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Business
Monday, 26 June 2006
12 High Readership Content Ideas
Visit our sponsor:
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3 Easy Steps to Make Money Online:
http://www.DontLiveToWork.biz/pips.html
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1. How To Articles: they include detailed step by step
instructions. Examples: how to publish your e-zine,
how to promote your business, how to attract visitors
to your web site.
2. Tips: they are usually small pieces of information
about the size of a paragraph. Examples: tips on using
a product, tips on doing your taxes.
3. Top Lists: they are a group of tips listed in order,
usually numbered from first to last. Examples: top 7
ways to get to the top of search engines, top 10
ways to market your product.
4. News Articles: they can include news about your
industry or company information. Examples: joint
ventures, new product releases, special events,
overseas activity
5. Interview Articles: they could include interviews
from customers, employees and experts. Examples:
interview an employee that won an award, an expert
related to your industry, a satisfied customer, people
profiles.
6. Publications: they include information that's bundled
together to take with the person. Examples: ebooks,
reports, software, auto responder information.
7. Business History Articles: they include information
about your business. Examples: years in business,
goals your business has accomplished, community
affairs, financial information.
8. Product Articles: they include information about
your product or services. Examples: new products,
improvements to existing products, new accessories.
9. Visual Content: they include visual helpers that help
explains, shows or supports an example. Examples:
charts, photos, graphics, graphs.
10. Entertaining Content: they include humorous and
off beat information. Examples: contests; quizzes,
trivia, puzzles, games, cartoons.
11. Excerpts: they include information used from other
resources for different purposes, but can also support
your business. Examples: journal articles, transcripts
of seminars, reprints, speeches, press releases.
12. Technology Content: they are new technologies
you can use to present your content. Examples: audio
clips, streaming video, MP3 files.
Powered by Qumana
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 11:34 AM EDT
Saturday, 24 June 2006
Free Postage
Topic: Free Postage
Mailing made easy
With a built-in scale, digital postage meter makes mail processing faster and more efficient for your small business. It weighs your mail and calculates the exact postage needed with just one touch of a button.
Stop sweating the small stuff
You manage, run, market and grow your small business with your own two hands - and even your own finances. Time and money are essential, cost and convenience are critical. Eliminate the need to ever have to go to the Post Office again - and help your business look more professional at the same time.
Get Free Postage for printing postage from your computer along with a 30 free trial.
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 9:38 AM EDT
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Pay Per Click Advertising
Topic: Pay Per Click Advertising
Would you like to bring targeted traffic to your website in as little as 15 minutes? Then you should learn about pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, especially if you are starting to optimize your website for the search engines.
There are four advantages to pay-per-click advertising.
1. You only pay for the advertising that works because you only pay for your ad when someone actually clicks on it to visit your website.
2. You can get your website in the search results within just a few minutes. With search engine optimization, it can take several weeks to get listed in the search engines, but with PPC, you can literally jump to the front of the line.
3. You can be listed in prime advertising space by simply outbidding the other advertisers. There's a bit of science + art to this, but it's still a much more simple process than trying to figure out the secret formula to the organic (free) search engine rankings.
4. You can have a very small budget and still make pay-per-click advertising work for your business. In fact, my own ads are in the best positions on the first pages for several of my targeted keywords, and I've only spent about $50 to get there over the past 6 months. However, the more you spend, the more visitors will see your ad, possible click it and land on your site.
Once you get the visitors on your site, it's up to you to sell them. Make sure that whatever you are offering is very presentable.
It's easy to get targeted ads on your site~
Just open a free account with Google Adwords, follow the easy steps to setting up your own advertising campaign, decide on a handful of keywords you want to bid on (the words that people in your market are searching for online), put in a few dollars as a daily budget or how ever much you choose, Type in how much you are willing to pay-per-click, and then watch what happens. This is going to rock you silly~
Some people are skittish to do a PPC campaign because they are afraid that it will run away with their money. But you can eliminate that fear because you have total control over how much you spend. Once you reach whatever limit you've decided upon for the day, your ads are no longer shown until the next day, so you'll never spend any more money on your PPC than you intended for that day or period of time. You can also pause or delete your campaign if you need too at anytime as well.
If you choose good keywords, write an effective ad, and track your results, PPC advertising can be an excellent way to drive targeted traffic to your site, which ultimately will lead to more sales for you, in the form of new clients and customers.
Just remember that PPCs should be just one part of your overall marketing strategy. In fact, a balance of search engine optimization as well as running a PPC campaign is usually the most effective strategy for bringing your website the most targeted traffic overall.
Google Adwords has been one of our most reliable sources in getting lightening fast targeted traffic to our site. Instantly upon purchasing advertising, we get unbelievable traffic. We are always amazed at the effects, not to mention the word of mouth advertising that goes on after our ads have aired. Most people link to us and share up with their friends, so we are getting MEGA exposure. You can have the same thrill like us and even better.
We recommend spending at least $100 or $200 if your are serious. The more you spend, the more traffic you will have, the more customers and possible sales and leads, AND you can purchase traffic for as little as1 cent a visitor. YES, a PENNY a visitor!
Attract More Customers, Online or Off, Faster And Easier Than Ever.
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 9:29 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 21 June 2006 10:47 AM EDT
Monday, 19 June 2006
10 Ways to Manage Leads & Boost Sales
Topic: Selling
1. Develop a concrete definition of a lead and make sure all employees understand it. One of the biggest disconnects between sales and the rest of the company is the definition of a lead. When does a prospect become a lead that a salesperson will actually work on? It's estimated that 90 percent of the leads that are sent to sales staff are never acted upon. And there are generally two primary reasons for that. First, the lead is routed to the wrong person and never gets passed along to the correct person or at least not in a timely fashion. Second, the lead isn't ready to engage with a salesperson yet. So the sales person will make one, maybe two contacts with that prospect and then move on to "lower hanging fruit." For better sales effectiveness, your sales staff and the rest of the company need a more granular definition of when a prospect becomes an actual lead that should be forwarded to sales.
2. Install an effective customer relationship management (CRM) tool. For optimal sales effectiveness, you need to provide employees with a tool that captures information about each and every interaction with your prospects and customers. This includes integrating your different channels, such as your website.
3. Track the source. People most often hear about your company and products and services through ads, referrals, online banner ads or some other form of advertising. You need to keep track of what actually caused these suspects to raise their hands so you can better determine what works and what doesn't. In addition, it's important to capture the source of each intervening event so you can determine such things as how many times you need to touch a customer or what order of touches work best. If you don't capture the source, you have no way of figuring out what's working.
4. Distribute your leads quickly. Studies have shown that if you respond within 48 hours of a prospect contacting you, your sales closing rate goes up dramatically. Think about your own experiences. How many times have you tried to contact a company to request information and they never get back to you? By responding quickly, you set yourself apart from your competitors.
5. Nurture your leads. Depending on the products and services you offer, most people are probably not ready to buy based on their first interaction with you. Best practices call for nurturing your leads over time. You need to develop campaigns that allow you to touch your prospects multiple times so you can move them through the sales cycle until they're ready to think about actually purchasing from you.
6. Excite your sales staff about each prospect. The best salespeople focus on detailed qualifying, and so should the rest of your staff. The more information you have about a prospect, the more excited your salespeople will be about the lead. Whoever's collecting prospect information needs to extract additional information from every prospect with each interaction, including such things as "what interested you about our products" and "why is it important to you." They should also try to may the organization so your salespeople are getting in touch with the decision-makers in each company.
7. "Tag, you're it." How do you save those interesting bits of information about customers and prospects? If you tag your records with the names of your competitors on deals, what their objections are, whether they'll be a referral or not, which products they already own and so on, you can then find those detail fast in the future. This allows you to leverage what you learn in order to be more successful.
8. Treat your prospects like customers. By capturing the source I mentioned above in #2 about each prospect, anyone at your company can answer a call from that prospect and more effectively answer their questions. This will have a significant impact on your prospects and will cause them to want to engage with your team further.
9. Measure everything you do. But in order to measure your results, you need to decide what you want to measure and why. Then you can capture the correct information upfront. And once you have the right information, you can determine the return on investment of your campaigns and focus on the campaigns and prospects that will increase your sales pipeline.
10. Hold regular meetings with your sales staff and anyone else involved in the sales process. You should meet with appropriate staff members on a regular basis to review lead quality, win/loss records, and tracking CRM systems so you can continue to improve your sales effectiveness.
Bonus Tip: Preload your database with the right prospects. Your customers are the first step in prospecting sales leads. Most people think they already know who their customers are, but many companies tell us they find a few surprises when they do an analysis of their customer base. So confirm what you know about your customers. Then, once you know who your customers are, define a few key attributes about them. This could be external attributes such as geography, SIC code, company size (employee count and revenue), or internal attributes such as products, territory, credit type and contract type. Now you can use the profile of your best customers to better define and acquire new prospects.
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 12:14 PM EDT
Turning Competitors into Allies
Topic: Competitors
Some marketing pundits will tell you that your competitors are "the enemy." But those who think you have to "kill or be killed" to excel in business are on the entirely wrong track. Marketing never needs to be a blood sport. Studies bear out what most of us already know--that entrepreneurs who focus on maximizing profits or increasing sales are more successful in the long run than those who fixate on stomping the competition.
The truth is, your competitors can be a great source of revenue, and forging competitive alliances can help you grow your business more quickly and easily. Need some ideas? Here are five ways to transform your competitors from adversaries to friends to increase sales:
1. Form a National Network
It can be a challenge to market a solitary, small business when facing down national chains. One solution is to forge alliances with businesses like yours in other cities or nearby towns that might otherwise compete with you in order to create a network with a bigger image and scope. Say, for example, you owned a financial consulting firm in Seattle. You might join with other consultants in Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Omaha and Boston and create an umbrella marketing campaign. You'd benefit by agreeing not to encroach on each other's territories, and gain a stronger, more marketable image by having a national network behind you.
2. Create Events and Promotions
Competitive alliances can give you access to a whole new set of customers. When the owners of three quilting shops in Connecticut joined forces to create weekend "Shop Hops," the retailers promoted the events in their marketing newsletters, sending hundreds of new customers through each other's stores. Since each of the shops had a strong point of differentiation--offering different types of fabrics, patterns and classes--they were confident they would retain their own customers while gaining new ones from the joint promotion. One shop owner reported doing a month's worth of sales in a single weekend as a result.
3. Build a Stronger Image
Imagine you owned a small technology company in an area not typically thought of as a high-tech corridor. You could slug it out alone, trying to convince local prospects not to go outside the area to better-known high-tech meccas for services and products, or you could form alliances with other tech companies in your geographic market and create a campaign to transform the area's image. This would result in increased contracts for your company from businesses that might otherwise have looked to out-of-town companies for technology solutions.
Forming competitive alliances with other businesses like yours in your local area can give you the combined spending power you need to market jointly. By joining forces you can fund larger multimedia campaigns either to change opinions close to home, or win business from outside the area by marketing regionally or nationally.
4. Win More Referrals
Friends send you business; enemies don't. No matter what kind of company you own, chances are it differs in many ways from even its closest competitors. Some clients or customers will be right for you and others will find a better fit by choosing to buy from or work with someone else. Get to know your competitors through networking at business or association events and earn their trust and mutual respect. You can formalize your referral relationships by offering referral fees in industries where it's appropriate to do so, or simply keep your arrangements informal and professional.
5. Offer a Joint Product or Service
Are you struggling to win contracts from large corporate clients, but losing out because you lack a big-company image or the right expertise? Consider forming a marketing partnership with a competitor to pitch and win larger contracts by working together to provide a product or service.
In a competitive bid situation, marketing to a mid-level manager in a major corporation can be tough for a small-business owner. Put yourself in the prospect's position; she must make "safe" decisions in order to protect her job. So even when a small and relatively unknown company appears to provide the best solutions, a corporate manager may shy away from it and make a safer choice by going with a larger or better-known company. If you face this challenge, forming an alliance with the right competitor can allow your small business to come on strong and market itself as a safe, more powerful solution.
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 12:07 PM EDT
Selling Your Invention
Topic: Selling
For some entrepreneurs, this one, simple word strikes great fear; it's just "not their thing."
Other entrepreneurs feel just the opposite, that sales will be a cinch. After all, they believe, their product is so great, it'll sell itself.
The reality, as is typical, lies somewhere between.
First, it's important to know that even if you're initially uncomfortable with the idea of selling, you can learn to do it. As the inventor/entrepreneur of your unique product, you alone are the most qualified person to sell it. You have the knowledge and the passion to make it happen.On the other hand, even if you believe you can sell snow to an Eskimo, realize that there's a lot you need to know before you start pounding the pavement.
The process of selling a product is relatively basic--just be sure to clearly see your invention as a product, and yourself as a businessperson. It's a lot easier to grow sales if you understand the way a market adopts a product, especially when there's a lot of competition. It's also critical to establish your product's position. Once you understand the process, develop your position and create your sales plan, you can put your strategy in action and begin making the sale.
Your first step is understanding how to create demand for your product.
Creating Demand
Unless you're very lucky or very connected, you probably won't launch your product directly into mass-market retail stores like Target or Wal-Mart. Instead, there's a product sales lifecycle you should follow that basically takes you from the ground up, allowing you to build sales in a smart, methodical fashion, starting with small independent retailers and moving up to the big guns.
So what is this "product sales life cycle," anyway? It's like working with a funnel--in reverse.
Picture a funnel lying on its side. Envision pushing enough units of your product through the bottom of this funnel to fill it up as you move from the narrow end to the wide end. The distance from the small end to the large end represents time. You'll need more units to fill the expanding funnel the closer you get to the top of the wide end. The narrow tip of the funnel represents the very beginning of your sales effort, and the top of the funnel represents the point in time when you've achieved the peak of your distribution goal. This process, in a nutshell, illustrates how you'll create demand for your product.
So how, specifically, can you put this idea into action? To create demand, follow these steps:
- Start by selling directly to end-users. This'll give you confidence in selling and create "referenceable" customers. You can also get their feedback on the product and packaging to make improvements before expanding your sales efforts.
- Once you've ironed out your product and packaging wrinkles, begin selling to local independent specialty stores and online stores. For instance, if you've designed a line of greeting cards, approach your local gift shops. Become successful with these retailers, and you'll have the leverage and negotiating chops to go on to the next level.
- The next level is selling to larger, independent regional stores and catalogs. Note that these buyers will want to see evidence of success at the local level before taking on your product.
- Finally, once you've achieved success with these retailers, you may decide to approach mass-market sales channels--traditionally, stores like Sears, Target, Wal-Mart and Kmart.
Of course, it's important to note that this process doesn't apply to all products and all people, so use the above as a guide, not an absolute. Some products will never be appropriate for a mass audience and will do better as specialty offerings. And some products will find great success in niche areas that may not be immediately apparent, such as school fundraising catalogs, for instance. Be sure to talk to people in your target market to learn where they shop, and continue communicating with retailers, reps and other contacts in your industry.
Okay. So now you understand the big picture--that you need to start out with small retailers, create ever-increasing demand, and eventually move on to the bigger retailers. But what else do you need to do to ensure you're reaching the right audience at the right time?
It's All About Positioning Your Product
Before you make your first sales call, it's vital to "position" your product the right way in the marketplace to ensure results. Market positioning is the discipline that allows you to examine the marketplace, analyze it for opportunity, and discover where your product fits in and how it can benefit people. Understanding your product's position is critical in helping you decide who to sell to and how to present it as unique and worthy of a buyer's attention. While market positioning is a huge and complex discipline, there are a few basic elements that can serve your purposes as you begin:
- First, define your target market. This exercise will dramatically improve your chances of success when you hit the road (or phone) selling. To the greatest extent possible, determine the potential for your sales efforts. This means clarifying if your product fits a narrow niche market, or if it has more of a mass-market appeal. For instance, a scrapbook designed for brides fits a niche market: women planning their weddings. A scrapbook designed for women in general fits a mass market. To define your own target market, identify who sells similar products and familiarize yourself with the competition. Then, once you've defined your largest potential market, you'll need to determine your customer profile so you can properly position your product.
What should your customer profile consist of, you ask? Factors including age, gender, income range, level of education, marital status, parental status, ethnicity, lifestyle priorities, geographic region and shopping habits. (These are also called "demographics.")
- Next, you'll need to position the product. To sell your product effectively, your customers must feel that your product provides a benefit worth the money they're paying. Product positioning is how you describe these benefits. Your positioning may also illustrate how your product differs from others already in the marketplace.
First, start by defining your product's features. These are the specific characteristics that describe your product. For example, if it's a specialized cleaning product, your features may include "cuts through grease," "antibacterial formula," and "fresh, clean scent." Next, outline your benefits. These explain how your product will enhance the user's life. In this example, it might be: "reduces the time it takes to clean the kitchen," and "cuts the spread of germs--making your family healthier."
Truly knowing your customers--what benefits they value, and what will motivate them to purchase--is essential. That's because if positioned incorrectly, even a great product won't sell.
Make a Plan
Now that you've positioned your product, you're ready to create your sales plan. This shouldn't be a complex hurdle; rather, it should be a simple written document that'll help you organize your approach to sales. Only you will see this plan (unless you're creating it for investors), so organize it in a way that works best for you. Basic elements of this plan should include:
- Your sales goals. Goals should be specific and measurable, and based on the specific nature of your product. Rather than your goal being to "sell a million units," be sure it's realistic--and break it down into attainable steps.
- A timeline. Assign a timetable to reaching your projected sales goals. This will help you reach real milestones and measure your progress.
- Establish tactics. These may include developing product sell sheets, attending trade shows, making appointments with local retailers, researching the web for appropriate retailers, etc. Write down these tactics in your plan and attach dates to these activities. You'll then be ready to begin putting your plan into action.
There's certainly a lot more to know about developing and maximizing your sales strategy. But by understanding and positioning your product correctly--and following the right steps, over time, to create demand for your product--you'll be well on your way to creating long-term success (and perhaps even selling those "million units" eventually, too!).
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 8:16 AM EDT
Friday, 16 June 2006
Starting a real estate investment business is like starting any business.
Topic: Business Start Up Advice
Here are some key points to consider:
- Pick a name. And while that seems like an easy thing to do a lot of people blow it by not using a name that represents what the business is about. For example they go with something like, "Domonikki's Investing". The problem with that is someone is likely to think that you're involved in stocks and bonds rather than real estate. Sometimes someone tries to get too cute in choosing a name and comes up with "Shedrickxz Young and Associates". The problem with this name is that it doesn't mention real estate investing at all and number two it may be a bit too intimidating for sellers when you hand them your business card. Your business name needs to tell the person hearing (or seeing your name on your business card) what your business is all about without them having to guess or being put on the defensive.
- How to organize it legally. While most people will start their business as a sole proprietor it's best to convert it to a LLC (Limited Liability Corp) or a "C" type corporation when the profits start rolling in and you can afford to organize the business so it provides you with as much legal protection as you can get. Hey, we both know this is a nation of "litigation crazy" individuals that will take someone to court over the least little thing... so protect yourself as much as you can with the proper business organization.
- Insurance. Thankfully real estate investing is a simple business to start and doesn't require a lot of insurances being in place but one very useful type of insurance that can help protect you in case of a lawsuit is an "Umbrella Policy". Most umbrella policies cover you for "x" millions of dollars and go up and beyond other types of insurances to help cover you in case you do get taken to court and end up losing. The great thing about umbrella policies is that they aren't nearly as pricey as you think they are. A policy cover you for a $1,000,000 can be purchased for a few hundred dollars per year. This can be very inexpensive insurance.
- Money. Yeah, many of the principals I talk about in the books, programs and seminars I'm part of deal with strategies and techniques anyone can use to invest in real estate without using their own cash or credit... and those are very real methods of getting rich in this business that thousands have used in this country to make money in real estate.
BUT if you somehow have the ability to find or create or have quick access to a small "nest of money" let me tell you that success in this business can be made so much easier! Here are just two ways that you can start to build your little "nest of money". Way #1, Go to your local bank, introduce yourself and take out a very small loan. If your credit is spotty you may be forced to pay a very high interest rate or you may be forced to open a separate savings account with the bank that you'll have to put money in to help "secure" the note.
And yes I know it sounds kind of dumb for a bank to require you to have money in order to take out a loan but that's the way the game is played especially if your credit history isn't perfect. But what I want you to do is to take out a small loan and then... are you ready for this? Pay it back. Make a few regularly scheduled payments and then pay the thing off entirely. And then take out another loan... a bigger loan and do the same thing all over again.
Not only will this boost your credit score but you'll have that bank as an ally so when you come across a sweet deal that requires some of your own money down you'll be able to go through the front doors of your bank, sit down with a loan manager and in a short period of time walk out with check for the exact amount of money you need. This can make your investing life so much easier.
Here is way #2. Do the same thing with credit cards. Get a couple of spare ones that allow you to take out cash at very reasonable terms. And like the bank loan, use these cards and pay them off-quickly! The interest rates on many credit cards is astronomical so you don't want to be carrying balances for too long BUT the fact remains that most startup businesses in this country were started with credit card financing and if you can manage them properly and not consider them "free money" they can be very useful tools for your investing business.
And what if you don't have good enough credit to get a regular credit card? There are several credit card companies out there that provide credit cards to people that have damaged credit. What you would need to do is supply some sort of financial security in the way of a money deposit that the credit card company can access if you do not pay. These types of credit cards usually have a pretty low limit but if you make your payments on time it won't be long before you will start being approved by more standard credit card companies that don't require a security deposit.
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 8:54 AM EDT
Thursday, 15 June 2006
Outselling Your Competition
Topic: Selling
The keys to outselling your competition is to compare your product to theirs. When you find the differences between products, use your findings to improve your product. Below are 12 things you can compare and improve upon to outsell your competition.
1. Price- Can you offer a lower price? Can you offer a higher price and increase the perceived value of your product? Do you offer easier payment options than your competition?
2. Packaging- Can you package your product more
attractively? Do the colors of your package relate to your product? Can you package your product into
a smaller or larger package?
3. Delivery- Can you offering cheaper shipping? Do
you have a high enough profit margin to offer free
shipping? Can you ship your products faster?
4. Benefits- Can you offer more benefits than your
competition? Are your benefits stronger? Do you
have believable proof that supports your claims?
5. Quality- Is your product built and tested to last longer than your competition? Can you improve the overall quality of your product?
6. Performance- Can you make your product faster
at solving your customers problem? Is your product
easier to use than your competitions?
7. Features- Can you offer more product features
than your competition? Do your features support the
benefits you offer?
8. Availability- Is your product always available or do your have to backorder it? Can your product
suppliers drop ship to your customers?
9. Extras- Do you provided free bonuses when your
customers buy your product? Are your bonuses more
valuable than your competitions?
10. Service- Do you offer your customers free 24
hour customer service? Can you provide free product
repair? Does your competition make their customers
talk to a machine?
11. Proof- Can you provide more proof than your
competition that your product is reliable? Can you
provide stronger testimonials or endorsements?
12 Guarantees- Do you have a stronger guarantee
than your competition? Do you offer warranties with
your product? Do you provide an easier return policy?
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 9:09 AM EDT
Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Going online has never been easier with these top strategies and cool tools.
Topic: Making Money Online
Make More Money Online
I was surprised to hear at a recent seminar how many people think the Internet is just too saturated for new online business owners to be successful--and that if you didn't get in on the ground floor, you're out of luck. Nothing could be further from the truth! That's why I wanted to write this article to show you why now is probably the best time in Internet history to start a wildly profitable online business.
Sure, there's more competition online these days, but if online sales are any indication, the number of people who are actively shopping online is also on the rise. According to Forrester Research, online sales reached a staggering $172 billion in 2005--a number they predict will rise to $329 billion by 2010!
New technologies and new tools have opened up worlds of opportunity that make it easier--and cheaper--than ever to start an online business and immediately start profiting.
Let's take a look at some of them, and the tremendous opportunities they offer.
#1: Instantly Boost Your Traffic With Pay-Per-Click Advertising
The search-engine landscape has changed dramatically. I used to recommend getting listed on eight major search engines: Altavista, Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, Northern Light, WebCrawler, and Yahoo!. Today, clear leaders have emerged: Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
With this narrower field, top search-engine rankings are harder to come by. But paid search has exploded, becoming one of the fastest ways to drive qualified traffic to your site--and if done properly, won't break the bank. With each passing year, it becomes more sophisticated, allowing you to zero in on your target market with greater precision. The top three search engines are also the top names in paid search:
- Yahoo! Search Marketing Yahoo's sponsored search lets you advertise your site in the search results of the following search engines: MSN, Yahoo!, AltaVista, InfoSpace, AlltheWeb and NetZero.
- Google AdWords With Google AdWords, you can have your ads show up in sponsored search listings for certain keywords--and you can also advertise on other sites that match your audience.
- MSN AdCenter MSN has recently entered the arena of paid search with MSN AdCenter. So far, it's the only PPC engine to offer keyword-based demographic targeting.
#2: Make Sure Your E-Mail Gets Delivered
E-mail marketing is still highly profitable. Not only is it a great and inexpensive way to establish relationships with your customers, your promotions and follow-up offers can be completely automated.
However, while you used to be able to send e-mail to absolutely everyone, these days you have to be very careful. Spam cost U.S. businesses an estimated $17 billion in 2005 (Ferris Research), and now accounts for 57% of all e-mail (Ipswitch 2006)!
The consequences of spamming have grown far beyond a slap on the wrist from your internet service provider or a few nasty e-mails from angry recipients. The bottom line is that if you want to take advantage of the profit-boosting power of e-mail marketing, you must make sure your e-mails comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. You can read the full text of the CAN-SPAM regulations at www.spamlaws.com/federal/can-spam.shtml.
#3: Promote Your Business With New Internet Marketing Technology
Technology has been furiously advancing, paving the way for new and highly effective ways to promote your e-business. Let's look at some that have had the biggest impact:
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Audio and Video: The internet has come a long way since its text-only roots! Programming languages such as JavaScript and programs like Macromedia's Flash have allowed for web video, audio, slide presentations and other interactive elements.
When used right, audio and video as part of your sales process can now have a dramatic impact on your bottom line. Use short audio and video clips of you and your customers to personalize your site and reassure visitors that you're a credible business.
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Blogging: Blogs are informal web forums that invite feedback and discussion. They're free to set up and use, and so simple that they can be created in minutes. As a result, blogging has exploded in popularity over the last few years. style="display:inline
With a business blog you can reach a wider audience, generate better search engine rankings, boost your revenue, and develop a rapport with your customers. And because blogs are updated frequently, search engines love them.
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Podcasting: Podcasting (the delivery of audio files--typically MP3 files--via the internet) is one of the hottest new technologies to hit the market. It allows you to publish audio content that interested listeners can subscribe to via RSS "feeds" so they can automatically receive your audio broadcasts without having to go to your website.
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Direct-to-Desktop Technology: Direct-to-desktop technology is a way to deliver information straight to your subscribers' desktops--without having to wrestle with e-mail filters, bouncebacks, or your competition!
Here's how it works: The sender uses an application that formats and sends the information straight to a "reader" that's been installed on the recipient's desktop. Once your customers sign up, they don't have to check their e-mail or visit your website to get your latest news or updates. A flashing desktop icon alerts them as soon as they receive your message--and all they have to do is click to read it.
Final Thoughts
The unique benefits of having an online business (low overhead, inexpensive advertising and a global reach) can produce huge profit margins--and for tens of thousands of Internet entrepreneurs, a level of personal and financial freedom they could only dream about before.
Sure, there's more competition online these days, but the opportunities are also growing! So if you you've been putting off starting your first online business because you thought you missed the boat--or if you want to ramp up an existing one--there's never been a better time to take action and start generating life-altering wealth of your own.
With the explosion of technological advances and resources, running an online business is now so accessible that literally anyone can get online very quickly--and immediately start profiting from their own Internet business!
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 7:21 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 16 June 2006 9:38 AM EDT
Make Money without Having Your Own Product
Topic: Affiliate Commission
Many of us have powerful marketing skills and would love to
find a great way to put them to use online. We are natural
salespeople, have a great feel for finding and delivering
customers, and are able to craft great marketing strategies.
Even though we have a great deal of potential sizzle at
our disposal, we don't have a steak to go with it. We need
products to sell. That's where affiliate marketing comes
in to bridge the gap between product production and product
sales.
It is a simple process. You sign up as an affiliate to
a product producer. You deliver customers and collect a
commission on every sale recorded. To make matters even
more attractive, commissions are often set at percentage
marks that would make traditional brick and mortar sales
people stare in disbelief. Commissions in excess of 50%
are not uncommon.
Your job as an affiliate is to find customers, pre-sell
them and deliver them to a sales page where they can make
their purchase. The program is set up in a way that every
sale is instantly recorded. Commissions can be paid in a
variety of intervals depending upon the affiliate program
in question.
Being an affiliate marketer requires an ability to seek
out and find sellable products and to use any number of
potential techniques to find buyers. Those with a track
record in affiliate marketing will often develop a huge
list of prequalified past buyers they can access readily
when they have discovered a great new product to promote.
The income possibilities are nearly limitless. There are
so many different products out there and the commissions
are so generous that one can experience massive financial
success. Successful affiliate marketers are among some
of the net's most well-paid entrepreneurs.
Is it easy? Not necessarily. There is always competition
and there is always more to learn about sales and marketing.
But it is rewarding and it gives those who have a seemingly
natural feel for sales and promotion a great way to be
their own bosses.
One could decide to operate a cradle-to-grave operation
instead of becoming an affiliate. They could design and
perfect a product all on their own and sell it themselves,
keeping all of the revenue. That might be a good solution
for some, but many skilled internet marketers have found
that the constantly-improving assortment of products and
service to promote, combined with a fair commission
structure, allows them a superior opportunity to make
a healthy income without having to deal with the hassles
of initial market research, product creation and other
tasks.
If you want to sell, affiliate marketing is the way to
go. It allows you to generate profits while selling
products you weren't forced to create. It's a business
without an income cap that allows skilled salespeople
and marketers a chance at online business success.
Click here to sell our products for quick cash.
Posted by TheBlogMachine.com
at 6:58 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 14 June 2006 7:02 PM EDT
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