by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Maybe HE likes all the hubbub.
But will you?
The calm of my Cambridge, Massachusetts neighborhood
was punctuated the other day by student protestors outside
Harvard University's Science Center. There 1960's wannabees
chanted "Harvard, Harvard, shame on you, honoring a
racist fool."
The cause of this mayhem was Professor Martin Peretz
and his latest blog post on his The New Republic website:
"But, frankly Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims."
It was more than enough to stir up a reaction from the
politically correct, who live to chant and picket.
They shouted... they taunted... they heckled... and HE, owner
of The New Republic, the subject of so much fuss, got valuable,
eye-catching full-page publicity in The Boston Globe, New England's
paper of record.
Bingo!
One of America's most experienced provocateurs
had succeeded, yet again, in using his blog to get
even more publicity for his "take no prisoners"
opinions.
Martin Peretz' blog had done its work and done
it well.
Will yours? It most assuredly will... if you understand
the true purpose of a blog, run it accordingly, and
learn to be a responsible blog publisher and blog
reader. Here are recommendations to assist you.
Bogs MUST be honest.
The purpose of a blog is to give ANYONE ANYWHERE
in the world, whatever creed, class, station, nationality,
or political position, the opportunity to be heard on any subject
whatsoever.
Thus, your task as a blogger is to open yourself up...
to tell the truth, straightforwardly, honestly, bluntly. The
blog is, first and foremost, about you, its publisher and
focus. To write anything other than the whole truth, so help
you God, is to demean the medium -- and yourself.
If you are new to blogging, you'll find this kind of
openness difficult, challenging. Most people grow up
adept at masking their true opinions. For fear of what
the listener may say or do, we moderate and water
down the way we really feel and what we say.
That will never do on a blog where truth is called
for at all times.
Now, you may think you are a straightforward,
honest person but blogging will show you soon
enough that you, like all social beings, are considerably
more adept at masking how we feel, our true views,
rather than telling them.
In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", for instance,
there is an incident that makes this point lucidly,
succinctly. Atticus Finch is walking with his children
past Miss DuBois' home. She is a notorious termagant
and scold. Does he say that to her? Certainly not.
He lifts his hat cordially, saying "Good afternoon, MissDuBois.
You look pretty as a picture." Scout, his young daughter,
says just loud enough "You notice he don't say a picture
of what." Miss DuBois just catches a few words and
wants to know what the impish Scout has said... but
Atticus Finch is a wise man, a gentleman and knows
the value of good relations, over the strict, unyielding
truth. He lifts his hat again and moves his children
along. Most of us would do the same.
But bloggers cannot. Bloggers must opt for candor,
honesty at all times.
The more honest YOU are, the more reactions you
will get. Take Professor Peretz, for example. Given
that he is an experienced blogger, I take him at his
word, when he writes his latest anti-Muslim diatribe.
Others, who feel differently, will abhor and detest
what he has written... and propose such sanctions
as having a speaking engagement at Harvard cancelled.
But this is wrong.
Voltaire, that very clever fellow, said it best:
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend
to the death your right to say it."
Unfortunately, sanctimonious members of the
Academy (usually the least intelligent on campus)
have forgotten their true calling: facilitating
free speech, not suffocating and penalizing it. Blogs, then,
do the work academicians should do (the reason they
are given tenure to do), but are now too often emasculated,
self-protecting and lazy to do.
Thus, when you write, the objective is always to achieve Harvard's
ultra clear motto: "Veritas", the pure and always unsimple
truth.
Write regularly,consistently.
One of the major problems with most blogs is that
they are not regularly produced. Remember, whatever
else a blog may be it is also and always the story
of your life. It is a window into your thoughts and
occupations. Blogs must therefore be regularly
undertaken. Don't start it.... unless you mean to do it.
Write regularly and consistently, being always aware
that the first day you do not feel like writing your blog
is the very day you must be sure to write it... or risk
the ending of your blog altogether.
The more honest you are, the more and stronger
reader reaction you should expect.
When Professor Peretz posted his incendiary
opinions about Moslims (a subject on which he writes
often), I suspect he knew that tea cups in Cambridge
and beyond would be rattled. What's more, being a
true provocateur,he probably relishes the instant,
insistent responses of those he has provoked. He
might not like being followed through Harvard Yard by
hecklers... but he cannot truly have been awfully
surprised by such a response. Relish, rather than
alarm, was most probably his reaction.
You, too, need to reach this level of reaction and
response as you achieve greater candor and honesty
in your bog. Because as my grandfather used to say, some
damned idiot is sure to protest; the stronger the opinions
rendered, the stronger the response from those disagreeing.
(He would have been a great blogger, grandfather Walt would have
been.)
Prepare for the reaction... expect it... ignore it.
Blogging is one of the jewels of the Internet... treat it
with care and consideration.
Millions and millions of folks have come and gone
on this planet without leaving even a foot print in the
dust. To our chagrin and detriment, we do not know
them in any way at all. But blogging has changed all that,
not merely for the potent and celebrated... but even
unto the lowest among us. At last they have a place
for their opinions...not matter how alarming, uninformed,
and (to the rest of us) silly they may be. And this is a very
good thing... for our job is to cherish the bloggers, protecting and
defending them, even at their most reprehensible and
loathsome. And that includes you, too, Professor Peretz,
as you sit in comfort and security here in Cambridge, spewing
venom. I defend to the death your right to say it... and blog it
worldwide. Defending you, I have done the right thing, while taking
joy from the fact that every hostile word you blog drives down the
certified circulation figures of your moribund rag, The
New Republic. In the end the marketplace, not censorship,
will determine your fate. So blog on....
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where
small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Warning! You may be one of MILLIONS of people leaving money on the table because you won't work the phone!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Have you looked at the economic news lately? The so-called recovery is still weak as a new born kitten. People are still being thrown out of jobs. Home foreclosures continue. Financial and social instability blanket the land.
Yet you who says you're in business...
You who tells me you want to squeeze every single cent from your business, won't pick up the phone to talk to prospects and so are leaving big bucks on the table.
Is that crazy or what?
Now hear this: e-mail did NOT replace the telephone as a crucial business money-maker
Listen to some people, and you'd think the telephone became obsolete when e-mail was invented. "Oh, I never phone anyone anymore. I e-mail them!"
If you're one of the silly ones singing this tune, you need to stop, look, and listen to the vital information I'm about to deliver: as far as connecting, working with and developing long-term relationships with customers is concerned nothing beats your Alexander Graham Bell.
E-mail is spectacular... but it NEVER can or will replace the way phones enable you to communicate directly with your prospects and DO BUSINESS! In plain English, the phone is a money machine. You must learn to use it as such.
1) Review your current use of the phone
Do you make it a point to telephone your prospects, introduce yourself, ascertain what you can do to assist them, follow up with all you prospects to make the sale, and (a little while later) make sure they're happy with what they've purchased?
If you are remiss in some or all of these vital categories, it's time to make changes in your use of the phone... or continue to leave dollars on the table.
2) Do you end each day drawing up a phone list for the next business day?
The key to maximizing phone potential and profit is planning; knowing who you want to connect with on the morrow... and having whatever you need to do so readily at hand.
Create a computer file for each business day. This file should contain
* name of prospect
* prospect phone(s)
* prospect fax and, yes, email
* what prospect is interested in
* then space for a record of all contacts, including what the prospect said and what you promised to do (and then did).
Review tomorrow's phone list BEFORE leaving for the day. That way it will be fresh in your mind when you start calling tomorrow.
3) Call your easiest prospect first
We're human. We all function better when we get off to a good start. In business, this means calling your easiest prospect first, the prospect you know and have a good relationship with. They'll be glad to hear from you; they'll be happy to place that kick-off order. When that order is in , the success of your day is ensured!
4) Be clear on the objective for each call.
Because the telephone is used both personally and for business, it's easy to lose track of why you're calling folks. Personal telephone habits spill over into business time. That's fatal to your bottom line.
Before you call each prospect, review just why you are calling. It is NOT just to say hi and chat. It is either to start a new business relationship, foster an existing one and, above all else, get the sale!
5) Keep good notes
The average telephone business user is casual (and hence ineffectual) to a degree. Sometimes they take notes on their prospects calls; sometimes they don't. This catch-as-catch-can approach to the telephone is not good enough... for you. YOU know the importance of good notes. The time to enter them into your computer file is the MINUTE your phone conversation ends. Indeed, if you have your computer screen in front of you while speaking to your prospects, enter your notes as you go.
6) No answer? Call back. No answer? Call back again.
Over the years, I have been consistently astonished at the high level of self-delusion that permeates the business community about incomplete calls; that is calls which do not result in direct conversation with your prospect.
Any call you place, including calls where you just leave your prospect a message, must be regarded as incomplete calls; that is, calls which must be made and made again until completion (that is direct customer contact) takes place.
7) Regard your customers as assets who need the time and considered attention of any other asset
If you are one of the legion of business people who don't call prospects, a major change in attitude (and procedure) is necessary. From this moment on, think of each prospect as an asset for your business and as one of a string of assets from which you derive wealth.
Would you take a corporate bond and abandon it in a taxi?
Would you leave the deed to your house on a picnic table in the park?
Of course not!
Then don't be cavalier with your customers and efficiently calling and following up. They are ASSETS, and they must be treated accordingly. One phone call at a time. Starting today.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,
where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling books as well as an internationally recognized marketing expert. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Have you looked at the economic news lately? The so-called recovery is still weak as a new born kitten. People are still being thrown out of jobs. Home foreclosures continue. Financial and social instability blanket the land.
Yet you who says you're in business...
You who tells me you want to squeeze every single cent from your business, won't pick up the phone to talk to prospects and so are leaving big bucks on the table.
Is that crazy or what?
Now hear this: e-mail did NOT replace the telephone as a crucial business money-maker
Listen to some people, and you'd think the telephone became obsolete when e-mail was invented. "Oh, I never phone anyone anymore. I e-mail them!"
If you're one of the silly ones singing this tune, you need to stop, look, and listen to the vital information I'm about to deliver: as far as connecting, working with and developing long-term relationships with customers is concerned nothing beats your Alexander Graham Bell.
E-mail is spectacular... but it NEVER can or will replace the way phones enable you to communicate directly with your prospects and DO BUSINESS! In plain English, the phone is a money machine. You must learn to use it as such.
1) Review your current use of the phone
Do you make it a point to telephone your prospects, introduce yourself, ascertain what you can do to assist them, follow up with all you prospects to make the sale, and (a little while later) make sure they're happy with what they've purchased?
If you are remiss in some or all of these vital categories, it's time to make changes in your use of the phone... or continue to leave dollars on the table.
2) Do you end each day drawing up a phone list for the next business day?
The key to maximizing phone potential and profit is planning; knowing who you want to connect with on the morrow... and having whatever you need to do so readily at hand.
Create a computer file for each business day. This file should contain
* name of prospect
* prospect phone(s)
* prospect fax and, yes, email
* what prospect is interested in
* then space for a record of all contacts, including what the prospect said and what you promised to do (and then did).
Review tomorrow's phone list BEFORE leaving for the day. That way it will be fresh in your mind when you start calling tomorrow.
3) Call your easiest prospect first
We're human. We all function better when we get off to a good start. In business, this means calling your easiest prospect first, the prospect you know and have a good relationship with. They'll be glad to hear from you; they'll be happy to place that kick-off order. When that order is in , the success of your day is ensured!
4) Be clear on the objective for each call.
Because the telephone is used both personally and for business, it's easy to lose track of why you're calling folks. Personal telephone habits spill over into business time. That's fatal to your bottom line.
Before you call each prospect, review just why you are calling. It is NOT just to say hi and chat. It is either to start a new business relationship, foster an existing one and, above all else, get the sale!
5) Keep good notes
The average telephone business user is casual (and hence ineffectual) to a degree. Sometimes they take notes on their prospects calls; sometimes they don't. This catch-as-catch-can approach to the telephone is not good enough... for you. YOU know the importance of good notes. The time to enter them into your computer file is the MINUTE your phone conversation ends. Indeed, if you have your computer screen in front of you while speaking to your prospects, enter your notes as you go.
6) No answer? Call back. No answer? Call back again.
Over the years, I have been consistently astonished at the high level of self-delusion that permeates the business community about incomplete calls; that is calls which do not result in direct conversation with your prospect.
Any call you place, including calls where you just leave your prospect a message, must be regarded as incomplete calls; that is, calls which must be made and made again until completion (that is direct customer contact) takes place.
7) Regard your customers as assets who need the time and considered attention of any other asset
If you are one of the legion of business people who don't call prospects, a major change in attitude (and procedure) is necessary. From this moment on, think of each prospect as an asset for your business and as one of a string of assets from which you derive wealth.
Would you take a corporate bond and abandon it in a taxi?
Would you leave the deed to your house on a picnic table in the park?
Of course not!
Then don't be cavalier with your customers and efficiently calling and following up. They are ASSETS, and they must be treated accordingly. One phone call at a time. Starting today.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,
where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling books as well as an internationally recognized marketing expert. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
The Fine Art of Business Follow-up
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
If you are using your business to get rich (the objective of the smartest entrepreneurs), you'll devour this article. Why? Because follow-up is what differentiates those who get rich... from those who just barely scrape by. In short, the stakes couldn't be higher.
Face it, people -- and every single one of your customers -- need follow-up
Consider this. You've been in contact with a customer. You have explained the benefits of what you're selling and made a motivating offer.
The customer has expressed an interest and asked for time to consider. To you, it seems that the order is in the bag, with nothing left to do beyond banking the profits.
Thus, you sit back, relax... and keeping waiting for... the order that never comes.
What went wrong? Lack of follow-up is what went wrong. And until you become the master of essential customer follow-up, you'll leave deal after deal on the table and allow loss after debilitating loss.
1) Make sure you have all the customer information you need for follow-up
Do you have an organized, inviolate procedure for collecting customer data, including name, street address, phone number(s) (including land line and cell phone), and e-mail address?
Business people who have mastered the art of follow-up first made sure they have all the details needed to make this follow-up possible.
2) Review your business to determine just when follow-up is necessary and will be most effective.
Every business is different. The follow-up calendar for one may not be most effective for another. That's why you must review what you do, to determine on follow-up procedures with maximum effectiveness.
What you need to determine is how long to give the customer before following up. It's a fine point. You must give the customer enough time to consider what you have provided... yet not too much so that the customer loses focus and forgets.
3) First follow-up call: make sure customer has received what you want her to have
Sending material by email? Whenever possible, call within the hour to confirm receipt. Remember, sending e-mail and receiving e-mail are two separate things!
Sending material by post? For folks who are local, call 48-72 hours following mailing; for those who are out-of-town check with the post office to see how long receipt should take. Then add 48 hours to this time for follow-up.
4) What happens when you have difficulty reaching the customer when you follow-up?
First, if there is no answer when you call, make sure you ask the customer to respond to your message. Always leave all the details the customer needs to respond; never assume the customer has them or that they are readily at hand.
Leave such a detailed message twice in the first week; then once a week for the next 3 weeks. (If there is still no customer response by that time, put in a tickler file to call and email again in 30 days.)
When you reach the customer, be sure to ask for the sale. Never assume that you will get it. Work for it; after all, YOU are getting the profit.
If the customer declines your offer, ask why. Most often, particularly in times of economic confusion, people take longer to make decisions, even if the benefits are clear and substantial. Your job is to find out why the customer has declined or postponed a decision... and to both improve the offer whenever possible... or, at the very least, ask when the customer expects to be able to proceed, in which case further follow-up is necessary.
Last Words
Make this your rule: don't initiate any customer contact unless you are fully prepared to follow it up. Remind yourself that customer follow-up is what makes you the money. Follow-up will distinguish you in your customer's mind as a person of energy, enthusiasm, motivation, and good habits. Which is just how you want them to see you.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
If you are using your business to get rich (the objective of the smartest entrepreneurs), you'll devour this article. Why? Because follow-up is what differentiates those who get rich... from those who just barely scrape by. In short, the stakes couldn't be higher.
Face it, people -- and every single one of your customers -- need follow-up
Consider this. You've been in contact with a customer. You have explained the benefits of what you're selling and made a motivating offer.
The customer has expressed an interest and asked for time to consider. To you, it seems that the order is in the bag, with nothing left to do beyond banking the profits.
Thus, you sit back, relax... and keeping waiting for... the order that never comes.
What went wrong? Lack of follow-up is what went wrong. And until you become the master of essential customer follow-up, you'll leave deal after deal on the table and allow loss after debilitating loss.
1) Make sure you have all the customer information you need for follow-up
Do you have an organized, inviolate procedure for collecting customer data, including name, street address, phone number(s) (including land line and cell phone), and e-mail address?
Business people who have mastered the art of follow-up first made sure they have all the details needed to make this follow-up possible.
2) Review your business to determine just when follow-up is necessary and will be most effective.
Every business is different. The follow-up calendar for one may not be most effective for another. That's why you must review what you do, to determine on follow-up procedures with maximum effectiveness.
What you need to determine is how long to give the customer before following up. It's a fine point. You must give the customer enough time to consider what you have provided... yet not too much so that the customer loses focus and forgets.
3) First follow-up call: make sure customer has received what you want her to have
Sending material by email? Whenever possible, call within the hour to confirm receipt. Remember, sending e-mail and receiving e-mail are two separate things!
Sending material by post? For folks who are local, call 48-72 hours following mailing; for those who are out-of-town check with the post office to see how long receipt should take. Then add 48 hours to this time for follow-up.
4) What happens when you have difficulty reaching the customer when you follow-up?
First, if there is no answer when you call, make sure you ask the customer to respond to your message. Always leave all the details the customer needs to respond; never assume the customer has them or that they are readily at hand.
Leave such a detailed message twice in the first week; then once a week for the next 3 weeks. (If there is still no customer response by that time, put in a tickler file to call and email again in 30 days.)
When you reach the customer, be sure to ask for the sale. Never assume that you will get it. Work for it; after all, YOU are getting the profit.
If the customer declines your offer, ask why. Most often, particularly in times of economic confusion, people take longer to make decisions, even if the benefits are clear and substantial. Your job is to find out why the customer has declined or postponed a decision... and to both improve the offer whenever possible... or, at the very least, ask when the customer expects to be able to proceed, in which case further follow-up is necessary.
Last Words
Make this your rule: don't initiate any customer contact unless you are fully prepared to follow it up. Remind yourself that customer follow-up is what makes you the money. Follow-up will distinguish you in your customer's mind as a person of energy, enthusiasm, motivation, and good habits. Which is just how you want them to see you.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Is it a Scam? Here's how you'll know!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Hundreds of thousands of folks worldwide have been bilked by Internet scams to the tune of millions of dollars.
Now hear this: not one of these people had to lose a single penny. EVERY scam under the sun can easily be identified.... and hence avoided. Here are the signs of clear and present danger:
1) Scams prosper by telling people they can get rich without work.
Here's a dead give away! Real businesses can and should make their offers as good as possible, always maximizing advantages while minimizing what you must do to achieve results. But scams cross the line, touting success without effort. Here's where the old saying comes in, "If it seems too good to be true... it isn't!" Your mother told you this, and your mother was right.
2) Scams never feature how long they've been in business. Why? Because they aim to arrive, defraud the maximum amount as quickly as possible... then pick up silently and leave.
Real businesses are proud of the number of years they've been helping people. You'll find this information prominently displayed. They want you to know they've been here... and plan to remain here. Scams don't.
3) Scams are not accredited by The Better Business Bureau or other professional associations.
Real businesses understand that people may have hesitations or doubts about doing business with a new, untested company. They, therefore, make it a point to earn professional designations which give their new customers peace of mind.
The Better Business Bureau, for instance, the world's best known consumer protection and consumer advocacy organization, has a business accreditation program. After such extensive "due diligence", you can bet the business will proudly display their seal of accreditation. Scams don't, because scams can't.
4) Scams do not incorporate where they are subject to legal regulations and scrutiny.
Ask a scamster just where his business is incorporated and who regulates it. Answer will come there none.
Legitimate businesses are willing to submit to government oversight and review. While every business person under the sun bemoans the extra work this entails and the inevitable "red tape," in fact they welcome government oversight and review since it tells the public they are real and reputable. Scams are neither, so they don't bother to incorporate.
5) Scams don't sell real products. In actual fact, what they sell is greed.
Talk to any business person in the land about their products and services and they'll happily burble on for hour after factual hour. Not so scamsters.
A scam has no product or service. It doesn't sell anything worth having; it's all about tapping into and controlling you through your own potent avarice.
Real businesses are ecstatic to talk about what they can do for you, the beneficial details. Scams don't dare tell you what they're all about, so they tap deep into your own greed and use that to blind you to what they really do!
6) Scams don't provide real name, real address, real phone numbers, etc.
Real businesses, legitimate businesses are here today, here tomorrow. They live or die by treating old customers well so they return... and motivating new customers to come and visit. This means providing these customers with necessary contact information.
Scams are different. Go to their website. Can you easily get address, phone, etc? No. In fact it's just about impossible to get any genuine contact details. Remember, scams don't want you to know who they are, where they are located, how to contact them. Quite the contrary.
7) Scams don't tell you the names of the principals and their credentials
Remember, scams profit by dazzling you with riches without work. Such mundane details as the names and credentials of the principals -- always trumpeted in real businesses -- are never provided.
Scamsters, remember, count on you being so excited about your imminent prosperity that you won't notice you have no information about the people at this enterprise who are responsible for providing its benefits.
Last Words
There have been scams as long as there have been humans. The Internet, however, has empowered scamsters as never before. Luckily for you, every scam in the world can be easily detected. You simply must control the avarice that makes scams so attractive... and apply the common sense admonitions found here.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Hundreds of thousands of folks worldwide have been bilked by Internet scams to the tune of millions of dollars.
Now hear this: not one of these people had to lose a single penny. EVERY scam under the sun can easily be identified.... and hence avoided. Here are the signs of clear and present danger:
1) Scams prosper by telling people they can get rich without work.
Here's a dead give away! Real businesses can and should make their offers as good as possible, always maximizing advantages while minimizing what you must do to achieve results. But scams cross the line, touting success without effort. Here's where the old saying comes in, "If it seems too good to be true... it isn't!" Your mother told you this, and your mother was right.
2) Scams never feature how long they've been in business. Why? Because they aim to arrive, defraud the maximum amount as quickly as possible... then pick up silently and leave.
Real businesses are proud of the number of years they've been helping people. You'll find this information prominently displayed. They want you to know they've been here... and plan to remain here. Scams don't.
3) Scams are not accredited by The Better Business Bureau or other professional associations.
Real businesses understand that people may have hesitations or doubts about doing business with a new, untested company. They, therefore, make it a point to earn professional designations which give their new customers peace of mind.
The Better Business Bureau, for instance, the world's best known consumer protection and consumer advocacy organization, has a business accreditation program. After such extensive "due diligence", you can bet the business will proudly display their seal of accreditation. Scams don't, because scams can't.
4) Scams do not incorporate where they are subject to legal regulations and scrutiny.
Ask a scamster just where his business is incorporated and who regulates it. Answer will come there none.
Legitimate businesses are willing to submit to government oversight and review. While every business person under the sun bemoans the extra work this entails and the inevitable "red tape," in fact they welcome government oversight and review since it tells the public they are real and reputable. Scams are neither, so they don't bother to incorporate.
5) Scams don't sell real products. In actual fact, what they sell is greed.
Talk to any business person in the land about their products and services and they'll happily burble on for hour after factual hour. Not so scamsters.
A scam has no product or service. It doesn't sell anything worth having; it's all about tapping into and controlling you through your own potent avarice.
Real businesses are ecstatic to talk about what they can do for you, the beneficial details. Scams don't dare tell you what they're all about, so they tap deep into your own greed and use that to blind you to what they really do!
6) Scams don't provide real name, real address, real phone numbers, etc.
Real businesses, legitimate businesses are here today, here tomorrow. They live or die by treating old customers well so they return... and motivating new customers to come and visit. This means providing these customers with necessary contact information.
Scams are different. Go to their website. Can you easily get address, phone, etc? No. In fact it's just about impossible to get any genuine contact details. Remember, scams don't want you to know who they are, where they are located, how to contact them. Quite the contrary.
7) Scams don't tell you the names of the principals and their credentials
Remember, scams profit by dazzling you with riches without work. Such mundane details as the names and credentials of the principals -- always trumpeted in real businesses -- are never provided.
Scamsters, remember, count on you being so excited about your imminent prosperity that you won't notice you have no information about the people at this enterprise who are responsible for providing its benefits.
Last Words
There have been scams as long as there have been humans. The Internet, however, has empowered scamsters as never before. Luckily for you, every scam in the world can be easily detected. You simply must control the avarice that makes scams so attractive... and apply the common sense admonitions found here.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Here's how you get success from the very FIRST DAY of your home-based business.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Thinking about starting a home-based business? Millions of people are. This could be the smartest thing you've done.... or the most stupid. It all depends on how you approach the matter.
FACT: The failure rate for home-based businesses is astronomical
FACT: Many of those starting home-based businesses do so not because they want to run a business at home, but rather because they want to be home and out of an office.
FACT: Too many people launching home-based businesses have done so with inadequate planning and consideration, with the result that they're simply another failure statistic waiting to happen.
Don't let this happen to you! Start planning your home- based business at least one-year in advance of your launch date
Because you're most vulnerable to failure in the early days of your home-based business, do what it takes to maximize early profit and success. This means rigorous, hard-headed planning... the very thing too many home-based business owners eschew.
1) Do a budget
How much money will you need to work at home? This is where a good, honest budget comes in.
You must factor in your salary, your health insurance (don't stint here), and all the usual costs of running any business. This is the moment for hard-headed realism. Towards this end, once you've finished your budget, multiply it by an additional 30%, this being a fund to cover all unforeseen and miscellaneous expenses. ONLY those who are realistic about all the costs of running a business stand any chance of success.
2) Look at what you intend to sell. How many units of this must you sell to cover your financial requirements?
Again, you must be entirely realistic here as you contemplate the number of sales you must make to profit.
3) Start diversifying at once
Successful businesses develop product lines; that is, they don't just sell one thing or another. They may start with a single product, of course, but as soon as possible they begin to add additional products to their repertoire, products which enable them to make multiple sales to their customers and develop a reliable, income-producing following.
4) Develop your prospect lists
As I have frequently said, "Your list is the business; the business is your list." Thus, you must start developing your all-important customer list right from the get-go... and you must NEVER stop developing it until the day you retire.
At this point you are well advised to consult a technician who can assist you in the set up and easy accessing of your list. It is money well spent since you will be working with this list every single day you're in business.
5) Work on your offers
What differentiates successful home-businesses from the also-rans? In a single word, "offers." Successful businesses make it a point to review offers from other companies (particularly competitors)... and improve them to facilitate more and faster sales.
Note: The whole point of making offers is to get people to respond faster than they would then if just the product or service was being sold alone. Towards this end you may well, in the first days of your home-based enterprise, make offers you may never make again. Remember, you are at your most vulnerable in your earliest days; prepare, then, to make (quite literally) "one-time only offers" during this period, in order to bring in much needed cash. There is nothing wrong about doing this to get off to a successful, cash-plenty start. But don't give away the ranch for too long!
6) Make arrangements with suppliers
If you are selling other people's products (and you probably will be doing at least some of this), start working with your suppliers as soon as possible. Gather all the information you need about them, including order details, contact names, email address, phone, fax, shipping requirements, etc. Make it a point to introduce yourself to supplier contacts and develop good business relations. These people are part of the essential network helping you get rich. Treat them accordingly.
Start a year in advance, preferably while you are still employed elsewhere
I said it above... but this important advice bears repeating here. Rigorous planning starting 365 days before you open your doors (when you still have a job) is the key to ensuring an opening day with orders and profits.
Last Words
There's no reason under the sun why your home-based business cannot become the vehicle that makes you a millionaire. There are plenty. Why aren't there even more? Because too many home-based entrepreneurs didn't follow the steps above... thereby torpedoing their own success. YOU, however, know what to do. Begin today. You've got a profitable home-business in your future!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling books, and a well known speaker, consultant and internet marketer. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Thinking about starting a home-based business? Millions of people are. This could be the smartest thing you've done.... or the most stupid. It all depends on how you approach the matter.
FACT: The failure rate for home-based businesses is astronomical
FACT: Many of those starting home-based businesses do so not because they want to run a business at home, but rather because they want to be home and out of an office.
FACT: Too many people launching home-based businesses have done so with inadequate planning and consideration, with the result that they're simply another failure statistic waiting to happen.
Don't let this happen to you! Start planning your home- based business at least one-year in advance of your launch date
Because you're most vulnerable to failure in the early days of your home-based business, do what it takes to maximize early profit and success. This means rigorous, hard-headed planning... the very thing too many home-based business owners eschew.
1) Do a budget
How much money will you need to work at home? This is where a good, honest budget comes in.
You must factor in your salary, your health insurance (don't stint here), and all the usual costs of running any business. This is the moment for hard-headed realism. Towards this end, once you've finished your budget, multiply it by an additional 30%, this being a fund to cover all unforeseen and miscellaneous expenses. ONLY those who are realistic about all the costs of running a business stand any chance of success.
2) Look at what you intend to sell. How many units of this must you sell to cover your financial requirements?
Again, you must be entirely realistic here as you contemplate the number of sales you must make to profit.
3) Start diversifying at once
Successful businesses develop product lines; that is, they don't just sell one thing or another. They may start with a single product, of course, but as soon as possible they begin to add additional products to their repertoire, products which enable them to make multiple sales to their customers and develop a reliable, income-producing following.
4) Develop your prospect lists
As I have frequently said, "Your list is the business; the business is your list." Thus, you must start developing your all-important customer list right from the get-go... and you must NEVER stop developing it until the day you retire.
At this point you are well advised to consult a technician who can assist you in the set up and easy accessing of your list. It is money well spent since you will be working with this list every single day you're in business.
5) Work on your offers
What differentiates successful home-businesses from the also-rans? In a single word, "offers." Successful businesses make it a point to review offers from other companies (particularly competitors)... and improve them to facilitate more and faster sales.
Note: The whole point of making offers is to get people to respond faster than they would then if just the product or service was being sold alone. Towards this end you may well, in the first days of your home-based enterprise, make offers you may never make again. Remember, you are at your most vulnerable in your earliest days; prepare, then, to make (quite literally) "one-time only offers" during this period, in order to bring in much needed cash. There is nothing wrong about doing this to get off to a successful, cash-plenty start. But don't give away the ranch for too long!
6) Make arrangements with suppliers
If you are selling other people's products (and you probably will be doing at least some of this), start working with your suppliers as soon as possible. Gather all the information you need about them, including order details, contact names, email address, phone, fax, shipping requirements, etc. Make it a point to introduce yourself to supplier contacts and develop good business relations. These people are part of the essential network helping you get rich. Treat them accordingly.
Start a year in advance, preferably while you are still employed elsewhere
I said it above... but this important advice bears repeating here. Rigorous planning starting 365 days before you open your doors (when you still have a job) is the key to ensuring an opening day with orders and profits.
Last Words
There's no reason under the sun why your home-based business cannot become the vehicle that makes you a millionaire. There are plenty. Why aren't there even more? Because too many home-based entrepreneurs didn't follow the steps above... thereby torpedoing their own success. YOU, however, know what to do. Begin today. You've got a profitable home-business in your future!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling books, and a well known speaker, consultant and internet marketer. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Beware of any 'business' that relies on recruiting family and friends for your success!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
It all sounded so good.
Incredible earnings potential!
Work at home!
Big profits in your spare time!
Yours, all yours, if you only recruit a few family members and friends... who would then recruit a few family members and friends... who would then recruit a few family members and friends.
Easy! Get started today! Just pay a monthly fee and stockpile a few "they sell themselves"" products... and all those eye-popping benefits (and the money you so need) would be yours.
Unfortunately... it all went wrong, so terribly wrong and in such a short time, too.
No money!
No snug business producing guaranteed extra income!
And family members and friends angry at you for involving and misleading them, with collateral damage for years to come.
What went wrong?
"Warm marketing" is the culprit!
Consider any company you know from major household brand names to local "mom and pop" operations. Do these companies reply on their family and friends to prosper? Certainly not. In fact, the question is absurd. These enterprises, every one of these enterprises, relies on the quality of their goods and customer service -- and their own never-ending marketing efforts -- to attract people to their stores and develop long-term relationships. If you asked such business owners if they were relying on their family and friends to get by, they'd dismiss the notion in a minute as ludicrous.
And so should you!
Why "warm marketing" doesn't work
Warm marketing is based on the proposition that people know people and that by everyone doing a little bit of presentation and recruitment, everyone benefits. Nice idea.
Unfortunately, it has as many holes as swiss cheese.
The premise of "warm marketing" is that people will buy whatever you're selling because they know you, and you ask them. By contrast, in real businesses people buy not because of their personal connection, but because of their need for the product, the eye-catching selection of what you have available, and the particular motivating offer you're making. Selling to their parents and best friends is most assuredly NOT the basis of their success!!!
So, who benefits from "warm marketing" then?
The parent company -- and no one else.
Does the opportunity charge you a fee for joining and/or a monthly "membership" fee. Bingo! They're making money off you.... even if you never make a penny.
Does the opportunity require that you buy a certain amount of product every month? Bingo! They're making money off of you ... even if you never make a penny.
Does the opportunity require that you maintain a certain level of sales to get paid? Bingo! They're making money off of you ... even if you never make a penny.
Let's be very clear: their objective is to make a profit for the company. Whether you make one or not is never their concern.
What companies relying on "warm marketing" never offer
ALL businesses, warm or otherwise, need a steady flow of prospect leads. Regular companies master the art of lead generation early... or they go out of business fast.
Warm marketing companies don't spend a nickle instructing you on marketing mastery. No need! Instead, they just hand you a prospect script and tell you to call all your family and friends ASAP, since that's the sure-fire way to success.
WRONG!
Real companies that have dealer programs bend over backwards to accommodate your need for prospects and to help you educate and close these prospects.
The better the company, the more focused they are on your success, the more you can expect them to provide, such as
* a training program that shows you how to generate and work with your prospects
* multiple lead-generating services
* ad copy that works
* proven prospect scripts
* company-provided incentives to stimulate prospect identification and action
* company provided live and recorded presentations for prospects, delivering key information and answering queries.
Real companies don't say "recruit grandma and all will be well." Instead, they focus on providing you with EVERYTHING you need to generate and close leads, including (and this is absolutely vital) the hot new automatic recruitment software which only cutting-edge companies make a point of offering.
This exciting, money-making software enables you to generate
* unlimited
* guaranteed
* targeted
* specific
* unique
traffic to your website... and to do it AUTOMATICALLY and for FREE!
Related software delivers the Number One position in every search engine on earth... including Google, Yahoo, Bing, Alexa, etc. again AUTOMATICALLY and FREE! (I bet you didn't know you could do this in under 5 minutes, automatically. And for FREE, if the company gives you this amazing software!)
Real companies are happy to give this to you free because they know that traffic is king and that your success (and theirs) is dependent on it.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the outmoded companies advocating "warm marketing" remain in the dark ages.... snagging you with a system that seems easy but is the worst imaginable, not least because it leaves you with a trail of strained and broken relationships with family and friends you have irritated and angered.
To avoid this and all the other pitfalls of this notoriously inefficient and ineffectual marketing system, just remember Nancy Reagan's famous line: "Just say no." It will save you a world of grief, frustration, and a lifetime of bitter, recriminatory comments from family and former friends. It will also enable you to continue your search to find the best opportunities... those which eschew "warm marketing" altogether, and rightly so!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
It all sounded so good.
Incredible earnings potential!
Work at home!
Big profits in your spare time!
Yours, all yours, if you only recruit a few family members and friends... who would then recruit a few family members and friends... who would then recruit a few family members and friends.
Easy! Get started today! Just pay a monthly fee and stockpile a few "they sell themselves"" products... and all those eye-popping benefits (and the money you so need) would be yours.
Unfortunately... it all went wrong, so terribly wrong and in such a short time, too.
No money!
No snug business producing guaranteed extra income!
And family members and friends angry at you for involving and misleading them, with collateral damage for years to come.
What went wrong?
"Warm marketing" is the culprit!
Consider any company you know from major household brand names to local "mom and pop" operations. Do these companies reply on their family and friends to prosper? Certainly not. In fact, the question is absurd. These enterprises, every one of these enterprises, relies on the quality of their goods and customer service -- and their own never-ending marketing efforts -- to attract people to their stores and develop long-term relationships. If you asked such business owners if they were relying on their family and friends to get by, they'd dismiss the notion in a minute as ludicrous.
And so should you!
Why "warm marketing" doesn't work
Warm marketing is based on the proposition that people know people and that by everyone doing a little bit of presentation and recruitment, everyone benefits. Nice idea.
Unfortunately, it has as many holes as swiss cheese.
The premise of "warm marketing" is that people will buy whatever you're selling because they know you, and you ask them. By contrast, in real businesses people buy not because of their personal connection, but because of their need for the product, the eye-catching selection of what you have available, and the particular motivating offer you're making. Selling to their parents and best friends is most assuredly NOT the basis of their success!!!
So, who benefits from "warm marketing" then?
The parent company -- and no one else.
Does the opportunity charge you a fee for joining and/or a monthly "membership" fee. Bingo! They're making money off you.... even if you never make a penny.
Does the opportunity require that you buy a certain amount of product every month? Bingo! They're making money off of you ... even if you never make a penny.
Does the opportunity require that you maintain a certain level of sales to get paid? Bingo! They're making money off of you ... even if you never make a penny.
Let's be very clear: their objective is to make a profit for the company. Whether you make one or not is never their concern.
What companies relying on "warm marketing" never offer
ALL businesses, warm or otherwise, need a steady flow of prospect leads. Regular companies master the art of lead generation early... or they go out of business fast.
Warm marketing companies don't spend a nickle instructing you on marketing mastery. No need! Instead, they just hand you a prospect script and tell you to call all your family and friends ASAP, since that's the sure-fire way to success.
WRONG!
Real companies that have dealer programs bend over backwards to accommodate your need for prospects and to help you educate and close these prospects.
The better the company, the more focused they are on your success, the more you can expect them to provide, such as
* a training program that shows you how to generate and work with your prospects
* multiple lead-generating services
* ad copy that works
* proven prospect scripts
* company-provided incentives to stimulate prospect identification and action
* company provided live and recorded presentations for prospects, delivering key information and answering queries.
Real companies don't say "recruit grandma and all will be well." Instead, they focus on providing you with EVERYTHING you need to generate and close leads, including (and this is absolutely vital) the hot new automatic recruitment software which only cutting-edge companies make a point of offering.
This exciting, money-making software enables you to generate
* unlimited
* guaranteed
* targeted
* specific
* unique
traffic to your website... and to do it AUTOMATICALLY and for FREE!
Related software delivers the Number One position in every search engine on earth... including Google, Yahoo, Bing, Alexa, etc. again AUTOMATICALLY and FREE! (I bet you didn't know you could do this in under 5 minutes, automatically. And for FREE, if the company gives you this amazing software!)
Real companies are happy to give this to you free because they know that traffic is king and that your success (and theirs) is dependent on it.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the outmoded companies advocating "warm marketing" remain in the dark ages.... snagging you with a system that seems easy but is the worst imaginable, not least because it leaves you with a trail of strained and broken relationships with family and friends you have irritated and angered.
To avoid this and all the other pitfalls of this notoriously inefficient and ineffectual marketing system, just remember Nancy Reagan's famous line: "Just say no." It will save you a world of grief, frustration, and a lifetime of bitter, recriminatory comments from family and former friends. It will also enable you to continue your search to find the best opportunities... those which eschew "warm marketing" altogether, and rightly so!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
A Review of Steven Johnson’s Total Traffic Annihilation
If you’re looking for an in-depth treatment of free traffic generation methods then you should invest in Total Traffic Annihilation. I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a preview of this course, and the eBook alone makes it worth your while—it contained 114 pages of focused, step-by-step methods that were presented as a total marketing plan.
I especially enjoyed the sections on blog comment marketing and forum marketing. These sections really helped me understand the right way to use those tools and the strength of what they have to offer. I’d avoided them in the past, feeling as though they were somewhat artificial, but Total Traffic Annihilation showed me they did not have to be.
While I’m not certain all 28 of the strategies presented in the eBook are good fits for my business I was impressed to have so many options to choose from. Every one of the options was covered in a clear, understandable way that will make them easy for me to implement in the future.
The new software package also offers some exciting applications. For example, it allows me to specify RSS feeds to pull content from. It then automatically uses this content to create posts in the categories I specify. I enjoy having a way to comb through article directories for this freely available content. It even allows me to create a site that appears to have been around for awhile through the clever use of back-dating. My site doesn’t look at all automated as a result, which I appreciate given most people’s opinions of automated blogs.
That’s not to say the course is perfect. I found some of the information duplicated things I have tried and found ineffective in the past, such as submitting to directories like DMOZ. I would have liked to have seen some more in-depth troubleshooting in this area because I’ve simply never found success there. It may simply have been that my sites were a poor fit for the directories or because I was impatient.
All in all, however, I would happily recommend this course. It should be especially helpful to anybody who has struggled with getting enough website traffic. After all, no traffic means no sales, making this course the potential investment of a lifetime.
Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
I especially enjoyed the sections on blog comment marketing and forum marketing. These sections really helped me understand the right way to use those tools and the strength of what they have to offer. I’d avoided them in the past, feeling as though they were somewhat artificial, but Total Traffic Annihilation showed me they did not have to be.
While I’m not certain all 28 of the strategies presented in the eBook are good fits for my business I was impressed to have so many options to choose from. Every one of the options was covered in a clear, understandable way that will make them easy for me to implement in the future.
The new software package also offers some exciting applications. For example, it allows me to specify RSS feeds to pull content from. It then automatically uses this content to create posts in the categories I specify. I enjoy having a way to comb through article directories for this freely available content. It even allows me to create a site that appears to have been around for awhile through the clever use of back-dating. My site doesn’t look at all automated as a result, which I appreciate given most people’s opinions of automated blogs.
That’s not to say the course is perfect. I found some of the information duplicated things I have tried and found ineffective in the past, such as submitting to directories like DMOZ. I would have liked to have seen some more in-depth troubleshooting in this area because I’ve simply never found success there. It may simply have been that my sites were a poor fit for the directories or because I was impatient.
All in all, however, I would happily recommend this course. It should be especially helpful to anybody who has struggled with getting enough website traffic. After all, no traffic means no sales, making this course the potential investment of a lifetime.
Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Friday, December 10, 2010
Top 5 Mistakes made by Online Marketers. Don't make these mistakes and sabotage your promotional efforts
Today I am tackling one of the BIGGEST problems faced by new online marketers. The problem is this, the inability to market effectively. This causes so many marketers incredible frustration! The result, they throw up their hands in despair and quit long before they see any results.
This is what I hear from people day after day in my role as an online Home Business Consultant. "I am posting, and promoting but not getting any leads or sales! Help me!" If this is you, keep reading, I am going to tell you what you need to know about marketing.
It is true that you can be promoting every day but if you are making one or all of the 5 common mistakes I've outlined here, you won't get the results you want. Take note, this is important stuff if you are really serious about making money online.
1. The first mistake made by new online marketers is this:
Not knowing WHAT to market.
I talk to people daily, nice people who want to sell something online and earn some extra money. They sign up or this and for that, they get Affiliate Memberships all over the web hoping to get better results by being involved in everything they can get their hands on. There intentions are good, they are motivated but they stumble right off the bat by not knowing what to market.
Here's a quick guide for you on WHAT to Market: -Pick products to market that are DIGITAL. Digital products are those that can be bought and sold instantly online. You get your commission sooner, the buyer gets their product instantly! It's no-fuss no-muss and the best way to start your web marketing experience and see some results. -In most cases there is no cost to be a product Reseller or Affiliate - hurray! -Pick Reseller products from a reputable long-standing company that specializes in helping vendors connect with affiliates to sell products online -Pick products or affiliate programs that provide advertising copy, banners, and sales aids along with referral links so you can easily promote the products -Pick products that catch YOUR EYE! Newest releases, products with catchy names, trendy topics, those with positive buyer feedback, and return guarantees are best! -Look for Joint Venture releases so you can be one of the first to promote the products when first released for sale Finally, FOCUS! Keep your eye on the prize - profits - don't spread yourself too thin. Narrow your efforts to a few products and put 100% effort into your campaign.
2. The second most common mistake made by new online marketers is this:
Not knowing HOW to market.
I am always surprised at the answer people give me when I ask how they are marketing online. They look at me perhaps thinking what a ridiculous question that is! They tell me they are sending out their website address. When I look at their website I see a site that is oh so boring! It reads like a brochure with company history, and a few pages of fluffy copy. Yes, of course it is important to promote your website address BUT if you wish to capture leads you must do this - get the prospects contact information!
Getting the contact information from a prospect is often very difficult to do with a standard corporate site. The answer to this problem is to create what are called LANDING pages, or Squeeze pages. These are single page sites that have one purpose and one purpose only - get you a LEAD - and better yet lead to a sale! Some companies provide Landing Pages for you when you become a Reseller for their products. Landing pages help you build your marketing list. Every person may not be a buyer today, but on your mailing list they may enjoy future products you offer. Offering an option to join your mailing directly on your Landing Page gives people 100% control over opting in to your mailing list or not. You build your list while ensuring that people have voluntarily joined your mailing list.
Here's a quick guide to creating responsive landing pages:
-They should be FAST Loading! Skip any animation, video or annoying distraction that just makes people click OFF! -Use images that are colorful, directive, and related to the theme of your product -Your copy MUST be short, punchy, laden with benefits - speak directly to the reader -Your copy should tell readers what they get if they ACT now! Limit the offer, even better! -Capture the contact information of the reader so you can deliver what they asked for -The more goodies, freebies, offers, and cool stuff you can give people the BETTER the response! -Always include an option for people to join your mailing list and give them GREAT reasons to want to do so!
Unlike a website, a landing page should be EXCITING, BENEFIT-LADEN and accomplish this:
Look reader! You get this! Do this to get it! Do it NOW and also get this BONUS!
3. Here is the third most common mistake I see new marketers making:
Not KNOWING WHERE to Market
Marketing is NOT simple but if you know what you are doing it can be. The key is to find the sites, the niches where you can target your market. Market to the right people instead of the masses with solid products and you will get instantly better results.
Here's a quick guide to knowing WHERE to market:
-Do a Google search to find sites related to what you are promoting, then target those sites for your marketing campaigns -Use every available niche market you can find and post there, this includes Forums, Classified Ad Sites, Banner Exchanges, Twitter and Social Networking and Bookmarking sites. -Do not discount FREE and low cost advertising options like Safelists, and Traffic Exchanges. These are excellent ways to target a specific market -You do NOT have to spend ridiculous amounts of money on advertising. Find the sites where your target market exists, then place low cost ads including safelist posts, banners, and classified ads. Don't even think about buying pay-per-click ads at sites like Google unless you have deep pockets and know what you are doing. -Learn what backlinks are and why they are SO VERY important to generating traffic and achieving better search engine indexing for your site, products or business. -If any of the terms above are foreign to you, you have some homework to do, I have included some resources below.
4. Are you ready for the fourth and perhaps most fatal mistake made by new online marketers?
Not knowing how to TRACK your promotional campaigns
If you are going to spend time and money to promote a product or service you MUST, you absolutely MUST know where you are getting your results. Ad Tracking is a 100% requirement! If you are not tracking your ads, and the clicks you get and from where, you are promoting blindly. What happens when you don't watch what you are doing? You can fall in a hole! Online this can be a hole where you fall in and throw your money into wasted ad campaigns. I've seen more people allow paid advertising to eat up their entire budget than I want to think about. Smart marketers that get results know exactly the ad campaigns that get results, and the sources they came from.
Get an Ad Tracker Tool. Some advertising sites provide you with data on number of clicks to your ads, or impressions. This is important, just be sure you understand what those terms mean. A click is usually far more powerful for you then a "view". You want ACTIVE respondents, real people actually clicking on your ad to see it. This is much different than an "exposure" or a "view" with the latter being considered passive and very weak marketing, often provided free. For best results you will ALWAYS get better results from paid advertising than from free advertising but don't discount free promotion, it is a good way to earn advertising credits if you have a small advertising budget. If you buy advertising be SURE you get some kind of way to validate the promotion, the click rate, and actual IP addresses of unique respondents to ensure the hits are legitimate and not computer generated. Make sure your respondents will be geographically specific too, from countries that you wish to target. For example, Canada or the USA. If you have your own domain you are fortunate, as you can benefit from an Ad Tracking tool that tracks all your promotional activities and traced to your website domain address.
5. The fifth common mistake I see online marketers making is very straight-forward.
Not being realistic or giving it enough consistent time and effort to see results.
I know we live in an instant gratification world but if you are new to online marketing you will need to be more realistic. Promotion takes a lot of CONSISTENT effort using a number of strategies at a number or web sites. By tracking your ads you can see instantly where your efforts are being productive. Be prepared to try various copy, be cognizant that some products will sell better than others, some advertising resources will deliver better than others. Vary your offers, change up your products as needed, update landing pages, post to a number of sites and track the results. Take some time to learn about some of the terms used in this article. Be honest with yourself about what you are doing. Are you serious about earning money online or are you doing this as a hobby? Your level of hunger and ambition to succeed will be your motivator. The good news is that once you have built your mailing list, and found niche sites and advertising resources that work, your job to promote gets easier but NEVER goes away.
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., a company specializing in hosting, online tools, training, ad tracking, and marketing resources for small and home business. Established modestly in 1994 off a kitchen table, today Worldprofit is known as the Home Business Experts and the number one resource for all things related to home business. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
This is what I hear from people day after day in my role as an online Home Business Consultant. "I am posting, and promoting but not getting any leads or sales! Help me!" If this is you, keep reading, I am going to tell you what you need to know about marketing.
It is true that you can be promoting every day but if you are making one or all of the 5 common mistakes I've outlined here, you won't get the results you want. Take note, this is important stuff if you are really serious about making money online.
1. The first mistake made by new online marketers is this:
Not knowing WHAT to market.
I talk to people daily, nice people who want to sell something online and earn some extra money. They sign up or this and for that, they get Affiliate Memberships all over the web hoping to get better results by being involved in everything they can get their hands on. There intentions are good, they are motivated but they stumble right off the bat by not knowing what to market.
Here's a quick guide for you on WHAT to Market: -Pick products to market that are DIGITAL. Digital products are those that can be bought and sold instantly online. You get your commission sooner, the buyer gets their product instantly! It's no-fuss no-muss and the best way to start your web marketing experience and see some results. -In most cases there is no cost to be a product Reseller or Affiliate - hurray! -Pick Reseller products from a reputable long-standing company that specializes in helping vendors connect with affiliates to sell products online -Pick products or affiliate programs that provide advertising copy, banners, and sales aids along with referral links so you can easily promote the products -Pick products that catch YOUR EYE! Newest releases, products with catchy names, trendy topics, those with positive buyer feedback, and return guarantees are best! -Look for Joint Venture releases so you can be one of the first to promote the products when first released for sale Finally, FOCUS! Keep your eye on the prize - profits - don't spread yourself too thin. Narrow your efforts to a few products and put 100% effort into your campaign.
2. The second most common mistake made by new online marketers is this:
Not knowing HOW to market.
I am always surprised at the answer people give me when I ask how they are marketing online. They look at me perhaps thinking what a ridiculous question that is! They tell me they are sending out their website address. When I look at their website I see a site that is oh so boring! It reads like a brochure with company history, and a few pages of fluffy copy. Yes, of course it is important to promote your website address BUT if you wish to capture leads you must do this - get the prospects contact information!
Getting the contact information from a prospect is often very difficult to do with a standard corporate site. The answer to this problem is to create what are called LANDING pages, or Squeeze pages. These are single page sites that have one purpose and one purpose only - get you a LEAD - and better yet lead to a sale! Some companies provide Landing Pages for you when you become a Reseller for their products. Landing pages help you build your marketing list. Every person may not be a buyer today, but on your mailing list they may enjoy future products you offer. Offering an option to join your mailing directly on your Landing Page gives people 100% control over opting in to your mailing list or not. You build your list while ensuring that people have voluntarily joined your mailing list.
Here's a quick guide to creating responsive landing pages:
-They should be FAST Loading! Skip any animation, video or annoying distraction that just makes people click OFF! -Use images that are colorful, directive, and related to the theme of your product -Your copy MUST be short, punchy, laden with benefits - speak directly to the reader -Your copy should tell readers what they get if they ACT now! Limit the offer, even better! -Capture the contact information of the reader so you can deliver what they asked for -The more goodies, freebies, offers, and cool stuff you can give people the BETTER the response! -Always include an option for people to join your mailing list and give them GREAT reasons to want to do so!
Unlike a website, a landing page should be EXCITING, BENEFIT-LADEN and accomplish this:
Look reader! You get this! Do this to get it! Do it NOW and also get this BONUS!
3. Here is the third most common mistake I see new marketers making:
Not KNOWING WHERE to Market
Marketing is NOT simple but if you know what you are doing it can be. The key is to find the sites, the niches where you can target your market. Market to the right people instead of the masses with solid products and you will get instantly better results.
Here's a quick guide to knowing WHERE to market:
-Do a Google search to find sites related to what you are promoting, then target those sites for your marketing campaigns -Use every available niche market you can find and post there, this includes Forums, Classified Ad Sites, Banner Exchanges, Twitter and Social Networking and Bookmarking sites. -Do not discount FREE and low cost advertising options like Safelists, and Traffic Exchanges. These are excellent ways to target a specific market -You do NOT have to spend ridiculous amounts of money on advertising. Find the sites where your target market exists, then place low cost ads including safelist posts, banners, and classified ads. Don't even think about buying pay-per-click ads at sites like Google unless you have deep pockets and know what you are doing. -Learn what backlinks are and why they are SO VERY important to generating traffic and achieving better search engine indexing for your site, products or business. -If any of the terms above are foreign to you, you have some homework to do, I have included some resources below.
4. Are you ready for the fourth and perhaps most fatal mistake made by new online marketers?
Not knowing how to TRACK your promotional campaigns
If you are going to spend time and money to promote a product or service you MUST, you absolutely MUST know where you are getting your results. Ad Tracking is a 100% requirement! If you are not tracking your ads, and the clicks you get and from where, you are promoting blindly. What happens when you don't watch what you are doing? You can fall in a hole! Online this can be a hole where you fall in and throw your money into wasted ad campaigns. I've seen more people allow paid advertising to eat up their entire budget than I want to think about. Smart marketers that get results know exactly the ad campaigns that get results, and the sources they came from.
Get an Ad Tracker Tool. Some advertising sites provide you with data on number of clicks to your ads, or impressions. This is important, just be sure you understand what those terms mean. A click is usually far more powerful for you then a "view". You want ACTIVE respondents, real people actually clicking on your ad to see it. This is much different than an "exposure" or a "view" with the latter being considered passive and very weak marketing, often provided free. For best results you will ALWAYS get better results from paid advertising than from free advertising but don't discount free promotion, it is a good way to earn advertising credits if you have a small advertising budget. If you buy advertising be SURE you get some kind of way to validate the promotion, the click rate, and actual IP addresses of unique respondents to ensure the hits are legitimate and not computer generated. Make sure your respondents will be geographically specific too, from countries that you wish to target. For example, Canada or the USA. If you have your own domain you are fortunate, as you can benefit from an Ad Tracking tool that tracks all your promotional activities and traced to your website domain address.
5. The fifth common mistake I see online marketers making is very straight-forward.
Not being realistic or giving it enough consistent time and effort to see results.
I know we live in an instant gratification world but if you are new to online marketing you will need to be more realistic. Promotion takes a lot of CONSISTENT effort using a number of strategies at a number or web sites. By tracking your ads you can see instantly where your efforts are being productive. Be prepared to try various copy, be cognizant that some products will sell better than others, some advertising resources will deliver better than others. Vary your offers, change up your products as needed, update landing pages, post to a number of sites and track the results. Take some time to learn about some of the terms used in this article. Be honest with yourself about what you are doing. Are you serious about earning money online or are you doing this as a hobby? Your level of hunger and ambition to succeed will be your motivator. The good news is that once you have built your mailing list, and found niche sites and advertising resources that work, your job to promote gets easier but NEVER goes away.
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., a company specializing in hosting, online tools, training, ad tracking, and marketing resources for small and home business. Established modestly in 1994 off a kitchen table, today Worldprofit is known as the Home Business Experts and the number one resource for all things related to home business. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
So you think Social Networking Sites are a Waste of Time? Rethink this or lose out.
So you think Social Networking Sites are a Waste of Time? Think again, Google's new Indexing System says different, site owners take note.
If you have been one of the nay-sayers about Social Networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Friendster, and YouTube you may want to rethink this belief. If you have been saying, "I just don't get it." It's time to "get it" especially if you want to exploit this for the good of your online business.
First, you need to know that Google is now indexing Social Networking content including video, images and blogs right alongside with webpages. What this means for you is this. If you don't use these sites to promote your business you are missing out on a lot of free promotion for your business and opportunity to get better indexed at search engines. The more content you have online about your business, products and services, the better indexed your site will be. This means your customers and prospects will be more easily able to find what you have to offer at your site. The more links TO your site (called backlinks), the more popular your site is viewed by search engines, especially if those links come from what are deemed as high-profile (authority ) sites.
Here is what you need to know to capitalize on all this free promotion for your business (essentially this is Search Engine Optimization Strategy whether you know it or not).
Getting good returns from Social Search Results means:
1. If you don't have a Google account get one. Make sure you have all of your important links on your Google Profile. 2. Do make as many connections as possible on the most popular social networking sites especially the ones that attract your market. 3. Encourage customers to follow you via social networks. Include your Twitter address, FaceBook address etc on your site and your marketing materials. 4. Participate in social media so people will engage with you. This starts with getting a free account for your business on the popular social sites. 5. Encourage sharing of content (there are plenty available social media buttons) Example: Flicker, Digg, etc, 6. Always include social network information on business cards, signs and so forth. Get the word out in as many places as you can. 7. Be sure to include as much social network information as you can in your online promotions 8. Everywhere you network include a link BACK to your website - this is CRITICAL.
Remember when doing searches, social results will always be clearly marked as such on Google's SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). The returns will be accompanied by a heading "Results from your social circle". For traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it is just one more thing to compete with as far as website property. That's why social networking is a much more of an important part of search than ever. Get on board now, Google will be announcing more changes to their new indexing system, so make the most of this information now.
Sandi Hunter, is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., and an IT Consultant for small and home business owners. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
If you have been one of the nay-sayers about Social Networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Friendster, and YouTube you may want to rethink this belief. If you have been saying, "I just don't get it." It's time to "get it" especially if you want to exploit this for the good of your online business.
First, you need to know that Google is now indexing Social Networking content including video, images and blogs right alongside with webpages. What this means for you is this. If you don't use these sites to promote your business you are missing out on a lot of free promotion for your business and opportunity to get better indexed at search engines. The more content you have online about your business, products and services, the better indexed your site will be. This means your customers and prospects will be more easily able to find what you have to offer at your site. The more links TO your site (called backlinks), the more popular your site is viewed by search engines, especially if those links come from what are deemed as high-profile (authority ) sites.
Here is what you need to know to capitalize on all this free promotion for your business (essentially this is Search Engine Optimization Strategy whether you know it or not).
Getting good returns from Social Search Results means:
1. If you don't have a Google account get one. Make sure you have all of your important links on your Google Profile. 2. Do make as many connections as possible on the most popular social networking sites especially the ones that attract your market. 3. Encourage customers to follow you via social networks. Include your Twitter address, FaceBook address etc on your site and your marketing materials. 4. Participate in social media so people will engage with you. This starts with getting a free account for your business on the popular social sites. 5. Encourage sharing of content (there are plenty available social media buttons) Example: Flicker, Digg, etc, 6. Always include social network information on business cards, signs and so forth. Get the word out in as many places as you can. 7. Be sure to include as much social network information as you can in your online promotions 8. Everywhere you network include a link BACK to your website - this is CRITICAL.
Remember when doing searches, social results will always be clearly marked as such on Google's SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). The returns will be accompanied by a heading "Results from your social circle". For traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it is just one more thing to compete with as far as website property. That's why social networking is a much more of an important part of search than ever. Get on board now, Google will be announcing more changes to their new indexing system, so make the most of this information now.
Sandi Hunter, is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., and an IT Consultant for small and home business owners. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
Landing Pages: What GETS Responses and What Turns Leads Away! You need to read this if you are an online marketer.
The test results are in! We tested various types of Landing Pages with rich media, and some without. Listen up, you need to know what we found are the BEST type of Landing pages to get you leads! You may be very surprised at our test results! Once you know the results you can abandon what doesn't work and concentrate on creating Landing Pages that pull not repel.
Our tests revealed that Landing pages with rich media like video, distracting flash, or animation did not produce nearly as good a response as old-fashioned graphic pages with good copy. In fact, some of the rich media Landing Pages actually irritated readers and sent then clicking away! The non-rich media Landing pages kept readers attention longer, AND got a FAR higher response rate.
Now that you know this here is what you should consider when creating your landing pages so you get the results you want!
These are the DO's of Landing Pages that get the BEST results!
-FAST Loading! -Use images that are colorful, directive, and related to the theme of your Landing Page -Your copy MUST be short, punchy, laden with benefits - speak directly to the readers. -Tell readers clearly what they get -Tell readers what they get if they ACT now! Limit the offer, even better! -Capture the contact information of the reader so you can deliver what they asked for -The more goodies, freebies, offers, and cool stuff you can give people the BETTER the response!
In a nutshell if you want Landing pages that get a terrific response, tell people what they get, how to get it, make an offer to get them to take action NOW!
Look reader! You get this! Do this to get it! Do it NOW and also get this BONUS!
These are the DO NOT's for Landing Pages!
-Do not use video on your Landing pages. I know you think the video helps, but test after test says, scrap the embedded video in your landing pages! -If you want videos, and don't get me wrong they DO have value, include them on your website but not your landing pages. -Do not use long, dull, oh so boooooring copy that never gets to the point. -Skip the animation, the flashing, the blinking irritation that readers hate and gives reason to click off and terminate your annoying page. -Don't FORGET to include a lead form, to capture contact information
In a nutshell: If you can't write short punchy copy on your Landing pages, list the benefits you are offering point by point then conclude with a compelling offer. Don't forget the # 1 purpose of your Landing Page: to get leads! Give people good reasons to become your prospect. Treat them right, make a pitch, make a bonus offer. They get what they want and you get a valuable lead.
Now go review your Landing Pages and start looking at them like a READER looks at them. Modify the annoying animated ones and get back to basics, powerful copy, eye-grabbing graphics, and a GREAT ABSOLUTELY CANNOT BE REFUSED - DO IT NOW OFFER.
Sandi Hunter is President of Worldprofit, Inc.,where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Sandi is responsible for the design and development of thousands of websites. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
Our tests revealed that Landing pages with rich media like video, distracting flash, or animation did not produce nearly as good a response as old-fashioned graphic pages with good copy. In fact, some of the rich media Landing Pages actually irritated readers and sent then clicking away! The non-rich media Landing pages kept readers attention longer, AND got a FAR higher response rate.
Now that you know this here is what you should consider when creating your landing pages so you get the results you want!
These are the DO's of Landing Pages that get the BEST results!
-FAST Loading! -Use images that are colorful, directive, and related to the theme of your Landing Page -Your copy MUST be short, punchy, laden with benefits - speak directly to the readers. -Tell readers clearly what they get -Tell readers what they get if they ACT now! Limit the offer, even better! -Capture the contact information of the reader so you can deliver what they asked for -The more goodies, freebies, offers, and cool stuff you can give people the BETTER the response!
In a nutshell if you want Landing pages that get a terrific response, tell people what they get, how to get it, make an offer to get them to take action NOW!
Look reader! You get this! Do this to get it! Do it NOW and also get this BONUS!
These are the DO NOT's for Landing Pages!
-Do not use video on your Landing pages. I know you think the video helps, but test after test says, scrap the embedded video in your landing pages! -If you want videos, and don't get me wrong they DO have value, include them on your website but not your landing pages. -Do not use long, dull, oh so boooooring copy that never gets to the point. -Skip the animation, the flashing, the blinking irritation that readers hate and gives reason to click off and terminate your annoying page. -Don't FORGET to include a lead form, to capture contact information
In a nutshell: If you can't write short punchy copy on your Landing pages, list the benefits you are offering point by point then conclude with a compelling offer. Don't forget the # 1 purpose of your Landing Page: to get leads! Give people good reasons to become your prospect. Treat them right, make a pitch, make a bonus offer. They get what they want and you get a valuable lead.
Now go review your Landing Pages and start looking at them like a READER looks at them. Modify the annoying animated ones and get back to basics, powerful copy, eye-grabbing graphics, and a GREAT ABSOLUTELY CANNOT BE REFUSED - DO IT NOW OFFER.
Sandi Hunter is President of Worldprofit, Inc.,where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Sandi is responsible for the design and development of thousands of websites. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati http://SmartWealthSolutions.com.
How to write web site and article content that sells
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
It was Bill Gates, the sage with prophetic talents
and the deepest of pockets, who said it first: "Content
is king." Per usual billionaire Bill was right.
Problem is, he omitted the directions on how to
produce the site and article content you need so much. Humbly,
I rectify his omission.
Here then are the necessary steps for producing
web site and article copy that sells.
1) Know thy audience.
The purpose of creating site content is to build
relationships and loyalty with your designated populations...
and produce content that gets them to RETURN and RESPOND.
Are you, therefore, clear on just who you are
producing content for?
Say you are running an insurance agency and
want to insure more business from people with
large and valuable art and artifact collections.
Before you write word 1 of content, you must know
and WRITE DOWN a description of the kinds of
people you want to attract. Every word you write
thereafter, all the content you produce is for --
them!
2) Write content that brings you business
In this report, I am showing you how to write site
content that sells. For details on how to write the
great American novel, you must seek other counsel.
Thus, your next step towards producing site
content that sells is to brainstorm subjects and to
craft the all-important title.
Again, consider the insurance agent aiming for
lucrative antique collection accounts. He needs a
title like this: "7 things you need to know about
insuring your antiques and collections." Alternatively,
try this
"7 things you don't know about insuring your
antiques that make you vulnerable."
Or, "5 things you can do right now to
decrease the cost of your antiques insurance."
Note: a title like this peeks reader interest...
the public designated for this content wants to
know, is desperate to know, just where there may be
holes, flaws, and omissions in their policies. Your
content (and your title) play to their need to know,
including fears and anxieties which motivate prompt
response to you.
3) Brainstorm subjects to be included in your article
or site content
The most cogent content is brainstormed and
outlined before a single word is written. First, and
most importantly, sit down at your desk and write
down the topics you want (and your reader must
have) in this content.
Personally, I take one 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet and
(in my execrable hand writing) detail all the key
points about the subject at hand.
Then, having brainstormed all, I arrange these
points in logical order, thus: first do this, then this,
then this, etc.
Brainstorm and point prioritizing are key to
successful content.
Note: for best results, you should have no fewer
than 5 points in any individual article or not more than
10. The content may appear skimpy and inadequate
if you have too few points while having more than 10
over burdens your reader (and future customer), causing
him to postpone reading -- and response!
4) Now write.
You are now ready to write the content, for you have
considered your audience and what they need to know
(and will most thank you for); you have brainstormed
the subjects to be included and arranged them in
the proper order. Yes, you are ready to write.
Sit yourself down in your writing place (you do have
one, don't you), a place where you can write undisturbed,
inviolate to the crafting of superb content
Go there now. Determine your writing schedule. You
should be able to produce draft site content in 2-4
hours, depending on how experienced a writer you
are. Always set a date and time for the conclusion of
Draft 1. Never leave it open-ended. Things without
deadlines are things less likely to be done.
Note: Remember, what you are writing now
must be a conversation between you and your
reader (who is, let's be clear, your future customer,
too.) The content must, therefore, be written accordingly.
The word "you" (meaning you, the reader) must
predominate. You must not write for an amorphous
audience of the unknown. You must write instead to
and for the chief benefit of each individual reader...
just as if the reader was sitting beside you and you
were explaining one thing after another of importance
to her. This is vital.
5) Read, review, revise your content.
Now hear this: the best writing is re-writing. Thus,
when you have finished Draft 1, let it sit overnight.
It is the rare, experienced, polished writer who can
write such content, review such content, and post
the finished product all in a day. Some may disagree,
but I remain convinced time and patience are necessary
ingredients in the very best content.
When ready, read your content aloud. No sentence
should be more than one breath. If your sentences
are turgid and flow slowly, awkward, break them into
shorter lines, easier to read. Your tempo should be allegro,
not andante.
6) Revise, revise, revise.
Having finished your first revisions, it is time for...
more revisions. As much time should be spent on
revising your content as writing it in the first place.
This, then, should be your schedule:
Day 1, write the content. On this same day,
do the first revisions.
Day 2, after letting the content sit overnight,
awake early (personally I do this between 5-7 am
because that is when my schedule is clear and
I have the fewest interruptions. In other words, I
can focus.) Then do at least one more content
revision.
3) On Day 3, do a final content review. There
should be few, if any, changes at this point.
Your content should be word perfect, light,
graceful, moving; content that will impact the
reader, because it impacts you!
7) The Resource Box
Now add the crucial Resource Box and About the
Author details. Having written content that helps
your reader and future customer, it is now manifestly
appropriate to include something that helps you...
and that is precisely what the Resource Box and
About the Author sections do. Treat them accordingly.
Be sure to include all the means you wish customers
to use to get in touch with you, including email, URL,
telephone, cell phone, etc. Believe me, the useful
content you have given them will inspire response.
Depend on it.
Exult. You deserve it!
You have now done a useful thing. Your content is
now available for use on blogs, ezines, site postings,
et al. Take a moment to congratulate yourself. You
deserve it.
You have taken what you know and can do and
transformed it into a focused means of generating
new customers and really helping them. You may be a
tad fatigued by your effort; that's natural. But what
you've written can live for years and help thousands.
And that's a true cause for jubilation.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
It was Bill Gates, the sage with prophetic talents
and the deepest of pockets, who said it first: "Content
is king." Per usual billionaire Bill was right.
Problem is, he omitted the directions on how to
produce the site and article content you need so much. Humbly,
I rectify his omission.
Here then are the necessary steps for producing
web site and article copy that sells.
1) Know thy audience.
The purpose of creating site content is to build
relationships and loyalty with your designated populations...
and produce content that gets them to RETURN and RESPOND.
Are you, therefore, clear on just who you are
producing content for?
Say you are running an insurance agency and
want to insure more business from people with
large and valuable art and artifact collections.
Before you write word 1 of content, you must know
and WRITE DOWN a description of the kinds of
people you want to attract. Every word you write
thereafter, all the content you produce is for --
them!
2) Write content that brings you business
In this report, I am showing you how to write site
content that sells. For details on how to write the
great American novel, you must seek other counsel.
Thus, your next step towards producing site
content that sells is to brainstorm subjects and to
craft the all-important title.
Again, consider the insurance agent aiming for
lucrative antique collection accounts. He needs a
title like this: "7 things you need to know about
insuring your antiques and collections." Alternatively,
try this
"7 things you don't know about insuring your
antiques that make you vulnerable."
Or, "5 things you can do right now to
decrease the cost of your antiques insurance."
Note: a title like this peeks reader interest...
the public designated for this content wants to
know, is desperate to know, just where there may be
holes, flaws, and omissions in their policies. Your
content (and your title) play to their need to know,
including fears and anxieties which motivate prompt
response to you.
3) Brainstorm subjects to be included in your article
or site content
The most cogent content is brainstormed and
outlined before a single word is written. First, and
most importantly, sit down at your desk and write
down the topics you want (and your reader must
have) in this content.
Personally, I take one 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet and
(in my execrable hand writing) detail all the key
points about the subject at hand.
Then, having brainstormed all, I arrange these
points in logical order, thus: first do this, then this,
then this, etc.
Brainstorm and point prioritizing are key to
successful content.
Note: for best results, you should have no fewer
than 5 points in any individual article or not more than
10. The content may appear skimpy and inadequate
if you have too few points while having more than 10
over burdens your reader (and future customer), causing
him to postpone reading -- and response!
4) Now write.
You are now ready to write the content, for you have
considered your audience and what they need to know
(and will most thank you for); you have brainstormed
the subjects to be included and arranged them in
the proper order. Yes, you are ready to write.
Sit yourself down in your writing place (you do have
one, don't you), a place where you can write undisturbed,
inviolate to the crafting of superb content
Go there now. Determine your writing schedule. You
should be able to produce draft site content in 2-4
hours, depending on how experienced a writer you
are. Always set a date and time for the conclusion of
Draft 1. Never leave it open-ended. Things without
deadlines are things less likely to be done.
Note: Remember, what you are writing now
must be a conversation between you and your
reader (who is, let's be clear, your future customer,
too.) The content must, therefore, be written accordingly.
The word "you" (meaning you, the reader) must
predominate. You must not write for an amorphous
audience of the unknown. You must write instead to
and for the chief benefit of each individual reader...
just as if the reader was sitting beside you and you
were explaining one thing after another of importance
to her. This is vital.
5) Read, review, revise your content.
Now hear this: the best writing is re-writing. Thus,
when you have finished Draft 1, let it sit overnight.
It is the rare, experienced, polished writer who can
write such content, review such content, and post
the finished product all in a day. Some may disagree,
but I remain convinced time and patience are necessary
ingredients in the very best content.
When ready, read your content aloud. No sentence
should be more than one breath. If your sentences
are turgid and flow slowly, awkward, break them into
shorter lines, easier to read. Your tempo should be allegro,
not andante.
6) Revise, revise, revise.
Having finished your first revisions, it is time for...
more revisions. As much time should be spent on
revising your content as writing it in the first place.
This, then, should be your schedule:
Day 1, write the content. On this same day,
do the first revisions.
Day 2, after letting the content sit overnight,
awake early (personally I do this between 5-7 am
because that is when my schedule is clear and
I have the fewest interruptions. In other words, I
can focus.) Then do at least one more content
revision.
3) On Day 3, do a final content review. There
should be few, if any, changes at this point.
Your content should be word perfect, light,
graceful, moving; content that will impact the
reader, because it impacts you!
7) The Resource Box
Now add the crucial Resource Box and About the
Author details. Having written content that helps
your reader and future customer, it is now manifestly
appropriate to include something that helps you...
and that is precisely what the Resource Box and
About the Author sections do. Treat them accordingly.
Be sure to include all the means you wish customers
to use to get in touch with you, including email, URL,
telephone, cell phone, etc. Believe me, the useful
content you have given them will inspire response.
Depend on it.
Exult. You deserve it!
You have now done a useful thing. Your content is
now available for use on blogs, ezines, site postings,
et al. Take a moment to congratulate yourself. You
deserve it.
You have taken what you know and can do and
transformed it into a focused means of generating
new customers and really helping them. You may be a
tad fatigued by your effort; that's natural. But what
you've written can live for years and help thousands.
And that's a true cause for jubilation.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Developing And Profiting From Your Golden House E-Mail List
Do you own a business with walk-in traffic? Then you're sitting on a gold mine
of mammoth proportions. All you have to do is gather customer names and email
addresses... then get organized so you can contact -- and profit from -- your
hot list on a regular basis.
1) Start collecting customer data at once
As I have pointed out for years, "the list is the business...and the business
is the list." Start building this all-important list TODAY.
Make it a point to ask ALL your customers for name, address, phone and e-mail
address. If you have employees, make sure they realize the importance of the
list. Show them how to request this information from all customers, thus:
"Mr. Smith, would you like to receive e-mails from us with tremendous discount
offers? Just fill out this brief form or give me your card with e-mail address."
Add this information to your list at the end of every day. Be consistent!
2) Start brainstorming hot offers today.
For your special "alert" list to work, you must present scintillating offers.
Start collecting them now.
Open a computer file and enter all your sales offers, always concentrating on
what made money. Squeezing the most dollars from your list is a direct function
of making offers that get your customers to stop in their tracks and head your
way!
Don't hesitate to "swipe" offers from other media sources. Your offer need not
be original to you. It just has to pull.
3) Develop a format.
Start with the subject line. It should read something like this: ANOTHER great
offer from (your name). Expires 5 p.m. today... so don't delay!"
Then entice!
"Just in... the most delicious golden pears you've ever tasted. Prepare to
pamper yourself... but act NOW. We only have a few! Drop by now.. and indulge
yourself!"
4) Unless you ship as part of your current business routine, make sure
recipients understand this is an in-store offer only.
You have twin goals here: first, you do NOT want to increase your work load by
starting a shipping department; second, you want to increase your in-store
traffic and resulting sales that come when customers drop in.
5) E-mail your offer at a regular time
Your goal, remember, is to increase in-store traffic and sales. Thus, e-mail
your bulletin about 1 hour before you're open. That way you'll have customers
at the door right away... just what you want.
6) E-mail your list at least once a week.
E-mailing regularly is key to your success. Select a day for your e-mail
special offer and adhere to it religiously.
But don't hesitate to e-mail two or even three times a week if you are
announcing great offers and value. Value and great offers determine how often
you should contact your list. Customers will be glad you contacted them... if
the value warrants.
7) Track the offers that work... and the ones that don't.
Over time you'll develop a cornucopia of proven money-makers which you can
profit from while merely copying, pasting and updating. In short fast, easy
money, just the kind you like!
7) Have fun with your list -- and your customers
Business is about relationships. About knowing your customers and them knowing
you. Use your "alert" list to do both.
Have in-house drawings... and announce the winners.
Compliment a customer on a stunning outfit... or a stunning smile.
Share a joke, a quip, a thoughtful line.
It's your personal messenger... have fun with it while you're making sale after
sale.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
of mammoth proportions. All you have to do is gather customer names and email
addresses... then get organized so you can contact -- and profit from -- your
hot list on a regular basis.
1) Start collecting customer data at once
As I have pointed out for years, "the list is the business...and the business
is the list." Start building this all-important list TODAY.
Make it a point to ask ALL your customers for name, address, phone and e-mail
address. If you have employees, make sure they realize the importance of the
list. Show them how to request this information from all customers, thus:
"Mr. Smith, would you like to receive e-mails from us with tremendous discount
offers? Just fill out this brief form or give me your card with e-mail address."
Add this information to your list at the end of every day. Be consistent!
2) Start brainstorming hot offers today.
For your special "alert" list to work, you must present scintillating offers.
Start collecting them now.
Open a computer file and enter all your sales offers, always concentrating on
what made money. Squeezing the most dollars from your list is a direct function
of making offers that get your customers to stop in their tracks and head your
way!
Don't hesitate to "swipe" offers from other media sources. Your offer need not
be original to you. It just has to pull.
3) Develop a format.
Start with the subject line. It should read something like this: ANOTHER great
offer from (your name). Expires 5 p.m. today... so don't delay!"
Then entice!
"Just in... the most delicious golden pears you've ever tasted. Prepare to
pamper yourself... but act NOW. We only have a few! Drop by now.. and indulge
yourself!"
4) Unless you ship as part of your current business routine, make sure
recipients understand this is an in-store offer only.
You have twin goals here: first, you do NOT want to increase your work load by
starting a shipping department; second, you want to increase your in-store
traffic and resulting sales that come when customers drop in.
5) E-mail your offer at a regular time
Your goal, remember, is to increase in-store traffic and sales. Thus, e-mail
your bulletin about 1 hour before you're open. That way you'll have customers
at the door right away... just what you want.
6) E-mail your list at least once a week.
E-mailing regularly is key to your success. Select a day for your e-mail
special offer and adhere to it religiously.
But don't hesitate to e-mail two or even three times a week if you are
announcing great offers and value. Value and great offers determine how often
you should contact your list. Customers will be glad you contacted them... if
the value warrants.
7) Track the offers that work... and the ones that don't.
Over time you'll develop a cornucopia of proven money-makers which you can
profit from while merely copying, pasting and updating. In short fast, easy
money, just the kind you like!
7) Have fun with your list -- and your customers
Business is about relationships. About knowing your customers and them knowing
you. Use your "alert" list to do both.
Have in-house drawings... and announce the winners.
Compliment a customer on a stunning outfit... or a stunning smile.
Share a joke, a quip, a thoughtful line.
It's your personal messenger... have fun with it while you're making sale after
sale.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
10 Tips for Writing Business Communications that get results!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Face it. If you're like most people having to write is... worse than getting a root canal.
You're not good at it... you know you're not good. You hate sitting down to write... even though you have things that need to be written... and need to be written NOW!
It's not a pretty picture.
Cheer up. I'm about to solve your writing problems forever with a handy check-list you can print and keep readily at hand to be consulted each time the situation calls for something written by you.
1) Be clear on what you want to say... what you need the recipient to read.
A major reason writing is so difficult for so many people is because they have not considered the objective BEFORE writing a word. WRONG. Good business writing is based on stating a clear objective, like this:
I want my customer Linda to order her Venetian blinds today for installation 30 days from now.
Knowing where you're going... and what you want to achieve... makes getting there a whole lot easier.
2) Be clear on what the customer gets.
The person you are writing to -- your customer -- is the most important person on this planet at this moment.
Your job in writing to her is to ensure that she understands EXACTLY what she is getting from you... and exactly what you want her to do and HOW you want her to do it.
ALL business communications that work are based on just 4 vital words:
YOU GET BENEFIT NOW.
Before you write a single word write down each and every benefit the customer is getting from you. Start each of these benefits with the words
YOU GET... and make what they get clear, compelling, and motivating.
3) Make an offer and make sure that offer is meaningful.
As I write the economy is punk, anaemic and anything other than robust. So what? That just means that in order to motivate your customer, you must improve your offer, adding another scoop to the ice cream cone you are offering.
Craft this offer before using it. Make sure that what you're offering is valuable... and that you present it in such a way that it jumps off the page and seizes the recipient's brain, thereby inducing that "I've got to get this" feeling that ensures success and money in YOUR pocket.
Offers are everything... when you're making a grand one, say so in no uncertain terms.
4) Keep what you write short and sweet. People hate reading only slightly less than they hate writing!
Dwight Eisenhower, who after all was a military man, required his cabinet secretaries to present their policy recommendations in memoranda not more than 1 page. The president's point was simple: if you're clear on your objective, one page is sufficient to get your point across.
5) NEVER use text language in a business communication.
Text language is sloppy language; it's also language that can easily be misunderstood. The essence of business writing is enabling your customer to get the gist, the essential point promptly and easily. Text message s are often confusing and unclear, the exact opposite of what you want: just because people get it fast, doesn't mean they get it accurately!
6) Make sure you give your customers crystal-clear instructions on what to do and how to do it.
Before asking a customer to follow your instructions... follow them yourself. You might find the results instructive.
The sad truth is, far too many instructions for customers have never been tried by the people providing these instructions. As a result, they are muddled, confusing, incomplete, and unclear. Ouch! That's why you must try them before you send them. Do that now!
7) Make it clear how to get in touch with you.
As humans we have created a network of communications which enables us to connect instantly with people worldwide. Problem is, we're less dazzling about providing the necessary instructions enabling us to profitably use this network.
Be different! Give your customers the complete and essential communications information required to connect with you... and make these details clear and easy to follow.
This information should include, but is not limited to:
* telephone * fax * cell phone * e-mail, etc.
8) Review your communication before sending it.
Receiving as I do dozens of business communications daily, I can assure you that if proof reading is not dead, it most assuredly is on the critical list. People nowadays claim to be so "busy" that they beg your indulgence for sending communications that would embarrass a schoolboy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy in the extreme.
That's why you must never forget this: people, fairly or not, evaluate your ability to handle a project by not only how quickly you deliver your words... but by the accuracy with which you present them. In short, presenting properly is an important ingredient in whether the customer decides to do business with you at all. That's why the most important writing you will EVER do is ...re-writing!
9) "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."
Now for the acid test. Does it move?
The less experience you have had in writing prose that both informs and moves people to action, the more important is this step: reading what you've written before sending.
A word of caution: this stage can be painful, very painful indeed if what you've written is full of grammatical and other errors; if it's turgid, sluggish, like walking through a bog. Yes, it can be painful indeed.
Remember, you can only advance if YOU deal with such problems before you inflict them on your customers! So read what you've written and be glad to correct before your unfortunate customers wince at the same words (and errors).
What you're looking for is not only accuracy but a lilting cadence, clear, agile, pleasant to hear, irresistible to read. It takes time to create... but it pays off for a lifetime.
10) Say it with conviction and sincerity
One more thing, an absolutely essential thing: make sure that what you write is sincere, honest, and based on strong convictions. If not, what you write can never be truly convincing because it has not convinced you.
To write without belief is to create something which, at heart, is hollow and lifeless. It cannot work with others, because it has not worked with you.
Thus, before you even think of writing, make certain you believe in what you're writing. Feeling and injecting this confidence into what you write is the best way to get and hold the attention of all customers. After all, they value and require want sincerity, truth, candor, too. They want to know that you stand behind the words you're sending. If you present your message in such a way, you are well on your way not merely to writing a persuasive communication but to establishing and cementing that all-important lifelong relationship with your customer . Congratulations! Your writing has come a long, long way!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Face it. If you're like most people having to write is... worse than getting a root canal.
You're not good at it... you know you're not good. You hate sitting down to write... even though you have things that need to be written... and need to be written NOW!
It's not a pretty picture.
Cheer up. I'm about to solve your writing problems forever with a handy check-list you can print and keep readily at hand to be consulted each time the situation calls for something written by you.
1) Be clear on what you want to say... what you need the recipient to read.
A major reason writing is so difficult for so many people is because they have not considered the objective BEFORE writing a word. WRONG. Good business writing is based on stating a clear objective, like this:
I want my customer Linda to order her Venetian blinds today for installation 30 days from now.
Knowing where you're going... and what you want to achieve... makes getting there a whole lot easier.
2) Be clear on what the customer gets.
The person you are writing to -- your customer -- is the most important person on this planet at this moment.
Your job in writing to her is to ensure that she understands EXACTLY what she is getting from you... and exactly what you want her to do and HOW you want her to do it.
ALL business communications that work are based on just 4 vital words:
YOU GET BENEFIT NOW.
Before you write a single word write down each and every benefit the customer is getting from you. Start each of these benefits with the words
YOU GET... and make what they get clear, compelling, and motivating.
3) Make an offer and make sure that offer is meaningful.
As I write the economy is punk, anaemic and anything other than robust. So what? That just means that in order to motivate your customer, you must improve your offer, adding another scoop to the ice cream cone you are offering.
Craft this offer before using it. Make sure that what you're offering is valuable... and that you present it in such a way that it jumps off the page and seizes the recipient's brain, thereby inducing that "I've got to get this" feeling that ensures success and money in YOUR pocket.
Offers are everything... when you're making a grand one, say so in no uncertain terms.
4) Keep what you write short and sweet. People hate reading only slightly less than they hate writing!
Dwight Eisenhower, who after all was a military man, required his cabinet secretaries to present their policy recommendations in memoranda not more than 1 page. The president's point was simple: if you're clear on your objective, one page is sufficient to get your point across.
5) NEVER use text language in a business communication.
Text language is sloppy language; it's also language that can easily be misunderstood. The essence of business writing is enabling your customer to get the gist, the essential point promptly and easily. Text message s are often confusing and unclear, the exact opposite of what you want: just because people get it fast, doesn't mean they get it accurately!
6) Make sure you give your customers crystal-clear instructions on what to do and how to do it.
Before asking a customer to follow your instructions... follow them yourself. You might find the results instructive.
The sad truth is, far too many instructions for customers have never been tried by the people providing these instructions. As a result, they are muddled, confusing, incomplete, and unclear. Ouch! That's why you must try them before you send them. Do that now!
7) Make it clear how to get in touch with you.
As humans we have created a network of communications which enables us to connect instantly with people worldwide. Problem is, we're less dazzling about providing the necessary instructions enabling us to profitably use this network.
Be different! Give your customers the complete and essential communications information required to connect with you... and make these details clear and easy to follow.
This information should include, but is not limited to:
* telephone * fax * cell phone * e-mail, etc.
8) Review your communication before sending it.
Receiving as I do dozens of business communications daily, I can assure you that if proof reading is not dead, it most assuredly is on the critical list. People nowadays claim to be so "busy" that they beg your indulgence for sending communications that would embarrass a schoolboy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy in the extreme.
That's why you must never forget this: people, fairly or not, evaluate your ability to handle a project by not only how quickly you deliver your words... but by the accuracy with which you present them. In short, presenting properly is an important ingredient in whether the customer decides to do business with you at all. That's why the most important writing you will EVER do is ...re-writing!
9) "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."
Now for the acid test. Does it move?
The less experience you have had in writing prose that both informs and moves people to action, the more important is this step: reading what you've written before sending.
A word of caution: this stage can be painful, very painful indeed if what you've written is full of grammatical and other errors; if it's turgid, sluggish, like walking through a bog. Yes, it can be painful indeed.
Remember, you can only advance if YOU deal with such problems before you inflict them on your customers! So read what you've written and be glad to correct before your unfortunate customers wince at the same words (and errors).
What you're looking for is not only accuracy but a lilting cadence, clear, agile, pleasant to hear, irresistible to read. It takes time to create... but it pays off for a lifetime.
10) Say it with conviction and sincerity
One more thing, an absolutely essential thing: make sure that what you write is sincere, honest, and based on strong convictions. If not, what you write can never be truly convincing because it has not convinced you.
To write without belief is to create something which, at heart, is hollow and lifeless. It cannot work with others, because it has not worked with you.
Thus, before you even think of writing, make certain you believe in what you're writing. Feeling and injecting this confidence into what you write is the best way to get and hold the attention of all customers. After all, they value and require want sincerity, truth, candor, too. They want to know that you stand behind the words you're sending. If you present your message in such a way, you are well on your way not merely to writing a persuasive communication but to establishing and cementing that all-important lifelong relationship with your customer . Congratulations! Your writing has come a long, long way!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
YOUR money is in THEIR pocket. What you have to do to get it out.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
I've taught marketing for more years than I care to remember. The biggest challenge is getting students to understand how marketing works. What is it? Why do you need it? How do you get the biggest return?
To answer these questions, I came up with a simple image that works wonders: YOUR money is in THEIR pocket. Do you want it to stay there... or do you want to get the funds into YOUR pocket?
Bingo!
Light bulbs start going on around the class room as one student after another "gets it."
Of course they want to get their money out of that pocket. We're ALL clear on that. The discussion then shifts to how to get it out... and how to do it FAAAST!
The Pivotal Role Of The Offer
"Try this," I say to the class: walk up to someone on the street and ask them for $50. Will you get it? Unlikely. Instead be prepared for dirty looks and worse. "Asking," I say, "ain't getting." The students nod their heads knowingly. They've been there... done that.
"Ok," I say. You guys get this. Then why don't these folks, at which I show them one marketing communication after another (Yellow Pages ad, brochure, direct mail letter, etc.) where supposedly savvy business people spent good money doing nothing more than saying "Here we are, here's what we have."
"That," I say "is not marketing. It's just telling... not selling." If you want to make MONEY... YOU must motivate people to part with the bucks.
Offers Get People To Move
What gets people to buy is offers, offers, and more offers... saying, in effect, I'm prepared to give you
* this
* and this
* and this
IF and ONLY IF you take action now to get what I'm selling.
"What," I ask the class, "is more likely to get you to respond: just saying here I am, here's what I do." OR saying
"I'll give you one hour free for every three hours of my service you book."
All knowing, the students say "people will act faster if you give them MORE." Now it's my turn to nod sagely. "Bingo," sez I.
Brain storm offers all the time... because you will need an offer EVERY day you want to empty prospects' pockets and move that money
I ask the students what days they want to profit in their businesses. They look quizzical: "Well, EVERY day," they say.
Another "Bingo" from me.
"So, if you want to make money EVERY day... then when do you need to make offers?"
ANOTHER "Aha!" moment for my budding marketing masters. The idea is beginning to sink in that EVERY day you want to move money from your prospects' pockets is a day you must make offers.
"Make offers," I say, "every day you want to make money." And I write "Money means daily offers" on the chalk board.
Open A "Swipe File"
Where can you find marketing intelligence, great offers that produce the bucks? In the marketing communications of people who live or die by marketing. And where do you find these? Everywhere!
If you want to move money from other people's pockets into yours, start collecting and studying marketing communications. Open a "swipe file," and pop in marketing communications that work. Make this a daily endeavor. When you see ads that work for others, adapt the copy for your profitable use.
Don't Stop!
Marketing is like breathing. Stop doing it and you die. Finish any day by selecting the offer you'll use tomorrow. Start each day by reviewing how well yesterday's offer pulled. Note these results for future reference; winning ads should be repeated; ads that wilted must die.
One more thing: see marketing as a great game, a game that takes everything you've got. Embrace it! Enjoy it! If you don't, your money will stay in THEIR pocket and that's just not acceptable!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
I've taught marketing for more years than I care to remember. The biggest challenge is getting students to understand how marketing works. What is it? Why do you need it? How do you get the biggest return?
To answer these questions, I came up with a simple image that works wonders: YOUR money is in THEIR pocket. Do you want it to stay there... or do you want to get the funds into YOUR pocket?
Bingo!
Light bulbs start going on around the class room as one student after another "gets it."
Of course they want to get their money out of that pocket. We're ALL clear on that. The discussion then shifts to how to get it out... and how to do it FAAAST!
The Pivotal Role Of The Offer
"Try this," I say to the class: walk up to someone on the street and ask them for $50. Will you get it? Unlikely. Instead be prepared for dirty looks and worse. "Asking," I say, "ain't getting." The students nod their heads knowingly. They've been there... done that.
"Ok," I say. You guys get this. Then why don't these folks, at which I show them one marketing communication after another (Yellow Pages ad, brochure, direct mail letter, etc.) where supposedly savvy business people spent good money doing nothing more than saying "Here we are, here's what we have."
"That," I say "is not marketing. It's just telling... not selling." If you want to make MONEY... YOU must motivate people to part with the bucks.
Offers Get People To Move
What gets people to buy is offers, offers, and more offers... saying, in effect, I'm prepared to give you
* this
* and this
* and this
IF and ONLY IF you take action now to get what I'm selling.
"What," I ask the class, "is more likely to get you to respond: just saying here I am, here's what I do." OR saying
"I'll give you one hour free for every three hours of my service you book."
All knowing, the students say "people will act faster if you give them MORE." Now it's my turn to nod sagely. "Bingo," sez I.
Brain storm offers all the time... because you will need an offer EVERY day you want to empty prospects' pockets and move that money
I ask the students what days they want to profit in their businesses. They look quizzical: "Well, EVERY day," they say.
Another "Bingo" from me.
"So, if you want to make money EVERY day... then when do you need to make offers?"
ANOTHER "Aha!" moment for my budding marketing masters. The idea is beginning to sink in that EVERY day you want to move money from your prospects' pockets is a day you must make offers.
"Make offers," I say, "every day you want to make money." And I write "Money means daily offers" on the chalk board.
Open A "Swipe File"
Where can you find marketing intelligence, great offers that produce the bucks? In the marketing communications of people who live or die by marketing. And where do you find these? Everywhere!
If you want to move money from other people's pockets into yours, start collecting and studying marketing communications. Open a "swipe file," and pop in marketing communications that work. Make this a daily endeavor. When you see ads that work for others, adapt the copy for your profitable use.
Don't Stop!
Marketing is like breathing. Stop doing it and you die. Finish any day by selecting the offer you'll use tomorrow. Start each day by reviewing how well yesterday's offer pulled. Note these results for future reference; winning ads should be repeated; ads that wilted must die.
One more thing: see marketing as a great game, a game that takes everything you've got. Embrace it! Enjoy it! If you don't, your money will stay in THEIR pocket and that's just not acceptable!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
The great secret of business success: The MORE you GIVE AWAY, the richer you get!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Want to use your business to get rich? Of course you do! Then why aren't you giving away more?
Counter intuitive though this thought may appear, it contains the key truth of business success: the more you GIVE AWAY, the richer you get!
How much did you give away yesterday? How much the day before?
Right this minute, with the worldwide economy in the doldrums and likely to remain so for some time, millions of business owners are scratching their heads for ideas on how to spur crucial sales. All sorts of ideas, from the daft to the expensive, are being advanced.
Yet the solution to getting more sales is plain: Don't just sell your customers something, dazzle them with everything you will give them in addition to the actual product or service they pay for.
Focus the customer on an absolutely stunning offer
Look at everything you sold in the last few days. Were your customers buying products... or were they motivated by offers packed with additional benefits, benefits you were giving away as inducements to motivate faster sales?
In other words, did you make sales because you gave away one thing after another, which made purchasing the items in question an absolute no-brainer?
Start by brain storming what you can give away
Most businesses have NEVER made a systematic effort to determine just what they can give away to induce more sales faster. This, however, is key and must be done at once.
Go through every single product and service you offer. What can you give away:
* more of the product or service * free delivery * free shipping * discount coupons for future sales * a special limited time offer * service and support
Get the picture? Before you can fashion high-octane offers, you must develop a list of EVERYTHING you've got and can give away to motivate more present and future sales.
Study other people's offers and give-aways
The great thing about being in business is that paying attention to what other businesses are doing (and not just competitors either) can benefit you every single day. Thus, wherever you go, review what companies are doing to get your business; can you use or adapt them to your business success?
Develop a "give-away" mentality.
Business, you have been told, is all about closing sales, in other words about "working" the customer. If you buy into this point of view, you're in for a lifetime of drudgery and hard work. STOP IT!
Instead, consider yourself in the business of crafting spectacular bonus offers that enable you to make sales the very easiest way: by so exciting customers about the freebies and great offers they get that they'll do anything to get them! Doesn't this sound a whole lot easier and more fun that "closing sales"?
Start today, review today, improve today
Right now you're probably still trying to get your head around the concept that the more you give away the richer you'll get. Fair enough. But don't wait because of that to get started.
Today is the perfect day to start... as well as the perfect day to review what occurred AND to make improvements (like giving away even more).
You see, as long as your objective is maximizing your wealth... you're in the business of increasing the amount you give away and enhancing customer motivation. And if wealth is your goal, you must do what it takes to become a world-class expert in giving away, giving away, giving away. Because that is the sure-fire way to get wealthy.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Want to use your business to get rich? Of course you do! Then why aren't you giving away more?
Counter intuitive though this thought may appear, it contains the key truth of business success: the more you GIVE AWAY, the richer you get!
How much did you give away yesterday? How much the day before?
Right this minute, with the worldwide economy in the doldrums and likely to remain so for some time, millions of business owners are scratching their heads for ideas on how to spur crucial sales. All sorts of ideas, from the daft to the expensive, are being advanced.
Yet the solution to getting more sales is plain: Don't just sell your customers something, dazzle them with everything you will give them in addition to the actual product or service they pay for.
Focus the customer on an absolutely stunning offer
Look at everything you sold in the last few days. Were your customers buying products... or were they motivated by offers packed with additional benefits, benefits you were giving away as inducements to motivate faster sales?
In other words, did you make sales because you gave away one thing after another, which made purchasing the items in question an absolute no-brainer?
Start by brain storming what you can give away
Most businesses have NEVER made a systematic effort to determine just what they can give away to induce more sales faster. This, however, is key and must be done at once.
Go through every single product and service you offer. What can you give away:
* more of the product or service * free delivery * free shipping * discount coupons for future sales * a special limited time offer * service and support
Get the picture? Before you can fashion high-octane offers, you must develop a list of EVERYTHING you've got and can give away to motivate more present and future sales.
Study other people's offers and give-aways
The great thing about being in business is that paying attention to what other businesses are doing (and not just competitors either) can benefit you every single day. Thus, wherever you go, review what companies are doing to get your business; can you use or adapt them to your business success?
Develop a "give-away" mentality.
Business, you have been told, is all about closing sales, in other words about "working" the customer. If you buy into this point of view, you're in for a lifetime of drudgery and hard work. STOP IT!
Instead, consider yourself in the business of crafting spectacular bonus offers that enable you to make sales the very easiest way: by so exciting customers about the freebies and great offers they get that they'll do anything to get them! Doesn't this sound a whole lot easier and more fun that "closing sales"?
Start today, review today, improve today
Right now you're probably still trying to get your head around the concept that the more you give away the richer you'll get. Fair enough. But don't wait because of that to get started.
Today is the perfect day to start... as well as the perfect day to review what occurred AND to make improvements (like giving away even more).
You see, as long as your objective is maximizing your wealth... you're in the business of increasing the amount you give away and enhancing customer motivation. And if wealth is your goal, you must do what it takes to become a world-class expert in giving away, giving away, giving away. Because that is the sure-fire way to get wealthy.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Publish, and be damned! What the first Duke of Wellington can teach you about handling unwelcome printed comments and criticism.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Have you been the recipient of unwelcome or even scurrilous printed comment and criticism? Face it. It's a very irritating thing. You're human. It hurts. Visions of legal recourse, even mafia-style revenge, dance in your head. You have been damaged. They'll be hell to pay.
WHOA!
Before rushing ahead, pause and consider the case of Harriet Wilson and the celebrated Duke of Wellington, victor of Waterloo.
Harriet Wilson (1786-1845) was a Regency courtesan. She was beautiful and knew how to use her charms to maximum advantage. The Prince Regent (later King George IV) headed an A-list of beguiled English gentlemen, including four future prime ministers. The Duke of Wellington appeared prominently on this list.
Alas! Even the most dazzling get old... and charms which were over powering diminish.So it happened with Harriet Wilson. Harriet, however, understood that "kiss and tell" had its advantages. So, enterprising woman that she was, she hired a ghost writer and began to spin tales of the gentlemen she had known, such tales to be included in memoirs which remain in print to this day.
As the chapters were finished, Harriet, ever resourceful, sent them not just to her publisher but to the gentlemen featured therein. Included, almost as an afterthought, was a number in pounds sterling. In other words, Harriet's price for NOT publishing and embarrassing the gentleman and his (sure-to-be-shocked) family.
When the Iron Duke received his chapter and "request", he, a man of sterner disposition than most, penned a line which put Harriet in her place: "Publish, and be damned!" She did... and no doubt she was!
How you should handle unwelcome comments and criticism
1) "Never complain, never explain."
The human animal is often an unthinking animal. People have always said the unwise, made hurtful comments without proof, thought the worst and published it. Nothing new under the sun here. Then enter e-mail and the Internet. Now the nasty, the haters, the merely gossipy and garrulous have the means to run amuck.
Should you find yourself the object of hurtful comments and criticism, on line or off, count to 10 and cool off. The worst time to do anything is when you're hurt and angry. Here Henry Ford II can help with his famous comment listed above. Edward VII's famous lines can also sooth, lines he prominently posted in a mistress' boudoir: "They say. What say they. Let them say."
2) Have you really been damaged, or just your pride hurt?
The truth is, while people generally are quite prepared to believe the worst about any one (Mother Theresa herself was not immune), their interest in you and whatever they've read that you've done is brief and generally unimportant. They have, after all, bigger fish to fry: the details of their own enthralling lives. Beyond this, so much negative information pours forth daily, that even the most assiduous just plain haven't got the time to mull over the nastiness to which you've been subjected.
Thus, ask yourself: has the comment, no matter how negative, actually damaged you, or has it just hurt your pride? Have you been the victim of unsubstantiated comments and criticism (which mean little or nothing), or are the allegations so stated and presented to damage you?
On the Internet, for instance, negative comments are common place. That's bad. The good news, however, for those criticized is that such comments are usually anonymous and unproven, hence toothless.
Such being the case, NO response is appropriate. Let the comment or criticism die a natural death without increasing the number of people knowing about it by responding with even a single word. This is hard advice to follow since it leaves the false accuser unscathed.... but it is nonetheless what you should do: absolutely nothing.
3) You have been materially damaged
Ok, so more than your ego has been damaged. You feel you need to take action.
By all means schedule an appointment with your lawyer. What he'll want to know specifically is how you've been damaged, what the dollar amount of this damage may be, and whether the defendant has resources.
The lawyer (and be quite clear that your lawyer is right for the job) will be hard-headed and direct, focusing the discussion not just on chances of winning... but the financial situation of the attacker. Plain and simple: can he pay for the harm inflicted?
The truth is, many of those posting nasty-grams online are judgement proof. In plain language they are dirt poor and thereby immune from action. Professional haters and dirt dishers, they know this, and it provides one of the few sources of happiness in their shabby lives.
If the lawyer comes to the conclusion that you are better off to grin and bear it, no matter how hurtful the comments, accept this advice. It's to your benefit.
4) Console yourself by considering the company you now keep
EVERY great figure of history has been subject to hurtful comment and nasty criticism: Jesus, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln... they have all been hammered by the haters, the mental defectives, the small, the insignificant, the merely crude and vulgar. Now you are amongst their exalted number. You are among the saints who will go marching in!
Remember this: whatever hurtful people may say or publish about you today, you can disprove merely by continuing to be the good person you are. "This, too, shall pass." The Duke of Wellington's reputation, for one, was not tainted by Harriet Wilson's attempt to black mail... but that attempt has permanently tainted Ms. Wilson and made it clear to all the world what kind of person she was.
Now adhere to the old Irish saying, "Living well is the best revenge" and enjoy yourself while your attackers writhe because you have seen the value of ignoring them completely and enjoying yourself instead! Viva!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Have you been the recipient of unwelcome or even scurrilous printed comment and criticism? Face it. It's a very irritating thing. You're human. It hurts. Visions of legal recourse, even mafia-style revenge, dance in your head. You have been damaged. They'll be hell to pay.
WHOA!
Before rushing ahead, pause and consider the case of Harriet Wilson and the celebrated Duke of Wellington, victor of Waterloo.
Harriet Wilson (1786-1845) was a Regency courtesan. She was beautiful and knew how to use her charms to maximum advantage. The Prince Regent (later King George IV) headed an A-list of beguiled English gentlemen, including four future prime ministers. The Duke of Wellington appeared prominently on this list.
Alas! Even the most dazzling get old... and charms which were over powering diminish.So it happened with Harriet Wilson. Harriet, however, understood that "kiss and tell" had its advantages. So, enterprising woman that she was, she hired a ghost writer and began to spin tales of the gentlemen she had known, such tales to be included in memoirs which remain in print to this day.
As the chapters were finished, Harriet, ever resourceful, sent them not just to her publisher but to the gentlemen featured therein. Included, almost as an afterthought, was a number in pounds sterling. In other words, Harriet's price for NOT publishing and embarrassing the gentleman and his (sure-to-be-shocked) family.
When the Iron Duke received his chapter and "request", he, a man of sterner disposition than most, penned a line which put Harriet in her place: "Publish, and be damned!" She did... and no doubt she was!
How you should handle unwelcome comments and criticism
1) "Never complain, never explain."
The human animal is often an unthinking animal. People have always said the unwise, made hurtful comments without proof, thought the worst and published it. Nothing new under the sun here. Then enter e-mail and the Internet. Now the nasty, the haters, the merely gossipy and garrulous have the means to run amuck.
Should you find yourself the object of hurtful comments and criticism, on line or off, count to 10 and cool off. The worst time to do anything is when you're hurt and angry. Here Henry Ford II can help with his famous comment listed above. Edward VII's famous lines can also sooth, lines he prominently posted in a mistress' boudoir: "They say. What say they. Let them say."
2) Have you really been damaged, or just your pride hurt?
The truth is, while people generally are quite prepared to believe the worst about any one (Mother Theresa herself was not immune), their interest in you and whatever they've read that you've done is brief and generally unimportant. They have, after all, bigger fish to fry: the details of their own enthralling lives. Beyond this, so much negative information pours forth daily, that even the most assiduous just plain haven't got the time to mull over the nastiness to which you've been subjected.
Thus, ask yourself: has the comment, no matter how negative, actually damaged you, or has it just hurt your pride? Have you been the victim of unsubstantiated comments and criticism (which mean little or nothing), or are the allegations so stated and presented to damage you?
On the Internet, for instance, negative comments are common place. That's bad. The good news, however, for those criticized is that such comments are usually anonymous and unproven, hence toothless.
Such being the case, NO response is appropriate. Let the comment or criticism die a natural death without increasing the number of people knowing about it by responding with even a single word. This is hard advice to follow since it leaves the false accuser unscathed.... but it is nonetheless what you should do: absolutely nothing.
3) You have been materially damaged
Ok, so more than your ego has been damaged. You feel you need to take action.
By all means schedule an appointment with your lawyer. What he'll want to know specifically is how you've been damaged, what the dollar amount of this damage may be, and whether the defendant has resources.
The lawyer (and be quite clear that your lawyer is right for the job) will be hard-headed and direct, focusing the discussion not just on chances of winning... but the financial situation of the attacker. Plain and simple: can he pay for the harm inflicted?
The truth is, many of those posting nasty-grams online are judgement proof. In plain language they are dirt poor and thereby immune from action. Professional haters and dirt dishers, they know this, and it provides one of the few sources of happiness in their shabby lives.
If the lawyer comes to the conclusion that you are better off to grin and bear it, no matter how hurtful the comments, accept this advice. It's to your benefit.
4) Console yourself by considering the company you now keep
EVERY great figure of history has been subject to hurtful comment and nasty criticism: Jesus, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln... they have all been hammered by the haters, the mental defectives, the small, the insignificant, the merely crude and vulgar. Now you are amongst their exalted number. You are among the saints who will go marching in!
Remember this: whatever hurtful people may say or publish about you today, you can disprove merely by continuing to be the good person you are. "This, too, shall pass." The Duke of Wellington's reputation, for one, was not tainted by Harriet Wilson's attempt to black mail... but that attempt has permanently tainted Ms. Wilson and made it clear to all the world what kind of person she was.
Now adhere to the old Irish saying, "Living well is the best revenge" and enjoy yourself while your attackers writhe because you have seen the value of ignoring them completely and enjoying yourself instead! Viva!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
What a Woodpecker Can Teach You About Online Marketing Survival
By Sandi Hunter
Got any woodpeckers in your neighbourhood?
The next time you see a woodpecker watch him for a while. Think about how the woodpecker spends EVERY DAY of his life. The woodpecker must peck, peck, peck away all day and every day looking for food. It’s a matter of survival. The woodpecker doesn’t peck frantically for a few hours then take the afternoon off to snooze on a comfy branch. The woodpecker doesn’t peck frantically for one week straight to fill his tummy, then take a 2 day break snuggled up in his nest. Instead, he pecks away continually, rain or shine. If he doesn’t find food in one place he is off to the next tree to find a tasty morsel. He doesn’t give up when the first 3 trees have no bugs, throw his wings up in the air and say I quit! The woodpecker knows what you need to know: survival requires continuous pecking. In your case, your success is 100% dependent on your continuos pecking strategies for the survival of your business.
In my line of work I talk to marketers, entrepreneurs, and home business operators everyday. Just like in all walks of life you have all kinds of personalities from a variety of background and skills. The backgrounds are diverse but they all bring one thing in common to the table. Essentially a dogma of what they can (or are willing to) do TODAY to build their business.
I am always amazed at how people approach building their home business or business opportunity. Some will bite in like a dog on a bone and go hard for a month, then let go and I never hear from them again. Others study, analyze, learn, listen, think and digest but never get to the part of actually DOING anything. Some will find fault or make the most clever excuses for why they can’t work their business.
Then there are my favorites, I call these people, the woodpeckers.
These are the people that give 100% effort to building their business EVERY day. Like the woodpecker they peck away at the daily required tasks of building their business to call prospects, promptly reply to email, promote their business, take care of customers, generate leads, build their mailing list, generate traffic, network with others, solve problems as they happen, plan and prepare. If one strategy is not producing results they peck away trying to find a more productive outcome, or they peck at another approach, a new angle, a new offer, a new promotion, or new goals. They are not content to give up. They don’t try and accomplish everything in one day, they work daily, steadily, consistently pecking away to get to their goals. Like the woodpecker they know not to overextend themselves and bite off more of the worm than they can chew. Instead they peck away daily at the necessary tasks being sure to maintain a balance with other important aspects of their life.
The Woodpecker’s attitude is a realistic one, he has to search out food every day to survive and feed himself and his young. No one is going to show up at his nest everyday and hand over the bugs. The wise entrepreneur also has a realistic attitude, he or she may not want to do a certain mundane task but knows it is a requirement of building a successful business. He knows that he or she must do the work to earn the success. For our feathered friend the woodpecker, some days the worms may be juicier than others, sometimes the tasty worms are hard to come by and only the bitter bugs are available. Some months there will be more and larger bugs than other months, but the woodpecker (YOU) will have to just keep on pecking away.
About the Author:
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Since 1994 Worldprofit has helped people around the world learn how to build an online home business. Worldprofit has become known as the Home Business Experts. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Got any woodpeckers in your neighbourhood?
The next time you see a woodpecker watch him for a while. Think about how the woodpecker spends EVERY DAY of his life. The woodpecker must peck, peck, peck away all day and every day looking for food. It’s a matter of survival. The woodpecker doesn’t peck frantically for a few hours then take the afternoon off to snooze on a comfy branch. The woodpecker doesn’t peck frantically for one week straight to fill his tummy, then take a 2 day break snuggled up in his nest. Instead, he pecks away continually, rain or shine. If he doesn’t find food in one place he is off to the next tree to find a tasty morsel. He doesn’t give up when the first 3 trees have no bugs, throw his wings up in the air and say I quit! The woodpecker knows what you need to know: survival requires continuous pecking. In your case, your success is 100% dependent on your continuos pecking strategies for the survival of your business.
In my line of work I talk to marketers, entrepreneurs, and home business operators everyday. Just like in all walks of life you have all kinds of personalities from a variety of background and skills. The backgrounds are diverse but they all bring one thing in common to the table. Essentially a dogma of what they can (or are willing to) do TODAY to build their business.
I am always amazed at how people approach building their home business or business opportunity. Some will bite in like a dog on a bone and go hard for a month, then let go and I never hear from them again. Others study, analyze, learn, listen, think and digest but never get to the part of actually DOING anything. Some will find fault or make the most clever excuses for why they can’t work their business.
Then there are my favorites, I call these people, the woodpeckers.
These are the people that give 100% effort to building their business EVERY day. Like the woodpecker they peck away at the daily required tasks of building their business to call prospects, promptly reply to email, promote their business, take care of customers, generate leads, build their mailing list, generate traffic, network with others, solve problems as they happen, plan and prepare. If one strategy is not producing results they peck away trying to find a more productive outcome, or they peck at another approach, a new angle, a new offer, a new promotion, or new goals. They are not content to give up. They don’t try and accomplish everything in one day, they work daily, steadily, consistently pecking away to get to their goals. Like the woodpecker they know not to overextend themselves and bite off more of the worm than they can chew. Instead they peck away daily at the necessary tasks being sure to maintain a balance with other important aspects of their life.
The Woodpecker’s attitude is a realistic one, he has to search out food every day to survive and feed himself and his young. No one is going to show up at his nest everyday and hand over the bugs. The wise entrepreneur also has a realistic attitude, he or she may not want to do a certain mundane task but knows it is a requirement of building a successful business. He knows that he or she must do the work to earn the success. For our feathered friend the woodpecker, some days the worms may be juicier than others, sometimes the tasty worms are hard to come by and only the bitter bugs are available. Some months there will be more and larger bugs than other months, but the woodpecker (YOU) will have to just keep on pecking away.
About the Author:
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Since 1994 Worldprofit has helped people around the world learn how to build an online home business. Worldprofit has become known as the Home Business Experts. Republished with author's permission by Joseph Szanati
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Total Traffic Annihilation: Mastering Comment Marketing
Blog comment marketing is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood forms of marketing out there. You’ve only to watch someone make a totally irrelevant comment on a post so they can spam their link to know that some people just do not have a fantastic grasp of this procedure. Other people try it only once or twice before concluding that it doesn’t actually generate any traffic. These failures don’t mean the method is broken, however, it just means most people have more to learn. Here is a step-by-step process you can use to make blog comment marketing more effective.
Step 1: Find blogs related to your business or website. You can start with www.technocrati.com, but you can also try the Yahoo! Blog Directory. You want to find three or four well-trafficked blogs that you’ll visit on a daily basis. Look for blogs whose posts inspire you to say something. You can also seek out blogs on social media sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Step 2: Make insightful, interesting, and on-target comments. Make the comments non-commercial. You can either leave your link in the signature or in the comment itself, but either way it’s a good idea to have that link travel to a non-commercial portion of your site—to, perhaps, a section where you keep articles or your own blog. So long as there are links all over your site back to the commercial portion people will find their way there.
Step 3: Establish a regular routine. You’re actually aiming to become a regular member of the blog community. Some people do “drive-by” commenting, but that’s not particularly effective. You want to build a reputation. As that reputation increases you may even find your blog added to the blog roll, or see your work featured as the subject of another blogger’s post.
You can learn many other techniques for generating free traffic by taking the Total Traffic Annihilation course, which includes videos, an eBook, and a software package all designed to help you maximize traffic coming into your site. This course demonstrates how often success can just be a matter of tweaking simple things. You might, for example, have already tried blog commenting, but perhaps you spread your efforts out across too many blogs, or you didn’t do the work consistently enough to begin seeing actual results. Blog commenting is just one of 28 techniques offered in the course.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Step 1: Find blogs related to your business or website. You can start with www.technocrati.com, but you can also try the Yahoo! Blog Directory. You want to find three or four well-trafficked blogs that you’ll visit on a daily basis. Look for blogs whose posts inspire you to say something. You can also seek out blogs on social media sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Step 2: Make insightful, interesting, and on-target comments. Make the comments non-commercial. You can either leave your link in the signature or in the comment itself, but either way it’s a good idea to have that link travel to a non-commercial portion of your site—to, perhaps, a section where you keep articles or your own blog. So long as there are links all over your site back to the commercial portion people will find their way there.
Step 3: Establish a regular routine. You’re actually aiming to become a regular member of the blog community. Some people do “drive-by” commenting, but that’s not particularly effective. You want to build a reputation. As that reputation increases you may even find your blog added to the blog roll, or see your work featured as the subject of another blogger’s post.
You can learn many other techniques for generating free traffic by taking the Total Traffic Annihilation course, which includes videos, an eBook, and a software package all designed to help you maximize traffic coming into your site. This course demonstrates how often success can just be a matter of tweaking simple things. You might, for example, have already tried blog commenting, but perhaps you spread your efforts out across too many blogs, or you didn’t do the work consistently enough to begin seeing actual results. Blog commenting is just one of 28 techniques offered in the course.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
Total Traffic Annihilation: It’s All about Traffic
Generating web traffic is a stumbling block for most internet marketers. It can be frustrating to polish up a fantastic website—and then realize you’re getting just one or two visitors. It’s disheartening to realize that those internet riches might not be as close as you thought. You have to find a way to get people to your front door, so to speak, and that’s where the real work of internet marketing begins.
At this stage, some people will begin turning to expensive marketing techniques. Yet some paid marketing techniques will suck you dry while providing very little in return. Others are simply difficult to master and make a profit on—Google pay-per-click advertising being one of the easiest examples. Furthermore, there is an “advertisement resistance” that comes into play here. Many people filter your message out quickly if it comes in the form of a paid advertisement.
You may be surprised to learn that the free traffic generation methods are often more effective at boosting search engine rankings than any paid method—and there are literally dozens of ways to get the job done. If you can approach each method in a step-by-step fashion you should see a dramatic increase in your traffic.
One great way you can master all of the free traffic techniques is by attending the Total Traffic Annihilation course. This is a video tutorial course that comes with an eBook and software package. The software package includes several tools to help you automate and simplify portions of your traffic generation strategy. For example, you can use the software package to enter in pre-determined keywords. The software will then scan article directories for articles covering those topics. Since article directory articles are free use you can pick them up for your blog: the software automates that process, as well, and will even categorize the posts for you.
The software will offer the ability to vastly reduce the time and difficulty associated with some aspects of free content marketing. For example, a user can define keywords they wish to target. The software will then find marketing articles from major article directories, then create posts with articles that match those keywords.
The eBook offers 28 free traffic generation techniques in a step-by-step fashion. It’s like getting a pre-written, turn-key marketing plan: anybody can do this and succeed if they’ll simply follow the steps as outlined. There is nothing in the eBook that is out of reach for almost anybody who attempts the techniques, making the book alone an outstanding resource. It helps demystify some of the techniques that take a little more finesse, such as blog comment marketing or forum marketing. It also offers techniques not many people think about, such as offering quizzes or setting up contests.
Like any tool, the Total Traffic Annihilation course can’t solve every problem. But it could take a struggling marketer out of neutral, giving them that extra “push” that they need to get their traffic into the fast lane.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
At this stage, some people will begin turning to expensive marketing techniques. Yet some paid marketing techniques will suck you dry while providing very little in return. Others are simply difficult to master and make a profit on—Google pay-per-click advertising being one of the easiest examples. Furthermore, there is an “advertisement resistance” that comes into play here. Many people filter your message out quickly if it comes in the form of a paid advertisement.
You may be surprised to learn that the free traffic generation methods are often more effective at boosting search engine rankings than any paid method—and there are literally dozens of ways to get the job done. If you can approach each method in a step-by-step fashion you should see a dramatic increase in your traffic.
One great way you can master all of the free traffic techniques is by attending the Total Traffic Annihilation course. This is a video tutorial course that comes with an eBook and software package. The software package includes several tools to help you automate and simplify portions of your traffic generation strategy. For example, you can use the software package to enter in pre-determined keywords. The software will then scan article directories for articles covering those topics. Since article directory articles are free use you can pick them up for your blog: the software automates that process, as well, and will even categorize the posts for you.
The software will offer the ability to vastly reduce the time and difficulty associated with some aspects of free content marketing. For example, a user can define keywords they wish to target. The software will then find marketing articles from major article directories, then create posts with articles that match those keywords.
The eBook offers 28 free traffic generation techniques in a step-by-step fashion. It’s like getting a pre-written, turn-key marketing plan: anybody can do this and succeed if they’ll simply follow the steps as outlined. There is nothing in the eBook that is out of reach for almost anybody who attempts the techniques, making the book alone an outstanding resource. It helps demystify some of the techniques that take a little more finesse, such as blog comment marketing or forum marketing. It also offers techniques not many people think about, such as offering quizzes or setting up contests.
Like any tool, the Total Traffic Annihilation course can’t solve every problem. But it could take a struggling marketer out of neutral, giving them that extra “push” that they need to get their traffic into the fast lane.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based
businesses learn how to profit online. Attend
Dr. Lant’s live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000
free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! For details on Dr. Lant’s 18 best-selling
business books,go to
http://cbstore19028.smartwealthsolutions.com/index.php?cat=money.entrepreneur
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