; concentrate on grooming yourself for the day when you will be. Dont, however, claim to be what youre not, or promise to deliver what you cant.

It could be that the only one youre cheating is yourself.

About the Author

Azriel Winnett is senior staff writer at Sling Shot Media,LLC - Your List Hosting SpeciaLists. listhost.net This article originally appeared in our weekly newsletter, ListHost News. Subscribe at our site or email to: news@listhost.net?body=subscribe

How to Create Powerful Strategic Alliances

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

I truly hate networking. Really, I do! I hate it because, in my experience, it hasnt brought me anything substantial in return. But wait a minute, hear me out. Networking isnt a bad concept; far from it. With todays highly competitive environment, networking can be a fantastic marketing tool. Referral-sources can become potentially effective in bringing you business.

However, heres the problem. Having a network and having a networking system are two entirely separate things. When youre only networking, more often than not people will want something in return. They will stop sending you leads if you dont take the time to recognize their efforts (and, if youre like me, thats if you have any time left at all). So, how can you reward your network? How can you do so on a consistent basis? And even better yet, how can you turn your network into a networking system? The answer is by developing and establishing a network of strategic marketing alliances.

Im sure you have heard of many ways to set up strategic alliances in some form or another. Essentially, there are as many different forms of systematized networking opportunities out there as there are businesses, and I strongly encourage you to vigorously seek them out. But in my experience, I have found that they mainly fall into three major categories, namely the info-network, the auto-network, and the intra-network. Lets take a look at each of these and how you can apply them to your situation or business.

Info-Networking
The information network is one in which a strategic alliance is created where information is exchanged in some form or another between parties. Basically, that information includes qualified leads that both you and your alliance share, or information about each other that is promoted to each others market. As long as your alliance logically shares a same target market without directly competing with you, there is an immense potential for you to consider.

For instance, free reports and especially newsletters are great marketing tools. Advertising space within them can be sold at a nominal cost in order to pay for their distribution, or it can be offered to alliances that might be happily interested in being directly promoted to your market. In turn, you should seek out ad space in publications of mutually beneficial alliances. But if you publish your own newsletter, the obvious advantage is that it can save you money by "swapping" ads with another newsletter also catering to your target market.

This also refers to mailing lists where you and your alliance can exchange each others prospect or client lists. Mailing lists seem to have increased in popularity these days and, if used properly, they can produce pretty good results. For example, mailing list brokers sell or lease mailing lists that theyve compiled and with which you can use to conduct direct mail and telemarketing campaigns -- lists of people that fit into your specific demographics.

A more effective approach is to use, rent, buy, or exchange a strategic alliances list of prospects and clients. Most of them will approve especially when you trade your lists with them. But if you have to rent or buy their list, the cost will definitely be far less than that of one coming from a broker -- theyre not cheap! And most strategic alliances are not accustomed to the idea of sharing their lists and will therefore be happy with just a few bucks. (Realize that this segment refers specifically to offline mailing lists, not email.)

Auto-Networking
Auto-networking is the process of creating referral-sources that automatically supply you with quality leads without having to lift a finger. Brochures, posters, flyers, coupons, and business cards can be set up at the offices of potential referral-sources. However, auto-networking doesnt mean to simply give out cards or literature and then hoping it will produce something in return. It means setting up a system between both of you where, since you are catering to a same market, you have made an arrangement to constantly and systematically supply each other with materials and information.

A drycleaner who discovered that the largest clientele of a busy restaurant near its location was mostly made up of executives having "power lunches." The drycleaner, knowing that her greatest clientele was made up of executives who bring their shirts or dresses to have drycleaned saw it as an opportunity. Together they formed a strategic marketing alliance.

Coupons were handed out by the restaurants waiters and waitresses along with their clients food tabs offering a 5% percent discount on dry-cleaning services. The coupons could be accumulated up to a maximum of 25% -- of course, they were valid for a limited time only. In return, the dry-cleaner handed out coupons (clipped to the garment bags of their clients dry-cleaning) offering a free appetizer or dessert at that particular restaurant -- good for one per person per lunch -- with every load of $30 worth of dry-cleaning.

Another form of auto-networking is, as the saying goes, "You cant teach an old dog a new trick but you can surely teach a new dog to cook you breakfast!" Trying to create networking systems with referral-sources who either have been approached by competitors or are implicated in other commitments may be a difficult task. So what can you do? You get them while theyre starting out. Since, in this highly competitive age, many potential referral-sources may have already been the target of a competitor,. the key, therefore, is to approach them before they do become potential targets.

Heres an example. I teach hair transplant doctors to become known among the hairdressing community and possibly set up strategic alliances with them by, among other things, setting up brochure stands in their salons. Many of these hairstylists may have already been approached by other doctors or have a fixed idea in their minds of a doctor to whom they would refer their clients for cosmetic surgery. Consequently, I help doctors to set up presentations or to become guest lecturers at local hairstyling and beauty schools.

Schools love it since its part of their curriculum to teach future hairstylists the mechanics of hair and hair replacement. Some provinces or states also make it an essential part of their licensing requirements. However, the effectiveness is this approach is the fact that, by giving a lecture or presentation, the doctor not only gets his name inculcated into the minds of these future hairstylists but also created an almost impenetrable barrier against competitors. By being part of their schooling, doctors naturally became a part of their minds!

This technique can be applied in almost every industry, with trade schools, business schools, community colleges, government services, unemployment insurance subsidized courses, and so on. A government software programmer can give a small computer presentation during courses that the government provides to recently-hired purchasing agents. A wedding planning consultant can give small courses to church groups offering prenuptial courses (often referred to as "marriage preparation courses") for engaged couples in their parish or community. An accountant specializing in corporate taxation can give small seminars to young entrepreneur workshops (most chambers of commerce offer this type of service). And the list goes on.

Intra-Networking
An intra-networking system simply means two or more parts of a whole that are independent but at the same time interdependent. This is the old bartering system that goes back since the beginning of time. But in the context of intra-networking though, it is not a direct exchange of service for service or product for product (or even product for service), but an exchange of a service or product for information, clients, referrals, or promotions.

For instance, a restaurant owner makes an arrangement with a local gas station to offer coupons to each client that comes to pump gas. They were given the permission to hang posters in the station, leave menus at the counter and place fridge magnets on the pumps. For every ten coupons the restaurant received, the employees at the station were given a free meal. A freelance writer edits trade association newsletters that target her market as well (corporations). In exchange for her editing services she will have her articles and ads published for free in the newsletter.

What kind of product do you offer from which a potential referral-source may benefit? Think of ways of being able to offer your services for free in exchange for free promotion, pre-qualified leads, or, as mentioned in info-networking, promotional efforts. Intra-networking can also become powerfully effective if you were lucky enough to stumble onto another company that offers products or services that complement your products or services well, while at the same time sharing costs, leads, and clients as well as referral-sources.

Altogether, info-networking, auto-networking, and intra-networking are powerful tools to help make you create good referral-sources that work and never stop working. The idea is nonetheless to network but to do so wisely as to be able to create as many leads and clients as possible with the least amount of effort. Dont network. Make your net work for you!

About the Author

Michel Fortin is an author, speaker and marketing consultant dedicated to turning businesses into powerful magnets. He is also the editor of the "Internet Marketing Chronicles" delivered weekly to 125,000 subscribers -- subscribe free at SuccessDoctor.com/IMC/.

Excuse me but, Is This a Pyramid?

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT

One of the most ignorant things a person can do is to reject something they know NOTHING about.

Ive been involved in Network Marketing/MLM for over 5 years with varying degrees of success. One of the most common concerns I hear from people is, "Leon, how do I know this is not a pyramid?"

When people ask me this my favorite response is, "Exactly what do you mean by pyramid?"

Usually the respose is something vague like, "I dont know, I just heard these things were illegal pyramid schemes."

Did you ever notice that most of the time these well meaning people who question these business opportunities have no idea what theyre asking? This blows me away!

What Id like to do with this article is answer this question so YOU will know how to respond in the future when you are asked this tough question.

First, just what is a pyramid? A pyramid is a solid triangular figure which, when formed is one of the strongest structures known to man!

Next, what is a scheme? A scheme is quite simply a design, plan, or a system.

So is network marketing a "pyramid?" NO!

Is network marketing a plan or system, that when built correctly and successfully, takes the SHAPE of a pyramid or triangle? YES!

Now let me "blow your mind."

EVERY large business is set-up like a pyramid! In fact, I dont know of ANY large business, organization, religion, or government that IS NOT set-up or shaped like a pyramid.

Lets look at almost ANY large, well established company you want...Sony, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, etc. Does anybody doubt these companies are legal, ethical companies? Probably not. Who is at the top of these companies? The president of course. Then he or she appoints a few key people as vice president. They in turn appoint people to manage or oversee various regions of the county or world. This delegation of responsibilities continues down for several more levels. At the bottom of this organization is where the LARGEST number of people are by far! This is where the regular employees or laborers are.

If you diagramed this organization out on paper would it not take the form of a pyramid? Of course it would! Doesnt matter if you are talking about Sony, CNN, IBM, the catholic church, US government, or WHATEVER! You must realize that pyramid shaped businesses, organizations, governments, etc. are everywhere.

Going back to busisnesses, there are two types of businesses shaped like pyramids:
a) legal
b) illegal

When we look at any pyramid shaped business where does the power come from? The majority of the power comes from the bottom, not the top. The bottom is where the majority of the work force is.

This is where the question of legal or illegal comes into play.

For any pyramid to be legal it MUST have value flowing "up" and "down" its structure. By this I mean it must have money, products, services, votes, etc. flowing up and down its structure.

For example, when you work a job, you are usually required to put in a set number of hours per week. Your efforts while at work are the value that flows up the pyramid. When you get paid for your efforts that is the value that flows down the pyramid. This is an example of a LEGAL pyramid.

An illegal pyramid has no value flowing down the pyramid. So if the company hired you and worked you, but didnt pay you, that would be an illegal pyramid.

This greatly simplified example applies to chuches, governments, and many other organizations.

So is network marketing legal?...

For Network Marketing to be legal it too MUST have value flowing up and down the pyramid structure. Does it? Of course it does!

Money flows up the pyramid structure and product, services, training, and support flow down. Therefore network marketing is as legal as IBM, Sony, your local church, or the US government.

When you put money into a Network Marketing company/pyramid, youre purchasing product. Right? Even before you purchase the product you know EXACTLY what you are getting in return for your money.

How can that be illegal? Its not!

Network Marketing has been around for over 50 years.

Network Marketing does billions of dollars in gross revenue sales EVERY year and is growing at 20-30% annually. If Network Marketing was an illegal pyramid, and growing at this rate, it would have been outlawed years ago. There is no way the US government would ALLOW any industry to do billions of dollars a year in business if it was illegal!

So are ALL Network Marketing companies legitimate? No! Absolutely not. Neither are ALL traditional type businesses. There is good and bad in EVERYTHING. There are good and bad people in every industry and organization.

In closing...

Network Marketing is a legal business which, when built successfully, is shaped like a pyramid, just like Sony, CNN, US Army, Coke, Catholic Church, etc.

Because of Network Marketings explosive growth and popularity it is now and always will be regulated.

In the US, Network Marketing is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) among other agencies

If Network Marketing was illegal would it be recognized and regulated by these government agencies? NO! It would have been shut down years ago.

Conclusion...

Network Marketing is legal as long as there is value flowing up and down the pyramid structure.

Thank you,
*Article may be used freely as long as the entire article appears along with this sig file.

About the Author

Leon Brickey is webmaster/owner of Appalachian Online Marketing at appalachianmarketing.com. Find everything you need to turn your struggling business into an explosive moneymaker! Subscribe to Absolute Internet Marketing Resources Ezine containing the most current, up to date online marketing resources on the planet. One of the top ezines on the net. FREE! ezine-subscribe@appalachianmarketing.com?subject=art

Starting Off Right

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Less than five years from now, youll be able to say that you were among the first 25% of the billion people online to stake your claim to cyberspace. You are beginning a journey at a crucial time in history and its important to do things right for two reasons: first,time is of the essence. To take full advantage of being at the front of a line, you have to know where to go and what to do once you get "inside"; two, you dont want to waste valuable time and money going down the wrong path.Here is a simple but effective guide to ensure that you waste neither your time nor your money in your quest for Internet success!

Learn the Basics

Only the very intelligent know enough to say, "I dont know." Only the foolish and insecure hesitate to ask questions and find out what they dont know -- preferring instead to bluff their way or go ahead blindly.The Internet is nothing if not rife with free information!The search engines are made for all, no matter what your level of expertise -- or lack thereof! Use the subject line as somewhat of an oracle and type in terms of interest: business opportunities, web services, classified ads, etc. If youre not sure what to type in,simply start with any of those. Then surf. Trust your intuition -- a valuable skill in the absence of face-to-face or even voice interaction. It wont take you long before you decide if a site is too slick, too awkward, too confusing. Similarly, youll know quickly if the owner is sincere. There are lots of scams out there, but there are also many honest people with genuinely good products and opportunities for you to explore.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

You can better trust sites that freely offer more contact information than simply e-mail. Look for sites that name the owner, offer phone and fax numbers and have an "about me/us" section on the site.

SUBSCRIBE TO E-ZINES

Again, it wont take you long before you know the difference between good information and junk. Trust your instinct -- if anything ever sounds too good to be true, or if you have to give out credit card information before you are comfortable or to simply access information -- DONT! Subscribing to e-zines will soon indicate to you the common thread that runs among all Internet business. Once you get the hang of it, unsubscribe from those that turn you off, sound hollow, or make grandiose offers that seem to good to be true.

TEST THE OWNERS

When there is anything at all youre interested in, be it information in general or on specific products or opportunities, use the contact methods that are provided and ASK. As said before, the Internet is a gold-mine of both information and opportunity. Ask away!Note how long it takes you to get a reply and whether you like the "tone" or attitude behind the response. This will very quickly weed out who and what you want to pursue.

SELECT AN ADVOCATE

Remember who has control here -- YOU DO. You are free to ask anything you want. Find an individual or company that will answer your questions. Then ask, and ask and ask some more. Test your choice to see if you continue to get prompt and polite responses. If you seem to be treated as too much "work" then move on. There are individuals and companies out there that will help you in your quest for whats right for you.

NARROW THE FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY

Once you are more comfortable with your options -- how different businesses work, how much they cost to begin, how much time you need to devote to them, whether they offer any forms of guarantee, what exactly your role in the process is, etc. -- narrow your field and focus on two or three exclusively. If you havent already asked those things,send off e-mails that cover all of your questions and wait to see who "wins" your loyalty. Ask for the e-mail addresses of people who have gone down the road that youre considering. Ask them tough questions and see how they reply. They cant all be bluffing. Checking references is your final assurance that youre not acting rashly.

Ask:

* What is the total price of the opportunity?
* What is the annual or renewal rate?
* Are you required to purchase products yourself?
* WHAT TRAINING IS PROVIDED AND IN WHAT FORM?
* What assurance can you have of the companys longevity?
* What -- specifically -- is your role in running your business?
* Who does the billing? Customer Service? Actually delivers the products?
* How and how often do you get paid?
* How do the incentives compare with other opportunities?
* Is there any guarantee of your success?

SELECT YOUR WINNER

All of the above should be accomplished within a week. As said before, there is no benefit to being at the front of the line if you stand aside and let the line pass you by. On the Internet, while only a snake oil salesman would advocate you jumping into something youre not comfortable with, time is still of the essence. You would be a fool to approach your research in a manner so as to waste a month of precious time. If youre lucky enough to find yourself on a beach with a stock of surf boards and tourists flooding in, are you going to stand there and observe until youre sure 5 other surf board salesmen succeed? Are you going to wait until the 6 foot waves become 7 or 8 foot waves? No,of course not. If you are sure the water is safe and there is a market waiting for you, youll open your surf board business -- fast -- before everyone has a surf board!The same applies here. Do your research and then trust your instinct. Most of all, do not lose your most valued advantage -- TIME. You are clever enough to have come online and begun your research well ahead of 75% of the population. Use that and get your business --your well-researched, low or no risk pportunity -- established to maximize the benefits of being there first.

Basically then, if you have made up your mind that you WILL make money from the Internet -- good for you, because you WILL. Your time,commitment and determination are all that you need to be an Internet success -- if you find the right opportunity. Spend 10-20 hours on a quest for the right path for you. Devote this little bit of time to great quality research and you WILL make the right choice. Using the advice offered here will make your search shorter since youll be able to dismiss anyone that doesnt live up to our expectations. Make sure that any individual or company you "interview" can answer the tough questions above -- and make your selection.

Most of all -- do something TODAY! Thats not to say give out your credit card number today, but take the second step (reading this being the first) and take another step.

In other words, ASK!

Once you have decided the path youll take to success on the Internet, find out the next series of steps -- They are universal for Internet Success, regardless of the business you select.

webmaster@webnetprofits.com?subject=One-Step-at-a-Time

CONSIDER SUCCESS WITH RAPIDTRAFFIC.COM INC.

People who are successful on the Internet have many things in common,but the primary one is that they are not too shy or too lazy to ask anyone just about anything via e-mail. Since its e-mail, there is no reason to be shy! The anonymity means there is no such thing as a "dumb" question!

ASK US ANYTHING...

In your search for the online business opportunity thats right for you, ask a RapidTraffic.com Inc. Rep on any of three continents any tough question you want! Your questions can be answered directly by someone at head office or by one of our Reps around the world.Were glad to let you know who we are, where we are and find out if we can help you.

As a RapidTraffic.com Rep, you have your own business -- your own domain name (www.yourbusiness.com) and you introduce people coming online to the Internet products and services of RapidTraffic.com Inc. For doing so, you are handsomely compensated! You do no billing, product delivery or customer service. You merely use your web site and other tools to provide
information and introductions.

There! You know more about one online business opportunity than you did before!

If youd like to know more about owning your own online business as a RapidTraffic.com Inc. Rep, please click for free information.

webmaster@webnetprofits.com?subject=rapidtraffic-rep-info

Youll find were honest and forthright; we may well NOT be what youre looking for, BUT YOUR SEARCH WILL BE FARTHER AHEAD!

The key here is to ASK -- us AND others -- until you like what you hear.The next step is to DO. Take another step. Get more
information and spend these valuable hours learning all you can in order to make the best possible decision for YOU!The Internet CAN take you anywhere you want to go, including to a successful, happier, wealthier future. Walk -- dont run -- along the right path, but walk at a steady pace.

Your journey has already begun!

Please feel free to ask me specific questions. Ill know Im dealing with an intelligent person, since you had the good sense to ASK.

WORK FROM HOME!! Join one of the fastest growing opportunities available today! PEOPLES CHOICE AWARD WINNER for the last 3 Years in a Row! Selected from hundreds to be one of the 10 BEST COMPANIES FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS! Skip the hype and get the facts, hottestbusiness@privatesites.com

About the author.

Andrea Gleeson
STARTING OFF RIGHT -- for Newbies only -- How to Find Whats Right for YOU! by A. Gleeson for RapidTraffic.com Inc.

Winners and Losers

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

"Shes a winner!" Hes a real loser". We frequently hear people being labeled as winners or losers. We seem to instinctively know the difference.

Many years ago, I saved a poem that discusses the difference between winners and losers. I dont know who wrote it, but Ill tip my hat to her or him, because the poem captured the essence of character that distinguishes winners from losers.

BE A WINNER!

Winners make commitments
Losers make promises

Winners go through a problem
Losers go around it, never get past it

Winners say, "Lets find out"
Losers say, "Nobody knows"

Winners always have a plan
Losers always have an excuse

Winners say "Theres a better way"
Losers say, "Its the way its always been done"

Winners are always involved in the answer
Losers are always part of the problem

Winners know there is still much to learn
Losers want to be considered an expert before knowing how little is known

Winners learn from their mistakes
Losers learn only not to make mistakes by not trying anything different

There you have it. Is this the complete list of the characteristics of successful people? Surely not. There are as many types of winners as there are winners. To me, the poem addresses the fundamental qualities of being a winner. It captures the spirit of open-mindness, strength and compassion that makes winners and winning attractive.

Be a winner!

About the author:

Gary Lockwood is an experienced business coach, facilitator and speaker. He specializes in helping business professionals achieve breakthroughs in their business."

Taking care of Business

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

So youve set up your online business and youre ready to go. You feel like your online status has changed. Now you get to call some of the shots. You feel like youve grabbed some of the awesome power of the Internet. Forgive me for laughing but it wont be long before you realize just how little power you actually have.

As online business owners, we are still online consumers. Only now, our very business is dependent upon the treatment we receive from other online companies. We need products and we need services - and they had better work if we expect our business to be successful.

We are often at the mercy of other online companies - and those who ride rough-shod over their customers are right at the top of my list of Internet Pond Scum. I write a whole weekly column just to expose them. But today, Im going to tell you about one of the higher Internet life forms Ive come in contact with lately. We could all learn a lot from this company.

A little background:

iCop is in the process of setting up its corporate structure. Since merchant account providers want contracts, it isnt feasible to contract with one until that legal entity is fully in place. In the meantime, we need to out-source our online payment service. What a nightmare!

I have personally gone through four different services. Two disappeared into the night taking the money with them. One was sold and the new owners couldnt bother to answer email or return phone calls. Of these three - two of them were LARGE companies. The fourth was missing fraud control systems causing problems for clients due to some fraudulent transactions on the part of Internet thieves.

Having gone through these harrowing experiences, I just spent a month researching online payment out-sourcing companies. Most charge exorbitant fees - hold back unnecessarily high amounts of your funds - for ridiculous amounts of time. Their "Terms and Conditions" are created to protect themselves and to heck with you. Theyll do as they please.

Most of the services I tried to investigate couldnt even be bothered to answer my email - much less talk to me on the telephone! Remember the telephone? Its that thing that allows us to speak with someone right now. Its that thing we used to use to leave someone a message - knowing they would call us back! Its that thing that should ALWAYS be answered during business hours.

And then it happened ...

I was hit by a breath of fresh air! I ran into an out-sourcing company run by what I can only call, "Real Pros."

Remember now that I was loaded for bear as I conducted my search. I ask the HARD questions and I expect answers. I want things to work and if they dont - I want them fixed. Heres what I found at one particular company ...

They have a toll-free telephone number and - SURPRISE! Someone actually answers the phone during business hours. I called them three times just trying to make a decision as to whether to hire their service. This is one of the mistakes people make when choosing online services. Remember - YOU are hiring THEM. You are about give THEM part of YOUR income. You have a right to have your questions answered.

This company knows how to use a telephone rather than trying to avoid contact with their clients. I spoke with three different people there - including a technician. All were friendly, patient and helpful. All questions were answered fully and without hesitation. I didnt find myself being "shined-on" a single time. Downright astonishing!

Their service is reasonable in every way - including cost. Everything is simple and everything is geared toward the clients best interests. "Terms & Conditions?" Fair and not bogged down in meaningless legalese. Add to that - people running the company who are truly interested in serving their clients success. What a concept!

I signed up!

My account could be set up instantly. During the course of setting up the shopping cart, I ran into one small glitch. I realized later that - being the techno-idiot that I am - it was my own error. At the time, I sent an email to the company and the glitch was corrected - on THAT end - FOR me.

It needed to be fixed - they fixed it - and without comment that it was my own fault. Nor, did I receive any comment when I asked another question due to my own failure to slow down and read directions. I simply received their - very patient and very pleasant - answer to my question.

Now, heres the pi?ce de r?sistance. One evening last week a tornado hit the city where I live. Downtown Fort Worth being devastated by a tornado was newsworthy and it hit the wires. The very next day, I received the following email:

Hi jl,

Just checking in with you to make sure youre ok after the storm that passed through Ft. Worth yesterday. I heard on the radio this morning that three people were killed with over 100 people injured. Wow, mustve been a big one! Hope you didnt sustain any damage.

Take care,

[Signature], Vice President, Operations [Company]

Now THAT, Dear Readers, is Customer SERVICE! It took him about two minutes to write it and its going to pay BIG dividends for his company. Not just from me, but from every customer who receives this kind of treatment.

Yep - a breath of fresh air!

About the author:

dr. jl scott is the Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) - and also the publisher of MONDAY MEMO! - the ezine dedicated to upgrading Professionalism on the Web. For your FREE subscription: Monday-Memo-on@MondayMemo.org

Do you see what I see?

Thu, 27 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

As your business grows, it takes on a life and personality of its own. Your "Business Personality" is a reflection of you, an actual essence of yourself that is instilled upon your customer, by you, through your business. Treat your business as you would a pupil. Lead it, advise it, guide it through the rough spots. Dont let it wonder off. Keep it focused on the end result. You end result or business goal should be to service your target customer.

This is Marketing! Marketing is not promotion or advertising, although they are great tools to be used in a marketing strategy. Marketing however, is an overview of your business and how it relates to your customers, present and future.

Your business no matter what it is, should have one goal in mind, to beneficially relate to your customers. How do you do this? You must first understand how your business is portrayed by the audience. People are instinctively sensitive to their surroundings. Whether its the restaurant they eat in, or the business they deal with. Your business should be sensitive to the needs of your customer, a pleasure to deal with and portray the image they imagined you should be. Your business should form a friendly, almost family like alliance with your customer and targeted market. If you expect to be in business for the long-haul you better take a look at your business from the customers point of view. Too often the entrepreneur is consumed with the sale and not the way the customer portrays the business. This business person has little chance of creating an alliance or a relationship. Everybody comes home eventually. Make your business a home to come back to.

Ive mentioned this before and Ill mention it again. This is the single most important part of Marketing. NICHE! Stay focused on your niche and the people who surround it. When it comes to your business you should have "Tunnelvision", centering your efforts on one purpose. Dont waste precious energy trying to create different markets. Im not saying that you should have only one product, oh no! One purpose or market can be fulfilled by many products and services, but dont let your product line or variety of services dictate your marketing efforts. Show the audience your one, single, primary purpose for existing, to serve their specific need with a specific solution. You company should be a narrowing road leading to a single destination.

Take time out "Right Now", close your eyes, and imagine you are part of an audience, and your business is on a stage performing its debut. Never before seen by you. Is the play your business is performing turning out the way you imagined? Is your business performing a slapstick comedy, when you expected to see a drama unfold? In other words is your business in harmony with what you expected to see? Be objective and critical. Do you see what I see?

Happy Marketing
Wild Bill Montgomery

About the Author

"Wild Bill"
webmaster@makingprofit.com

GreatDesignz.com
http://www.greatdesignz.com/

Fast, Good, Cheap - Pick Any Two

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Think about that statement for a minute. Is it true? Sure it is! Especially for small businesses. If you want something in a hurry and you need it to be of good quality, it wont be cheap. On the other hand, if you want something quick and you dont have a lot of money chances are it wont be the best there is. Now we get to the combination most small businesses need - good and cheap. Youre right it wont happen quickly.

This is where the majority of small businesses and e-businesses find themselves. I fall into this category, too. We want to look professional in all our efforts, but we arent made of money. I need my advertising, my customer service efforts, my billing, my database management, my web hosting and everything else to be quality - and to be inexpensive. So what does that mean according to the equation above? Its going to take some time.

Patience is not a well know attribute for entrepreneurs. So those who are lacking in this area will be excited by this article. I speak from the arena of attracting and keeping customers through advertising and customer service. Lets look at some ways to gain ground in these departments without a lot of cash.

Ezines
I know, I know. Everyone you talk with is screaming the praises of Ezines and Newsletters. I dont intend to rehash the same ole routine. I want to bring up 2 things that will promote your business at no charge with more speed than conventional marketing.

Advertise in your own Ezine.
I receive countless Ezines and newsletters in my mailbox each day. Many of them carry advertising throughout or at the end of the publication. Do you know that Ive only seen 3 newsletters (besides my own) that had an advertisement for its own company listed. If you have a monthly special, a web special, a discounted price, a free product list it in your Ezine. It only makes sense to take full advantage of the database youve built.

Submit Guest Articles.
This is a long-time advertising/publicity practice that has rolled over into the web world. When you submit articles for publication in other newsletters you do 2 things: (a) you create a forum for your business or web site by placing it in front of the targeted reader; and (b) you create an image for yourself as an expert. "Those who get published must know what they are talking about", is the common thinking. Both are excellent forms of advertising and over time they tend to have a snowball affect!

Please remember to require the publisher to include your tag line (your name, company name and web address) with each article, and only submit articles to Ezines that fall in line with your target market. (Quick trick: submit the articles youve already run in your own Ezine!)

Where do you find lots of newsletters and Ezines that fall into your target group? Check out: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/caservices/new-list/

Appreciate Your Customers
There is no better way to build a reputation in customer service than treating your customers well. You dont have to let people run all over you. The statement I love is, "The customer isnt always right, but he is always the customer." Basically, show your customers appreciation for their patronage. It would have been very simple for them to choose another business to buy from.

They didnt they chose you!
Like using Ezines and newsletters in your advertising, showing appreciation reaps its reward fairly quickly. Think about it when someone treats you in a special way, you want to be around that person. The same applies to customer service. Appreciation is cheap and it is wonderful for building customer loyalty. So exactly how can we show appreciation without blowing the budget?

Tell your customers "Thank You".
Every time your customers buy something, tell them "thank you". When they complain, tell them "thanks for bringing that to my attention". At every opportunity, let them know they are appreciated.

Start a database.
If you can, collect the birthdays of your customers. Mail them a birthday card and they will remember you forever! Everyone likes to be remembered on their birthday. If you choose to include a coupon or discount of some sort, fine. If not, the customer will appreciate still the gesture. Also, send special information or discounts only to those in your database. I do this periodically and it goes over with a bang every time! I email articles I see on the Net that I know would be of interest to my database. Occasionally, I email a discount "coupon" for dollars off on my services. Be sure to let the customer know these specials are ONLY for loyal customers

Get creative.
One company (named Dove Communications) would leave little Dove Chocolates on their contacts desk each time they were on-site to perform work. Everyone loved the candy and remembered Dove Communications because of the innovative way the left their "calling card".
Appreciation is the best mortar when it comes to building customer loyalty.

Building a small business on a shoestring budget is not an easy task. Often times the Fast, Good, Cheap equation takes its toll. But time is on your side and with consistency, and a little creativity, you will succeed!

About the Author.

Karon Thackston

Targeted writing that gets better results! Ad copy, press releases & ghostwriting at attractandkeepcustomers.com

Being Small Gives You Big Advantages

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Have you ever found yourself being embarrassed to tell clients youre a small business? Ever tried to look bigger than you really are? I think every small company has. But why?

Maybe its because giant corporations are looked to as leaders. They are the ones that set the pace and call the shots, so to speak. Not really. Large corporations are usually the ones who deliver the weakest customer service. They are the ones that you have a difficult time reaching by email or phone. They are the ones that transfer you from department to department because they arent sure who handles that "area".

If you are a small business, be proud! There are some distinct and impressive advantages to being small. Lets look at just a few of them and discuss how to get the most powerful benefits from your position.

THE BIGGER THEY ARE THE SLOWER THEY MOVE
What is one of the biggest customer service complaints? Lack of speed when correcting a problem. Large corporations often stumble horribly in this area. Because of their policies and procedures, because they have to go through such a lengthy chain of command, large businesses often take an extended period of time to react to customer complaints.

Not you! Youre a small business owner. You can handle clients questions and concerns immediately. You have the power to address your customers needs as soon as they arise. Thats a big plus!

OUR POLICY STATES...
It doesnt matter what the policy states. If a customer isnt happy, explaining that your policy was created for their protection doesnt hold much weight. A dissatisfied customer forced to deal with policy instead of people will leave.

But the small business can make concessions. The small business can adjust immediately. If the policy is doing more harm than good, the small business can just toss it out the window and create a new one. No major corporation can do that without holding a months worth of board meetings and passing the new policy through the legal department... twice.

PERSONAL ATTENTION WINS EVERY TIME
One continuous complaint customers have is that companies dont seem to care whether the customer does business with them or not. A large firms idea of personal attention is to create form letter programs that automatically insert your name beside the word "Dear".

Small business owners know better. You can provide personal attention because you actually know your customers. The phrase, "but Ive been doing business with this company since 1983" really means something to a small business. The clerk at your hometown location of a nationwide department store is much less likely to care.

This is an extremely important advantage to being small ... show them you care by offering sincere personal attention.

DECISIONS GET MADE... NOW
I had an experience once where I had to wait for the District Manager to return from out of town before I could talk with anyone about a change I wanted to make. Can you imagine? The change needed to be made immediately, but I had to wait because of this companys inflexible chain-of-command.

Customer service oriented businesses are not that way. One distinct advantage of being small is that decisions can get addressed immediately. This is extremely beneficial for every aspect of your company... billing policies, new product decisions, right down to when to hold the annual holiday party.

I could go on and on about the advantages of being small. These points are only the tips of the iceberg. While big corporations do have their advantages, small businesses can out maneuver and out service them every time!

So the next time someone asks what you do... look them straight in the eye and proudly say, "Im a small business owner"!

About the Author.

Karon Thackston

Targeted writing that gets better results! Ad copy, press releases & ghostwriting at attractandkeepcustomers.com

Attracting and Keeping Customers

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Attracting and keeping customers. Isnt that what business is all about? Of course! Each entrepreneur started his/her business because they had a love they wanted to peruse full-time. In addition, they saw a need they thought could be filled by their products or services. However, without customers to purchase these products or services, every business in the world would be forced to close its doors.

The two most important business practices that exist now - and have ever existed in the past - are attracting and keeping customers. Federal Express says it best. "Advertising brings customers in the door, all right, but bad customer service sends them right back out the door again."

A balance must be obtained. Advertising is essential to promote your business and bring paying customers in the door. Once there, customer service will keep them loyal and make them life-long, repeat customers. How is the balance achieved?

Make sure your customers know they are appreciated.

How? There are several ways - most will cost you nothing.

Tell your customers you appreciate them. There is no need to make a scene in expressing your thanks, simply remember to thank each customer for his/her business.
Send a note. After each purchase, write a short note or postcard thanking the customer for their patronage and asking them to call on you again.

Go above and beyond. For example: if you sell products that require batteries, tuck a pack of double As in the bag - free-of-charge! In dollars, it will cost you about a buck in referrals and good will, it will repay you over and over. Keep customer service claims out of your advertising.

Unfortunately, so many companies claim "service with a smile" in their advertising and then dont deliver. Most claims of excellent customer service are ignored in advertising. Follow the statement, "Dont tell me show me".

Make your advertisements user friendly.

Be sure to include all the information customers need in order to purchase from you. This should include your business name, a representatives name (if applicable), ordering information (i.e., address, telephone number, web site, etc.). There is too much competition in the world of business today for customers to spend a lot of time searching for the information they need. Make it easy for customers to buy from you.

Under promise and over deliver.

Customers love to get a call saying his or her order arrived two days early. When making claims to customers - for delivery times, pricing information, repair turnaround, etc. - promise less and give them more. If you think you can complete the project by Wednesday, allow a little room for error and tell your customer the date will be Friday. When you call them on Thursday to let them know youre finished, theyll be thrilled! After all, which call would you rather make? The one telling a customer youre running behind, or the one telling the customer youre finished two days early?!

Keep your ads honest.

No one likes to feel deceived. If your ads make claims that arent true - or that stretch the truth - ill will is more than likely going to be the result. Unfortunately, many companies believe in "polishing" the truth in order to get customers in the door. These folks usually think they can smooth things over with the customer and make a sale once the client walks in. It may work in some cases. But consider the situation from the viewpoint of the customer. When you are buying a product or service, is that the way you would want to be treated? Keeping ads honest not only shows customers you possess integrity, but also helps avoid future problems.

These are just a few suggestions to continuing on the road of attracting and keeping customers. Above all, always consider how you would feel if you were the customer!

About the Author.

Karon Thackston
Targeted writing that gets better results! Ad copy, press releases & ghostwriting at attractandkeepcustomers.com

7 Questions You Must Answer Before A Customer Will Buy

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Customers buy from you because they expect to get something more valuable to them than the money they pay for it. You can assure them of getting that value by answering 7 important questions. Prospective buyers usually dont ask these questions. They may not even think of them. But they wont buy from you until all 7 questions are answered in their mind.

1. EXACTLY WHAT ARE YOU PROPOSING?

Prospects wont buy unless they know exactly what youre offering them. Make your proposition simple and easy to understand.

2. WHATS IN IT FOR ME?

Prospective customers dont really care about you or your company. They only care about how they can personally benefit by using your product or service. Tell them what they want to know. Describe in detail how their life will improve when they buy your product or service -- and why its worth the price.

3. HOW FAST CAN I GET IT?

The faster you can deliver your product or service the more sales youll get. Consider offering an option for overnight delivery if you sell something that cannot be delivered immediately after being purchased. One Internet marketer told me her orders increased almost 30 percent when she added the option for overnight delivery -- even though she charged the additional cost to the customer.

4. WHAT IF I DONT LIKE IT?

People are reluctant to risk the chance of not getting what they expect after buying your product or service. Offer the most liberal guarantee you can afford. An unconditional, money back guarantee will produce the most sales because it completely eliminates all of the customers risk. State your guarantee prominently and in detail. Clearly reveal any conditions that apply.

5. WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU?

A prospective customer will not buy from you until you remove all doubt in his or her mind that you can and will deliver exactly what you promise. Testimonials are a powerful tool you can use to accomplish this. They provide proof youve already delivered satisfaction to other customers.

TIP: Avoid using any claim that sounds exaggerated ...even if its true. A bold claim creates doubt in your prospects mind and jeopardizes the sale. Reduce any bold claims to a more believable level.

6. IS MY DECISION TO BUY A GOOD ONE?

Customers usually make an emotional decision to buy. Then they look for logical reasons to prove their decision was a wise one. Thats the time for you to talk about how long youve been in business, how experienced you are or how much research went into developing your product or service. It provides the logical reasons your customer needs to justify their emotional decision.

7. HOW DO I GET IT?

Did you ever walk out of a store empty handed instead of waiting in a long line for somebody to take your money. I have. Many buyers abandon their orders at online shopping carts instead of trying to figure out the confusing instructions.

Its a total waste to lose sales from ready buyers because the buying process is too complicated or lengthy. Dont let that happen to you. Make sure your buying process is simple, easy and fast.

A prospective customer wont buy from you until all 7 of these questions are answered in his or her mind. Take some time now to review your web site and other sales tools. Do they clearly answer all of these questions? If not, revise them so they do. Youll see an immediate increase in the number of sales you get.

Five Cs of Market Research

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Concept, Criticism, Competition, Credibility, Common Interest
Concept
Every business venture starts with an idea. but, without a good concept - no matter how passionate you are -- odds are your business will fail.
Benefit the Customer
Your concept should fill a void in the marketplace, if it doesnt - find one that does!
A business does not run solely on money, it runs on passion.
Be Passionate
You should enjoy your concept and be excited enough to relay your feelings to your market. After all, how can a consumer get hyped about your product or service if you arent?
You can survive in business without a large bank account - but unless your passionate about your business, no amount of money will make it sell.
Re-invention
Your concept doesnt need to be a freshly thought idea - but could be an improvement to an existing market. There are all kinds of new businesses that have tried and failed. Perhaps, you could improve something about them and bring them back into the market as " a new and improved" product or service?
Improvement could be as simple as:
Better service and quality
A new method of delivery
Improved technology, etc.
No matter how good an existing idea is - There is always a better way to do it!
Example: The tissue was first offered to the market as the new "face towel." Sales lagged for many years, and it wasnt until it was reintroduced into the marketplace as a "throw-a-way" handkerchief did it become successful. Their new slogan, "dont put a cold in your pocket," helped an old idea get new success.
Criticism
be prepared to accept all criticism. It will help you to improve your concept. Because you are concerned about running your business on minimal dollars, the less expensive criticism will come from friends,
relatives, and neighbors. Its far better to receive FREE criticism - than to pay for marketing research that puts a dent in your bank account, but doesnt yield any useful results.
Be prepared to get LOTS of criticism and to put it to good use. Perhaps, a survey in your intended market - could provide some valuable information to be used in making your product better.
Ask questions like: Is there a need? Would YOU buy it? What price would you expect to pay for it? Is there a better way to provide it? Remembering what we stated above, (theres always a better way to
provide a concept) - your received criticism should be used to enhance the product or service before you release it to your market. This step will save you time and money.
Competition check out how they are providing to their market. Theres no doubt in my mind, the expert in the field gets more business. Create a niche in your market and zero in on an idea that has potential for growth.
Its important to remember - dont try to be good at everything - just be good at something! People will remember you for it.
If you are offering a product which is in competition from an existing business, be prepared to handle your business so it answers the following questions:
What makes my company different from my competition?
Why would my market be better off doing business with me?
What can I give to my market to insure a more pleasurable experience by doing business with me over my competition?
Does my product or service exceed the expectations of my market?
If you cant answer the above points - and KNOW what makes your product more unique than the competition, you wont be able to relay that to your market.
Refine your marketing

Define the needs of your market by listening to the customers and understanding what their needs are. Does your product fill that need? Is there something more you could do, to make it more attractive to your market? Is your product a solution to a problem in your market? How will you handle customer service complaints? What are you guarantees to your customers?
An Interesting Fact:

Most companies fail to realize, 81% of future company sales will depend on repeat orders and referrals from satisfied customers. Your satisfied customers are the best and cheapest source of advertising; bringing additional business through referrals. Exceed your customers expectations and theyll be back and will refer you to others. Remember, those that have been referred to you, have been presold on your products.
Credibility

(Gaining the edge) - Community involvement. People like to buy from friends. The more involved you become with your community, the more friends you will make.
Im not talking about joining the local YMCA just to make business contacts either. You need to be "sincere" in your approach and willing to work hard for the community you live in. Hard work and perseverance will eventually pay off as members of the community will remember you by your deeds and eventually will refer you to others that need your services.
If you dont the available time to offer your community, there are other ways you could provide them with your services.
Such as:
Local charities need something of value to give out as gifts. Perhaps, you could provide T-shirts for the winners?
Provide special discount cards to other businesses in your communities.
Talking at a local school or college regarding your business.
Sponsor a local event where your community would benefit.
Common Interests

(Networking) - is a necessity to learn. By networking with other business owners, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. You will learn new ideas to do business and meet other experienced business owners who can help you exceed in your market.
Some ways to network:
Local Chamber of Commerce
Rotary Clubs
Lions Clubs
Volunteering Organizations such as: American Cancer Society, ADL, Unicef, American Red Cross, Turning Point, etc.
Business Owners on the WWW - form an online discussion group or chat network where you can share additional information regarding business.
Its better explained as "a small community" made up of business owners, willing to help one another to gain valuable information to be utilized in their market.
Networking individuals are glad to help those in their group.
You can join any association and in return, receive valuable leads who will tell others about your business. You could create a database of the business owners you have exchanged business cards with, and call them in the future to do business or to find additional information regarding a need.
If you cant find a suitable networking group to help you - you could start your own Networking Community - made up of the small businesses located within a 30 mile radius of your own business.
Perhaps, delegating a printed roster to each business, showing them others in their Networking Community that are available to receive phone calls from another member.
Or possibly, your networking community could agree to do business with each other? If there is a printer in the group - all the rest in that community would utilize the printing services.
Is there an accounting person in your community? Perhaps, this accounting firm would get all the tax business from the rest of the community members?
THINK.... there are plenty of ways you could gain exposure for your business. Most ideas, are common sense methods where an individual takes the initiative to get it started! The best part of networking - its FREE advertising for your business and for you.
Summary:

You can turn any idea into a profitable, home-based business. Most larger companies have started their businesses from their living room floors, their basements or their garages. You have the same ability to create a world-wide market, needing your products.
If you have an Entrepreneurial spirit, youll find a way to offer the public something you feel would benefit them.
It doesnt necessarily have to be a "new invention" or a new idea. You could take something on the market today, and make it better.
To be successful, your business should exceed your customers
expectations.
To increase your credibility, you should become more involved with your community.
Networking is free - and could provide the most valuable exposure for you and your company.

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About the Author

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Rozey Gean, founder of the Women Entrepreneurs Online Network, (WEON), is a thirteen year veteran to entrepreneurship. Her expertise includes mentoring women in business and sharing her vast knowledge through written works. These works can be read in her popular weekly WEON newsletter and other publications such as Free Electronic Networks and most recently Web Bound Magazine. Subscribe to the WEON Business News at subscribe@weon.net or visit her ever-changing web site at weon.com

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Net companies will have to reach a broader market to survive

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Only 6% of the worlds population is actually online which includes email facility only, or; web presence AND email facility combined. Amazingly enough though, only 0.16% of the worlds population are advanced, with the ability to establish their own web presence. If the Internet use remains this minimal then the results will remain minimal, not a good plan for this new mediums survival.

Internet technology companies have turned in on them selves they are so focused on introverted growth that they have missed real opportunities. Managements are chasing growth rates based on last years sales, looking to the past where looking to the future and at the present would be more use. The technology industry needs to employ more realistic goals, such as: "How do we get more of the worlds population to use Internet specific devices?".

Internet Technology companies should take notice of how many people are using their products as a percentage of the Global population. Technology companies would do better to set a goal for themselves, for example, to get 20% of the worlds population connected to the Internet within the next 10 years. The result would be a larger market to trade in, with greater business opportunities.

Internet related technology companies may wonder why the Internet presence percentage is so low. These may be few of the present barriers:

Too much complexity in new innovative programs,

Systems and networks are too slow, maybe still in the hands of non-fully Internet sympathetic telecommunications and media companies,

Software, systems, programs and applications dont fully work; released too early with too many bugs,

Data is at risk of being lost, stolen or corrupted with no real guarantee of safety,

International financial barriers still preventing real trade; banks and other financial institutions will not get off the "side-lines" and help, preferring to wait and watch.

Can tech companies understand that there is no point in adding new features and functions to pre-existing bugged applications, just to satisfy 6% of the worlds population. If they were asked, it is likely the 6% would prefer better first versions, ensuring confidence in products, applications and networks; with the results being that more people will feel comfortable using the Internet.

Technology companies need to focus their efforts on creating a broader market, at the moment companies are fighting over existing marketplaces and growth is slow and getting stale. The Internet is in danger of becoming an introverted industry, focused on itself and its present predicaments.

With signs of the Internet recovering its media-alleged "loss of face", it would now be the time for Internet technology related companies, to seize the moment and plan for simplicity, quality and future growth.

A suggestion might be aimed at the worlds largest Internet companies as they probably have more to lose, are probably the major players caught up in the introverted growth. Research. If the question was asked, "why are only 6% of the worlds population online in one way or another?". It might benefit Internet leaders to explore the 14% or so that are onlookers, waiting to see what comes next, or if the Net will get easier, or safer. Dont waste resources on the fight to retain the same net savvy customers, work out the problems preventing the onlookers from becoming onliners.

About the Author

Alec Ellis

To contact see details below.

Discover how to attract the help you need to build your Network Marketing Business.

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Positive thinkers dare to believe that the biggest and best men or woman in the world can be attracted to their cause or project. Try for the best man or woman in the world
and you can secure his help.

How do you attract the help of the best man or woman you need ?

1. Be prepared to pay for the help you need.

Watch out for that negative money trap :
"You probably can't afford not to spend the money to hire the help." Be prepared to pay top price for the top man or woman. The best man or woman are usually worth
more then they are getting. It almost always pays to hire the best.

2. Be a team builder, not an empire founder.

Successful man or woman are those who have a "team complex", not a "star complex". Positiv thinkers are team builders, not empire founders.

3. Forget about "status", credit and glory.

Status-seeking, credit-grabling and glory-hunting executers generate unimaginable jealousy. Instead of inspiring their associates to really produce, they stimulate negative emotions that contribute to a terrible letdown. The smart and successful men or woman finds joy in watching his associates get ahead. They never allow themselves to view their associates as threats to their own proud position. They know that this very thought will be the beginning of their downfall. You can surround yourself with skilled specialists if you will establish a "share-the-credit-plan".
As the proverb says :
"Take good care of your people and your people will take good care of you."

4. Offer your people a unique pace-setting challenge.

Promise them the chance to join in creating something bigger and better than has ever been done before. Great men or woman are attracted to great challenges.

5. Give your teammates great freedom.

The greatest men or woman are attracted by a great challenge coupled with the promise of great freedom.
Promise them freedom :
- to plan
- to dream
- to imagine.

Great freedom generates maximum energy and extracts unbelievable dedication.

6. Make up your mind not to lose a good man or woman once you have him on your team.

Any man or woman you hire will have his weaknesses. Try to strenghten them where they are weak. If that fails, fill the gap in the job by rearranging and reorganizing.

7. Learn to live with difficult people.

Learn from them and learn to work with them. Some of the people you may need to help solve you problems or develop your dreams may be the kind of people who are not always easy to go along with. These are people who seem to like to argue.
Try to keep your differences with them on the plane of disagreement. Try to prevent these disagreements from becoming violent arguments.

Find and hire people who are smarter then you are. Whether your business is building a business empire, your success will be enhanced if you learn how to be a team builder.

Fernando Soave
CEO CUTTING EDGE MLM
http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk
Free Cutting Edge MLM Newsletter.
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This article comes with reprint rights. Feel free to reprint and distribute as needed. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes and to be sure that the web site address http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk and subscribecemlm@freeautobot.com is
hyperlinked correctly.

Fernando Soave © 2003

About the author.

Fernando Soave is the author of "Cutting Edge MLM News." He has been in marketing for 20 years and is helping individuals succeed online. Visit his site to find out how you can get free reports. cuttingedgemlm.tk
or Subscribe to the Free Cutting Edge MLM Newsletter and receive your +$585 MLM Value Pack. subscribecemlm@freeautobot.com

Advertising Your Home Business on a Budget

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

When you are starting out in a new home business and no one knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is how to drum up new business.

If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will
help keep your doors open.

Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.

Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.

Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.

LESSON #1

It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.

As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who commit this error write off their failure on the home business they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Dont let this be you.

LESSON #2

All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You wont. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.

Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business.
You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.

LESSON #3

Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people,
but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from
your advertising dollars.

LESSON #4

As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.

If you are busy testing ads in medias such as the newspaper, magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of promoting your business that do not require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:

� Word of Mouth
� Business Cards
� Press Releases
� Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television

Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:

WORD OF MOUTH

This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet --- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they know anyone who could also use your products or services. When they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the word for you.

BUSINESS CARDS

You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.

Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that if they write their name on the back of one of your business cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.

PRESS RELEASES

Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the business news section of the newspaper.

Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print stories for special events and openings.

The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."

A Press Release should pack the most important information at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the end.

You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.

To learn more about creating Press Releases, you may check out Rusty Cawleys site: http://www.PRrainmaker.com/

NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION

Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the infomercial people in business.

These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.

Dont be afraid to check your local radio and television rates for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is 8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to advertise your home business at discount rates!

IN CONCLUSION

When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your bank account.

Copyright © 2003, Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy.

About the author.

Resource Box:
Stone Evans publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If youre looking for the *best rated* home business opportunities, the latest time saving tools and helpful support from an honest friend in the business, come by and grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: Home-Business.com

The Scoop on Selling Information Products

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

If you are new to the world of Internet marketing or just curious about the income possibilities I will do my best to shed some light on this murky subject.

Most people are attracted to marketing on-line products for many of the same reasons. First, selling a product or service via the Internet is very cost effective. Second, selling digitally delivered goods via the Internet such as information products or software, can require very little time and resources compared to any other type of business. Third, the startup costs are very low, less then a few hundred dollars in most cases.

First, lets look at just what information products are. An information product can be an ebook, a newsletter, an ezine, a report, an article, an audio or video file, or anything contains information content that can be delivered via digital download or shipped. I want to point out that the sale of on-line content is the fastest growing product on the Internet. People are willing to pay for Quality information. More and more companies are charging for access to view information, such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many others.

The key word in the above paragraph is Quality. This is where the waters of selling information products get murky. Unfortunately because of the benefits this type business offers as we covered earlier, this market has attracted many people hoping to get rich quick by putting up a web site selling information or software that they themselves have never read or used.

The shame of this is that the market is flooded with empty promises of how to earn a living on the Internet. People who are sincerely looking for a better way to earn money windup chasing their tails getting information that is either incomplete or just plain wrong. Many of you reading this are shaking your head in agreement right now. Does this sound familiar. You buy an ebook that promises to, "Reveal The Secrets of The Internet", in hopes that this time you will gain the knowledge that you need to help you make your e-business profitable. Only to get the same old rehashed techniques that somebody made money with in 1998.

Terry Dean who is one of the top moneymakers on the Internet said an Internet year is about two months. That is because things change so quickly on the information highway. The reason most people never realize the money making potential of selling digitally delivered goods is they get burned out from all the misinformation.

People are mislead to believe that if you write your own ebook or buy the resale rights to an ebook or a bunch of ebooks and put them up on your web site you can just sit back and collect the checks every two weeks from ClickBank. If that were true I would never need to write this article, nor would you be reading it.

The fact is that the Internet has made it possible for any small businessperson to earn large sums of money just working out of their home. You can put your product or service in front of 180 billion people for very little or even no investment on your part. Never before in history has this been possible. This potential also attracts a lot of snake oil salesman.

To be successful you must be able to navigate through the fog of misinformation. This will be your biggest challenge. If there is a secret formula for success it may be: (Desire + Determination) x Knowledge = Success. You will need each segment of the formula to achieve the desired result.

There is gold on the information highway for the small businessperson. But before you can lay your claim there is heap of digging to be done partner. Be prepared for many hours of reading, testing, and evaluating . A quality source of information will be the dynamite you can use to clear the mountains of misinformation that stand in your way. Good luck and happy trails.

Jim Dunn All rights reserved.

About the author.

Jim has been helping people fire their bosses and to reclaim their lives by teaching them how to Multi Stream their Home business incomes through the Referralware Multi Income Stream System.
http://www.referralware.com/home.jsp/770769216

10 Ways to Build Trust and Build Your Business

Tue, 18 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

You wouldnt buy a car if you didnt think it could get you home. And you wouldnt purchase it from a dealer you thought was robbing you blind on the price and might not stand behind it if the engine fell out as you drove it off the lot.

Before making a purchase from you, buyers need to trust that your products and services will do what they are supposed to. Does your marketing help establish the trust
necessary to convince prospects to buy from you? If youre struggling to attract clients and customers, use the following tactics to convert prospects to clients.

1. GET TESTIMONIALS
No matter how great your credentials are or how much experience youve had, people pay more attention to what OTHERS have to say about you.

Pick up the phone and call your customers to ask what they thought of your product or service, what they liked about it and how it was helpful. Edit their comments, get
their permission to use the comments and then feature these testimonials in your marketing materials.

2. USE ARTICLES INSTEAD OF ADS
We have come to distrust ads and to believe what we read in published articles. Invest your time in writing articles to establish yourself as an expert. If you run ads, include testimonials in them.

3. GIVE SOMETHING AWAY
When you give something to people, regardless of the cost, they are more likely to trust you and return the favor by
buying something from you. Use an ebook, article,workshop or free demonstration to build trust.

4. GET REFERRALS
When you need a new doctor, lawyer, plumber, carpenter or a place to eat you ask a friend for a referral. You trust the recommendations of people you know, and in fact, thats how the majority of people find jobs. Dont wait for the occasional referral to come in spontaneously;implement a proactive system to generate referrals.

5. EXCHANGE ENDORSEMENTS
Team up with a business you trust that also targets your market. Get them to include an endorsement of your products and services in their marketing and do the same for them. While a personal referral is ideal, an
endorsement is a close second. This tactic can double your marketing reach at zero cost.

6. GIVE EXAMPLES
Tell a story instead of making impersonal and dramatic claims of what you or your product does. Use case studies to tell what you did for whom and the difference it made
in their life or their business.

7. PERSONALIZE YOUR MARKETING
Its a common misperception that to sound credible your marketing should be dry and impersonal. People do business with people. You need to help prospects get to know you and trust you. Let your passion and personality come across in your marketing as well as your professionalism. Include a picture of yourself, with a smile, in a prominent place on the first page of your
marketing materials.

8. REDUCE PERCEIVED RISK
Buyers biggest concern is how well your product or service will perform. Providing a guarantee may help, but in most cases its not going to make the sale. Clarify the value you provide and state your commitment to seeing that your clients are not only happy, but ecstatic about your product and services.

9. MAKE CONTACT EASY
If you want clients to get in touch with you, show them how.
Put your phone number at the top of your marketing materials
and tell them to call. When you call them, give them your phone number again at the end of the conversation and tell them to call. If you have a web site, put a contact form at the bottom of your home page.

10. STAY IN TOUCH
The people you see and talk to on a regular basis are usually the ones you trust the most. Communication isnt the only
ingredient for developing trust, but it is a critical one. If you sell services or high end products, a personal phone call is one of the best ways to answer prospects questions, and to establish trust. Contact your prospects and clients regularly
and get feedback on what they are concerned about.

You want to convert prospects to clients and clients to repeat clients. Use these ten marketing tactics to build trust and
youll find more prospects buying your products and services.

2003 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent
professionals and small business owners attract more clients and
grow their business with the 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing.
Signup for the Free Marketing Guide and the More Business
newsletter, full of practical marketing tips at www.charliecook.net
================================

Flying Without a Net

Tue, 18 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

One of the most exciting and daunting things about starting your own home-based business as your sole means of income is the reality that no one is responsible for your success or failure but you. The lure of the home-based business is undeniable. But before joining the revolution, take the time to think about the real
implications of self-responsibility. In the past, youve always had the security of knowing that your employer
was taking care of the background details ... you know, those little things like retirement plans, health insurance and capital investment. And making enough money to cover your salary and vacation time. Now its all down to you.

So, lets take a look at four of the biggies: health and safety, insurance, tax issues and zoning.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

No matter how much youve invested in setting up your business, nothing is more valuable to your business or
to you as your good health and safety.

Apart from obvious measures such as ensuring you have adequate health insurance, keep the following basics in mind.

=> You Are Not A Machine

Take regular breaks. These are important for your physical and mental health, not to mention your
productivity. Breaks can be particularly important if your livelihood requires you to spend hours on end in front of a computer. The last thing you or your business needs is for you to develop carpal tunnel syndrome!

Avoid the temptation to do household chores or errands on your break time. Thats not a break. Do something that breaks the mental spell, something that gets you out of your work environment for fifteen minutes every couple of hours. Go wander around outside and take some deep breaths to cleanse your lungs. Lift weights. Call a friend. Go sit in the backyard with a cup of cocoa and enjoy the sunshine. It doesnt matter what you do, but make yourself do it. Set an alarm to remind yourself if you must.

=> Use the Correct Equipment the Right Way

Make sure you use the correct equipment for the task at hand. If your work requires long hours in front of a computer, make sure that your desk and chair are properly aligned and your work area is well lit. Ensure you maintain good posture.

=> Nap when sleepy

Many home-based business owners work odd hours. That, after all, is one of the advantages! But if you start working very early or work very late into the night, your sleep patterns need to adjust accordingly. Therefore, if you find yourself feeling sleepy mid-afternoon, take an hours nap. Any longer though and youll risk waking sluggish and tired. Set an alarm to wake you if think youll go longer than an hour or 45 minutes. Dont tell yourself you cant afford the time to take a nap. A nap will do wonders for your productivity and you will be
refreshed and ready to get back to work. Youll find youll accomplish much more by the end of the day than you would have if you forced yourself to keep ploughing ahead even though you were so sleepy you couldnt think straight.

=> Home Alone Security

Security is an issue for any home-based worker. Apart from personal security which is always an issue for everyone wherever they work, the home-based office with its usual array of expensive computer and other office equipment, and heaven knows whatever else electronic gadgetry is a prime target for thieves. So take these basic precautions:

* Dont expose your expensive office equipment to the view of casual passersby. Obscure the view with foliage
(but not so much that you provide a place for would-be intruders to hide) and draw the blinds when youre away
from home.

* Keep your doors deadbolted when youre home as well as when youre away.

* Think twice about inviting new clients to your home office. Try and meet at the clients office wherever possible or, if not, at a neutral location.

* Ensure your property is well lit at night to deter intruders.

* Dont advertise the fact that you work from home.

* Consider using a post office box for your office address. This is particularly useful if you run an online business and are concerned about revealing your residential address to all and sundry.

* Get an alarm system installed and display the alarm companys sign prominently on your property.

* A dog can be a great security device, not to mention company for the solo worker!

INSURANCE

Dont rely on your homeowners insurance to cover your business. Most policies limit loss of business property
to $2,500 and dont cover losses away from the home.

And you can just forget about claiming on your homeowners policy for injury sustained by a client visiting your home office.

So ensure you obtain business insurance separate from your homeowners policy or, if your insurance company
offers it, an endorsement to your existing policies. This type of extension, where available, can be as low as an
additional $200 or so annually.

The kinds of risks to consider, depending of course on the nature of your business, include:

=> Health and Disability

Check with any trade or professional associations of which you are a member for health insurance packages.
Many such associations will have negotiated insurance packages for their members and this can be a good way
of getting good cover for a cost-effective price.

Other types of insurance to consider are disability insurance in case you cant work due to illness or disability and workers compensation (remember, you may be an employee of your business). Depending on your
personal situation, you may also want to consider key man insurance which protects your business in the event
of your death. The business becomes the beneficiary under this type of policy and this cover is intended to enable the business to replace you.

=> Property

This covers your physical assets - furniture and equipment, inventory and supplies including, where required, cover for equipment taken away from the premises such as laptop computers.

=> Liability

There are three main types of liability insurance. Depending on your business you may need only one or two or all three. The three types are (a) general liability which covers you for accidental injuries sustained by business visitors; (b) professional liability if you are a member of a professional occupation such as a lawyer or an accountant; and (c) product liability which protects you against damage caused to a third party as a result of a defective product.

=> Business Interruption

This type of insurance covers your lost profits as a result of some insured event which makes it impossible for
you to carry on your business such as a fire or flood.

TAX ISSUES

One expenditure you should definitely not try and avoid is an accountant to prepare your taxes. There are many home office tax deductions available but they are scrutinized carefully by the IRS so make sure you get professional help in this area.

The types of deductions available to the home business owner include a proportion of your housing costs and
expenses if you use a part of your home exclusively for your business; use of your car for business purposes;
health insurance; postage; trade magazines and other business-related publications; and capital equipment.

The best way to save money on accountants fees is to keep accurate, organized and complete records. Keep
your receipts organized so that when tax time comes you can hand everything over to your accountant in a nice
neat package.

In addition, do not hestitate to contact your accountant for advice if and when you intend to take on employees.
A whole slew of responsibilities goes along with employing others in your business including withholding tax and social security benefits and workers compensation to name just a couple.

ZONING

Finally, a word about zoning. Zoning laws can be inconsistent so just because your friend Dave can run a business out of his garage in town X doesnt mean you can do the same thing here in town Y. Some unicipalities will give you a hard time if youre receiving clients on the premises but will turn a blind eye if youre not. others focus on the detriment your business causes to the amenity of your neighbors. If your neighbors find they cant park their car in their own street because of the flood of traffic to your door, expect problems. Also, dont expect to be able to erect a sign in front of your house or, possibly, anywhere visible from the street, dvertising your business. Still other municipalities will restrict the numbers of employees that can be employed in the home business. In these municipalities you often wont have a problem if youre a solo worker but once you start hiring employees to work on the premises you may have trouble.

So, before you start your business and invest a lot of capital in getting set up, check with your local authorities
what, if any, zoning restrictions you need to be aware of.

These are just a few of the major headache areas when you cut the ties and set out on your own. By taking the
time to get these things in order before you get underway, youll create a safety net for yourself and your business so that when things go wrong, as they inevitably will, your dream of a home-based business of your own will continue to be a happy reality and not a nightmare.

© 2003 Elena Fawkner

About the author.

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com

Expert Advice for Start-up Businesses

Tue, 18 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Who do you go to when you have a heart problem? A first-year med student? No, you go to a professional doctor. It amazes me how many new entrepreneurs look to other "newbies" like themselves for advice.
I have compiled a few tidbits of advice that some of the successful entrepreneurs in my ebook called "Entrepreneurs Tell All" describe. This is what the "pros" have to say.

Ben Neumann: Founder/President of Ad-Ventures and Icom (http://www.iboost.com)

"Dedication and self-discipline make things work in life! No matter if we are talking about a relationship or a new venture, you will go through ups and downs, through happiness and fights in both areas of your life. An entrepreneur should not start his business with the motivation of becoming rich as the number one priority. If you love what you do, you can be a totally happy person without ever earning a fortune.

Troy Olson: Prepaid Legal Services (http://prepaidlegal.com/go/troyolson

"I tell new associates in the business to treat the start-up cost like they spent 100 times the actual start-up cost. Treat it like a business and it will pay you like a business. Treat it like a hobby and it will pay you like a hobby. Most people start part-time so it's important that the time they put into their business is well-focused.

Teddy Hickox: EcoQuest International Salesmanager (http://www.ecoquest.com)

"I advise people to really check out the owners of these home-based business opportunities and see what kind of background they have. Found out how many people in your state are doing well in the company you are evaluating. You should start any new business off by making sure that the company has a market niche and can handle big growth. Begin with one-to-one meetings and then do home meetings and eventually big meetings. The key to success is duplication!

Anne Thornley-Brown: CEO of The Training Oasis (http://www.thetrainingoasis.com)

"Don't hang out with your own crowd. Go where your customers go. Identify a niche and target your marketing efforts there. Join the professional associations to which potential customers belong, write for their publications, and speak at their conferences. Go to trade shows. Don't scrimp on your marketing material. Like it or not people gather first impressions based on your business card and stationery. Scrimp in this area and you may be sending an unintentional message about the quality of your service.
Get advice:lots of it and don't just go to people who'll tell you you're great. Seek people who will give you tough feedback and then use it to learn and grow.

Thor Christianson: CEO of Commercial Lease Solutions (http://mrlease.com)
"I market heavily on the Internet and our web site is our first impression. Initially, it was not a very good one. We've had to go back and start from scratch. The perception of you by your customers is essential. If you do not get the chance to show customers how good you are, you have lost. An even better tip would be not to fault your mistakes too heavily- you will make them. Smile, fix the mistake, and keep going. Persistence always pays off!

Are you a successful entrepreneur?
One of her favorite start-up sites that she encourages everyone to visit is "How To Attract Precisely Targeted Visitors to Your Website or Business. It's good to know that names like Jason Mangrum and Jo Han are behind these programs. These guys KNOW what they're talking about! They are not first-year students!
http://QuickPayPro.com/x/qpp.cgi?adminid=2021&id=35491&pid=5854

About the author.

Kristi Sayles is a freelance writer/entrepreneur, and the publisher of Internet Treasures. Subscribe today-Its FREE! treasures@sendfree.com

This article is shareware. Give this article away for free on your site, or include it as part of any paid package as long as the entire article is left intact including this notice. Copyright © 2003 Kristi Sayles

Bridging the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Bridging the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer
A Step by Step Guide for Developing Awareness, Building Credibility and Acquiring Customers

By Julie Chance

Have you ever watched a documentary about climbing Mount Everest? If so, you will undoubtedly remember one specific segment of the journey where the climbers cross a chasm, one carefully placed step after another, using aluminum ladders strung end to end. For me, just the thought of it is enough to cause an anxiety attack!

There is a similar chasm between your product or service and your potential customers, even if it is only in the potential customers' mind. And for them, the thought of crossing that chasm is enough to cause a severe case of anxiety.

Picture a group of your potential customers, standing at the edge of a chasm on Mount Everest and you and your product or service standing on the other side. It is your job and the role of your marketing efforts to help potential clients cross that chasm one step at a time. At this stage, your immediate objective is not to get them to purchase. It is simply to get them to take that first step out onto the ladder, followed by one more step, and than another until they reach the ultimate decision to purchase.

It is as ludicrous to expect a potential customer to reach a purchase decision in one step as it would be to expect a Mount Everest adventurer to cross a chasm in one step. So how can you begin to move your potential customers across the purchase chasm?

* Step One - Awareness and Knowledge: Before someone can purchase a product or service they must be aware of it. They must also have knowledge about what problems the product or service will solve for them. They must be able to picture in their minds the benefit they will receive from using the product or service, and that picture must be enticing enough to motivate them to take that first step.

At this phase, your objective is to make potential customers aware of your product or service, generally through mass media type activities, advertising, direct mail, articles, public speaking, etc. and then to get them to take the first step by requesting additional information. You might offer a brochure, free report, newsletter subscription or other informational item in exchange for contact information. The key is to offer something that:

* Is of value to your potential client,
* Provides him or her with additional knowledge about your product or service and how it will solve his or her problems
* Poses a very low level of risk or obligation on the part of the prospective customer.

* Step two - Liking and Preference: Awareness alone is not enough. Potential customers must also have a positive disposition regarding your product or service. Potential customers must trust that you will deliver what you say you will. Several years ago there was an insurance company that did a tremendous job of building awareness through television advertising. However, the ads were so obnoxious that I'm sure the company ranked quite low on the liking, preference and credibility scale.

At this stage, the objective is to get those potential customers who took the first step to take a second step by requesting additional information perhaps a video or booklet, calling for a free consultation, signing up for a free seminar or teleconference, purchasing an e-book, etc. For example, a trainer might gain credibility and allow potential customers to "sample" their product by offering free, hour long presentations on topics related to their area of specialty. Again, the offer must be of value to the client, and should pose a slightly higher level of risk, obligation or commitment on the part of the potential customer.

* Step Three — Conviction and Purchase: The final step in the process is getting those potential customers who have begun the journey across the chasm by requesting information and then following up on the information requested to actually make the decision to purchase. In this step, personal, one-on-one selling becomes the primary method of achieving the objective. And, if you have developed a relationship with the potential client throughout their journey, this step should be as simple as reaching out to take their hand as they reach the end of the ladder and step off onto the ground. And reassuring them that they have made the right decision by embarking on the journey.

While the process is simple, implementation takes a committed and consistent effort. It may take as many as five to 15 exposures to your product or service for a potential client to move through the process and cross the chasm from lead to loyal customer. They key is to plan those exposures so each one:

* Matches the level of the process where the potential customer currently is (i.e. direct mass media activities to potential customers in the awareness and knowledge phases, and use personal selling with prospective customers in the conviction and purchase phases).
* Builds on the previous exposure, automatically moving people through the buying process one step at a time.

To begin the process of helping potential clients bridge the chasm to loyal customer ask yourself these questions:

1. What are three to five ways I can have an initial contact with members of my ideal customer group?
2. What can I provide as a free offer in exchange for contact information to get people to take the first step?
3. What are two or three intermediary steps I can encourage prospects to take?
4. What are the key promotional tools that I will use at each step?

Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-DESIGN, a Dallas based firm that helps small businesses and service professionals Map A Path to Success by bridging the chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer. For more information or to sign up for our free Marketing Tips Newsletter go to www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.

Successfully Selling Your Professional Services The 6 C Approach To Getting Clients - FAST

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

As a professional service provider you face special challenges promoting yourself to potential clients. You may have certain restrictions on how you market or advertise. You may feel overwhelmed by the demands of being both owner and employee. You might not have a strong base of effective selling & marketing skills. In addition, you may believe that self promotion is somehow unprofessional and pushy or even unnecessary. Very often, professionals "open up shop" and expect, much like in the Field of Dreams, "if you build it, they will come."

I don't deny that there is some validity to this approach; for instance, if you rent space in a strategic location and let your colleagues know you're there then you are likely to get referrals - eventually. This is fine if you're willing to wait months or years to create a thriving business. The bottom line is that you must let people know who you are and what you can do if you want to be successful in selling your services now.

This does not mean that you adopt a persona that doesn't suit you or that you try all the marketing and sales techniques you can find while desperately seeking one that works. Instead, I'd like to offer you the 7 "C" approach to successfully selling your professional service.

Clarity. This refers to spending time to craft a clear, compelling and memorable message. It involves being very clear about the benefits of your service and finding a way to "speak the language" of your potential customers. Very often, professionals resort to phrases like, "I help my clients reach their goals." "I do tax returns." "I give massages". Is there anything particularly compelling or memorable about any of these statements? Not really. Instead, how about these: "I help my clients reach their goals of working 51% less and making 52% more." Or "My clients legally pay fewer taxes" Or "I provide a special type of massage which can permanently reduce the pain from old injuries." Do you see how each of these statements provides more clarity and gives the potential customer more information about benefits? The power of clarity is that you know, right away, if your potential client will buy from you. At the very least you've provided the potential client a memorable way to remember you-so s/he can refer friends.

Caring. This point might go without saying, but, just in case this is a new idea you want to be sure you care about your customers. Marketing is most effective (and easiest) when you have a passion for your service and absolutely know that it's effective. You really want people to experience your service because you care, for instance, that they work less and make more, that they save money on tax day or that they are pain-free. If you can't think of anything in your service that you care about deeply, passionately and vocally keep looking until you do. Finding this aspect is like unlocking a treasure chest!

Congruency. Another aspect to consider in marketing yourself is that of congruency. Congruency is the match between what you say and what you do. This "match" between inner and outer helps potential clients understand you and remember you. For example, if you say that you're a financial services advisor, specializing in accounts over $500k, make sure you "look" and "act" the part. This means that you will behave much like your ideal clients. You will dress the same, read the same magazines, spend time in the same restaurants or belong to the same professional groups. Your ideal clients will be attracted to you if you are congruent between what you say and what you do. Build your credibility by cultivating this 'match' within yourself.

Competency. The best marketing in the world will not save a professional who is not competent and skilled at his or her trade. Although you are probably extraordinarily competent already make sure to maintain this "edge" by continuous learning. To continue being extremely skilled upgrade your education and training whenever needed. The highly skilled professional commands higher fees and find it easier to attract and retain high quality clients.

Charisma. Charisma is the skill of leading and developing a devoted following. You can increase your charisma and should make every effort to do so. Be aware of your "silent" language. Do you look interested? Are you listening? Do you ask good questions? Do you provide the prospect an opportunity to ask questions or get more information? Do you have resources to recommend to this client if it turns out she or he is not a match for your business?

Consistency. The most effective marketing strategy ever is consistency. Day in and day out, you must commit to marketing yourself and your professional services. It is too easy to forgo marketing when business picks up which may leave you scrambling for business during a downturn. Instead, commit fully to daily marketing actions and then take them.

Let's say that you're ready to put these 6 C's in place but you'd like someone to help you move forward. Consider, then, a 7th "C"- Coaching. If you're a person who is open to new approaches, willing to take action and believe that support, guidance, and accountability would benefit you, consider working with a Certified Sales Coach. These specially trained professionals can help you develop the skills you need to build your ideal business in record time.

(c) 2003. Dr. Rachna D. Jain. All Rights in All Media Reserved.

About the Author

Dr. Rachna D. Jain is a sales and marketing coach and Director of Operations for SalesCoachTraining.com. To learn more or to contact Dr. Jain directly, please visit SalesandMarketingCoach.com,where you can sign up for her free email newsletter, "Sales and Marketing Secrets".

Have You Captured Me Today?

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

There are many Web sites I visit every day and will probably never return to again. Its not that I didnt like the site, or that I wasnt interested in the topic, services, or products offered. Its just that I wasnt ready to take action right now. So I clicked away and will probably forget about them.

The danger of this happening at YOUR site is that you just lost a great prospect. After all, Im pre-qualified. I was already interested in what you had to offer. I likely found your site via a search engine, Web directory, advertisement, article, or another promotion. I clicked through to your site because I wanted to learn more.

But studies reveal that Im most likely NOT going to take action the first time I visit your site. Have you heard the statistic that it takes about *seven* contacts before prospects are ready to buy? (Thats a lot of times!)

So how can you get the chance to contact me another *six* times? The answer is to CAPTURE me then and there -- that is, get my e-mail address. To do this, youll have to offer me something valuable in return. If you just tell me to "sign up for our mailing list," youre not going to get squat.

So what can YOU offer me? Here are some ideas that have been proven to work when done well. Of course, the *content* for all of these should tie-in to your business focus:

1. A FREE MINI E-MAIL COURSE.

These are becoming very popular right now. You simply create a few e-mails worth of content to spread out over a certain amount of days. Youll need an e-mail autoresponder to do this, which allows me to sign up for your course automatically. Many sites seem to offer five- or seven-day courses, and many of them are awful. So heres a chance for YOU to stand out: Make sure yours offers really useful or interesting content thats more "how to" than salesy. Then in the last e-mail, tell me how your services/ products will further help me -- lead me on to the next step.

2. A FREE E-ZINE (e-mail newsletter).

If you can produce new content on a regular basis, this is your BEST option, because youre receiving permission to contact me (and market to me) again and again! Youll always be on my mind. And if youre a solo professional who is marketing your own services, this gives you *multiple* chances to prove your worth
and gain my trust over time. The only drawback to this option is that publishing an e-zine requires a good amount of time and effort on a regular basis, but the rewards will be worth it.

3. A SPECIAL VIP/PROMOTION LIST

If I like what I see, and you give me the chance to receive *special offers* that will save me money at your site, Ill be sure to sign up for your list. For example, one site I love buying from is http://www.BlueFly.com. They offer designer clothes and accessories (e.g. BCBG, Fendi, Prada - Im salivating right now!) at discount prices with exceptional customer service. Throughout their site and when you place an order, there are
invitations to sign up for "discounts, exclusive offers, and first looks." Count me in!

4. A FREE SPECIAL REPORT OR E-BOOK.

Heres another neat idea -- give people a special report or short e-book related to your topic of interest. Not sure where to start? Try a top-10 list of tips, a list of relevant resources, or a collection of articles youve already written. The more "how-to," the better -- give me real, useful information. But of course make sure it implies that YOU and YOUR BUSINESS are the best resource in the end. This is a delicate balance to chieve, but its not as hard as you may think. And at the end of your content, tell me how your services/products will further help me. (Again, lead me on to the next step.)

5. DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW UP!

Once you capture a list of prospects, youll need to contact them again. Of course, if youre publishing an e-zine, thats already set. (Hooray for e-zines!)

(c) 2002 Alexandria K. Brown

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award- winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at ezinequeen.com.

NOTE: Youre welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint:

Responsible Sponsoring

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

The turnover in network marketing is over 90%! Much of this is because the opportunity is too highly hyped in the beginning. People join thinking they don't have to work very hard and are going to millionaires within a couple weeks. You do a real disservice to your company, network, the prospect, and yourself when you hype your business. Instead, give a realistic picture of what they will have to do in order to be successful.

I also believe that turnover occurs because new distributors are left alone to figure out the rules to the game. If you are going to sponsor people, then you need to be responsible for their success. Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying build their business for them, but rather provide for them the tools they will need in order to build a large network.

A responsible sponsor will do the following:

1. Make sure that all paperwork is completed correctly and in to the company promptly, so that product orders and distributor kits are delivered to the new recruit promptly.

2. If you have the finances available, purchase kits and training packages to provide to your new recruit. Have the new distributor write you a check covering the cost of these materials. This way you can start them instantly, rather then having to wait a week for the kit and training materials to arrive.

3. If you can't afford to have kits on hand, work with your upline leaders to create some inexpensive training handouts that you can give your new distributors. These should cover the basics of your program, but not go into great detail.

4. Set up a training session within 48 hours of the time a person signs up. In this session help them work on a prospect list (at least 100 names), their dreams and goals, and answer any questions they have about the products, company, or opportunity.

5. Contact your new team member every day for the first 30 days. Do not call and ask if they have sold anything or recruited anyone. Instead, call to see if they have questions or need your assistance.

6. Have them put together a Top 20 List out of their large list of prospects. Mail an information packet to each of them. Have the new distributor call each prospect and let them know that the information packet is on the way. They should say, "John, I have encountered what appears to be a tremendous financial opportunity. I can only offer it to four people, so I immediately thought of you. I can't explain it effectively over the phone, so I mailed you a 12-page newspaper called Money and Freedom. You should get it on (day), I'll give you a call on (2 days later) at (time), will that work for you?" If they ask for more information, say, "John, as I mentioned, I can't effectively explain this over the phone, so take a look at the information and then I'll answer questions."

7. Set up time slots to do 3-way (you, your distributor, and the prospect all on the phone at the same time) follow-up calls to the prospects. In the 3-way call, the new distributor initiates the call, introduces you (or another upline leader) and then let's you take over. Your job is to stimulate enough interest to either meet or want more information. Do not try to sell the whole deal over the phone. All you'll do is overwhelm the prospect, which will generate a NO.

8. Make yourself available for contacts at certain times during the day or evening. The more accessible you are, the better your distributor will feel about making new contacts.

9. Lead by example. Keep recruiting and every once in awhile reward hard workers by putting a new distributor in their downline. This will go a long way. Be active. Your downline will look to you and duplicate what you are doing. Telling them what to do is not enough. Particularly if you are telling to do things that you aren't doing. Constantly ask yourself, "would I be happy if everyone in my downline was just like me?"

10. Take personal responsibility for your new distributors. If they are putting in the effort, reward them by giving them your time. Provide them with the knowledge and tools necessary to succeed, then help them get their first few checks. Money is a real motivator. Once their in the money, they will probably take off on their own. This will leave you more time to work with some other new distributors. However, don't forget your leaders. Even though they are doing well, they still need the strokes.

Responsibly sponsoring will result in a loyal and active network. They will duplicate this attitude downline by becoming responsible sponsors themselves. This increased loyalty will reduce turnover dramatically and result in solid growth for your network.

About the Author

Rod Nichols has been involved in network marketing since 1979, as a successful distributor, consultant, trainer, and author. He has built large networks and full time incomes with several companies. Recently he was contracted to write a book on network marketing by Oasis Press. Successful Network Marketing for the 21st Century is now available in bookstores throughout the country. He has also published an 8-page recruiting booklet, Would You Like to Dig In My Goldmine and publishes a monthly newsletter titled NETWORKER.

Small Business Secrets: The Great Success Of All

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

If you are involved in any small or home-based business, the secrets of success discovered over a century ago by an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, will skyrocket your sales and profits.

It's the one true principle of highly effective small businesses throughout the world today. Hardly any of them use it - and guess what? - over 96% of them go bankrupt within their first 120 months of operation.

This pattern of predictable imbalance occurs throughout the business world - 80% of results flow from just 20% of the causes. However, up until now, hardly any small or home-based businesses have applied this dynamic principle.

It will transform your business in such an incredible way, you'll marvel at it's effectiveness and simplicity.

Winners and losers

Identify which of your products or services are winners and which are losers.

Start by looking at your profit figures for each of your products. Do not forget to build in all overhead costs.

When you have a full list of products and their profitability, you can then begin to compile a list in order of highest returns.

You can immediately identify which of your products are providing your greatest profits - normally, 20-30% of them are giving you 70-80% of your profits. It's essential to concentrate most of your efforts on your winning products.

Spend the least time on those products that give you the least return on sales or, better still, cut them out altogether.

By adopting this strategy, all of your efforts will be concentrated on your best performing products and you will start to produce superior results.

Customers and their Purchases

Take a long look at all of your customers and their purchases. You'll identify which ones are making the largest purchases and which ones are the least price sensitive.

Don't forget that many larger customers may squeeze your profit margins and may not be as valuable as you think. Also remember, that smaller customers may cost you more to service.

When you have compiled a list of your most important customers - i.e. those that provide you with the greatest long-term profits - concentrate most of your resources on them and serve their every need. Build them into life-long clients and provide them with exceptional service.

If you establish close relationships with your best clients, and spend more time with them than your other lower profit customers, you will be adopting a winning strategy that will bring you wonderful success.

Distribution problems

The areas where you trade may also be producing good or bad results. If so, concentrate on those distribution areas that provide you with the greatest profits and again, serve their every need and build long-term close relationships with them.

What about your marketing strategy? Identify the areas that gives you the best response rates.

Research also indicates that simplifying your products will improve your results considerably. The reasoning behind this strategy is that complicated production processes increase your overheads. Simple products reduce complexity and therefore require less management.

Sit down and really think about the most important parts of your business and how they can be improved using the 80/20 Principle. You'll save yourself lots of effort on promoting those areas of your business returning small profits.

Welcome to a rosy future.

About the Author

Brian Li is head of the UK's Business Growth Centre Discover how to get virtually every job you apply for: businessgrowthcentre.com

Also learn how to start a business immediately in profit! You won't find anything like this anywhere else: Email brian for details.

Copyright (c) 2002 Brian Li

Ending the Confusion Can Bring In More Sales

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

With all the websites Ive visited during my time on the Net, I am still amazed to find one very common and widespread problem. Focus - or the lack of it. One of the most basic aspects of designing and writing copy - and it is costing website owners everywhere big time in lost sales.

This may sound like an "idol threat," but it is a hard, cold fact of Web life. Statistics have proven time and time again that you have roughly five to seven seconds to get the attention of your visitor. If you dont let them know immediately what you do and how you can benefit them, your competitors site is just one mouse click away.

When your site design and copy dont work in harmony with each other the result can mean the passing over of your site in favor of one that is more self-explanatory. So back to the basics we go. How do you pool the design and copy elements and create a site that lets the visitor plainly see who you are and what you do? Here are a few tips.

1. Never assume. While you may fully understand who you are, what you do, and why your product or service can save the world, chances are your site visitor will not. After all, thats why they need you. If they had a complete understanding of what you offer, they would be able to perform the task themselves. Take the time to clearly state the purpose of your site, the benefits of your product, and what you can do for your visitors.

2. Give directions. Again, this goes back to never assuming. Dont believe for a minute that Web surfers (who travel at the speed of light) are going to read every single word of your ordering instructions. When you want a visitor to download an ebook, move to a new page, "click here" to order, etc., be sure to make your directions obvious.

3. Be bold. For important functions, get bold with your design elements. If you want your visitors to call you for a free consultation, make very sure your phone number leaps out at them. Dont hide it in plain, black type in the middle of your copy. Want them to sign up for your newsletter? Have your subscription box high on the page, and in colors that will be easily noticed. Want them to order? Give them a large button using a contrasting color so they dont miss it in their haste.

4. Dont be flashy. While flash can be an exciting addition to a site, it should never comprise the entire index (home) page. Over 85% of Web surfers say they always skip flash intros. On sites that do not offer a "skip flash movie" link, the visitor leaves immediately. Those are some strong numbers. While flash can be used in moderation to effectively make a point or highlight your companys focus, be careful not to overdo it. Statistics show that the vast majority of your visitors will leave before theyll sit still for an entire flash presentation.

The best bet overall? Write and design your site in an effort to answer the five Ws: who, what, when, where and why. Taking the time to make sure your visitors have a clear and immediate understanding of who you are, what you do, and how you can help, will result in more sales or responses for you.

Ashley Brice © 2002

About the Author

Got lots of traffic but few sales? Let Website Critique.com point out the trouble spots and show you how to fix them. Not more marketing guru mumbo jumbo. Ashleys "customers point-of-view" approach will give you new insights into how to transform your site into one your visitors will love - and buy from! Stop losing sales. visit website-critique.com today.

Understanding the Buying Process Can Increase Your Sales

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Most marketers don't give a lot of thought to the buying processes of their customers. That's a shame. Lending due attention to the buying process can have a dramatic effect on your sales.

What is the buying process? Where does your customer fall within it? How can you use it to help bring your customer to the point-of-purchase? Follow me as we take a look at the decisions customers must make before deciding to buy.

Each and every one of us goes through some sort of buying process when we make a purchase. At times the process is long and labored — as when buying a new computer. At other moments it happens almost without thought — when buying a box of your favorite cereal, for instance. But make no mistake: it does happen.

Generally speaking, the buying process consists of five steps. Those products/services that are new to the market, are new to your customer, or are very expensive will require a longer period of consideration in each phase. Products/services that are familiar, that have market longevity, or that cost very little will require a shorter (even instantaneous) process.

Step One - Need/Want Recognition

During this step, buyers realize they want or need something. They recognize that they have a problem or a desire, and they choose to find a solution. If this need or want is something along the lines of lunch, the buying decision can be made relatively quickly, without much thought of the actual buying process. Hunger is a quick problem to solve, most options are familiar to buyers, and the cost is usually low.

If the need or want is a new car, however, the actual buying decision can take weeks or months. There is a greater risk, new models and features come out all the time, the cost is high, and the possibility of making a "mistake" when buying is great.

Step Two - Information Search

Once the choice has been made to fill a need or want, your customer begins to search for information in order to make a quality decision that is in his/her best interest. Web sites may be visited (in which case you should offer some way for the customer to remember you, such as printable versions of information, downloadable brochures and catalogs, a way to bookmark your site, etc.). Brochures may be gathered (be sure to offer your contact information). Phone calls might be placed (check to ensure you or your call staff has the information they need to answer questions). Free samples, test drives, and other means of "trial" work wonderfully to guide your customer through the information search stage and onto the evaluation and purchase stages.

Step Three — Evaluation

After your customers have collected all the information they feel is necessary, they begin to evaluate their options and narrow their choices until they finally pick the one thing that they are comfortable with, and that they can afford. This is the time to follow-up with your customers. Is there additional information they need in order to choose? Did they have problems with the free sample that can be corrected? Your "presence" during the evaluation stage is important, so do your best to retain customer contact information in order to "gently" offer any additional details the buyer might need. (Nobody likes a hard sell, or to be pushed into buying.)

Step Four — Purchase

Once all the information has been evaluated, a purchase is made, and your customer walks away happy: right? Well: not always.

Step Five - Cognitive Dissonance (Post Purchase Anxiety)

While customers may have thought they chose the best solution when they purchased, many times customers later experience cognitive dissonance, a.k.a. buyers' regret. They second guess their decision and begin to feel uncomfortable about their decision. This is where trial periods, guarantees, and/or warranties come into play.

Customers will have more confidence in their decision, even after it is made, if they know they aren't "stuck" with their purchase. Having a guarantee to fall back on gives them the comfort to know that — should something go wrong — they won't be left stranded. Generally speaking, a guarantee is a psychological support rather than a literal one. Most customers never take advantage of guarantees: they don't think they need to. However, if a guarantee wasn't offered, the anxiety of feeling "all alone" would overcome many buyers and persuade them into asking for a refund.

Understanding each step in the buying process can help you structure your selling process and your marketing materials to cater to the customer. Take the time to consider what your customer goes through when making the choice to buy, and alter your business accordingly. In doing so, you'll increase your chances of making more sales, and landing more satisfied customers.

Karon Thackston © 2003

About the author.

Most buying decisions are emotional. Your ad copy should be, too! Let Karon write targeted copy and ezine articles for you. Visit her site at http://www.ktamarketing.com, or learn to write your own copy at copywritingcourse.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Karon's free ezine at http://www.ktamarketing.com/ezine.html.

Spice Up Your Ad With These Words That Sell

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Like us, you probably get stacks of junk mail and loads of email messages every day. Many of these marketing materials are written by top writers and sent to vast audiences at great expense.

Because companies invest heavily in these direct mail marketing efforts, they are careful to monitor results. Professional marketers keep the strategies that work and toss the ones that dont.

Watch your junk mail closely and you will get some great ideas on how to make your next ad, sales letter, or web page a selling success. Here are popular words and phrases we find over and over again in top ads. They are used a lot because they work!

Make It Easy

Both consumers and business customers love a product or service that is easy to get and easy to use.

It is a breeze to use
Do-it-yourself
Simple step-by-step instructions
Easy to duplicate
All under one roof
Call free 24 hours a day
Everything you need in one easy-to-use bundle

Its Effective

People buy fast when they know your product or service will get the results they hope for. Use these words and phrases to demonstrate your effectiveness:

Our proven, tested formula
A strategy thousands have counted on
For five-star results
Get professional results
Our experts are standing by for your call
Highly effective

Add Style and Excitement

Most of us buy, in part, because the product or service will give us an emotional boost. We feel better, more hopeful, or more excited after we buy.

You deserve a pick-me-up
This lavish display
Bold new innovation
Dazzling results
A touch of the exotic..dazzle..charm
A spirited look and sporty feel

Your Guarantee

Sales jump when you insure confidence with your guarantee. If you are selling through the mail, a guarantee is necessary. So make it sell with all the sizzle and importance you can muster.

Guaranteed for a lifetime of precision results
Our money-back, no-risk guarantee
If you arent satisfied, well buy it back
We stand behind our service 110%
Guaranteed lifetime updates
Our 30-day, 90-day, 1-year warrantee.
Lifetime Replacement Guarantee

Feel free to adapt these winning words and phrases to fit your ad or copy. As you listen to the radio, watch TV, surf the Net, or read the paper, look for more selling phrases that could boost your ad response.

About the Authors

Ron Sathoff and Kevin Nunley provide marketing advice, business writing, and promotion packages. See their massive 5-in-1 marketing deal now 75% off. Read all their business tips at InternetWriters.com Reach Ron and Kevin at 801-328-9006.

Recruitment Research - Quality Results, Lower Cost-Per-Hire

Tue, 11 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

During these times of restructuring, budget cuts, and hiring freezes, HR executives and hiring managers are focused on implementing recruiting strategies that maximize their resources. A strategy that is cost effective, yet able to deliver quality candidates in a timely manner, is the goal. One highly effective weapon to consider for your arsenal is research based recruiting -- often called Recruitment Research.

What is Recruitment Research?

In a nutshell, Recruitment Research delivers top-notch candidates for a fraction of the cost of the traditional fee-for-hire retained or contingency search firms. By utilizing Recruitment Research it is possible to lower a companys cost-per-hire to the 7-15% of salary range vs. the typical 20-30%, while at the same time attracting "the best of the do-ers, not the best of the lookers."

Recruitment Research determines exactly WHO you want to hire and WHERE you want to hire them from, and then finds those candidates for you. Similar to an executive search consultant, a recruitment researcher partners with you to understand the position, the corporate culture, the intangibles, and the skill set required. Once located those candidates are thoroughly qualified and screened, "sold" on your opportunity - then delivered to you primed and ready for the interviewing process! Most often these candidates are the passive candidates who are currently employed and are not actually engaged in a job search.

When to use Recruitment Research

Since recruitment research is focused, strategic, and targeted; there are many ways and reasons to use recruitment research. These include:

� Difficult searches with unique skill sets

� Multi-city searches for sales or business development people

� Searches that require a quick ramp-up period

� Getting a derailed search back on track by developing fresh candidates from new or different sources

� Competitive intelligence into a competitors company to reveal salary, employee satisfaction or new product information

Advantages of Recruitment Research

1. Quality
� Since recruitment research is totally focused on your particular search, with specific places to look for the candidates you desire; candidates are only submitted to you that meet the specifications youve outlined. You will not be buried in paper.

� You will receive passive candidates - the best of the do-ers not the best of the lookers. Often these passive candidates will come directly from one of your competitors.

� You have the ability to concentrate on searching in just a few priority target companies.

� You may stop and start, or restart the process at any time, with no hidden or additional charges.

2. Ownership of the Research
� You receive a database of all of the people sourced and contacted in connection with the search.

� The database includes names, contact information and comments.

� This valuable data provides competitive intelligence information such as salary, industry perception of your company, and competitor candidates that can be used for future hiring needs. Consequently, this can be an extremely cost-effective way to hire multiple candidates.

3. Efficiency & Speed
� Name identification can be completed within a day or two and a flow of qualified developed candidates can usually be delivered to you in one to two weeks.

4. Cost
� It is possible to lower your cost per hire to the 7-15% of salary range by using recruitment research. For example, if you wanted to hire a Regional Sales Manger with a base salary of $100,000, a typical retained or contingency search firm may charge anywhere from 20% -30% or $20,000 - $30,000. By using recruitment research it is possible to make this hire for as little as $5,000.

Consider adding Recruitment Research to your staffing solutions. It is a solution that works across various industries and levels of seniority. Youll find that it is a cost effective way to hire targeted candidates with speed and efficiency.

Catherine Pringle ©2002

About the Author

Catherine Pringle is President of RRA, Inc., a nationwide recruitment research firm based in Minneapolis, MN. Visit the website or call 800-400-8132

Reach vs. Frequency

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Is it more effective to touch 100 potential customers once or 25 potential customers 4 times?

Reach and frequency are terms generally used when planning advertising campaigns. However, the concept of reach and frequency applies to any promotional activity you undertake: direct mail, direct selling, and even networking.

Reach is the number of people you touch with your marketing message or the number of people that are exposed to your message. Frequency is the number of times you touch each person with your message. In a world of unlimited resources you would obviously maximize both reach and frequency. However, since most of us live in the world of limited resources we must often make decisions to sacrifice reach for frequency or vice versa.

For example, an air conditioning repair service who has decided to do a direct mail piece has to decide whether to mail the entire Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex once or to mail a quarter of the Metroplex four times. An attorney who receives many of her clients through networking may have to decide whether to attend one weekly networking meeting or four different monthly meetings.

When faced with decisions of reach vs. frequency remember this rule of thumb: Reach without Frequency = Wasted Money

Marketing is the process of building a business relationship with potential customers. Have you ever established a lifelong friendship with someone you had contact with only once? Probably not. Generally friendships (and all relationships for that matter) grow as a result of frequent contact over time. Even when the potential to form a great friendship is there at the first encounter, it is unlikely it will grow without nurturing.

Seth Godin in his book Permission Marketing uses an analogy of seeds and water to demonstrate the importance of assuring adequate frequency in your promotional campaigns. If you were given 100 seeds with enough water to water each seed once would you plant all 100 seeds and water each one once or would you be more successful if you planted 25 seeds and used all of the water on those 25 seeds?

While intuitively and even conceptually we understand the importance of frequency to successful promotional and sales campaigns, somehow when it comes to actually implementing the campaign, we opt to sacrifice frequency for reach. And then we complain about the ineffectiveness of our promotional efforts. Undoubtedly one of the biggest wastes of marketing dollars is promotional activities that are implemented without adequate frequency.

When faced with the decision of mailing one direct mail piece to 10,000 people or mailing to 2,500 people four times think about the fate of those 100 seeds you can water only once. Unless you have water rights and can obtain additional water, opt for less reach and more frequency.

About the Author

Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-DESIGN, a Dallas based firm that helps small businesses and service professionals Map A Path to Success by providing consulting, training and skills based coaching in the area of marketing strategy development. For more information or to sign up for our free marketing tips e-newsletter go to strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311

How To Choose a Good Start-Up Business

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Unless you intend to create and market your own products, you'll need a partner business or affiliate. A partner business is a business with which you form some sort of partnership, usually this is the manufacturer or business that supplies your products. Many times a partnership is formed when you sign up to become a distributor or affiliate of the partner company. Often you may have one, two, three or more partners supplying you with products, all of which are being sold on your web site. If this is your own home based business web site, instead of a mirror or copy site, you have control over what is to be sold and with whom you do business!

Things to Look for in a Partner Business:

Look for these characteristics in a partner business before you sign up. Your ultimate partner need not have all of these, but the more they have the more stable your own business supply and income will be.

1.) How long have they been in business; online, offline, or both?

Obviously, the longer a company has been around, the longer its track record of obtaining and delivering the goods. Now, this doesn't mean that newer companies are necessarily bad. There are many good businesses which have started up recently. Unfortunately, many scams and bad businesses have too. As a newcomer to the net, I suggest that you start with the older, more established companies. Once you have a feel for what you're doing, then you can branch out and try other partner businesses. Give yourself some time to develop your ability for judging online and offline companies.

2.) Do they offer a variety of innovative products and/or a few in-demand products?

Really the number of products doesn't matter as much as the nature of the products. Let me explain. A product that is in hot demand (will quickly sell) or products with recurring sales value are the kind for which you want to look.

A hot, in-demand product will virtually sell itself. These kinds of products are usually singular - that is they're a one-of-a-kind within their field. Many times though, they will peak and start to drop off in sales. Some, the ones that are truly innovative, will continue to sell for a long, long time. One of those is called the PopOver Generator, created by Armand Morin. This is a fantastic new product that creates popover windows instead of popup windows. Both popups and popovers are mostly used for advertising or highlighting a particular product. What's the difference? A popup window is a completely separate browser window that "pops up" either on command or on a timer. The popup is literally its own web page. A popover is a window that is still part of the parent page's HTML coding. It looks the same as a popup, but is not a separate browser window. You can see an example of a popover here [http://www.howtoworkfromhome.info/form.html (The eZine sign-up is a popover window)].

Now you may be saying, "Big deal, what's all the fuss about?" Here's the thing, many people now have popup killer programs on their computers. These programs terminate any and all popups before they are shown on a screen. That means that all of your hard work as an online advertiser goes unnoticed - your ad has been killed before it even gets a chance to show itself. The killers can do this because the popup is treated as a separate web page by the surfer's browser, but because the popover coding is part of the parent page, popup killers can't touch them. In fact no program can touch them without messing around with the parent page, something with which surfers wouldn't allow. What does all this mean? Simply that by using popovers instead of popups, you'll be insuring that your ad or highlight will be seen by anyone who surfs your web site. This is a product that will continue to be in demand especially as the use of popup killers becomes more widely applied.

This whole example is to show you that single, one-of-a-kind products that are uniquely innovative will sell, and will continue to sell for quite some time. Companies that can deliver these kinds of products are what we want.

Products with recurring sales value are something for which we are also looking. Recurring sales means that the product is a consumable and needs to be replaced on a regular basis. This is really where you can establish your long term, secure financial freedom. Once you've built up a customer base with recurring products, they will continue to come back to you to buy more as they use up the products. In addition, satisfied customers tend to be readily acceptable of recommendations made by you for related products. Examples of these kinds of products are vitamins, cleaning products, personal care products, pet supplies and cooking herbs and supplies. All of these are recurring products in high demand. There are literally hundreds of thousands of recurring products for sale on the open market.

3.) Look for Businesses that can supply you with products in a growing market.

You definitely want to be sure that you are going to sell products that are from a growing market, not a shrinking one. The product examples used above are all from growing markets, although some of them are growing at a faster rate than others. The vitamin business itself is an annual multibillion dollar business nationwide! And it's growing because the Baby Boomers are aging and want to be in the best health possible! They have the money and the desire to purchase vitamins on a regular basis. That's something of which you can take advantage and cash in on. Healthy cleansers, air purifiers, water purifiers and healthy personal care products (make up, deodorant, toothpaste) all are in mega-growth markets too!

Let me give you an example of something that is in a waning market, although we are just beginning to see the trend and it might take years to fully realize. Cassette audio tapes and video tapes are turning into a leveling - even a downward - market. Why? Because CDs and DVDs and their associated technology are overcoming tapes as the items of choice with the consuming public. They are more convenient, produce a better quality picture and sound, and they will ultimately be less expensive to produce. Casettes and video tapes will eventually go the way of the record and the 8-Track (for those of us who remember those things)!

4.) Look for a partner who will supply you with products that people really want.

Do you think that people want to lose weight? Do you think that they are willing to pay big bucks for something that actually works? You're darn tootin' they will! The weight lose industry is a multibillion dollar market! Think about what people want; to lose weight, to retain or gain good health, to have more quality family time, to enjoy good stories in books and movies. Find partner companies who make those things and resell the products for them!

If people want them, if they buy them, if they're satisfied with them, they'll come back for more. That's why businesses such as Walmart� and Golden Corral� are so successful! They don't have to go out and sell the public on their businesses, the public knows what they have and flocks to them because they really want it.

5.) Partner with a company that has a proven business system.

Make sure that your partner has a proven way to a successful business. One that can be imitated and make you successful too! Your partner needs to demonstrate to you that other people have used their products and marketing system with success. If they can't do that, don't go with them. Keep looking for a partner who will.

6.) Look for a system that provides multiple streams of income and residual income.

Multiple streams of income means that there is more than just one way to earn money. With a traditional job - say a manager at Walmart� or a waitress at Golden Corral�, you put in the time
and
you get a paycheck. That is just one stream of income. With good marketing systems, you can earn money a number of ways. On the difference between wholesale and retail prices, on increasing bonuses with increasing sales, on incentive programs that allow you a bonus car or free travel to exotic locations, on further wholesale discounts for volume marketing. These together make up multiple streams of income. The business with which you choose to partner, should provide some, if not all of these, and perhaps even more ways to generate income.

Also, and this is very important, find a partner that is willing to pay residual income. That means that you'll be paid over and over again for one piece of work. If you spend time bringing someone into a business system - say an affiliate program for selling web sites, then residual income means that you'll be paid for everything that person does - every web site he sells - and everything that people who sign up under him do. A good residual system has at least two levels. The better ones have four or five levels of residual pay offs.

Let's take a hard look at what this means. Bringing that one person into the system gives you a pay off of say 7% of whatever he does. If he brings three people into the system, then he gets 7% of what they do and you get 4% of what they do. Now you're making income from two levels for one piece of work - the time you spent bringing the original person into the system. What if those three people each bring in three people? They get the 7%, your guy gets 4% and you get 2%. I think you can see the power of residual multilevel marketing. Just as a kicker, take a more real scenerio. What if you bring in twenty people, each of who brings in fifteen people, each of of who brings in 10 people. You would be making 7% on 20 people, 4% on 300 people, and 2% on 3000 people! Month after month, year after year. If you are all using and selling recurring products, so much the better! On top of the residul income, you also get the wholesale price difference for all of your customers and a bonus of say 30% from the company on everybody's sales!

Now you're talking money and multiple streams of income; exactly what you want in a Home Based Business!

How do you recognize a good partnering company? They have most, or all, of the six characteristics mentioned above. Any business that can't give you that isn't worth your time.

About the Author

Senior Editor of the HTWFH eZine
© 2003
Brian Schaeffer, editor of the How To Work From Home eZine and the Home Business Alliance Newsletter, has been involved with the internet, online home based business building and netpreneurism since 1995. He writes mainly about home based online and offline businesses.

How to Dramatically Reduce Refunds

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Refund requests and returned merchandise are a tremendous waste of your company's time, effort, and money.

But the solution is remarkably simple.

Why do customers request refunds?

It's not faulty merchandise or poor services.

Nor, usually, dishonest customers. And rarely because a customer found a better price elsewhere.

So what is the one factor most responsible for refund requests?

Buyer's Remorse.

It starts the moment the transaction has been completed. It starts because:

1. Most customers have been burned in the past. So it's only natural for them to have a healthy dose of skepticism.

2. Most people tend to worry, looking for something to go wrong, even though few of the things they worry about ever actually happen.

It is driven not by logic, but by emotions.

"Maybe this was a mistake. I don't really need this." "My friends will think I'm an absolute idiot for spending money on this." "It really looks different from what I expected." "I thought it would be easier to operate."

Studies have determined that 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass. But we continue to worry about anything and everything nonetheless.

If you accept this, you'll be able to take the proper steps to do something about it.

How to cut your refunds and returns to almost nothing

Now, here's the good news. Turning this ugly situation around is actually quite easy. All it takes is the right tool for the job.

This tool is Post-Purchase Reassurance.

Post-purchase reassurance means that

� You recognize that your customers will experience buyer's remorse

� You also recognize that the cause of this problem is rooted in the emotions, and

� You take the necessary action to completely neutralize the disastrous effects it can have.

So you reassure your customer that their worries are unfounded.

You send them a very personal follow-up letter immediately after the sale. This includes:

� A sincere thank-you to your customer.

� A restatement of one or more of the key benefits your customer gets from your product or service

� Additional information and useful tips on how to get the most from their recent purchase.

� Assurance that they made a wise choice by buying your product or service.

� A sincere reminder that you are always available to provide additional help.

Why this works so well

It makes the customer feel good, which makes them a satisfied customer.

It underscores your reputation as a good person and someone worth doing business with.

It creates what you might call "The Slight Bribe." Few people can accept a gift without feeling somewhat indebted. That's just a fact of human nature. And you can ethically use this natural trait to your advantage.

It helps your customers tell themselves, "I guess I was wrong. These people really aren't so bad after all. In fact, this product is just what I need."

And once you've proven yourself, you have a customer for life.

About the Author

Jonathan Gray has been helping people succeed in small home businesses for three years. Get free tips to promote your website quickly and cheaply now: phone +647 868 2441

10 Tips For Creating Unresistable Adverts

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

1. PROGRESSIVE DISCOUNT OFFERS.

People will buy more if you tell them there is a price slash on bulk purchase. It really does not matter if the slash is $10 or $1. Give progressive discount offers and watch your sales "sky rocket."

Tell them in clear terms; Buy three, get one free!, Buy four and get a 2% discount etc.

If you sell ebooks for instance, tell them if they buy one they will get one free.

You'll end up with more sales than you imagined.

2. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.

Tell your prospective buyers they will get back their money if they are not totally satisfied with the product you sell and they will end up buying. Why? They feel safe.

The truth is; if what you sell is what you say it is, no one will come back for his money and you'll make explosive sales.

3. CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY.

Make the prospective buyer feel the urge, the urgency to buy. This can be done by using action stimulating words and giving deadlines.

Here are a few examples; Offer lasts till:.., click now!, first 10 gets:., get free report now, order now!, complete details available :.., act now!, click, etc.

4. KISS

Keep It Short and Simple. Your marketing offers should be short and simple, yet irresistable.

5. NEVER TALK ABOUT YOU.

No buyer wants to know how your product affects you. They want to know what they will get from it. Please tell them. They are totally selfish and so am I when I want to buy.

While being honest, tell them what they will get from your product.

Instead of saying your company produces the best shoes in the world, simply say they deserve the best shoes and you have made it specially for them.

Tell them what they want to know truthfully and they will buy and keep buying.

6. ADD EMOTION TO YOUR MARKETING OFFER.

We all tend to react from emotions. Use this simple weakness of all men to create powerful marketing offers.

If you sell cosmetics, it is okay to say your cosmetics make people beautiful, it is better to say it makes them look younger and best to say it makes them look sexy.

7. HEADLINES.

You should never rush headlines. A good ad could be ruined by a poor headline. When creating headlines, spend time on it.

Write out a list of headlines and let friends and family help you choose the best ones. Understand that if your headline does not catch them, you have lost them.

Headlines should be captivating. It should draw attention and must not outrageous. This turns people off. It must be sound real and probably make them inquisitive.

Look at these samples. 1hourwealth, Tasty Marketing Tips you Cannot Resist, Explode your sales in 72hours.

8. CUSTOMER CONVENIENCE.

People will buy more if your product offers convenience. Any product and service that generates more result in a shorter period of time will sell more.

9. SCAN THE MARKET FOR OPPORTNITIES.

Making money and creating irresistible marketing offers become easy if you have the answer to this question; What do my customer want more and how can I provide it?

Find the answer and fill the need. Make it obvious you have the answer in your market offers and it simply becomes irresistable.

10. BORROW IDEAS.

I did not say steal ideas. I said borrow. Never infringe copyright laws.

You can however borrow ideas. When you see a marketing offer that looks irresistible, simply borrow it. Improve it, add something, remove something and then use it.

You must have succeeded in creating an irresistible offer.

I recommend you read Shawn Casey's Mining Gold available at <http://www.quickinfo247.com/7767817.905/mg>

© 2003 Oluwafisayo Akinlolu

About the Author

How about exploding your sales to $1000 and above in 5-15days? Discover the power of resources you probably do not know exist. See for yourself quickinfo247.com/7767817.30/mg for details. You will earn $1000 in 5-15days. MAXIMUM GUARANTEE!!

Making a Stronger First Impression - Looking to Make a Stronger First Impression and be Remembered by Potential Customers?

Thu, 06 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Have you ever met someone and wanted to suggest how your company could benefit them, but you didnt want to be seen as being pushy or aggressive?

Are you looking for a better way to introduce yourself to people you meet every day?

Have you ever felt that the description you give of your company could better represent what you do?

Ever wish you could sell more with less work?
Well, theres the old way, and then theres the successful approach.

The Old Way. You meet someone. You tell them what you do. Theyre not interested at all. You either search for a way to work your occupation back into the conversation, or you just dominate the conversation and tell people what your job function is, talking their ears off with details that they dont care about at all. They stand there thinking, how can they escape the doldrums of this conversation and find someone more interesting to talk to? Ever been the victim of this one? Ever been guilty of this one?

The Successful Approach. You meet someone new. You give them a succinct, benefits-based description of what you do and wait until they ask you for more information. If youve piqued their curiosity enough, theyll ask you for more information. Now you have their full attention! You can ask them a couple of questions and then offer a full description of what you can do for them specifically.

Which approach do you think would be more effective at quickly gaining the interest of and building rapport with potential customers?

Success Tip: You only have about 15 seconds to get the attention and respect of a new person that you meet. People make a subconscious judgement about whether to deal with you in those critical few seconds. If you dont get them then, you may not have a second chance.

The Old Way
Heres a situation weve all experienced. Youre at a social function and ask someone what they do for a living. They will typically say, "Im Adam Smith, and Im an Accountant with Big Accounting Firm." On hearing this introduction, most people will feel that theyre in for an uninspiring conversation of numbers, tax percentages and statistical models and look for an escape route. Not a person you want to have an evening of conversation with!

The Successful Approach
You meet another person at the same event, and they introduce themselves: "Im Betty Smith. I help people like you to better manage their expenses to have more money left at the end of the month and less tax to pay, so they can retire early." You could be quite intrigued to learn more!

Success Tip: There are numerous competitors out there every day offering exactly the same products and services you do. Its up to you to differentiate yourself from them in a way that your customers remember you and think of your company the next time they need what youre offering.

What Makes the Difference
The Successful Approach uses what we call The Core Product Offer -- a brief statement of the benefits clients could receive by doing business with you or your company. In other words, whats in it for them. Theres a big perceptual difference between "Im an Accountant with Big Accounting Firm" and "I help people like you to better manage their expenses to have more money left at the end of the month and less tax to pay, so they can retire early." Who would get your undivided attention? Which Accountant do you think people would be willing to pay more to meet with? That is not to say that Adam Smith, the first Accountant, would not be successful. But if both had the same level of technical abilities and people skills, Betty Smith will attract clients more easily and build a client base faster with her approach.

Success Tip: Customers buy benefits -- they dont buy services. People buy peace of mind, saving money, saving time, freedom, improved image, status, increased loyalty, better returns on their investments, etc.... Find out what your customers buy -- the benefits that you give them. Use those benefits to show potential customers the value of doing business with you.

The Core Product Offer is designed to plant a seed of interest in the mind of the other person and intrigue them to want to know more. Once they invite you to tell them more, youre set. You have their interest. Now you can ask additional questions to better understand their needs, and then give them specific details about what you can do for them.
Success Tip: A request for information is a key buying signal. Once theyve given you permission to educate them more about which of your services theyre interested in, ask a few questions so that you can give them the exact information they need to facilitate their buying decision.

Using The Core Product Offer is as simple as it sounds and more effective than you can imagine. Try it! The results will speak for themselves.

Since you never have a second chance, make your first impression count -- in dollars and sense!

About the Author

Kevin Lawrence is a Business-Building Coach, Speaker & Author who works with Professional Financial Advisors (Investment/Insurance Advisors & Accountants) to assist them in building their businesses by increasing referrals and repeat business - the most efficient and profitable growth strategy in existence. He also helps people find balance, accomplish long-term goals, increase personal fulfillment or achieve any other result they desire in life.

You can listen to his educational AudioBook "Generate Endless Referrals & Discover More Repeat Business Than You Thought Possible" and subscribe to his 2 complimentary email newsletters "Successful Life" and "Endless Referrals" See details below or by sending an email to newsletters@kevin-lawrence.com
Contact Kevin Lawrence at 604 313-2229

Top 12 Ways You Can Over-Deliver Value To Your Clients

Thu, 06 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

In our business, were often asked the question: "How can I over-deliver and, thereby, ensure high levels of customer retention and referrals?" Heres our answer, in the form of a "Top 12 Ways You Can Over-Deliver Value To Your Clients" list:

1. Give your customers proposals based on their needs, not your personal preferences.
Sounds simple, but most businesses try pushing things on people instead of offering them the customized solutions they want.

2. Finish the project early and beat the deadline.

3. Add in some unexpected "extras."
One of our clients gives each customer a little piece of candy or chocolate with every invoice or business proposal - a very nice touch. Small gestures like this often have a huge impact. And, of course, its so easy.

4. Always remember people on important days.
Holidays are great, but everyones up on them. Remember birthdays and anniversaries, as well. It will be appreciated.

5. Spoil your customers, just because.
It feels so good to be treated like royalty. You may even consider having a "Customer of the Month" programme: Every month, do something extraordinarily special for one valued client.

6. Invoice clients for less than estimated.
Ever had your car serviced for less than you expected?

7. Follow up.
Make yourself indispensable even after a deal is done. Your customers will be pleasantly surprised and, who knows, they may even have some more business for you that wasnt expected.

8. Celebrate with your clients.
Send flowers or champagne when they win the big contract or achieve any other significant accomplishment. Let them know you care.

9. Use your network for your clients benefit.
One of the most valuable "extras" is to provide clients with the name of a great accountant, lawyer, chiropractor or designer from your rolodex full of contacts. As your team of resources grows, use their combined talents and strengths to make appropriate referrals and put people in contact with each other. Its a huge extra that costs you nothing.

Note: Be careful to only refer good sources. If someone you recommend "messes up," people will remember who recommended them.

10. Ask your clients what else they need.
Routinely, ask them how you could go further, provide better service and be more useful to them. They will almost always be delighted that you asked. More importantly, their answers should provide valuable information, and their requests will generally cost you little or nothing to deliver. Your efforts will be appreciated.

11. Say "Thanks!"

12. Finally, remember that, in order to overdeliver you need to undersell.
If you make a promise and fail to keep it, your customers will be very disappointed, perhaps even to the point where they leak out of your business barrel. Undersell, and then give yourself room to EASILY impress and WOW your clientele.

Always remember, its the little things that make the difference.

About the Author

Kevin Lawrence is a Business-Building Coach, Speaker & Author who works with Professional Financial Advisors (Investment/Insurance Advisors & Accountants) to assist them in building their businesses by increasing referrals and repeat business - the most efficient and profitable growth strategy in existence. He also helps people find balance, accomplish long-term goals, increase personal fulfillment or achieve any other result they desire in life.

You can listen to his educational AudioBook "Generate Endless Referrals & Discover More Repeat Business Than You Thought Possible" and subscribe to his 2 complimentary email newsletters "Successful Life" and "Endless Referrals" at http://www.kevin-lawrence.com or by sending an email to newsletters@kevin-lawrence.com

Contact Kevin Lawrence at 604 313-2229, or:

:To contact online see details below.

Create a Winning Attitude for Success

Thu, 06 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Business is a microcosm of Life. To stay competitive, be successful and overcome barriers standing in your way, you need to regularly assess where you are and what you want to achieve. Your mental attitude can make the difference between reaching or not reaching your goals.

If your business has suffered a setback or you have an employee facing personal or professional challenges, maybe its time for some rehabilitation. Many of the same approaches used to get a person back on track after a physical injury are also key to keeping your business and employees moving forward. One good example of how rehabilitation can work is to apply the characteristics of a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA).

Gary Faris, a corporate trainer, learned first-hand how PMA works. Since he was a kid, he loved to run. A few years ago Gary, 38, was practicing for a quarter mile race in the Masters category. While training on a quiet country road, he was suddenly hit from behind by a pickup truck going 60 mph. The driver had not seen him because of a small rise in the road. The driver tried to stop but Gary was knocked 120 feet into a farmers field.

The prognosis was not good. If he lived, he would never walk normally and he would have to forget about ever running again.

During his painful recovery, Gary applied his understanding of how to create success in business and decided to search for the core characteristics of a successful rehabilitation.

The Six Characteristics of a Positive Mental Attitude Gary discovered are as applicable to all aspects of business as they are to helping someone recover from an injury or setback.

There is a science to creating a positive attitude of achievement. It is made up of very specific elements. They are presented here in a sequence, but it is the simultaneous interaction of them working together that creates the chemistry for a winning attitude and success in just about any endeavor.

Read over this list. Then, follow the exercise at the end.

1. Set Your Inner Motivation

Inner motivation happens when you are clearly motivated toward a very specific goal and away from the unpleasant consequences of not achieving it.

2. The Value of High Standards

Set your own high standards. This means achieving anything less is unacceptable. Personally dedicate yourself to this level.

3. Chunk Down Your Goal

Break down your goal into manageable, bite-size chunks. The benefits are:
a) Youll focus on small tasks you can and will do.
b) This creates a sense of satisfaction in completing each small step toward achievement.

4. Combine Your Present and Future Time Frames

Think vividly and fully in the positive future. At the same moment you are concentrating on achieving the task at hand, you can also see the big bright picture of your future accomplishment drawing you forward.

What step can you take right now to reach your next milestone? Fully experience the present and take action toward your future.

5. Personal Involvement

Get involved in your own success. Dont wait for it to happen to you. When you participate, you influence whats going on. It increases your commitment, focuses your intensity, and makes you more determined. Personal involvement leads to owning a bigger stake in your own future.

6. Self to Self-Comparison

How do you judge your performance? Traditionally we compare ourselves to others, judging success and failure.

Try looking solely at your own progress, comparing yourself to yourself. What progress have you made since yesterday, since last week, last month, last year? Achievement is about moving from where you were to where you are now and on to where you are going in the future.

In the physics of motion, these Six Characteristic elements are like spokes on a wheel. Together they support the hub of your life as you roll towards manifesting your dreams, your goals and your future achievements.

Now, try this exercise.

Choose one of your goals and take it through the Six Characteristics.

TIP: To be successful in any endeavor you need first to know your specific goals or outcomes.

1) Do you have both specific outcomes to achieve and clear negative consequences of not reaching your goal?
2) Have you set a high standard for yourself?
3) Have you chunked your goal down to manageable steps?
4) Is your visualized future accomplishment presently drawing you toward it?
5) Are you taking action or waiting for it to happen to you?
6) Lighten up! Compare yourself to yourself. Use others as inspiration, not comparison.

Using these Six Characteristics and a lot of determination, Gary Faris was able to get through two years of painful rehabilitation and is now running again. Amazing! Apply these Six Characteristics to your business, to a struggling employee, or to your health, and notice your increased effectiveness. Let me know how it works for you!

(This model was originally developed by Gary J. Faris, Senior NLP Trainer and Consultant.)

© 2000, Robert Knowlton, Options Success Coaching and Training

About the Author

Robert Knowlton is an Executive Coach. Coaching in leadership development, advanced communications strategies, and realizing your purpose and personal vision. Are you ready for a coach?

Subscribe to my free e-newsletter, ON PURPOSE. Go to http://www.SuccessOptions.com/ezine.htm?01 or send an email to purpose98-subscribe@listbot.com

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Super Cheap Ways to Promote Your Small Business

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Small business owners tend to have a common problem: where can they go to find effective cheap advertising?

It used to be that a small business' best low-cost advertising bet was radio. Radio is still quite affordable in many communities, but ad rates have gone through the roof in many others.

This leaves lots of small businesses with nowhere to go for local advertising. Fortunately, America's oldest form of mass media is coming to the rescue. Many cities are seeing a big return of neighborhood newspapers.

Small neighborhood papers focus on a particular part of town. They carry news on events within a few mile radius of their readers. Neighborhood papers also work hard to appeal to businesses in their immediate area.

One consumer told me she pays closer attention to ads in her neighborhood paper. "I know they're all a very short drive away. The big daily paper is advertising stores that are an hour or more away," she said.

Neighborhood papers not only feature far lower rates than larger papers, they let you tightly focus on a particular part of town. Specific neighborhoods feature specific income levels and lifestyles. This helps you target your ads more than you can with other kinds of local advertising.

Direct Response TV is also a great place to find cheap advertising. Just like any other kind of direct response marketing, television's response rates can be low. But there are so many people watching TV that it doesn't take a very high response rate to keep you awash in sales.

Nothing gets direct response on TV like infomercials. The best feature exciting video on a popular subject related to the product being sold. The product is marketed during the program's six minutes of commercials. Three two-minute commercials are common.

Shop for infomercial space during off-peak times. Late at night and weekends are best. Even though these times aren't big ratings- getters, the total numbers of people watching can still be impressive.

Look for especially low prices in smaller markets and on cable TV outlets. Thirty minutes can sometimes go for as low as a few hundred dollars.

Save on product costs by hiring a small, capable one or two- person production house.

Internet advertising also tends to be cheap, but it can take quite a bundle to keep your messages consistently in front of a lot of prospects. Buying audience for your website is almost always an expensive proposition.

One way to stretch your reach on the Internet is to team up with other businesses that are reaching a lot of prospects with advertising. Have them include your ad, banner, link, or (even better) article on their website or in their advertising.

Watch for web-based businesses that advertise frequently in top ezines, in card decks, on TV, and in magazines. Get mentioned on their site and harvest some of the benefit of their aggressive ad campaign.

You are more likely to receive cooperation from businesses that have clients similar to yours. Show the business how you offer a valuable product or service their customers will appreciate. Including you on their site must be a benefit for them.

Many intense Internet advertisers are looking for ways to defray their marketing expenses. Offer to pay a portion of the cost in exchange for being included in ads and on their site.

About The Author

Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copywriting. See his 10,000 marketing ideas and popular promotion packages at DrNunley.com Reach Kevin at 801-328-9006.

Taming the MailBox Monster

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

If you use Outlook Express to manage all of your email accounts, be sure that you are taking advantage of using its ability to sort your mail for you!

Using the Folders and Message Rule options can be a great way to save you time and confusion when going through your mountains of Email.

First of all, decide the categories you need for your Folders. Of course, if you receive emails from various domains and locations, this would be an obvious choice for some of your categories. You're the boss! There are all kinds of ways to sort!

To set up folders:

1.Click File/Folder/New

(You should see the outline of existing folders in front of you.)

2. Highlight the folder under which you would like your new category. You will probably want to start out placing new ones under "Local Folders". This way you will see them when you are working in OE.

3. Type in your chosen Folder Name, and click OK.

After you have created all of your folders, you are now ready to assign message rules to your incoming mail.

The easiest way to create them is by using existing mail to create the rules from. For example, I participate in a number of Get Paid to REad Email programs. I set up a folder which I call GPTREM. It is easiest to click through them if they are all in one folder, and I do it one day a week. But it is tedious to look through daily mail, and move them to that folder as they come in one at a time. Go through the process below one time, and they will go there automatically from then on.

If you have numerous emails that come from the same place, and would like them automatically collected into a folder to be read at a later date, this is a great time saver.

1. The next time you get one of these emails, highlight it.

2. Click Message/Create Rule from Message

3. You'll see a screen with check boxes beside assorted instructions for you to choose from. As you check these boxes, you will see the rule being created in the lower box. Since you are creating a rule from an existing message, the first box will already be checked, and the information inserted, highlighted in blue.

4. In the second box down, click where you want the message to go. This will place a blue highlighted word in the rule box. Click on that highlighted word, and select the destination.

5. VERY IMPORTANT! Name your rule at the bottom of the page. (#4) If you do not name the rule, it will not be saved. ( I was doing this for a long time, and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working.)

6. After you have named and saved your rule, you can apply the rule to existing messages.

Click Tools/Message Rules/Mail.

7. Highlight the rule you want to apply, and Click Apply Now, over to the right.

8. Click Browse, and choose the area or folders you would like to apply the rule to.

9. Click Apply, and watch your mail sort itself.

10. Next time a message comes in from that location, it will automatically be placed in that folder.

You are on your way to a much more organized daily mailbox experience!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to write: mentor@makemoneyhowto.com

Happy Mailing!
Gail

About the Author

Gail Hornback is a stay at home mom of 5, editor of WebWorksAtHome Weekly Update, and author of the WebWorks Website at webworksathome.com . You may subscribe to her weekly ezine at http://www.listbot.com/subscribe/ webworksathome

Are We Diluting Our Own Profits... With Too Many Bonuses?

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

When we offer something for sale, its a great incentive to give a bonus to the purchaser. It makes buyers feel good about buying from us, and it makes us feel good that we have given something of real value.

When ebooks started coming out, many were free, while others had to be purchased. They all, of course, are (usually) valuable in their content, and also valuable to the author. Why to the author? Simply because the ebook carried the authors messages, or links, which is the main reason for an ebook in the first place.

But somewhere along the line, the whole idea of bonuses seems to have gotten out of hand. How? Follow this scenario:

Marketer #1 writes an ebook, selling it for $17.95. As a bonus for ordering, you also receive 2 more ebooks, free if charge.

Not bad, so far.

But then, along comes Marketer #2, who buys from #1, and ADDS 3 more bonuses to the ebook offer. Now we can receive 5 bonuses for our $17.95 purchase. Marketer #3 now buys the package from #2, adds yet another 5 bonuses, for a total of 10 bonuses. And on, and on, and on.

Ive seen packages out there that are giving 15 and 20 bonuses with your purchase.

Then, of course, some of those original $17.95 ebooks are finding there way into these packages. The very same ebooks that many of us are still trying to sell.

How many of those $17.95 ebooks have you seen "on sale" for $1.00? Or given away free? Plus umpteen bonuses?

To me, thats really diluting the profits of everyone trying to sell ebooks. Theres always someone willing to give away the store, in an effort to knock out the competition.

There are some ebook authors out there, though, that seem to have the right idea. When their ebook is purchased, there is a stipulation that the ebook CANNOT BE GIVEN AWAY, OR RE-PACKAGED. And it must be SOLD for (between 2 price ranges).

But, even then, Ive seen these very same ebooks being GIVEN, and RE-PACKAGED against the authors wishes. And this, as I see it, violates the authors copyright.

Bonuses are great instruments if used correctly.

But ARE we?

About the Author

(c)2000-01 by BJ Evans
http://www.dailybiz.com/freearticles
You can use this article but please leave it intact. Thanks. Looking for resellers, profitable programs? We use some of the best. Come join us.

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Stop Spinning Your Tires and Grow Your Business

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Does operating your business these days remind you of spinning your tires? Are you generating a lot of activity but not moving forward? Believe it or not, this could be a good sign. It could mean that you are ready to move from one stage of business growth to the next.

Experts identify three main stages of business growth. The Startup Phase is the time when you get your business up and running, locate customers, make sales and essentially, try to get money coming in. Typically, at this point, you are an Owner/Operator.

The next stage is Early Stage Expansion. In this phase, your business experiences "growing pains" similar to the ones I will discuss below.

In the third stage, your business moves from Owner Operated into Management. In other words, your function is that of manager. You are no longer involved in the day to day operation of running the business or of producing the product or service.

Experts claim that only a minority of small businesses move into the third phase. Therefore, todays article will address ways of managing growth as you move from Startup into Stage Two.

You know its time to look for ways to manage growth if any of the following apply:
1. You have steady income and regular sales but you are working too hard. You are investing "sweat equity". You know that if you continue working at that speed, you will burn out, lose productivity or worse -- become ill. It is time to find a way to increase growth while working less.

2. You are running into cash flow problems. Often, cash flow problems are caused by the need to invest in inventory or in product development, or to cover payroll. However, while money is being spent on the above items, the payment for sales is delayed until the product is developed, delivered and invoiced. That is, you have capital assets (equipment, inventory), but cash is flowing out faster than it is flowing in. In this situation, you will need to find a way to manage by generating an influx of cash while continuing to develop your products or services.

If its time to grow your business, youll want to manage that growth as efficiently as possible. Try one or more of the following strategies:

a. Existing Customers and Existing Products.
Find ways of selling more products to your customers, or raise the price or fee. If you have been charging your customers the same price for a year or more, it is reasonable to notify them of an increase. Similarly, there comes a time when you might decide to turn down low paying work in favor of spending the time looking for higher paying markets. You might also increase inward cash flow by strategies such as announcing a sale, or by offering a discount if people pay now for a years worth of services.

b. Existing Customers, New Products
Keep your existing products, but look for new customers. Ask your existing customers for referrals, have a contest or publish a newsletter. Look for opportunities to reach new customers through joint ventures or other strategies. For example, if you are selling web development services, you could locate a company selling ecommerce software and arrange to promote one anothers services to your existing customer list. You will both be using your existing products to reach new customers.

c. New Products, Existing Customers.
Develop new products and sell to existing customers. This is often referred to as developing "back end" products, and is a favorite approach used by the webs more successful entrepreneurs. For example, if you are currently selling gardening supplies, you might notify your existing customers that you now have added vegetable cookbooks or garden ornaments to your inventory.

d. New Products, New Customers.
You develop new products and look for new customers. Essentially, this means you have a new business, and like all businesses, you will need to do your homework and your market research.

About the Author

Visit June Campbell on the web for guides to writing business plans, business proposals, Joint Venture Contracts, and more. FREE ebook to subscribers to a business ezine.
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To Your Credit

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

When a customer requests credit, do you:

A. Turn to your previously developed credit policy for the answer, or

B. Stammer and wonder what to do next?

For those of you who selected the latter, heres some tips from an entrepreneur with over 35 years experience in credit and collections. Ian A. Love, owner of Alexian Accounts Receivable Services, offers the following tips.

Dont give credit until you can answer the following questions to your satisfaction:

Who exactly is your client?

Is your client credit worthy?

How much credit is required and how long will you be expected to wait for payment?

Do I have enough financial resources to support the transaction (which includes the possibility of never being paid)?

Does your client understand and acknowledge the credit line (limit) you will operate?

What is the payment terms you are extending?

When you develop a credit policy, decide on net monthly terms and base it upon the industry that you are in.

Run a credit check on a new customer before giving credit. Get information from a Credit Bureau and ask for trade references. Be on the look out for suppliers who arent listed as references. They may have a study to tell that you need to hear.

Chase the dollar, not the sale. For example, suppose your salesperson sells someone $100,000 worth of merchandise on credit. The salesperson may consider only the profit from the sale. But if the customer goes bankrupt, you stand to lose not only the profit but the expenditures that went into the project as well, to say nothing of the time your credit manager will spend trying to collect before the bankruptcy takes place. Dont be swayed by the lure of the profit without doing your homework.

Look for reasons to say, "yes." All to often, businesses make a quick "no" decision regranting credit. Then they feel uncomfortable and give in to the customers persuasive arguments. Keep looking until you find a concrete reason why you should say "yes," and dont grant credit until you find it. While looking for the reason to say "yes," you might also discover the reason to say "no."
Keep close to the sales and marketing people. They have to fully understand your credit policy and may have concerns or suggestions to contribute.

Develop a procedure manual that you will share with the accountant, the sales department, management, and sales and marketing. Make sure that each department understands what each others role is in processing the sale. Cover very single step from opening a new account to when you make your first collection call to when you get more forceful in your activities, to when to go through small claims court, etc. The whole idea is to get the decision- making points of the journey outlined in an orderly manner and make to good decisions rather than reactionary decisions.
Ian Love can be reached for consultation at alexian@hotmail.com.

About the Author

June Campbell is a professional writer whose work has appeared in a variety of international print publications. She also provides business writing services as well as offering online sales of "How-to Booklets and Templates for Business" from her site.

:To contact see details below.

Ten Important Hints for Increasing Sales

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

In these busy times, the customer's choice to purchase may be based on how easy it is to make the purchase rather than price! Here are a ten ideas to make your product or service easy for customers to purchase:

1. Accept credit cards for payment. This is mandatory. The majority of small purchases is by credit card. However, be careful in choosing your credit card merchant provider. There are agents that are charging excessive rates and fees. As always, caveat emptor.

2. Provide a money-back, no-questions asked return policy.

3. Distribute free catalogs. (... but include a "price" on the cover, say $5.00.) The recipient then feels good about getting your "$5.00" catalog free!

4. Get an 800 number for sales and service. Ensure the number is well attended. Do it yourself if possible! Again, as with the credit card merchant account warning above, choose your provider with care. It is now very easy and inexpensive to maintain an 800 number. The 800 number may simply "piggy back" on your existing business line, if desired. Very handy.

5. Provide a strong guarantee for your product or service. If possible, offer "lifetime" guarantees. This is a very strong selling point but statistics show very, very few customers ever take advantage of such a guarantee.

6. Give away something free (possibly in conjunction with a purchase) from time to time.

7. If you're in the retail business, maintain store hours in evenings and on weekends.

8. Provide a delivery service (or service at the customer's location).

9. Follow up sales to the extent possible. Personal calls for big ticket sales or a returnable post card for higher volume sales can make a lasting impression ... and a return customer!

10. Have a "preferred customer" sale.

About the Author

Robert Sullivan is the author of The Small Business Start-Up Guide, and United States Government - New Customer!. He frequently lectures on starting small businesses and appears on CNBC's "Minding Your Business" as a small business expert. His books may be ordered toll-free by calling 1 800 375 8439.

Robert also developed and maintains an extensive award-winning Internet website, "The Small Business Advisor," at isquare.com

Activating Lost Cellular Phone Customers

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

What do you do when your customer has left you to go to the competition? Do you give up? Or are there ways of enticing them back? BellSouth Mobility, a major cellular provider, had a big problem with churn. With over one million subscribers in their 28 cellular systems, they are growing at a rate of 45% per year. They are adding over 2,500 customers a day -- but they are losing over 500 customers per day as well. While business, on the whole, is very good, it is depressing to have to support this high level of customer loss.

BellSouth Mobility is not unique. On average, the cellular industry churn is about 18% of the customer base per year. It costs an average of $350 to add a customer. Active customers average only $60 per month in revenue. Customers who leave early may cost more than they are worth. Because of this problem, Ed Evans, Director of Field Operations for BellSouth Mobility, decided to investigate the reasons why customers were leaving so as to develop a program for getting them back.

Ed used one of BellSouths markets with a population of one million, and 65,000 subscribers. In this market, BellSouth had a 65% market share. Their goal was to win back 10% of their lost subscribers. To begin with, they wanted to know why they left, whether they would come back, and what it would take to get them to do so.

They called a large sample of the lapsed subscribers. Here is what the customers said about their reasons for dropping the service:
12% -- No longer needed the service
18% -- Company no longer pays the bill
24% -- Moved out of the coverage area
34% -- Switched to the competition
12% -- Other reasons.

Ed decided to concentrate his attention on the 34% who switched to the competition. He set up four focus groups of former customers who were currently active on the competitors system. They asked each focus group member to compare the two systems, identifying advantages and disadvantages of each system. They asked them to explain why they switched, and whether they would be willing to switch back.

What they found out was quite interesting. Most of those leaving BellSouth felt that the BellSouth system coverage was better, customer service was better, and the billing system was better. So why did they leave? Here is what they said:
� BellSouth did something that upset me.
� BellSouth wouldnt issue a credit ($0.50) for a dropped call
� BellSouth gave free phones to new subscribers, but not to me
� BellSouth wouldnt give me the current (free air) promotion

Many indicated that they might switch back, but that they were currently under contract. They would want a free phone or free airtime to return.

Reactivation Strategy

Armed with this knowledge, BellSouth made two decisions: they decided to give the fifty-cent credit for all dropped calls. Next, they tried a free phone or free airtime direct mail offer to 3,500 customers who switched to get them to switch back. The mail piece reaffirmed the advantages cited by the focus groups, and included a coverage map.

The results were disappointing, to say the least. After thirty days they had only a 3% response rate, resulting in only 1% reconnection. The effort cost them $800 per reconnected customer. It was definitely not a profitable test. To find out why it failed, they held focus groups of people in the promoted test group.

Everyone interviewed thought that the offer was a strong one, but they explained:
� Im under contract with the other guys
� I moved and didnt see the offer
� I lost the card they sent me.

Back to the drawing board

To counter these objections, BellSouth tried a repeat of the same direct mail offer to 1,000 former customers. But, this time, they sent it only to customers who left 11 months before -- so that their contract with the other guys was about to run out. They followed up each letter with a telephone call.

The letter produced an 8% response rate and a 3% connect rate. The telephone call increased this to a 10% connect rate. The cost per customer dropped to $325 each. This, at last, was profitable. Since that time, BellSouth mails to about 1,000 every month, using the same selection criteria. The reconnect rates have stayed good. They are expanding the system to their other 27 markets.

Conclusion

Getting customers to come back begins with understanding the thinking of the customers. BellSouth skillfully used a number of tools that enabled them to come up with a winning strategy rapidly and at a reasonably low cost. Their methods included:
� An active marketing database. The entire BellSouth effort was possible only because they maintained a database of current and former subscribers. They were able to do ad-hoc queries which enabled them to understand what their customers were doing and thinking, and to use this knowledge in planning their marketing strategy.
� Surveys and Focus Groups. Calling former customers, and setting up the focus groups was an excellent idea, which paid off in increased knowledge.
� Timing of the offer. Once BellSouth learned the secret of making the offer in the 11th month, the answer seems obvious. But it wasnt obvious at all when they started.
� Testing on a small scale. How many companies with a million customers begin with a test mailing to 3,500? Not many. The bigger you are, the more likely you are to waste money on large-scale tests which often fail.
� Putting themselves in the customers shoes. The result of the testing was a genuine understanding of the customers thinking. Figuring out that the 11th month was the right month, knowing what offer to make, learning that dropped calls were important, all contributed to the success of the effort.
� Drawing intelligent conclusions based on financial analysis. Too many marketers would approach the reactivation problem with a single mass mailing. BellSouth didnt do that at all. Each effort was carefully studied and measured. From what they learned, they tried to get inside the heads of the lapsed subscribers so as to figure out what they were thinking. The combination of the right offer, at the right time, based on careful testing, is certainly the hallmark of database marketing at its best.

About the author.

:To contact see details below.

THE HARDEST TWO QUESTIONS NEW CUSTOMERS ASK

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

A big part of my day is spent answering email. This IS something I enjoy despite much of it being SPAM. I enjoy answering the mail because some of it is from people asking for advice. Sort of makes me feel important;-) Seriously - I like helping new-to-the-net. Heres a secret - help them get off to a good start and many of them later become not just your customers - but your repeat customers.

Many newbies seem to be asking the same two questions lately:

(1) Can you really make money in this business? and

(2) What products do you recommend?

Both of these questions show a lot of trust and both are hard to answer for that reason. Its sort of like selling your used car to a friend - you know that it doesnt have any problems and is a good buy, but you worry about problems that may crop up later.

In answering the first question - the answer is obviously YES. However, I know that many individuals operating businesses on the internet never break even. Thats despite many marketing tools being less expensive on the net. I know this because I periodically hear from discouraged acquaintances - many deciding to hang it up. Yet - I also know and see proof of many people making a very comfortable living marketing on the net. The difference is product and presentation! You have to have the right products and services - products and services that are really needed by your segment of the market. The other part is you need to point out why these products and services fill a real need with good advertising.

Advertising is not convincing people to buy something they know they dont need, its getting them to recognize - and emotionally commit to act on filling - one of their needs. The most important part of your first customer contact whether its classified ads, ezine articles, free for all pages, salesletters, or search engine listings is HEADLINES. Thats what first catches the customers attention and convinces him that this is something that might fills a need. If the headline fails to grab the passing customer, nothing else really matters. Thats the subject of another article though.

Just acknowledge that you must present your offer properly. That means well written ads and well designed, professional lookingwebsites. I post a lot of articles on my site to help my readersor visitors out in this area. In fact - I have over 110 articles by a wide variety of authors that I have posted. These articles are all related to internet marketing. This help is totally free- in an effort to help get visitors off to a good start or to help them figure out how to correct a problem. So the how-to is out there, you only have to read, study, and apply. Those who have figured out the system and met with some success are happy to share what they have learned. They do this because helping you helps them in the long-term. You recognize the name and you remember who gave you good advice when you were looking for a product or service. Keep this in mind because its another business secret. You build trust by showing that you really care. Without that trust you will not make many substantial sales. Its those sales that you make to your repeat customers that bring tha elusive success.

Answering the second question seems to be a little harder for me and should be for you too. When you recommend any product or service you are putting your reputation on the line. That also means any future contact you have with the customer will be filtered through memories of this early contact. So I personally refuse to recommend any product or service that I have any doubt about. For the web hosting service I offer I even go as far as to offer to refund the setup fee new customers pay - even six months later if they are dissatisfied with their service. I can make this guarantee because I use this firm to host my web site and know beyond any doubt the level of service my customers can expect. Therein lies another key - if you use the product or service you are selling, you know whether or not you offer the customer a genuine value. When you really know and use your products its much easier to be sincere in your marketing efforts. Many MLM firms focus on this very point, so they require you to buy their products to qualify for any commission. This is good business although it can serve an ulterior motive - it also guarantees a certain volume of business for the parent company. But - I presume you wouldnt buy the product unless you really liked it, so you will only stick with and market quality products - longterm. Buying a product just so you can qualify to convince someone else to buy it is faulty thinking. Its like investing in a money-losing tax shelter so that you will have less income to pay taxes on!

All this means that you should really investigate a product or service before offering it to your customers. What do other resellers, and what do customers have to say about the product. If its a good product, there should be testimonials available. If its an expensive or involved product - the merchant should be willing to give you the name and address of other buyers! Look at the product or service you are considering offering and ask yourself if you would really want it sold to you. If not, dont offer it to your customers. It will only hurt your reputation and image in the longterm. You need to remember that a satisfied customer may tell a friend, but a dissatisfied customer is guaranteed to tell many more. There are some excellent products and services out there for resellers. If you can come up with a quality product or service of your own, this would guarantee you an even better probability of success and a better profit margin.

After finding the product or service you are convinced will give your customers a good value, present it properly. That generally means avoiding all of the exaggerated claims you see scattered in about every ezine out there. People can generally see through these and are turned off by them - although deep down inside we all want to believe that there is a way to make $10,000 a day with no work (some secret that everybody else seems to know but that we just havent discovered yet). Appeal to emotion in your ads to get good response but dont exaggerate. You want credibility and your customers do see through the exaggerations.

My bottom line to these two questions that I find hard to answer is (1) Yes you can make money with the right quality, needed, products and services, and (2) I recommend products that I use, know and believe in. Do the same thing and you will excel in this business.

About the author

Willie Crawford is a marketing consultant, promotion specialist and popular writer. His website at williecrawford.com contains over 160 articles on internet marketing as well as a very popular internet marketing discussion board. Visit today and begin learning what really DOES work.

Copyright 1998 by Willie Crawford

:To contact see details below.

Help Your Happy Customers Refer Others to You

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

The least expensive (free!) and most satisfying way for business owners and managers to grow their businesses is through third party endorsements -- word of mouth referrals from happy customers -- yet few businesses help make those referrals easy to make.

Customers are most inspired to tell others when your service exceeded their expectations in at least one of five ways: you provided your product or service in ways that were faster, less expensive, more convenient or fun, or with some added value benefit that your competition doesnt offer. Youre sure to stand out from any competition when you are the first business of your kind to provide some of these points of difference. Competitors who institute your "extras" will be copycats, playing catch up to you.

As to the first two benefits, you can inspire customers to refer their friends and colleagues to your business because they can gain "bragging rights" for showing others how to save time and money by purchasing a product -- yours -- online.

Here are three ways to encourage online referrals to your business.

1) "Do it yourself" 2) " Recommend-It.com" 3) "Automatic Response"

1) To do it yourself all you need is a webpage with a form and a warm request for their referral, perhaps thanking them for their business and asking for their further support. Use the form to get the necessary information to both send a gift of appreciation (coupon, special added service, electronic postcard etc.) to your customer who is making the referral, and the right questions (beyond basic contact information) so that your first communication to your prospect is filled with some specific information, where possible, about how your service can help them. Be sure to describe on the referring page how you will be contacting the prospect so customers are comfortable enough to fill out the page

After customers fill out the form on this webpage, they can press "SUBMIT." The information will go directly to your e-mail mailbox -- other mailbox that you designate. You may choose to e-mail, mail and/or fax your offer to the prospective customer, depending on the best approach for your kind of product. For example, if you are selling a product that can be credibly viewed on your web page, you might send an e-mail, inviting the prospect to visit that page. If your service or product is best-experienced in-person, say a restaurant, you might send an email and an invitational postcard.

Go to this page for a demonstration of #1: http://www.pertinent.com/pertinfo/business/referral/index1.html

2) If youd like someone else to establish the web page for you, contact a company called Recommend-It.com. They will create the webpage for you at their site. They or you will then place a small graphic on your site that says, "recommend-it.com". You may have descriptive copy on your home page, requesting that your customers "Recommend Us to Your Friends." Customers can then click on this graphic which takes them to the form where they fill in the required information and Recommend-It.com will pass this information along to your friend or colleague.

Recommend-It.com sets up a form on their site. Your task to contact the company and place the graphic on your site. This is not a labour intensive task and signup is easy. See Recommend-It.com for a demonstration and more details at http://www.recommend-it.com/

3) The third option is the easiest and very inexpensive. Use a program such as the one weve us called "recommend us". Customized for your website, "Recommend us" will automatically facilitate the referral for you. With this option you can also design the referral page exactly as you like. Add your own personal graphics or advertising banners. After the initial setup, with the look and feel that you, desire there isnt anything else to do besides sit back and let your visitors spread the word about your products or services. The system passes on the message to the prospect, without you having to pass it on. If you would like to track the amount of referral sent with the system, customize the program to ensure that a copy of the referral is sent to your mailbox. See a demonstration http://209.53.3.96/urecommend/

Remember, your two most cost-effective ways of growing your business faster are through increasing per-customer sales and attracting customer referrals. With this article, you might accomplish both as customers reinforce their good judgement in using your services as they express their satisfaction to others they know. Well offer more suggestions on how to increase per-customer sales -- through the right cross-promotional partners -- in a future article.

About the Author

Chris McClean establishes the way businesses store and distribute their product and content online. Visit his site for information and tools to help you change the way you live and work.

:To contact see details below.

Customer Interface: So Many Toys, So Little Time

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

These days you can dress up your Web site with every capability short of scratch-and-sniff. The question is: should you?

The thing that attracts most of us to the World Wide Web is its infinite variety and penchant for constant change. I have never seen a business that continues to require so much learning on a daily basis. It keeps life very interesting.

There are so many new technologies. So many new toys to play with. So many new ways to attract people to your Web site and hold their attention. When the Internet was an ACSII environment, the message was the message. Now that we can muck with server-push, 3-D space, streaming audio and video, the media is the media.

There is serious danger in ignoring the pell-mell, head-long rush of new technology. Get behind for ten minutes on the Web and, like Alice in WWWonderland, you have to run twice as hard just to stay in the same place.

But there is an even greater danger of overdoing it. The sheer joy of puttering with new technology can carry you over the edge of good design. Admit it, your all-time favorite movie moment is the scene in Apollo 13 when the chief engineer walks into the room with a carbon dioxide filter in one hand and a box of miscellaneous parts in the other and says, "Gentlemen, we have six hours to make one of these, using nothing but this." Tinkering to save lives. Kludge as king.

The danger is making your Web site so crowded with fun toys and new gizmos that your audience gets sidetracked at best, or frustrated at least. Remember, your Web site is there for a reason. Keep that intent uppermost in your mind at all times.

To help restrain you from overburdening your Web site with nifty techno-gadgets, heres a tempting look at several, tempered with some warnings on how they might be less than ideal so supporting your Webs special purpose.

Newsgroup Tools

Put a newsgroup on your Web site to drum up conversations between your happy customers. Its nice to have real people telling real stories about how really pleased they are with your products. You can even have separate discussion groups for each product line. But dont get carried away. With too many conversations to choose from, any site visitor may be confused about where to click first.

Getting people to post to a dozen groups is not a minor task. You could easily end up with a healthy number of categories suffering from an unhealthy amount of interchange. If you commit to this approach, assign somebody the responsibility to start conversations. Even is they have to use the telephone to do it.

By the way, the Internet newsgroups hold a wealth of information, including comments you may want to re-post on your site. It behooves you to take a continued interest in them. The best way? DejaNews or InfoSeek. These sites let you search the newsgroup postings for instances of specific keywords including your product, company, you name it. No, you dont need to hire somebody to scan the postings every day, let the computer do it for you.

If you find yourself dealing with unhappy customers, use a private listserve. These are easy to set up and make customers feel special. Ask a select group of people to give you advice on your products and services and theyll reward you with their loyalty and their opinion. They pay the bills, so you should take an active interest in how they feel.

Be Seen as Well as Read

To see your face on the small screen try WebChat from the Internet Roundtable Society. WebChat lets you indulge in on-screen discussions with photographs displayed next to each participants comments. Open forum? Dont be tempted. The Internet has a great many people who like to say a great many things. Not all of the cogent. Not all of them polite. Instead, plan an on-line panel session of experts in your field. Invite your customers and prospects to listen in to your company-sponsored event. It may even be worth a press release.

Chat tools are also great for personalized customer service. "Im looking for something about your new widget on your Web site and cant find it. Do you know if it comes in green and works with my video card?" Just like thumbing through a catalog, its nice to have the virtual 800 number handy. By the way, you DO have your real 800 number posted on your Web site, right? And it IS connected to people who know what is on your Web site, right? Just checking.

For site visitors who need to be drawn a map (and face it, there are lots of them), a new technology for TCP/IP enabled whiteboards might help. Paradise Software is touting a digital sketch-pad called Simplicity Whiteboard Teleconferencing. Now your customer service people can draw circles around the link to the on-line manual.

Should you extend this customer interaction to video? White Pine Software and XING Technology say the time has come. The Mystic Eight Ball says: "Try Again Later." This technology crawls very well, but tends to be a bit unsteady on its feet. The majority of site visitors are still on modems and at 28.8, this video looks more like a flip-book than a VCR. More time needs to be spent on compression. Either that or we need our modems to magically turn into ATM routers and our phone lines all be upgraded to T1s overnight . Best to give it a couple of more days.

Be Heard as Well as Seen

If there is something on your site that just begs verbal description, try RealAudio from Progressive Networks. The Santa Monica Bank has done a nice job describing their back-of-the-bus placard advertising. You look at pictures of the ads while the voice-over explains the origin of the idea, the objective and the results. I was fascinated, being a marketing type. But you can see how this might be useful for some of your products. Viewing a product photo while its being verbally explained is excellent for comprehension.

Record companies and radio stations have latched on to RealAudio in a big way. But how long can you study the album cover while listening to a song clip? If the audio track were there to add value to what was being seen, this tool can be quite powerful. But please, no more, "Hello, Im Lou Gerstner, chairman of IBM. On behalf of all of us at IBM, Id like to welcome you to our World-Wide Web server."

Internet telephone tools like Camelot Corporations DigiPhone, and WebPhone from Quarterdeck let you use your computer as a telephone. With a local connection to the Internet you can talk with your customers around the world. When we all have sound cards, this will be great. When bandwidth is plentiful, this form of communication will be standard fare. Until then, best to keep the Internet-as-telephone on hold.

Information Inundation

If you have a sea of information to impart, you have two choices; make it easier to find, or deliver it en masse. To make it easier for site visitors to find that one bit of tasty data theyre looking for, hire some computer scientists to create the optimal search tool for you Web site. Or, you could try AnchorPage from Iconovex. AnchorPage automatically indexes your text files into link-filled HTML pages. Very good for the serious data hunter. Piece of cake for the webmaster.

If you have oceans of data, you might consider a unique helper application from the Voyager Company called CDLink. This nifty software lets you play specific selections of a CD on the client PC. Current examples only show off music appreciation. But consider how you might use it to tie your Web site to your pre-delivered-on-CD catalog or industry report. maybe you have a base of data and keep coming up with new ways to slice and dice it. Send out the data on the CD and let your customers slice it and dice it at will. Instead of your servers running millions of instructions per second for countless happy customers, use their cpu cycles.

From Magazine to Museum

If the prospect of putting up yet another static Web page has you feeling jaded and youre already weary of Netscapes server-push a la Levi Strausss wonderful collage, maybe its time to bring your Web site into the third dimensional. Take a look at Silicon Graphics WebSpace. WebSpace has you coding Virtual Reality Mark-up Language to create mathematical models of your corporate building, room, space station, product line, etc. The visitor navigates through this 3-D space to find the text, graphics and links you have scattered about.

Is this an exciting new techno-doodad? Oh, yes. Does it have drawbacks? Does a lap-top battery give out just when you need it most? Picture the pages of a Web site nailed to the walls of a virtual room. Picture the extra time and trouble it takes to download the external viewer application. Picture the effort to maneuver over to the image you think you might be interested in. Picture yourself surfing over to The Amazing Fish Cam because its more interesting.

If you want 3-D on your site, it had better be worth while. Show us a model of your product. Let us walk through a model of your process. Give us something that gives us information we wouldnt get in any other way. A picture is worth a thousand words. A 3-D model is worth doing only if its done very well.

Web Site Caffeine

The ultimate test of your marketing imagination is figuring out what to do with HotJava from Sun Microsystems. HotJava lets you embed small software applications (applets) into your Web pages. How is it used now? Tracking live sports scores, displaying stock market prices, holding live auctions, adding animation, including executable spreadsheets, inserting rotate-able product pictures. What could it be used for? Almost anything.

Netscape has thrown their support behind it and Microsoft is working up something to rival it beyond mere OLE. As a result, the race is on. Be the first one on the Web to implement some really nifty, object-oriented, client/server, artificially intelligent, marketing masterpiece. But just dont forget to keep it simple.

Whats Your Objective?

Before you run out to buy more RAM to handle all these new toys, think back to the main purpose of your Web site. Is your principal aspiration to show off your skills as a programmer? Are you running a Web development company and need to prove youre up to date on the latest techniques? Do you aspire to be number one at the Enhanced for Netscape Hall of Shame? Then youd better buy another disk drive along with that memory, youre going to need it.

If you want to attract prospects and turn them into customers, determine your objective, get to the point, and use the only best tool for the job. Then play with the GEWIS Student Associations Futplex on your own personal home page.

======

So Many Toys, So Little Time
WEB SITES

Yahoo! www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Communication
DejaNews
http://www.dejanews.com

InfoSeek
http://www.infoseek.com

WebChat
http://www.irsociety.com/webchat.html

Camelot Corporation
http://www.digiphone.com

QuarterDeck
http://www.qdeck.com

Paradise Software
http://www.paradise.com/productinfo/Simplev2.html

White Pine Software
http://www.wpine.com

XING Technology
http://www.xingtech.com

Progressive Networks RealAudio
http://www.realaudio.com

The Santa Monica Bank
http://www.smbank.com

Iconovex
http://www.iconovex.com

Voyager Company CDLink
http://www.voyagerco.com"

Levi Strauss
http://www.levi.com

Silicon Graphics Web Space
http://www.sgi.com/Products/WebFORCE/WebSpace

Sun Microsystems
http://java.sun.com

Enhanced for Netscape Hall of Shame
http://www.europa.com/~yyz/netbin/netscape_hos.html

GEWIS Student Association
http://gewis.win.tue.nl/applications/futplex

About the Author

Jim Sterne stays active as a public speaker and as a consultant, helping each client set Internet marketing goals and determine customer relationship strategies.
Please contact Jim Sterne at (805) 965-3184 to find out how his talents might help you achieve your marketing objectives. Or to visit his webpage see details below.

Is Your Copy Upside Down?

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

As a professional copywriter, I've seen my share of copywriting mistakes. One that seems to be particularly common is writing copy that's "upside down." When you do this — when you don't relay your message in the correct order — you lose your audience's attention, and the sale!

You've probably seen copy that reads something like:

Professional Virtual Assistant Services
For over seven years, we have been providing virtual assistant services to the global community. With a proven history of excellence, you are guaranteed quality when you select ABC Company for your virtual assistant needs. You'll find your load lightened, your schedule freed, and your business day more organized so you can spend your time making money instead of chasing your tail. Virtual assistants allow you to do more of what you love to do!

What's important in this paragraph? Yes, experience (":over seven years:") is necessary. And quality (":you are guaranteed quality:") is vital. But what is it that will catch the attention and deliver the true message about virtual assistants?

It's this section: "You'll find your load lightened, your schedule freed, and your business day more organized so you can spend your time making money instead of chasing your tail. Virtual assistants allow you to do more of what you love to do!" So — if this is the most important part — why is it at the end? Because the copy is upside down, that's why!

Let's rework this section of copy and turn it right side up so it will grab the reader's attention and make him/her understand what virtual assistants *really* do.

Professional Virtual Assistants Lighten Your Load
Tired of running around, feeling like you're out of control? Have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Those are the situations where virtual assistants are a lifesaver! By using a professional virtual assistant, you'll find your load lightened, your schedule freed, and your business day more organized. You'll be able to spend your time making money instead of chasing your tail. Virtual assistants allow you to do more of what you love to do!

For over seven years, we have been providing Virtual Assistant services to the global community. With a proven history of excellence, you are guaranteed quality when you select ABC Company for your virtual assistant needs.

See the difference? We've hit a nerve. We've gotten the readers' attention right up-front by appealing to their emotional needs and wants. We've shown them the end result of using this virtual assistant service, and then backed it up with facts.

I know I say it over and over, but it's a true statement: Most buying decisions are emotional so your ad copy should be, too.

When writing any type of advertising copy, remember to place your best information up top (right side up), instead of at the bottom (upside down) where it may, or may not, be read. When you do, you'll get greater readership and more sales!

by Karon Thackston © 2003

About the author.

Most buying decisions are emotional. Your ad copy should be, too! Let Karon write targeted copy and ezine articles for you. Visit her site at http://www.ktamarketing.com, or learn to write your own copy at copywritingcourse.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Karon's free ezine at http://www.ktamarketing.com/ezine.html.

Features and Benefits: Which is Which, and Why Do I Need to Know the Difference?

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

How do you guarantee that your ads, sales letters, web copy and other marketing materials as hard-hitting as possible?

Youve heard that when writing promotional copy, you should promote benefits rather than features. Benefits show the genuine value of your products to your customers. They go beyond the specs of your product to tell customers about all they will lose if they dont buy from you now. How do you distinguish between features and benefits? And once you do, how do you communicate those benefits?

1. Write down features and benefits before you start.

People dont buy products -- they buy what products do for them. Before you begin, make two columns for a list: One for features (your point of view) and another for benefits (from your customers points of view). Are they buying telephone service, or connection with their loved ones? Are they buying a portable heater, or in-home comfort and protection from the elements? Are they buying college courses, or the lucrative career that will ensure their financial security?

2. Write the way you speak.

Use your companys voice and personality in your copy. Make it sound like a written conversation between your companys personality and your customer. Every company will have its own style and tone, depending on what the you sell.

2. Write in second person point of view.

Remember to write that conversation as if it were you and one customer speaking. Be sure to use "you" and "me" a lot - companies dont sell products, people do. Here are a few examples to keep you on track:

"You will feel ... "
"Youll learn hat ..."
"...brings you ... "
"As you know,... "

4. Provide a call to action.

No, youre not ordering customers around when you tell them what to do -- but without spelling out specific actions to take, youll risk losing their response.

Tell them exactly what you want them to do, and be specific. If you dont ask for the sale, you may not get it. For example:

"Please fill out the form and mail it to ..."
"Enter by December 13 for your chance to win ..."
"Call toll-free today 1-800-..."
"Click the blue box to read more ..."

Follow these tips when communicating features and benefits and be sure your customers are hearing the message you want them to hear. That way, they will also respond to your call to action the way you want them to, and you make the sale!

(c)2002 By Linda Elizabeth Alexander

About the Author

Linda Elizabeth Alexander writes marketing copy for nonprofits and other businesses. Contact her today to get your free consultation!

I use this to increase sales, its simple.

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

A well written ad is the bedrock for any profitable business. As a result there are thousands upon thousand lessons been written for good ad writing. Some approaches don't give results when you apply them. While
others are so lengthy you don't remember anything after reading them.

This means for any profitable ads, there must be a good writing approach used. So what's the best approach for profitable ads or any business? The best approach must be simple to write, easy to remember and pull instant result!!!

Funny enough this approach has been ignored or paid little attention to, but it's something have within yourself. This article will show you how to unlock that thing within you and make you the best ad writer you could be.

If you must succeed you need to give top priority to this one and only rule, "your view". This means putting yourself in the shoes of the reader. Lets start with an example. The headlines. If your given twenty ads, of the same content but different headlines to read, which one are you likely to read? You are going to choose the one that catches your fancy. That's exactly how other readers will behave. Your headline must be EYE- CATCHING.

Now you've gotten your readers attention. You must interest him in your offer, show him how he can get what he wants and cause him send immediately for your "solution" to his problem. Don't be afraid to use a hard-sell approach!

The next important step is something that sets you far ahead your competitors. It's called PROFIT INVESTMENT. Research I carried out on this proofed an amazing results. A $5 investment in mail-order got $400 in the first 3months. 50% profit investment got 200/5 x 400/1 = $16,000 the next 3months. Another 50% profit investment got 800/5 x 400/1 = $64,000 profit the next 3months. Calculate the 50% profit investment in $64,000 and imagine what you get.

PROFIT INVESTMENT is the key to business success

About the author.

Emma Okafor is an ecommerce researcher and writer. His success blue print in online marketing is available in his site bizacume.8k.com

Increase Sales with Easy-To-Read Web Pages

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Web pages with readable text will generate more sales than fancy pages that are hard to read. Follow these design tips. Not only will your web pages be easier to read, but youll keep potential buyers at your site and position yourself to increase sales.

Keep Pages Short -- Especially Your Home Page

- Put important content at the top of your pages so its visible on the screen. Users may not scroll through lengthy pages.
- In general, limit the length of a web page to two screens.
- Split up long pages into several pages.

Layout

- Use left aligned text rather than justified text.
- Write short paragraphs (4-5 lines).
- Indent paragraphs in sales letters.
- Limit the width of your web pages to fit your visitors monitors. Your visitors dont want to scroll left to right to see your content.- Keep the look, layout, navigation, typefaces, and colors consistent on all pages.

Break up Copy

- Avoid long pages of text.
- Break up text with white space, color, columns, lines, bars, and graphics.
- Break up copy into easy-to-read sections
- Use subheadings and bulleted lists to highlight benefits.

Color and Contrast

- Use color sparingly. Too much color can be distracting.
- Select a background color that contrasts with the text color.
- Avoid blue backgrounds when using blue links (the standard link color).
- Avoid dark backgrounds. Dark text on a light background is easy to read.
- Avoid text on multi-colored background images. Most background images will decrease the readability of your text. - Use web-friendly colors. Colors that look bright on your monitor may appear dark on someone elses and make your message unreadable.

Typography

- Avoid small type, reverse type (white text on dark background), and italics.
- Avoid using UPPER CASE in your body copy.
- Limit the number of fonts in a web site to a maximum of three.
- Use a type size that is geared to your target audience. For instance, use larger type for older readers.
- Emphasize important words, headlines, and sentences by using color, bold, and different text sizes. But do so sparingly. Too much bold or color reduces the impact.
- Avoid underlining. Readers might think your underlined words or sentences are links.
- Use standard fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, and Verdana. If youre using fonts your viewers dont have on their computers, their browsers will show substitute fonts and your web pages can look totally different on visitors computers than how you intended them to look.
- Avoid special characters like curly quotes, curly apostrophes, n-dashes, and m-dashes. These characters may convert into bogus characters in web sites.

Images and Graphics

- Use images and graphics that support your sales message.
- Keep animation, blinking text, and scrolling text to a minimum. They distract the reader from focusing on your text.

Check Your Pages

Web pages may look different on your visitors computers, depending on their computer, monitor, browser, and fonts. What may look great on one browser may look unprofessional on another. View your web pages with different browsers, computers, platforms (PC and Mac), screen resolutions, and settings. Statistics indicate that visitors use a wide variety of browsers and platforms.

If youre not experienced with web design, hire a professional web designer to design your web pages and convey a professional look.

Keep visitors, prospects, and buyers at your site with easy-to-read, interesting content. An easy-to-read, professional web site can maximize your sales. Apply these techniques now.

Copyright: © 2003

About the Author

Leva Duell, Carlsbad, CA, US

Web Design Built on Proven Marketing Strategies! Leva Duell, Web Designer/online marketing consultant. Visit http://www.fivestarwebdesign.com and profitablewebstrategies.com FREE monthly ezine "Profitable Web Strategies." Subscribe today and get a FREE report, "10 Easy Ways to Skyrocket Your Online Sales."

Close The Sale With Proposal Kit - Product Review

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

I never read banner ads. Thats why I was surprised to find myself clicking on a banner the other day. The ad intrigued me because it offered to fulfill a pressing need I had.

Over the years, I had developed what I thought was a fairly slick proposal template for my search engine optimization business. But still the document lacked an edge. I knew I had lost a couple of recent pitches to my competitors and I wondered if there was something about their proposals that I was missing in mine.

You know that a good proposal can make or break a sale. This is particularly the case when your only communication with potential clients is via the Internet. But how do you know youve covered all the important aspects of your services? How can you be sure youve covered all project estimates? What if you need to include some legal contract information in your document but you cant afford to hire a lawyer? How do you make your proposal stand out from your competitors if you dont have any graphic design skills? Are you forgetting an important section in your proposal that your potential client was expecting? I found myself asking all these questions when preparing quotations for potential clients.

The banner ad from Proposal Kit offered a solution to my problem. It advertised "Turn-key contract, estimating and proposal kits for todays Internet professional". Thats exactly what I was looking for, so I clicked on the banner ad, fully expecting to find some ultra-hyped, over-rated, disappointing backyard software. Boy was I wrong!

What I found was probably the most cost-effective and useful tool for online business that I have EVER come across. Seriously!

Proposal Kit takes the guesswork out of drafting a proposal or contract. It automates the chore of putting together a complex business proposal. Basically, Proposal Kit provides a comprehensive range of templates to suit any business requirement and helps you build a framework for your proposal to match virtually any product or service offering. You then flesh out the templates with your own data and contact details. Templates are particularly suited to online businesses and include documents for the initial sales pitch, the planning stage, estimating, contracting, project timelines, analysis and even invoicing.

Want to include a Cost/Benefits analysis in your proposal? How about a Production Schedule or a Web Site Design Storyboard? With Proposal Kit, you have a huge range of professional documents available within instant reach to make up your perfect Proposal, tailored specifically for each client. You can even choose a colour scheme or graphic design theme to match your corporate image or that of your client.

But Proposal Kit is not just about creating "knock em dead" proposals. Use the included Contract Pack and you have access to legal binding contracts, sign off forms, copyright agreements and more. Find a web site stealing your content? Use Contract Packs "Cease and Desist" letter template to draft your response. Want to provide users of your software with a easy way to report bugs? Use Contract Packs Bug Report Template. Once I read the Quick Start Guide, it took me less than 5 minutes using Proposal Kit Wizard to set up a sophisticated Master Proposal framework to suit my business, incorporating 31 different templates from the recommended list.

Heres a summary of the different products Proposal Kit offers:

Proposal Kit Pro and Proposal Kit Standard

Proposal Kit Pro and Proposal Kit Standard are bundles of several products, including the most commonly used packages. Each collection (proposal, contact, estimate, planning, samples) can be purchased separately, or together in a bundle at a lower cost. These are designed specifically for web, CD-ROM, multimedia and tech professionals. Current retail price for Proposal Kit Pro is USD 197. A stripped down starter kit is available for USD 97. The starter kit is mainly designed for web developers doing small scale projects. The Pro version suits companies with larger projects and a wider range of specialized areas.

Proposal Packs

Proposal Packs contain hundreds of templates designed for general business use (both tech and non-tech) by any company selling a product and/or service to another company. Use Proposal Packs by themselves or as add-on graphic styles with Proposal Kit. Current retail price of each Proposal Pack is USD 57. Foreign language versions in Spanish, French, German and Italian are also available.

Sample Proposal Collections

Sample Proposal Collections include examples of finished proposals. Samples illustrate how proposals have been created using various Proposal Pack styles. Sample Proposal Collection Volume 1 and Volume 2 are already included in every Proposal Pack and Proposal Kit and are also sold separately. Pricing ranges from USD 27 to USD 87 per pack.

Contract Pack

Contract Pack is a large collection of contract and agreement documents for web, CD-ROM, software, computer, multimedia and other computer software and hardware related work. Contract Pack is available in a stripped down "starter" version (Standard) and a complete version (Pro). Contract Packs are included in the Proposal Kit bundles. Pricing ranges from USD 47 (Contract Pack Standard) to USD 97 (Contract Pack Pro).

Proposal Kit Wizard

Proposal Kit Wizard is an optional add-on software interface for use with Proposal Kit templates. Proposal Pack Wizard must be used with a Proposal Kit and/or one or more Proposal Packs. Proposal Kit Wizard works as a Word Macro, automating common tasks that are usually performed manually using the proposal templates. Drag and drop your chosen templates into your Proposal Master document or simply merge them from multiple docs to create your final Proposal, ready to send. Use the Mail Merge feature to integrate your clients details. Add an attractive border or a custom logo or graphic using the global replace tool. Automatically create a Table of Contents and page numbering based on your merged document. Regular retail price of Proposal Pack Wizard is USD 97 but because its a new release, theyve set introductory pricing at only USD 47 for a limited time.

Ive only touched on the products here, but plenty more information is available on the web site and their product comparison chart is, quite frankly, the best Ive ever seen.

Proposal Kit requires Word 6+ for Windows/Mac or higher and supports Office XP, Mac Office and Office X. The only negative aspect of the product (and its not actually a negative, just a necessary restriction) is that the legal contracts in the Contract Pack should not be viewed as binding legal documents. Because every business has different products, services, clients and operates in different geographical environments, legal requirements vary widely. By all means use the contract templates to draft your contract, but make sure you have the document carefully reviewed by your company law firm to ensure it meets your specific legal requirements. This is emphasized within the templates.

Proposal Kit has been available since 1999, Proposal Packs were introduced in 2002 and the Proposal Pack Wizard was just released this month. Developers of the product, Cyber Sea Inc., claim that Proposal Kit has customers world-wide, primarily in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. A large number of customer testimonials for Proposal Kit are viewable from here and I can understand their enthusiasm.

I was so excited by my discovery of Proposal Kit that I immediately wrote to the company asking permission to write a review and share my excitement with my newsletter and web log subscribers. Heres an extract from my gushing email to them:

"The huge range of proposal and international contract templates offered on your site seem to be ideal for persons in my industry - what a delight to find them! I would love the opportunity to tell my readers and SEM colleagues all about your products".

So am I still excited? Absolutely. Ive created a new Master Proposal, incorporating some of the professional templates such as Company History, Non-Disclosure Agreement, Production Schedule, Cost/Benefits Analysis, Testimonials and List of Acronyms into my client proposals. I was so impressed that Ive even become a Proposal Kit affiliate (links to the product in this review are my affiliate links). Judging by the feedback Im receiving, the use of Proposal Kit has already made a huge improvement in the quality and impact my proposals have on potential clients.

So if you run an Internet-based business and want to more accurately quote your projects, impress your clients, brand yourself as a top professional and close the sale, I highly recommend you check out Proposal Kit. Just dont tell my competitors about it!

�

About the author

The above article may be re-published as long as the following paragraph is included at the end of the article and as long as you link to the URL mentioned below:

Article by Kalena Jordan, CEO of Web Rank.
Kalena was one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australasia and is well known and respected in her field. For more of her articles on search engine ranking and online marketing, please visit www.high-search-engine-ranking.com

:To contact online see details below.

What To Expect When You Hire Someone

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

In estimating dollar costs for support, $50/hour is about the minimum for professional assistance. And you can often obtain better results if you pay more. The only way to beat this figure is to agree upon a price for a project. Even then, you wont beat it by much. Heres why.

People providing services have a continuing time cost in cultivating clients, lead generation, and in follow up.
Further, most have their own site to maintain. And likely a newsletter. Also there are the routine business chores that generate no direct income. All such time is lost. It produces no direct revenue.

One providing a service at $50/hour, may be netting only half this amount, when non-billable time is factored in. Thus people billing less may not be able to provide the level of quality you need.

Many new to business find such numbers hard to accept. Yet it can be very cost effective to hire services. Building web pages with HTML when you could be generating leads may not be the best use of your time. Reading a book or two about how to work the Web can be helpful, but it may be best to buy the information needed.

Put a dollar value on an hour of your time. Call it five bucks. When you find it is costing you a hundred in time for tasks you can hire out for fifty, youre wasting time. And the dollars you could have generated with that time.

About the author.

Bob McElwain sitetipsandtricks.com For ANSWERS, click to subscribe to "STAT News"

Stop Driving Your Visitors Away

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Your web site may contain flaws or glitches that are driving your visitors away! Such a thought is enough to give the most laid back webmaster a migraine. How can you uncover and fix any problem areas that may be lurking in the dark recesses of your site? Relax gentle readers, there is a simple answer.

All you have to do is follow a few basic guidelines that all web sites should adhere to and you can be assured that your site is in tip-top shape. Its not unlike giving your automobile a little tuneup.

1 - Slow Loading Pages

Nothing drives a visitor away faster than having to wait around for a web page to load. Most experts will tell you that 8 seconds is the maximum load time for your pages, and anything slower needs some attention. But, this doesnt take into account the visitors modem speed. Here are the results from a load time check I had conducted recently on the first page of one of my sites.

This diagnostic checks how fast your page loads up under 6 common modem speeds.

Connect Rate Connect Time
14.4K 10.12 seconds
28.8K 6.05 seconds
33.6K 5.34 seconds
56K 4.41 seconds
ISDN 128K 2.04 seconds
T1 1.44Mpbs 1.00 seconds

LOAD TIME CHECK ...... EXCELLENT

I have included these results so you can see the difference in load time for various modem speeds and use it as a guide instead of the 8 second benchmark you are often given. Please note that the page tested has very few graphics. A page with more graphics will load slower, but may still load in an acceptable time.

Slow load time is usually caused by either too many graphics or by graphics that are too fat. You can have those fat graphics optimized by an experienced HTML programmer. If your problem is too many graphics, you need to eliminate a few.

2 - Typos and Spelling

Typos and misspelled words can severely undermine an otherwise great site. Check and recheck every page for these errors.

3 - Navigation

Broken or missing links are all too common on many sites I visit. So, double-check all your links and make sure they are functioning properly. Those 404 messages are a big-time turnoff, plus it means part of your site is inaccessible.

If you have a lot of links on a page, arrange them in neat rows with uniform spacing between each.

It is critical to have all links clearly identified.

4 - Design

Your color choices are a matter of personal taste. But try to avoid using too many colors. This can give your site a carnival-like effect that leaves your visitors tired and dizzy. As a general rule you shouldnt use more than four colors.

Too many different fonts on a page can also have a negative effect on your design. When I look at a page that somehow just doesnt look quite right, but I cant put my finger on the problem, it usually turns out to be the font(s).

Animation is great, but too much movement is distracting.

Dont load your pages with too many banners. One or two at the top or bottom should be the limit.

This concludes your web sites tune up. These guidelines are by no means an exhaustive list of all the problems and errors that can plague a website. But, it is an effective checklist of the more common flaws, and it will serve to greatly improve the performance of any web site.

About the Author

Bill Daugherty is editor and publisher of the marketing and advertising ezine E-Power Marketing. Visit his site and subscribe at: freeadsgalore.com. Visit Bills latest project at: http://www.instantez.com.

Enough

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Did you know that the English language has an estimated vocabulary of 800,000 words? (Words R. McRoberts) We have words to describe every object, movement, feeling and thought on the planet; we can pinpoint each little nuance of meaning, simply by choosing the right word for the right spot.

Language isnt something that remains static - its a living thing that grows and changes to meet our needs. We create new words to describe and explain new objects and concept - just consider the number of words that have come into the language as a result of technological developments over the past decade. Words like Internet and fax are common-place now; we all recognize the abbreviation WWW and children around the world know what Pokemon means.

Shakespeare, who was one of our most prolific and enduring writers, used approximately 22,000 different words in his published works. Well-educated people today, use about 5,000 different words when speaking and about 10,000 in their writing. Most of us have a working vocabulary of 2,000 (which means that there are over 788,000 words that are gathering dust on the shelves of our minds). Of those 2,000 words, the most commonly used are: the, of, and, to, a, in, that, is, I, it.

Those ten little words (and I do mean little), account for 25% of all speech.

There are fifty words, which make up 60% of everything we say - and only two of these have more than one syllable ... which brings us to ... "stuff".

Why oh why do otherwise professional sites use this term? Surely with 800,000+ words to choose from, its possible to find a term to describe more specifically what is being offered.

The experts are always advising web owners to offer visitors something for free - and rightly so - this is a unique medium of communication. Its fast, widely accessible and almost ridiculously inexpensive when you consider the technology involved - so it should be used for the free exchange of ideas and information wherever possible.

If you visit ten web sites at random, youll find more than half will have a link to "Free Stuff" - regardless of the nature of the site, the link will read "Free Stuff".

Looking for graphics? Click on "Free Stuff".

Looking for information on black holes or quantum physics? "Free Stuff will take you to it.

Need a dietary plan for diabetics? Try clicking on "Free Stuff".

Aargh!

Enough "stuff"!

"Stuff" indicates a lazy mind - one that cant be bothered spending a second or two scouring the memory banks for a precise term. Think for a moment about what you are offering for free - then use those words to describe this on your link.

Your visitors will appreciate knowing that they can find:

-a trial program
-a sample sales letter
-a series of articles on how to do whatever it is you do so well
-graphics
-a mousepad
-a video
-a diet
-links to related sites
-a template for a web page design
-a report on how to be a squillionaire

or whatever it is youre giving them.

Dont make them guess.

So dust off the cobwebs and start using a few more words - your visitors will appreciate your thoughtfulness. (And my dentist will love you because I wont be gnashing my teeth as often!!)

About the Author

Jennifer Stewart offers home study writing courses and professional writing services from her site write101.com . Discover how easy it is to use the Internet: http://www.write101.com/internet/internet and subscribe to free, weekly Writing Tips: WritingTips-subscribe@onelist.com

:To contact see details below.

Four Steps To Profitable Presentation Of Content

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

One of the great things about the Internet is that experts from all walks of life have sensed its potential and are already there. You can readily find examples of copywriting brilliance from the worlds best marketers. Take them and make them your own, because...
"Why create mediocrity when you can copy genius?"

But first, before you tackle writing your materials you should answer some essential questions. The answers you determine will set the tone and content of your entire sales approach, from the first words on your home page to your make-the-sale letter.

Heres a quick checklist for defining your approach to the marketplace:

The Market

* Have you defined your target market?

* Have you identified the "hot buttons" that motivate your target market to buy?

* Do you know what your target market wants to buy right now?

The Product

* Is this a product or service the market wants to buy?

* What makes your product or service unique?

* Does this product shout "high quality"?

The Project

* What is the real reason you are doing this project?

* Have you set up a realistic time table for implementation?

* Do you know your break-even point in sales?

The words you write for your pages will be based upon the answers you generate. When written, your offer should meet these guidelines:

1. It appeals to the hot buttons of your selected market

2. It compels your readers, and is easy to understand

3. It is priced right, and makes your readers want to buy

For a more detailed approach, get a free report on Your Unique Selling Proposition here: usp@ad-copy.com

About the Author

Article by Scott T. Smith of Copywriting.Net Generate MORE sales with your Web site copy - For a free estimate visit copywriting.net or call 1.800.798.4471 (toll-free in the US).

:To contact see details below.

Top Ten Steps to Tweak Your Business Image

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Your business is new. Or small. Or cash poor. Or unknown. Or whatever would be the opposite description of your competition. If you think thats a problem, then think again. The key to standing out from your competition is to tweak every aspect of your business image. Here are the first ten steps to get you started.

1. Choose the right name

A successful name will have three qualities: brevity, distinctiveness and longevity. To achieve that, it must me short. Sure, a short name has less communication content, but it clearly has more communication impact, and thats what youre aiming for. And avoid acronyms and abbreviations. Those are a naming fad. Besides, even intelligent people have a hard time finding acronyms in most yellow pages. Drop geographical locations and product descriptions. The foremost purpose of a name is to designate, not describe.

For example: Jiffy Lube is an incredibly clever name, but research shows that the descriptive name causes most Americans to think thats all that Jiffy Lube can do: lube your car.

2. Excel in customer service

Be visible, available, flexible. Solve situations immediately. Offer freebies: free samples, free trial of the product/service, free booklets, or offer a frequent buyer reward program, rewards for referrals, rebates, monthly payment plans, etc. Be creative! Go beyond ordinary customer service.

For example, if I owned an independent bookstore and a huge Barnes and Noble moved nearby, I would place coat racks inside the front door to encourage lengthier and more comfortable shopping; I would set up an art center where kids can create their own books while mom and dad browse; I would offer storage bins where customers can stow their packages so that their hands are free to pick up books; I would print out and hang up reviews of books from Amazon.com for customers to read to help them with their selections. (They wont hurry home to buy from Amazon because the postage and handling negates the discounted price.) And, of course, I would offer refreshments, as my competitor does.

3. Identify your USP, then send out a unified message

Communicate exactly to the public what your unique selling proposition is. Dont try to be all things to all people. Identify your niche, collect data on that target audience, and then market like crazy to them.

For example: If you own a clothing store, you cant expect to advertise both "rock bottom prices" and "exclusive designer merchandise." At first blush this may seem like a strategy that would appeal to everyone, but it will actually confuse customers and they wont show up. Due to experience, they wont believe that they can get both advantages in one store.

4. Develop a dynamite descriptor of your company

Most people understand what big companies do because expensive advertisements educate them. But small businesses do not have that privilege, so I always recommend preparing a tag line or descriptor, as well as a 30-second elevator introduction. Both should explain who you are, what business youre in, what clientele you serve, and what makes you different from the competition.

For example: A cookie company near my house is called Uncle Ralphs Cookies; yet, on their delivery vans and stationery, they write "not yet famous" in a different color and slightly above the name, so that it reads "Uncle Ralphs not yet famous Cookies." This six-word tagline tells consumers who they are, what business theyre in, how they stand in relation to their competition, what their intent is (to grow and become famous), and it says they have a sense of humor.

5. Meet clients in neutral locations

Your office may be too indicative of your size or status in your industry. Besides, meeting on a clients turf gives them the power, as well as the potential for interruptions.

For example: I like breakfast meetings best. I meet clients in coffee houses or hotel breakfast restaurants. The prices are more reasonable and theres never a waiting line. Its early so no one is rushed yet; both parties are fresh, unfrazzled, and able to concentrate.

6. Sell benefits, not features

Make it clear to customers how they will benefit from your product or service so that they dont have to do the work of thinking or figuring it out themselves.

For example: Dont say: "We offer a list of A, a directory of B, and a group of C to choose from." This is company-oriented and talks about features. Instead say, "With A you will become thinner, with B you will get richer, and with C your love life will improve ten-fold." This is "you"-oriented and talks in benefits.

7. Create an Advisory Board

Choose people that you respect or who are respected in your industry, or the town/region you serve. Not only can they give you good advice and an objective opinion, but they can also heighten your image too if you select them wisely.

For example: Print the names of advisory board members on company literature. The immediate image is one of size, success and stability. And the best part? An advisory board is not a board of directors, so they have no legal or financial responsibility. Therefore, they can do as little or as much as YOU want them to. Your primary goal is to get their name associated with you to lend you credibility. And remind them to include their role as advisor on every piece of biographical information that goes out about them.

8. Present yourself as successful

Drive a nice car. Wear nice clothes. Carry nice accessories. You want to appear hard working but with a good balance in life. So, always have a vacation story ready to share. Also, call and leave messages and fax only during traditional business hours; if you were truly big and successful, you probably wouldnt be faxing material to someone at 1 oclock in the morning. And finally, talk about your company in upbeat, positive ways that put an image in your prospects minds.

For example: You may not be able to describe yourself as "experienced," but you might be able to say you are "talented" or have "imagination" and those two words deliver the same level of comfort that potential customers are seeking.

You dont want to describe your company as new, so you might say that it is "innovative" or "revolutionary." In "Outsmarting Goliath," youll find five pages just on the right words to choose from.

9. Know how to answer awkward questions

Its easy to anticipate the awkward questions potential clients may ask, so have your answers ready.

For example: "How long has your company been in business?" When a client asks that, hes looking for stability. So, if the answer is only a short time, then expound on how much experience you gained in the field prior to launching the business.

"How large is your company?" Here, the client is looking for assurance that you can do the job. In other words, even though his question suggests a request for a number, what hes looking for is assurance more than he is a number. Give him the assurance and you may not have to fess up on a number. Say, "Large enough to handle this project with an excellent staff and give you these results....." then bridge immediately to how the client will benefit. This will give your client the assurance hes actually seeking.

10. Use business cards creatively

Hand them out everywhere. Tuck them in the envelope of every bill you pay. When someone asks you for the name of a good restaurant or directions to anywhere, write it on the back of your card. Be creative with your cards!

For example: If you dont think that a company president in your line of work should make sales calls, then print separate business cards that announce you to be Director of Sales or Vice President of Marketing. After all, you are those roles, too. But a word of caution: think this process through completely. If at any point you have to meet with clients as company president, then your credibility may be tarnished later on.

About the Author

Debra Koontz Traverso is the author of "Outsmarting Goliath: How to Achieve Equal Footing with Companies that are Bigger, Richer, Older and Better Known." She is also co-president of WriteDirections.com

:To contact see details below.

10 Good Reasons to Turn Down a Project

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Turning down work is easier when business is booming and youve got more than you can handle. But when things are slow, its tempting to go after jobs, customers and markets youd be better off without. From PHC Profit Report, here are some guidelines that may help you say no when the pressure is on:

Beware of:

1. The Unknown. If youre in over your head and the job requires you to do something youve never done before.

2. Large investments of time or money with iffy prospects for a timely return.

3. Stranger danger. If you know nothing about the customer and the project sounds too good to be true.

4. Manpower crunch. If the job requires you to make hasty hiring decisions.

5. Unrealistic schedules. If the job is yours for the asking, but they want it done faster than youve ever done it before.

6. Dangling carrots. Dont be fooled by the promise of lucrative future work, "if youll just do this one little job for nothing."

7. Fuzzy Benefits. If the best thing about it is that itll look good on your client list, its probably not worth the price.

8. Major Mismatch. Your specialty is quality work but your customer is a penny pincher who treats your talent like a commodity.

9. Deferred gratification. Saying yes now to a project thats not quite right may require you to say no to a better project down the road.

10. Bad vibes. Follow your instincts, no matter what words theyre using.

How to decline with grace

When I was 2, saying no was not only easy, it was loads of fun. As Ive gotten older, its become more difficult and considerably less fun. But its essential to the success of a business. You must say no to some things in order to say yes to others. And sometimes, you have to walk away because, while everything else seems fine, the price is just not right.

So when you know it would be better to say no, here are some possible responses to Cant you do it for less?:

Yes, but if I dont maintain a good profit margin, I wont be in business the next time you look for me.

Yes, but I wouldnt be proud to have my name on the work.

Yes, but you wont be satisfied and thats all youll remember.

Yes, but I wouldnt be able to devote the time and attention your project deserves.

No, but lets see what can we do within your budget.

No, but we can make a few changes that might lower the price.

No, because my prices are based on actual costs. But I can refer someone who may be able to do it for less.

About the Author

Ilise Benun is the publisher of the Web site for The Art of Self Promotion, a quarterly (print) newsletter of manageable marketing ideas, and the author of Self Promotion Online, an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning effective strategies to promote oneself via the internet:See details below.

Patience Not Panic: Survive and Thrive Through Economic Turbulence

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

From 28,000 feet, snow still spots parts of Michigan, Illinois and other states further West. The earth looks brown and barren, dark and ugly from this vantage point. But I know that if I could walk the fields and wait patiently, Id see signs of new growth inching out of hardened earth. Id eventually find dead-looking tree limbs swelling with rising sap, pushing buds into blossom under the warming sun.

But what if I opted NOT to be patient? What if I panicked, burned the dead-looking trees, cut off limbs, and retreated in disgust within my cocoon? Spring might NEVER come because my shortsighted actions jeopardized the natural course of events.

Thats what has happened with the stock market and many of our companies. It concerns me that such actions can create a rippling self-fulfilling prophecy. Im concerned that departed talent and trust might not be regained within the workplace. Im concerned that customers will retreat because quality and service could suffer as employees attempt to fill the shoes of a thinned out workforce. Heres a hard pill to swallow but perhaps all of us - myself included-have become greedy for the amazing returns and astounding growth of the past eight years. Perhaps weve grown fat and lazy instead of prudent and thoughtful.

I think now is the time to focus on whats important. For our families and our businesses to thrive, we need to ask ourselves what endures for the long haul and not the short gain. Innovation, engaged and talent-focused employees, customer-focused products and services and a deeply shared commitment to find ways for meaningful contribution carry the day.

By historical standards, weve been through far more dramatic financial times. Once the U.S. had 20,000 phone companies and 2000 auto companies. General Motors was once a tech stock. As we say in the coaching world, "from breakdown comes build up."

I fully intend to be the voice of reasonable optimism. Now-more than ever-we need to meet, to talk, to vocalize our concerns and legitimize our fears so we can figure out a passage through this blip in business history. Philosopher Howard Zinn said that to have hope one does not need certainty, only possibility.

Let us figure out together how to be the bearers of hope.

About the Author

Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE, is an international speaker, author and seminar leader. Her book Work for A Living and Still Be Free to Live is also the title of one of her most popular and upbeat programs on Work/Life Balance. For more information on Eileen and her presentations, please call 949-496-8640 or visit her web site at eileenmcdargh.com.

(c) 2000 by Eileen McDargh. All rights reserved. Reprints must include byline, contact information and copyright.

:To contact see details below.

So You Want To Sell Stuff....?

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

On your behalf, because I like you so very much, whoever you are or thought you COULD be, I have taken it upon myself to collect, consolidate, and consecrate the greatest marketing principles EVER conceived of, tested, written down, and usually made available ONLY at great expense. And give them to ya.

You will never have to read another newsletter, another ezine, another business article, another pompously worded Wall Street Journal dissertation, another email. Another anything. It's all here. In less than 500 words, and most of THEM are unnecessary. You are a very lucky person. Pay attention.

#1 Choosing your Stuff: This should be critical, but isn't. People buy all kinds of crap. Actually, most of what people buy is crap. Make this decision LAST.

#2 Customer Info Collection: Don't. Chances are great you wouldn't like them if you knew them. And depending on what you choose to sell, you don't WANT to find out who they are. They could easily turn out to be your neighbors. Or your wife. Collect no info. Ever.

#3 Advertising: Use Spam. Everyone hates it. Remember, there is no such thing as bad publicity. For your introductory line -- the one that'll appear in the email -- say "THIS IS SPAM AND HAS LOTS OF VIRUSES IN IT. DON'T OPEN." I guarantee you will get more views than you could using any other line. There is a reason for this, but it has to do with some very ugly psychology. You don't want to know.

#4 Pricing: Charge $19.93.567. That is not a typo. It demonstrates how remarkably well you have thought through the process. Clearly, you have the most exacting pricing formulae in the business. With this price, you also can indicate that YOU are CHEAPER than "$19.95", thereby getting the value OF that ubiquitous number and still distinguishing yourself.

#5 Guarantees/Refunds: Guarantee everything you possibly can. Heck, guarantee the guarantees. That should look neat. You're not going to be around long enough to make good, even if you wanted to. Offer a 200% refund if not totally satisfied. Make it 400%. Don't indicate WHO has to be dissatisfied.

#6 Updates/Improvements/New Features: If applicable, or even if not, offer "free updates, etc." When you give them, charge for them. You'd be surprised how many people will pay for them. If they do pay for them, send them a note telling them you undercharged them. Leave it to their consciences if they don't want to pay the difference. Talk about your troubled childhood. Be HONEST.

#7 Testimonials: This is why God allows for multiple AOL IM names. Use them.

#8 Payment Methods: Cash only. Remind your customers that no records are being kept, for their own tax benefit. You don't really need to mention the other benefits, which include your own inventory costs.

#9 Follow-up/Customer Satisfaction Surveys: I think not.

There is no need for a "Point 10." Never has been.

Using these principles, I have successfully marketed an article on same.

I am not lying.

© 2002 RWPladek/BillAllen
http://mydeas.com

About the Author

Bob Pladek actually attended, graduated from, and secured a good position as a result of law school. Not a big enough liar to make it to retirement, he does what he always did: speak his mind, however little he has to say. Only now he doesn't get paid much for it.

Small Business On The World Wide Web

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

I have run the WWW Small Business Mall for three years, and continue to help people start their web experience by having a single page. Mall participants usually start off with a single page, then work up to a multi-page site, and sooner or later their own domain. That is my speciality.

But when one leaves the security of a mall setting and sets up shop in their own little corner of the neighborhood, a strange phenomena happens. Suddenly - no visitors. Why? Well, if your own domain is specifically an advertisement for your business, why would anyone visit?? At the mall people are attracted by one of the business tools or entertainment-related sites we have that the mall sponsors. So, what to do? Simply sponsor a site that people will want to visit! What follows is a letter of someone who is ready to spread into his own little corner with his own domain, and my response to his questions. I hope this will put a few sparks in your thinking cap.

>I am "brand spankin new " at this stuff.

Everyone has to start somewhere. But you have tools already in place that most people dont have - intelligence, the willingness to ask questions, and the desire to investigate things. You are in a good position to succeed at whichever endeavor you decide to fully support.

> I am disabled. Though fully functional (more or less) I am unemployable. Dont get me wrong, the Good Lord has taken good care of us and we make a decent living and have our own home and all you could really ask for as far as necessities. But! I want more than just that. I have the skills the education and the personal presence/communication skills to do more so that is why I got involved with this stuff.

Well, as you probably know, home-based business keeps no person down. We are all equal. The only differences I have found on-line is the ability to effectively communicate.

For some it comes natural - but I believe everyone can learn it.

For me, all one needs to effectively communicate is a good sense of who they are, and a moral base firmly established with honesty. Those burdened with the effects of dishonesty have to depend on hyperbole to try to generate success.

The good news is most honest people seldom fall for companies or distributors that are based on hype. Youll recognize them simply stay away from them.

What I am trying to say, in my verbose manner, is you are aware of your disability, and are not letting it keep you from experiencing life. You are another many steps ahead of most people Ive met. Most people are crippled by their own dishonesty or personal greed. So much so that they cant see it. We all have a level of greed in us - built in. Knowing it helps us to temper our lives.

>I just tonight finally visited your site the money tree. WOW! I was impressed.

Thanks!

> You certainly are not going about this (pardon the expression) half-assed. You have a definite structure and a real sense of what your audience needs.

It kinda helps that Ive been publishing Money Tree since 1969. My goal has always been to help every person establish a home-based business of one sort or another. Even if its part time! I believe the best ways to add to the economy in dynamic terms is for each individual to know what business is all about, and part of that education should come from getting ones feet wet. I took over the $ tree from an elderly gentleman who ran it from the early 1920s to 1969. The magazine has a heritage of trying to keep up with different things to help people succeed.

>(If you cannot tell I detest spamming).

Good. And remember that! Actually, weve been extremely fortunate in that the effects of spamming have resulted in very very few sales - despite the "hype". So, folks who try it usually find out. The big problem is theres always another guy who hasnt tried it, and falls for the hype. Youll notice the software companies that sell the programs to extract e-mail addresses work on peoples inner greed as an ad technique. That in and of itself should tell folks the truth. But thats the funny thing about our greed, we want to believe the most horrible lies.

>I want to eventually make major focus of my website Money making opportunities,

I would advise a bit different tack; BUT, if that is your main area of expertise, then - GO FOR IT! I usually recommend folks have Business Opportunities as the secondary focus. Build something UNIQUE first. I asked a guy today what his main interest in life was. His current pages are all advertisements, and he was complaining that no one visits. Well, it turned out - his main non-business interest is survival skills. "Well, look - you know a lot about survival skills - put up 20 pages about survival. ONE of those pages can be economic survival skills, where you can talk about home based business." He fell over in joy! A simple hint. How do you get folks to visit? Give them a reason!!!! For you - heres a simple hint. Id bet you know a lot about your particular disability. Put up a whole bunch of pages about that disability. One of those pages can talk about how people with that disability can work from home. Youll be visited by nurses, doctors, others with disabilities. Youll have true, human stories that people will want to read. Weekly medical updates - to encourage people to come back. Your pages will not be "another place with a bunch of ads". The ads will be secondary - and disguised more or less as not really being ads - but tools! "Here is a simple business I run from my home - its one any person can start..." If that is simply one of a dozen or twenty pages, people will love you. If all you have is money making opportunities, trust me - theres already thousands of people with sites like that. All flailing around wondering why no one wants to visit their site.

>in fact I would love to link your Money Tree site to mine if you would allow it.

Id love it - feel free!

> I also would not mind making a little money along the way if I can.

Provide a service people can use - the money will come, trust me. It may or may not be in ways you are thinking of right now. BUT - it will come. For example - if you have a full-service site about a specific disability (I may sound like Im harping on that - its only one idea. It could also be knitting, or WHATEVER your interest is) - it will not take long for people to notice something "UNIQUE". Your site will be mentioned in many magazines. Our sites have been mentioned in INC, Yahoo, Newsweek, US News & World Report, and many other places. So - thats key - be unique & provide LOTS of information. That process generates lots of traffic to your site.

Once you have 40,000 people visiting your site month-in, month-out - you have specific reason to sell ad space to those who will be of assistance to your audience. If its disability based, for example, you can sell ad space to pharmecuetical companies, wheelchair companies, etc, etc. If its a site about knitting, there are craft stores, etc. Thats a source of income for doing something you love. At the same time you will be building a downline a side company or two so you will have residual income coming in. And, don right, these folks who are your customers share a common bond with you.

Well, this has turned into a book. Dont be surprised if I steal some of it for an article or two =:-)

-Rich

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

A follow-up I loved receiving:

Rich, you have opened my eyes to something that has been on my heart for about 6 years, the desire to help others with cancer or leukemia empower themselves with knowledge. I had never thought of it but I have a lot of information about living with a disability, surviving leukemia and having a bone - marrow transplant. I think I just found the theme for my new site. And not with intention of exploiting anyone. If I can incorporate how to empower yourself financially in spite of your physical limitations into the site then all the better. I AM GOING TO DO IT! Right here, right now! Well I better whoa the horses a little , I am gonna start developing it with the help of some medical staff etc. But you wait! It will be the site "my mother would be proud of"! Thanks Rich and God Bless! Ben

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am YOUR God I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

About the author

Rich Soos is editor of The Electronic Money Tree, and the owner of the WWW Small Business Mall. He also has a literary, an entertainment, and a religious site that keeps people from all over the world visiting the mall.

Strategic Communication

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

"You can have brilliant ideas but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere."
Lee Iacocca

To translate a vision into reality requires the support of others. Good communication is a prerequisite to gaining 'buy-in'. Although conveying a strategy may not seem difficult, with a carefully developed communication plan, there is a better chance of making sure that everyone hears the message, and in a way that will build support.

THE PLAN

An effective communication strategy involves

- Identifying all of the target audiences
- Scripting consistent but customized messages
- Developing the skills, attitudes and goals necessary to succeed

Communication planning may sound like a big company concept, but itis just as important for a small business or an individual who will benefit from the support of others.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, it has been estimated that most organizations under communicate their vision by a factor of ten.

The following examples represent situations I see repeatedly.

- A senior management team invests weeks devising a new direction, and then fails to include certain business areas in the mission.

- A small business develops an exciting new product or service and doesn't think to tell their current client base.

- An individual with excellent credentials and experience fails to fully leverage their network during a career transition by not creating a communication strategy to get their message out.

INCREASE THE ODDS

At http://www.mapnp.org/library/plan_dec/str_plan/writing.htm you will find ideas on some great ways to communicate a strategic plan with employees, clients, partners, the community, the media, etc.

In a very exciting book, Jump Start Your Business Brain author Doug Hall shares his research-based ideas that correlate the probability of business success with the ability to effectively communicate the following three things to your targeted market:

1. Overt Benefit-What's in it for them

2. Real Reason to Believe-Why they should believe you will deliver on your promise (the overt benefit)

3. Dramatic Difference- How revolutionary and new-to-the-world is the combination of your overt benefit/reason to believe

"The communicator is the person who can make himself clear to himself first"
Paul D. Griffith

WHAT IT REALLY TAKES

Trust and credibility are important to hear in order to believe someone. People want to see consistency in words, values, vision and actions. If you are not being honest and genuine, your message will be
discounted or ignored.

- Listen for understanding and be empathetic to the feelings of your audience

- When you speak, your listeners are watching to be sure that your facial and body language match what you are saying.

- Practice writing and speaking, you will improve with practice

- Get help with tough communications. Try your ideas with friends and/or associates, they can provide a great perspective

- Simple is almost always better

About the Author

Helene Mazur, President of Princeton Performance Dynamics is a group facilitator and business coach helping her clients to achieve greater levels of success and personal satisfaction. She has 20+ years of leadership experience successfully implementing change in organizations. Helene has her MBA from NYU, CFP, Certified Professional Behavioral and Values Analyst. PHONE 609-924-9399

The immutable laws of effective navigation - part 1

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

The first immutable law of effective navigation: Its gotta be readily available.

Visitors should not have to hunt for your navigation or wonder where to find it. If youve done your job right, it will be right there when they are ready for it.

The struggle in creating good navigation is to figure out what type of navigation the visitor is going to need, when he is going to need it, and where the most effective placement will be.

Basically, you have to anticipate your visitors needs and have a solution ready.

Here are four key areas where you can squeeze out the most effectiveness:

1. Global navigation.

Global navigation is a set of links to all the main areas of your site that is available on every page of the site in the same place. Global navigation is a must-have, because it gives visitors ready access to the key areas on your site.

If you dont have this type of navigation, visitors tend to get lost. They lose their ability to easily move around between the main sections.

When you use global navigation, visitors develop a sense of familiarity with your site because the site is consistent. When they need to find something, they know right where to look for it.

Global navigation should be across the top of the page or down the left side, since these two places are where visitors will look first.

Also, its crucial that global navigation be in the first fold of the page. This means it needs to be visible in the first window the visitor sees before they scroll down. Since these options represent the most crucial sections of your site, its imperative that visitors see them immediately. Never put your main navigation below the fold.

2. Spotlighted navigation.

On many sites, there are a few navigation options that get the spotlight in the center of the main page. The concept is great--hook visitors with the key areas right up front.

However, many people completely miss the boat because they focus on the wrong links. Frequently, they link to the company history or the mission statement.

Wrong focus. Visitors dont care.

You have to concentrate on whats important to your reader and what they want to see. What are the most important places visitors are likely to go on your site? Which pages are really crucial? Put those things front and center.

As with global navigation, all spotlighted links should also be above the fold. This point might seem obvious, but Ive seen quite a few sites recently that almost hide the important links. They are buried too far down in the site.

One site in particular placed the two most important links at the bottom of the page, completely out of site. Big mistake: visitors just wont see them.

Although navigation usually shouldnt be the primary focus of your page (that honor belongs to content), it should be given a prime position.

3. Contextual navigation.

Contextual navigation refers to links that give more info about something specific the visitor is trying to do.

On every page of your site, youll have to anticipate the questions a visitor is going to have. Figure out what kind of additional information they might need. Then provide links to that information at the precise place that they will have the question.

One good rule is that any time you refer to information on another page of your site or on a third partys site, link directly to that info. Dont make them hunt and peck trying to find it for themselves. Make it readily available.

4. Bottom-of-the-page navigation.

Whenever the visitor gets to the end of a page, they are left hanging. They have finished whatever it is they were working on, and now they need somewhere else to go.

This is a critical moment, because it is terribly easy for a visitor to leave if you dont give them somewhere to go. It is your responsibility to point them in the right direction.

Never, never, never leave visitors without suggestions at the bottom of a page.

If possible, you should try to decide on 1-3 places that the visitor is most likely to want to go next. Think about your most important goals for them. Then guide them in that direction.

Always make sure there is at least one link at the bottom of a page.

You must make it easy for visitors to do what you want them to do. Always ask yourself...

Where are my visitors going to need a link and how can I make that link really obvious to them?

About the author.

There are 605.6 million people online. Can they find your business? Jamie Kiley creates powerful and engaging websites that make sure YOUR company gets noticed. Visit kianta.com for a free quote.

Get a quick, free web design tip every two weeks--sign up for Jamies newsletter: http://www.kianta.com/newsletter.php

Take Off Your Blindfold! Discovering your visitors thinking using your log files

Sat, 25 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

After 2 years of designing Web Sites, I decided to take a peek at one of my customers log files. My fear disappeared after about 10 seconds of looking at it. In the midst of some weird symbols and long lines of funny characters, I was able to see something familiar. It was the sites web address! Of course! That is what people see when they come to this site and that is what the web server writes in the log file!

I got very excited because all this time that I have read about log files, I kept ignoring it. I thought "they are not for me - they are for the real geeky web professionals who spend their time decoding this stuff". Wrong! They WERE for me. They were meant to help me track my customers success and I never bothered to look.

By the way, if you have never seen a log file, here is one line from my customers web sites log file:

200.29.64.28 - - [06/Sep/2000:23:20:38 -0400] "GET / HTTP/ 1.0" 200 1074 "http://www.mamma.com/Mamma?p1=1&timeout=4&query=photos+seniors&qtype=0&x=1&y=11" "Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; AK; Windows 95)"

The most important piece of information to you, as a web designer, in this line is

http://www.mamma.com/Mamma?p1=1&timeout=4&query=photos+seniors&qtype=0&x=1&y=11

because it tells you how the user found you. Did he find you through the link from another web site where you advertise? Did he just type your web address in the location bar because he already knew it? Or did he find it through a Search Engine query?

According to the log file, the visitor went to the web site www.mamma.com and did a search. What was he searching for? If you cant read the text beyond www.mamma.com, then try this trick:

Open your Internet browser and paste this line

http://www.mamma.com/Mamma?p1=1&timeout=4&query=photos+seniors&qtype=0&x=1&y=11

in the location bar. Press "Enter". Ta-da! Now you should be able to see that the user typed in "photos seniors" into the search box, because it is in the box right now. Right at the top of the web site.

My customers web site is number 9 on the first results page. It is a success! Now, it would not be a success if the user typed in "jeep photos" and my customers site would come up number 9. Because the user is not looking for a photographer, which is what my customer is.

That is why you always want to know what is in your log files. If you go beyond 20 visitors a day, you should probably get a software that analyzes your log files and comes up with a report. But to get a feel for how your visitors get to your site - the above technique is recommended. If this site was found by someone looking for photos of a jeep, I would think "there is something seriously wrong with the site" and immediately improve the keywords, title and META tags.

About the Author

Milana Nastetskaya is a full time web developer and the author of two books: "Create Your First Busines Web Site in 10 days" and "65 Instant Web Design Answers".

How To Annoy Your Visitors!

Sat, 25 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

When you build a website, your goal is to get people to come to your website, look around and find reasons to come back. If your site is annoying you can be sure they will find another site to visit, never to come back to yours.

Here are some ways you can be sure to annoy your visitors: (they might not annoy all, but probably the majority)

1. Frames - Chopping up a site with frames is a great way to get your visitors frustrated. These frames are very obtrusive and make navigation and reading your site much harder.

2. Overbearing Graphics - Not only are these blinking and flashing graphics distracting and unnecessary, they can also cause your site to download very slowly. Most people do not have the time to sit and wait for an extremely slow site, and will leave before even knowing what your site has to offer.

3. No Contact Information - I cannot stress enough how important it is to have your email address on every page. This will add credibility to your site and always give your visitor a reason to be assured that you can be reached when needed.

4. Too Many Pop-ups -If you want to use a pop-up window (which can be very successful) try using a pop-under. This is the kind that will pop-up under the web page. It will not be the first thing to pop into your visitors face. This will give the visitor a chance to see what your site has to offer and they will be more likely to respond to the pop-up. Please do not have multiple pop-ups popping out all over!

5. Hard To Navigate - You want your visitors to be able to get around your site without trouble. Have your links all together in a place that is easily seen. Have them in the same place on every page.

6. Inconsistent Page Design - I have been on some sites where after clicking on a link, I didnt even know if I was at the same site. The page was totally different and did not have any of the same information or links as the previous page. After trying to find what I was looking for and not finding it, I left. Please keep your site design uniform and consistent. This will make it much easier on your visitors.

7. Too Many Banners - If you want banners on your site, set up a banner exchange page for this purpose only. Do not have your homepage or other pages so loaded with banners that there isnt room for anything else.

8. Hard To Read Text - Do not use fancy text or pale text on a pale background. The easiest to read is a dark text on a light background. Also, if you use a textured or print background, be sure that it is not hard on the eyes. One site I visited had a weave look background that made the text so hard to read, after a few minutes of looking around I had to leave because I was getting a headache. If you think it is easy to see get a few more opinions just to be sure!

9. Music - Music used to be very common on the web. Practically every site you went to had music. More and more people started realizing that this was a major distraction and annoyance to a lot of people. If you really want music, have a choice for your visitors. Let them decide if they want the music.

10. Lack Of Content - Youve got to have content! Gee, that sounds awfully familiar. People visit a website to see what the site has that will benefit them. Useful, helpful, practical content cant be beat! This would include resources, freebies, tips, ideas, information, interaction, contests, etc.

Visit these sites for more information on designing and building an effective website:

http://www.aboutresults.com/39steps.htm
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html
http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/newsletters/tips/feb00a.html
http://www.webmastercourse.com/articles/5-web-design-mistakes/
http://www.designer.com/focus/articles/web_problems/web_problems_print.htm

One thing you can do is visit several sites that pertain to your business. Study these sites and write down what you find annoying. Write down any reasons you have for leaving the site. Take note of what you like about these sites. Incorporate all these findings into creating a sharp, clean, useful website with nothing to annoy all those visitors!

Copyright 2001 Terri Seymour

About the Author

Terri Seymour is the Publisher of Web Success Ezine, a free ezine designed to help people enhance their business success. To subscribe: web-success-subscribe@egroups.com You can find more information and resources at websuccesscentral.com

I - I - iMac! Hype Meets the Analysts

Sat, 25 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

I - I - iMac! Hype Meets Analysts
by Mike Banks Valentine

What new product gets more press attention than a new Porsche? What can generate more buzz than bear at a beehive? Its a bird, its a plane . . . its super fruit! Apple Computer can and does get that kind of attention, and it does so regularly.
Hyperbole begins well in advance of each semiannual MacWorld, and begins with the Mac publications and rumor sites. Every Mac devotee imagines a revolutionary new product which answers their every fantasy, whether it be super fast or super cool.

This one turned out to be super cool, and at 800 MHz, it is fast, but not super fast. Some had predicted a new processor that broke the 1 GHz barrier. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unvieled the latest iteration of the iMac to wild cheers from a packed house at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco Monday, then passed out several thousand copies of Time Magazine with an iMac bearing Jobs smiling face across the new flat-screen monitor
on the cover. The headline reads, "Flat-Out Cool!"

In a story from Pia Sarkar of the San Francisco Chronicle, Joseph Beaulieu, an analyst for Morningstar Inc., said, "It looks kind of like a big desk lamp."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/
archive/2002/01/08/BU119229.DTL&type=tech

"You look at the rest of the PC industry, and the last time I checked, they were still shipping big beige boxes with wires hanging out of the back." He is a big fan of the design, but because design is such a significant aspect of the new iMac, it "runs the risk of people thinking its hideous."

Mac user sites inevitably churn out stories about great new gadgets and goodies in advance of these bi-annual shows, this time the rumor-mill was fed by a site called SpyMac.com, which presented video it claimed was of new PDA called "iWalk." Another Mac user site speculated that Apple might venture back into the digital camera arena. Rounding out their "Digital Hub" with the computer as the hub of a "digital lifestyle," either enhancing or translating multiple devices digital inputs.

The new iMac barely met the hype, said analyst Rob Enderle,but was a surprisingly fresh and catchy design. Enderle is an analyst for the Giga technology research group. Stony-faced scrutinizers cant even avoid a grin when face-to-face with an iMac. ;-) But Gartner analyst Charles Smulders suggests Apple shy away from excess. "Theyd be wise to be pragmatic," he says. "Frankly, I think Apple has gotten behind a little bit and it needs to update its products, but it wouldnt be
wise to go to far in this economic environment." Clearly, he hadnt seen the new iMac when he uttered that profundity.

Before I turned my attention to the web and small business computing a few years ago, I was an automotive journalist and had the pleasure of attending new car introductions put on at glitzy resorts exclusively for the automotive press. Those of us that reported on new car introductions were wined, dined and entertained in first-class style by auto manufacturers and their PR firms before being given the keys to gleaming new models as-yet-unseen by the world for first drive impressions and photo ops in stunning locales.

Its a very different world when it comes to computers as they lined up several hundred journalists outside the doors of the Moscone convention center for an hour-long wait and admittance to hard chairs packed shoulder to shoulder as loudspeakers urged everyone to "please move to the center to be sure all seats are taken so everyone can have a seat."
Id love for Porsche to try that approach and hope for rave reviews from the automotive press.

Some technology columnists routinely gripe about the lack of objectivity shown by adoring fans of any new Mac product.What is stunning is not the adoration at introductory shows, but the fact that sales figures of 6 million iMacs over the last three years fails to impress. Inevitably comparisons are made to Microsoft and the Windows operating system that powers 95% of the PC market. One grumbling post at a tech site message board said, "You wont see iMacs dominating
the enterprise!" Darn, Dilbert! You mean the post office wont be ordering three million units?

Thank goodness!

As long as Apple needs to produce stunning designs and fun software that makes you smile while you work to attract 5% of the PC market, we wont see mediocre beige boxes sitting in every cubicle in corporate America. Darn, I guess Macs will have to remain in movie production, music mixing, print and online publishing, design and photo studios,
education (the State of Maine just ordered 36,000 iBooks for public schools) and biotech firms (Genentech ordered 1000 of these new iMacs.)

Remember the Apple byline is "Think Different." If we all wanted Toyotas, there would be no Ferraris. If everyone ate at MacDonalds we wouldnt need Chez Panisse. I may drive a VW Beetle and eat at home most nights, but Damn, Im gonna have an iMac on my desktop!

About the author.

Mike Valentine does Search Engine Placement for the Small Business http://website101.com/Search_Engine_Positioning WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet http://website101.com/arch/

Rule Busters Lose

Sat, 25 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Slow loading pages are site killers. Splash screens as well. Most webmasters appear to know such things. And most know better than to demand the download of some plug-in to view their site. Still, many are breaking other rules as if unaware even of their existence. The cost in doing so is incalculable, as it amounts to what visitors might have bought had they lingered for a time.

I find the following rules broken routinely. And it continues to puzzle me. It is difficult to believe anybody who has put together a website is unaware of these rules. If they are aware of them, and break them, this makes even less sense. Whatever the case, here they are.

Whats In This For Me?

When a visitor hits your site, there is no thought of you, your site, or how hard you worked to put it all together. All that matters is the above question. And, you have only a few seconds in which to answer it to your visitors satisfaction.

So whats with the giant logo up top that fills half the first screen? Or that blinding, bright red slogan sprawled across the width of the page? Whats with that blue and purple thing to the right whirling like crazy?

Such things to do not answer your visitors question. In fact they send the mouse cursor scurrying to hover over the Back button.

About Table Width

One thats becoming a favorite of mine is ...

This site is best viewed with your browser window adjusted to 800 x 600 pixels.

Hey, if Ive got a horizontal scroll bar, I know this is so. Why waste valuable space belaboring the obvious? And if you think Im going to readjust my window dimensions to accommodate you, youre out of your mind.

And what about those WebTV viewers? 12 million, maybe. What are they supposed to adjust? And of those 24 million AOL members who use the AOL browser, what magic button do they press to increase the maximum of 585 pixels to your "desired" setting?

As recently as January, 2001, TheCounter.Com reported 7% of surfers are still using 640 pixel monitors. Do you expect these people to try a hammer or something?

Your site is not about you or what you want. Its all about your visitors and what they want. Provided you want to sell, that is.

A Fast, Easy Read Is What Its All About

While other factors of your website matter a great deal, nothing matters more that providing pages that are quick and easy to read. Picture a fellow standing in a crowded subway car, bumped and joggled this way and that, trying to read the evening paper. How much patience does he have with copy difficult to follow?

The same is true of your visitors. Can you draw them past your headline? Do your sub-headings grab attention? Will one of them slow your visitor long enough to start reading that body copy you so laboriously crafted?

If they do, they wont stay long with line lengths greater than 65 characters. Give me five bucks for every site Ive seen bust this rule, and I can afford to take the next couple of years off!

New Happenings Dont Change Old Rules

Sure, the Web is new. But some things dont change. Parents and teachers have been searching frantically for over a hundred years for better ways to teach kids how to read. Why? Because the better kids read, the better they do in school. Drop the accumulated research into the lake of your choice and watch the water level rise ominously.

Long before the Web was dreamt of, we knew the maximum line length for easy reading was 65 characters. Violate this rule as you please, but the existence of the Web does not change it.

Grab a couple of novels off your book shelf and start counting characters. If you find a line with more than 65 characters, its got a lot of narrow ones in it. Publishers are keenly aware of this rule. Many webmasters either are not, or choose to ignore it. Either way, say bye-bye to those visitors who expect and demand a fast, easy read.

If Line Length Didnt Run Them Off, Try New Times Roman!

Look, this isnt a debatable point. That New Time Roman, or a close cousin, is the favored font in the print world, means nothing on a computer monitor. Not one darned thing. In print, its those serifs that make Times Roman so easy to read; they accent the character for quicker identification.

But those same serifs slow reading on a monitor by over 20%. Why? Simple. Its a matter of pixels.

If you display 80 characters in Courier on one line in a 600 pixel window, this means you have roughly 7 pixels in width for each character. Draw an array of dots to represent pixels 7 wide and 9 tall. Maybe duplicate the pattern several times with an editor, then print it. Now try drawing some characters.

It wont take long to discover that there arent many dots that can be used to draw lines at an angle. Thats why italic is so faint and hard to read on a monitor.

If thats not a sufficient challenge, try drawing some circles by connecting dots. The kind of circles used to create the serifs in Times Roman. Little tiny circles. Youll make a mess of it, I guarantee, just as your monitor does.

The Better Choices

Since reading is about 25% slower on a monitor compared to printed material, you need to make a special effort to produce copy quick and easy to read. Holding line lengths under 65 characters helps.

Use Arial or Verdana. The latter is best for there is more space between characters, which helps avoid the big black globbiness of large blocks of text.

Forget the screen sized logos and company slogans. Answer that question: Whats in it for me? And at all cost make it easy to read your page and copy. Provided you do want sales, that is.

Forget animation, flash, and such. It only interrupts the reader. Picture that all important line at the bottom of your presentation: Click To Order. Then a half inch below it, a multi-colored whirling gizmo.

Will the readers attention remain focused on the link and the action you want taken? Or will attention be distracted by the whirling gizmo? If it is, will it ever return to your link? Maybe, but I wont bet on it.

About the Author

Bob McElwain
Want to build a winning site? Improve one you already have? Fix one thats busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribe to "STAT News" now! join-stat@lyris.dundee.net

Web marketing and consulting since 1993
Site: sitetipsandtricks.com
Phone: 209-742-6349

Wishes for Strategic Collaboration

Fri, 24 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

February is an opportune time to consider the possibility of joining with others to create the future. Many of you are rethinking strategies in the current business environment. As you take a new look at the external factors (market conditions, competition, trends, demographics, and target markets) consider the benefits of collaboration.

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
Helen Keller

FISH IN THE SEA
At first think broadly about all of the opportunity for collaboration-clients, competitors, people in your business network, other areas in your company, suppliers, those who serve similar clients, even community groups.

To help identify the characteristics of your "ideal" partner start by taking a closer look at the people and organizations you work with today. Determine which relationships are working the best, and then examine the qualities of these relationships.

What are your strong areas of interest? Who compliments your strengths? Who is most likely to benefit from doing business with you? Know the value you provide to your clients and business partners. Who can you help most based on your background, experience and education. Focus on identifying potential collaborators who offer you the highest probability of success.

TAKE IT SLOW
Many of us are feeling very risk averse right now and are being cautious. Now is NOT the time to push fast, superficial relationships. It is however, a great time to find the right business partners to grow with in the future.

There are many ways to try out collaboration without much risk. The web offers a wide variety of places to meet others with common interests in a shared space online. www.yahoogroups.com hosts hundreds of groups where likeminded people discuss topics, voice opinions, share knowledge, and grow ideas. Find a group you might be interested in, and try it!

The more you can learn about your potential partner, the greater the chance of making the right decision about a long-term relationship. Ask questions about goals, ambitions and values. Listen for where you might complement each other and create a future together.

DREAMS
By dreaming together you create the possibility to achieve a richer, fuller result than you could achieve on your own. In an exciting book entitled The Collaboration Challenge, James E. Austin, the author, talks about the tremendous opportunities for business combinations between nonprofits and profits. "The twenty-first century will be the age of alliances. In this age collaboration between nonprofit organizations and corporations will grow in frequency and strategic importance."

HAPPILY EVER AFTER
If you are seriously considering a partnership, conduct a strategic planning process together. Create a common vision, strategies and goals. With agreed upon priorities and plans you will start off with the right level of commitment. Agree to a process for ongoing communication and information flow.

There are of course no guarantees! By working together to create solutions in anticipation of the future, you increase the possibility for success.

Copyright 2001 by Helene Mazur--All Rights Reserved

About the Author

Helene Mazur, President of Princeton Performance Dynamics is a group facilitator and business coach helping her clients to achieve greater levels of success and personal satisfaction. She has 20+ years of leadership experience successfully implementing change in organizations. Helene has her MBA from NYU, CFP, Certified Professional Behavioral and Values Analyst. PHONE 609-924-9399

The Importance Of A Budget

Fri, 24 Oct 2003 00:00:00 GMT

Budgeting is an integral part of society. In today's hurry up and get it done society; every day we are trying to budget our time, our meals, our kids' time and our money. Unfortunately for many, most of this process is done mentally and never put on paper. Remember, just as families budget time and money, your business must also develop a financial plan. This type of budget is simply a formal written summary of your goals and intentions in terms of dollars.

Budgeting requires you to look ahead and formalize future goals. By establishing a budget, you can set goals for achieving a certain level of income and monitor your expenses. Many home based and small-business owners have remarked that their increase in profit margins did not occur until they had a written revenue goal and a method with which to monitor expenses.

Other business owners need to know their sales levels in terms of dollars and how hard they need to work to make the budget work. Sound familiar, goals and budgeting is very much tied together. The closer you come to the goals you have set for yourself, the closer you will come to achieving the budget amount you need. You'll know you are on top of your business when you can tell your accountant that you need to sell 3.25 items per day in order to make your budget work and meet your financial goals.

Copyright 2003 DeFiore Enterprises

About the Author

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 17 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our FREE "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com