Get Noticed!

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Many people will tell you that to get your web site noticed you need to 'optimize' your site for the search engines. You are then led up a path where you have to keep changing your web site as the search engines change their ways of listing things. As fast as you 'optimize' your site, Google and the others have moved the goalposts, meaning you have to keep optimizing over and over again.

Now consider some facts. Most people in the world are not users of the Internet. Let's repeat that. The vast majority of people who you want to reach don't use the Internet. It doesn't matter how well you optimize your web site, they simply will never find it.

Here's another fact. Some of the best Internet marketers make most of their sales 'offline'. They sell their books, CD-ROMs and so on at seminars, workshops and conferences. Indeed, for many 'Internet marketers' these 'offline' sales represent the bulk of their income.

So what do these facts tell us? They show us that 'offline' promotion is more important than online promotion. You may be able to optimize your web site to get high rankings in a search engine. But that doesn't mean you'll reach the vast majority of people who could buy your product or use your information.

This was confirmed recently by one study that showed most people go to an Internet address (URL) after having read it in a newspaper or magazine, been given it by a friend or colleague, or having heard it being mentioned by someone speaking at a meeting or on TV. In other words, it seems that significant numbers of people who get to your web site will do so having heard the URL somewhere outside the Internet.

You can get many people visiting your web site, even if you are not ranked highly by the search engines. You can do this in two main ways:

1. Write articles for use in regular publications - newspapers, magazines and so on. Always include your URL in the article and you'll get millions of people to notice your web site address.

2. Speak at every opportunity. Make presentations to business clubs, chambers of commerce, local societies - you name it, you should speak at it. Every time you speak, announce or your web site address.

Although these are the two principal ways of gaining offline publicity for your web site, don't neglect your business stationery, posters, car stickers and so on. The more your web site address is visible outside the web, the more visitors you will get regardless of how kind the search engines are to you.

Where To Find Clients Needing Consultation

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We have already talked about the importance of doing quality work and turning existing clients into evangelists who will give you a glowing recommendation.

The fact remains, however, that you cannot rely exclusively on referrals if you want to make consistent income as a consultant. You will need to get out there and find new clients as you build your business.

This is an area of the business that many new consultants struggle with because they sometimes this cold-calling is the only logical next step. Nothing could be further from the truth. Finding new clients can actually be a very fun and rewarding experience. Like anything else, you will have to get creative and find ways that work best for you. But in this section of the guide, we will share some of the most effective ways to reach out and find new prospective clients for your consulting business:

Networking - In Section 8, we talked about the power of “schmoozing” potential clients and getting to know people who may require your services. Networking is one of the most important business practices you will ever partake in. Make sure that you make a point of regularly attending networking events where you get the opportunity to connect with other business owners. Don’t sell at these events, just make as many people aware of who you are as possible. You never know who you might get introduced to!

Online Advertising - Show your prospective buyers that you believe in what you sell. Buying ads on networks like Google and Facebook allow you to create advertisements that are targeted to local companies and make local offers. You can get started with ad campaigns for $20 and be up and running in a few hours. You very well may a potential buyer!

Offline Advertising - While some of your prospects already spend time on Facebook and Google, many of them are too busy “out in the field” running their business. So online advertising would never reach this crowd. These people do read newspapers and magazines. In smaller cities, a display ad in a newspaper can purchased for a reasonable price. This is a traditional method of marketing but it could very well still work for your consulting business.

Mail - Traditional direct response mailing (ie postcards) or custom mailing can be a good way to find clients. Your local post office likely has an arrangement in place for sending flyers to local businesses. You might also want to target certain companies and send hand written letters to the primary decision makers in the company. When the letter looks personalized and hand written, there is a very good chance it will be opened and read by the person.

Email - Cold calling is something that is not even being suggested in this list because there are more effective ways of getting ahold of clients. Sending cold email, however, is something to take note of. With email, you have the ability to research a company ahead of time and do some fact finding. Look for a company where you truly believe you can deliver serious value to. Then put together an email introducing yourself and quickly mentioning some of the potential benefit you see THEM achieving with a better online strategy. Follow up with a phone call a few days later if you do not get an email response.

Press Release - You can sometimes get free media coverage if you have a story that is of interest to enough people. If you specialize in some kind of consulting service and you have an interesting story that relates to your speciality, try submitting the story to local newspapers. Having a story in print might get an offline company calling you directly as there is perceived credibility attached to your name since you have been published in the paper.

Craigslist - This may seem like a dated solution but the truth of the matter is Craigslist is still one of the busiest sites online. Many businesses go on Craigslist looking for help with different needs in their business. Make sure you keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening on Craigslist weekly.

Introductory Service - Consider visiting companies in person but not with the intention of selling. Offer a free flyer for their waiting room with “Social Media Safety Tips” (as an example) or offer to take a photo of their office and use it to create a Twitter account for their company (as another example). Literally make a point of selling nothing but deliver value first. Now they know who you are and will be more receptive to invites/requests in the future.

Directory Service - Create an online directory or blog that profiles local businesses in the area. Offer a free listing to the companies that you would like to target for your consulting services. Once they see how nice their free listing looks, they will be much more receptive to hearing about what you can offer in terms of your consulting.

Channeling Your Negative Energies Through Blogging

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I would never claim that blogging could cure depression. Depression is a serious issue and should be dealt with by a doctor. That said, are there any therapeutic benefits to blogging? I think there are. If you have been feeling down or overwhelmed then starting a blog might be just the thing to let you channel your frustrations. A blog allows you to release your emotions, interact with other people and it can be a consistent and stable factor in a hectic world. I believe the following three benefits are proof that a blog can be therapeutic.

1. Release of Emotions: Everyone says you shouldn't bottle up your feelings. Some people have no problem releasing their emotions while other people have a tough time talking about their issues. A blog allows someone to release all of their emotions through their daily posts. You can get a lot off your chest in a blog post. Most importantly for some people, you can do this anonymously. This is a big plus for some people. If you are suffering from some negative thoughts, or anger then it might be easier for you to express that knowing you are anonymous. A blog offers people the perfect forum to share their thoughts and release any pent up emotions that might be harmful for them to keep inside.

2. Social Interaction: Of course nothing beats getting out and meeting people, we all know this. The problem is that not everyone is a social butterfly. They might naturally be shy people who would rather stay in, or they might have an issue that makes face to face social interaction stressful. Blogging and micro-blogging allow people to interact with other people online. It doesn't beat the real thing but it is a start. Interaction can come from people contacting you based on your story or from comments to your blog. One of the great things is when you share a personal story and you get a comment from someone going through similar things. A blog allows anyone to interact with other people, and is a great tool when trying to reach people with similar interests or problems.

3. Consistency and Stability: This might be an overlooked value when it comes to blogs, but I think it is important. Some people live in a chaotic world that helps keep them feeling the way they do. A blog offers some consistency and stability. The blog is always there, stays pretty much the same and just waits for you to post. There are no demands or pressure. You have a blog that is always there and ready for you. It is also great to have that routine for people. A blog could be something that people look forward too each day. Outside of technical difficulties, it isn't likely to let a person down.

I am not a doctor and I would never claim that a blog is a cure for any level of depression. That said I am a blogger, and I do have some insight into that world. I think I can safely say that blogs do have some therapeutic properties. If you are looking for stability, social interaction or a way to release your pent up feelings, then try out blogging. It doesn't cure problems, but it might help you cope.

Create New WordPress Blog Posts Easily

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Video: The fundamentals of creating new Wordpress blog posts

Setting Up Fan pages

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Video: Building Fanpages

Creating A Trendy Blog In 4 Easy Steps

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You have a small business, home business or hobby that you want to monetize. You want to build your online presence but have no start up cash. Do you give up? Hell, no. The web is so full of free options that you can build a new business website for free in less than half an hour. Taking it one step further you can build a trendy company blog in the same amount of time. That is right, you can have a company blog like all of the "big guys" in about the same time it takes you to shower in the morning. Don't believe me? Well, try it.

You can easily start your business blog right now by following these few steps...

1. Sign up At WordPress.com - WordPress.com will offer you a free website built on the easily customizable WordPress platform. Visit the site and follow the instructions to get your initial site set up. All you will need is an email address. WordPress.com will even handle the hosting for you.

2. Choose A Theme - Using the back office of WordPress.com you can search for themes for your website. The theme will cover all of your major design details. You can search by a number of different parameters that will allow you to find the perfect theme for your business. If you have a logo there is sure to be a color scheme that matches.

3. Create Your Pages - In the back office of WordPress you should set up a couple static (not changing regularly) pages first off. You should add an about page that explains about your company. You should also add a products or services page that goes into what you offer. Lastly create a contact page so people can find out how to get a hold of you.

4. Add Content - Posts are different than pages, posts are content that you add on a regular basis. These posts can be how-to articles about your niche, industry news, insider information or just helpful tips. You will want to add information as often as possible. The more information and posts you have the more likely you will receive web traffic.

Four steps. That is it. You now have a fully functional business blog that can help you find prospects, leads and like minded individuals. Obviously each of those above steps are a little more detailed in practice than explained here. Also you can take this company blog much further with some education, but if all you want is a basic company blog then there you have it. All you have to give up, is about 20 minutes.

How To Get Your Business Work With Offline Companies

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With the advent of the Internet over the past couple of decades, it seems as though everybody and their mother is on the Internet. Of course, the level of proficiency that individuals and companies have when working with the Internet is as varied as there are clouds in the sky. Some companies have really figured out how to use the Internet as a formidable marketing tool and are experts of the highest degree â€" others are still wondering what “www” happens to stand for.

If you happen to be an online consulting company who works with businesses in order to help them better their online image, you’re likely familiar with working with clients who run the gamut when it comes to technical savvy and expertise. However, have you considered the vast untapped world of the offline business?

It may seem as though everybody has a website, but the fact of the matter is that there are millions of businesses out there who don’t have an Internet footprint at all.

This represents a significant portion of businesses in America and across the world. It can be more difficult to reach out to these companies since, well, if they don’t have an Internet presence and you’re an Internet consulting company, you need to be able to find an arena in which to promote your services and convince these offline businesses that it’s worth their time and money to go virtual.

Of course, it shouldn’t be difficult to outline to a business why working on the Internet is a good idea. Remind an offline business about the huge amount of commerce that happens over the Internet and all of the potential clients who are looking over their business when they get on the Internet to search for companies to fit their needs and wants. Particularly with the younger generation, the first place that people look when they want to buy an item yet don’t know where to go is the Internet! Having a website is no guarantee that you’ll be able to get every single client that stops by, of course, but remind them that if they don’t have a presence on the Internet they’ll miss 100% of these potential leads!

Remember that there are a great deal of businesses that are not on the Internet. If you’re a savvy consulting company, you’ll consider this untapped resource as a potential outlet for new business. After all, while the competition is zigging to keep up with the online crowd, you’ll be zagging and reaching out to a group of potential customers that are constantly overlooked.

It may seem as though everybody is on the Internet, but there are millions who are not. Reach out to this group of people to both help their business while bettering yours at the same time!

A Career On Offline Consulting

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Being an offline consultant does sound like a good job to many people. After all, it’s generally a freelance opportunity that will allow you to set your own hours and work when and where you want. In addition, you get to help introduce people who may not know that much about the Internet to the world of online marketing, which can be a very rewarding job, particularly when you’re successful!

However, there’s an important question to ask yourself before you get involved in offline consulting â€" namely, are you the right person for the job? Just because you happen to know how to get online and update a Twitter account doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the person to help revolutionize sleepy businesses the world over. Of course that doesn’t meant that there aren’t ways for anybody get to the skills to become an awesome offline consultant, but are you ready to take the step right now?

First of all, read these acronyms: SEO, SMO, PPC. Do you know what they mean? The answers are of course, search engine optimization, social media optimization, and pay per click. If you didn’t know what these meant or you don’t know what they are after having the acronyms decoded â€" stop, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, and do not get into the business of offline consulting. While you might be moderately familiar with the Internet in general, being able to lead somebody’s business into the realm of online marketing requires a lot of expertise on your part. If you don’t know the lingo, it’s not time for you to go into business.

Also, sit down and ask yourself if you really enjoy teaching. Essentially, working in consulting is like sitting down and explaining a subject from its very roots, particularly if you’re going to be working with offline clients. The vast majority of these clients will have zero tech savvy at all, so you need to know how to be patient and explain the very technical in ways that laypeople will understand. Even if you do know what SEO means, it’s unlikely that your offline client will know what it is. If you’re willing to take on the role of being a teacher as well as a consultant, you’re already halfway toward making this job a reality, but if you’d rather deal with those who don’t need to have their hands held throughout the process, you might want to look elsewhere for employment!

Examine your motives and your own personal characteristics before embarking on this exciting and yet challenging career. Having a little bit of self-knowledge will get you and your clients far! In the event that this isn’t the career path for you, be honest with yourself â€" you and your potential clients will be much happier this way!

Services You Can Sell As An Offline Consultant

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The world of offline consulting is massive. There are so many opportunities and such a wide variety of ways to help an offline business find success online.

In this section of the guide, you will find a list of services that many offline consultants are performing today in their own consulting companies. It is impossible to list every possible service opportunity but let this list serve as a starting point and you can create your own unique ideas from there.

Web Design - Creating websites, company blogs, mobile sites or specialized sites to meet a businesses particular industry needs.

Website/Blog Maintenance - Once a site goes live, it needs to stay current. Many companies do not have the time or expertise to do this themselves so it presents a fantastic consulting opportunity.

Search Engine Optimization - Once a company has a website live on the internet, they need to make sure the site is found by potential buyers. SEO services can be an easy sell if the client sees the potential payoff of being ranked high on search engines. Google Places is a “must learn” for local SEO.

Media Buy Campaigns - Most companies have advertising budgets and they understand that their audience is surfing websites like Facebook. Helping companies run effective Pay Per Click campaigns on these kind of networks can be very profitable for both the consultant and the offline company.

Lead Management - Generating and managing leads found through online methods can also be a profitable service. If you can help a company capture warm/hot leads online and turn them into buyers, you will have repeat business for a long time.

Domain Registration and Hosting - While these are both very inexpensive things to setup, most offline companies don’t even know where to begin. This is a very easy way to help a company and make a nice profit as a consultant.

Social Media Management - Ask any local business if they think Twitter and Facebook are important and they will agree. They will also be willing to pay credible consultants a management fee if they can take care of the company’s social media profiles.

Mobile Marketing - Mobile media is exploding and offline companies are noticing that most of their customers are carrying around hand held devices. Turning those devices into marketing messages for a local business is something that many of these companies would be very interested in learning about.

Video Marketing - Once a business has a website and/or company blog running, they are going to attract an online audience. A great way to extend more value to that online audience is showing them videos of the company in action. A restaurant owner can show “behind the scenes” footage of the kitchen, a dry cleaner can show the detailed process they follow to make their client’s clothes come out clean and perfect every time.

There are many other opportunities available to a consultant when it comes to working with offline companies. In the end it all boils down to your interests, your skill set and what the customer sees as the highest value in terms of return on investment.

Easy Way to install WordPress manually

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Video: How to install Wordpress manually if you don't have cpanel

10 Steps To Developing Good PLR

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Since we began on creating quality PLR content, we have come across quite a few people wondering how they could create PLR products for themselves. I think this is a wonderful idea, and feel like the more people creating PLR content should mean the higher quality available to all of us.

With that in mind, we don’t mind giving people a glimpse at the way we create our high quality products. We do a wide variety of different types of PLR so the exact process is never the same but in general we follow a process much like this:

1. Identify a Need: The first step we take is identifying what people are looking for. There are a lot of ways to do this. We are active on some forums so we can gauge people’s interests that way. We have a social media presence so we can ask our followers and friends. We belong to online networking groups, so we can poll these groups as often as we want. Lastly, we listen to our customers â€" We have a forum that allows anyone to suggest a topic or idea for a product.

2. Brainstorm: Once we have a general topic, we will sit down individually or in a team setting and brainstorm potential product ideas. At this point we will be taking a broad look at our product. We will figure out the main piece of content. It could be an eBook, an article bundle, a video bundle, audio, a system, a report or anything else. At this point we will decide on the topic and delivery format of our PLR Product.

3. Research: We will then begin our research. All of our products are properly researched and provide the most recent of information (when they are written of course). We will usually let the member of our team with the most experience in a particular topic handle the bulk of the content. Justin is a whiz with personal development, while I like to take on the WordPress products. We also have strategic partnerships with local experts, like personal trainers, masseuses and teachers.

3. Creatives Time: At this point we will begin creating the basic cover of the product. We do this now, because it can inspire the content creation part of the process. Also, we may need to use the images in some of the content, so best to get this out of the way. We will brainstorm a product title and heading as well as general idea for the cover. We create a flat image in Adobe Fireworks. We edit it and tweak it until we are happy. Then we export as a flat image, editable png and editable psd. We then use software to wrap this flat image in a variety of 3d images (like eBook covers)

At this point we will also create banner ads and a mini-site, for anyone that wants to start quickly selling or giving away(as an opt-in) our product. We throw in editable images of everything as well as sometimes some additional graphics like buy now buttons.

4: Content Creation: Now we will take our research from earlier and create our main piece of content. Like mentioned before this could be any number of formats. If the main piece was an eBook we would create the eBook in Mac Pages and then export an editable Word version, as well as a high quality PDF.

5. Edit Main Content: Important step here â€" we edit the content to try and make sure it is free of errors. While this is a time consuming step we usually make sure at least two of our team members (and 99% of the time it is Justin and I) edit the product.

6. Create Add-Ons: Here we get creative. We can now take this product from great to a must-buy by creating a bunch of high impact add-ons. Some of our most popular would be things like an autoresponder drip, posters, infographics, graphics, tweets, lists of resources and etc… We create as many as make sense for the product. We also of course edit theses as closely as the content.

7. Complete Packaging: At this point we do another once over on the editing, we make sure that everything is included and then we zip it up and upload to our servers.

8. Send To Members: Our members get first crack at everything we make. We post the product in our members area and then broadcast a message to everyone saying it is available for download.

9. Launch & Promote: We launch and promote our new offer in a number of ways. This is when the product is offered to the the general public.

10. Regular Maintenance: Through this whole process we make sure we go out of our way to provide timely support. This is not bragging, this is us giving you advice if you want to sell something. If you sell a product â€" stand behind it.  Also, since we run a membership site there are  a ton of behind the scene duties that are just as exhaustive as the entire list above. We focused on the product creation side of things for this post, but when it comes to eCommerce that isn’t even half the battle.

Setting Up Your Social Profile

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How you would like to meet and communicate with other Internet users, especially ones that share the same views and beliefs as you do? When it comes to easily finding and communicating online with other Internet users, social networking sites are, perhaps, the best way to go.

If you are interested in joining a social networking website, the first thing that you will need to do is find a network to join. You can easily find a number of networks by performing a standard Internet search. For the best search results, you may want to search with the words social networking or social networking websites. In your search, it is likely that that you come up with a fairly large number of different networking sites. Popular sites that may be included in your search results may include, but will not be limited to, MySpace, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, Facebook, and Classmates.

Once you have made the decision to join a particular social networking website, whether or not it is one of the ones mentioned above, you will need to need to register with the site. Even free networking communities require that you go through the registration process. Once you are registered, you should be able to start communicating with other community members. Before you start communicating, you may need to develop your online profile or profile page, depending on the networking site in question. Although it may seem easy enough to create a profile, there are many Internet users who are unsure exactly what they should and should not include.

Perhaps, one of the most important things to include in your online website is your picture. While a personal picture is optional, it is ideal. Many Internet users enjoy taking to someone that they can see in their minds, without a picture this is difficult. If you are looking to use social networking websites just to meet new friends you may not necessarily need to post a private picture, but you may need to if you are looking to find love online. When it comes to Internet dating, many individuals will not even view an online profile if a picture is not included.

In addition to your photograph, you may want to include your name. Now, when it comes to your name, you need to be cautious. You are advised against giving your full name, especially if your profile or profile page contains a personal photograph of you. In addition to your name, you may want to put down your location. As with your name it is important to display caution. Your picture, your address, and your full name can be dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. As much as you would like to fill your social networking profiles with personal information, you are advised to think about your safety before anything else.

You may also want to include information on yourself. This information may include your hobbies, issues that are important to do, your likes, and your dislikes. With many social networking websites, including MySpace, you will find that there are preset profile fields for this information. In addition to preset questions or categories on your likes and dislikes, you may also find additional information, including fun questionnaires. Many social networking websites will ask that you describe your favorite color, your goals in life, your most embarrassing moment, and so on. As with your other personal information, it is important to stay as vague and possible and not use any full names, especially real ones.

By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should not only be able to create an online social networking profile that is filled with valuable information, but you can do so while staying safe at the same time. Your safety on the Internet is in your hands, that is why it is important to think about safety, as well as Internet popularity.

Keeping Your Family Updated Through Blog Newsletters

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If you are looking for a unique and easy way to interact with your extended family then WordPress is the ultimate solution. Creating an online family newsletter is a great way to keep your relatives up to date on your life. If you are considering doing a family newsletter, check out four reasons why WordPress is the perfect platform...

1. Price - WordPress is free, you can even use their WordPress.com service to host your site for free. You also don't have to pay any money to design your family website. WordPress has thousands of free themes that will change the whole design of your site with the click of a button.

2. Dynamic Nature - WordPress is the ultimate tool to post dynamic content. What that means is it is made for publishing time sensitive content that is continually being updated. Out of the box with no settings tweaked WordPress will naturally publish your content by date, with the freshest news displayed.

3. Easy Picture Galleries - WordPress makes it so simple to upload a picture. You just click one button and you can add a picture to your latest news posts. Take it one step further though and upload a number of pictures. Wordpress has a built in gallery feature that will allow you to share all your Christmas pictures in one post. They will appear in a nice grid formation as thumbnails that expand when clicked.

4. Add Authors - You can easily add other authors to your WordPress powered site. Why is this important? Well imagine you and your family live in NY, but your brother and his family live in LA. You can add your brother as an author and he will be able to add his own family updates and pictures. You can add as many family members as you want as well. WordPress will also show which author wrote what, so you won't get confused on updates.

These four reasons alone should be enough to show you that WordPress is the best way to deal with family updates and/or newsletters. The ability to add content constantly, have it organized and include picture galleries means that your family newsletter will never be looked at as boring again.

The Keys To Defeat Your Competitors

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Nobody likes a bully… especially small business marketers. If you’ve ever felt like the little guy taking punches from a heavyweight champion, you know what I’m talking about. Big business has donned its gloves, and is waiting to put small business down for the count.

I’ve got good news!

Sometimes the little guy wins. Heck, it isn’t easy and sometimes it’s a close call, but little guys do win and when they do… victory is sweet!

What can you do when you’re being threatened by the bully down the street?

1. Take a careful look at the Competition

Every business has its strengths and weaknesses. You need to be aware of both… your competitors strong points, and the places where room for improvement is quite obvious.

2. Be Flexible

Don’t expect your competitor to broadcast his next move so that you can be prepared to block it. You’ve got to think a step ahead, and be ready to outsmart his next maneuver.

3. Use a little Judo

You don’t have to be big and brawny to successfully use Judo. Why? It’s an art that uses your opponent’s momentum to trip him up. So what if you don’t have thousands of dollars to invest in a campaign.

When you’re competition has invested his tens of thousands in one, you’ll be able to make a quick about turn and counteract quickly with a smaller campaign of your own.

He’ll either forfeit his investment or continue through, but loose steam.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about your competitors that might encourage you. Although big businesses often have a wide variety of products filling their shelves, they often don’t have depth.

Think about it this way.

You may run to your local department store and find everything ranging from make-up to camping equipment. The problem with that? …chances are they don’t have an extremely wide assortment of their products.

This means that if you’re an avid outdoorsman, you probably wouldn’t be satisfied choosing between two cheap brands of tents when there is an amazing variety on the market. An outdoor related store could get one over on the big department store by offering the widest variety of fewer products in a focused field.

Another asset about being the small guy, is that it’s easier to make a quick turn. Hey, how many managers do you have to get okays from to make a quick decision? Think of the weeks it takes for a local department store to send a request from a customer for a certain product to the regional or national management? Yeah, too long!

As a small business, you can have a new product on your shelves within a week. If I were a customer wanting a new tent, I’d prefer to not wait until summer was half over to get it.

There are a lot of benefits to being the small guy. Don’t take bullying lying down. You have what it takes to get the best end of the stick and come out a winner.

Benefits of Internet Advertising Trends

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No matter how big or small your business is, you can benefit from the exposure you'll get from marketing it online. However, all too many business owners are not aware of the latest internet advertising trends. While the principles of marketing will always stay the same, there are always new strategies for applying those principles, and things are moving faster than ever in the age of the internet.

One such trend is the use of the web for targeting your market locally, nationally, or internationally. This can be achieved through pay per click advertising (also known as PPC). There is a myth that PPC is risky and expensive. While that can be true for those who don't understand how it works, the truth is that PPC can be a great way to increase your profits. The best part is that you don't need a big budget to get started. You can simply start small, then ramp up your efforts as you generate more revenue with your PPC efforts.

PPC really comes down to selecting the right keywords. In basic terms, keywords are those terms your potential customers will be entering into the search engines for more information. Therefore, you need to give careful thought to which keywords and phrases you want to be associated with. That means you shouldn't be looking only at the cost to you per click. Sure, you may be able to find a great deal on a low-competition keyword, but if it's not a good match for your business, then you are only throwing your money away.

The good news is that you can find out what the top keywords being searched for are. Again, don't just select a keyword because a lot of people are using it. You need to also consider your specific needs, and what your customers are looking for. For example, if you are selling custom-made, luxury yachts, then you wouldn't want to select "used boats", "cheap boats" or "second hand yachts" for your keywords--even if they get a ton of searches and have a low per-click cost--because they aren't what your ideal customer would be searching for.

Pay per click is one of the internet advertising trends that is too effective to pass up, but it isn't the only trend you should be plugging into. Another one of the big ones is the use of social networking sites. While most people are familiar with sites like Facebook for staying in touch with family and friends, such sites also provide enormous benefits for marketing your business. Make it easy for people to add you to their contact lists.

However, don't think you can just keep blasting them with your marketing message. Instead, try to foster relationships with the people who have added you. Also, anything you can do to get them to interact will help you establish yourself as the go-to source in their eyes.

We have only covered two examples of internet advertising trends, but there are more, and who knows what the future has in store. Do your best to stay informed of any new opportunities that come along, and be ready to take advantage of them if they're a good fit for your business.

Making Millions Through Smartphone App Advertising

http://bit.ly/OBgeMO

Smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of daily life, particularly for the younger set. Those of us who remember when cell phones first came out, roughly the size of a brick and just as heavy might be a bit bemused by the latest advances in technology. Nowadays, it seems as though the latest smartphones can do everything but physically make you dinner. There are definitely enough apps out there, however, to have the phone tell you how to make dinner, at the very least.

On that note, apps are another way to harness the power of mobile marketing. This is an especially good one for startups to consider, as app development and implementation is actually one of the best ways to get the most out of mobile marketing for your money. For those who aren’t exactly in the know, an “app” is short for the word “application.” Since smartphones are like mini computers but don’t work in the exact same way, there are certain programs that companies have developed to help smartphones function more like a traditional computer. These programs are the apps.

Apps are extremely popular in today’s day and age, particularly given the prevalence of smartphones. There are apps that specialize on everything from coupons to fashion to locating others in the area for potential dates. What does this mean for people who are interested in mobile marketing? Creating an app is a great way to get your message across to users and help enhance your overall marketing presence.

Companies can use apps to great advantage. Many larger companies either sell or give away apps to interested consumers, and then they pack those apps with either deals or great content to share with the consumers who have installed the apps on their phones. Having an app that centers around your business and products is a great way to keep your loyal customers up to date on what your company is doing and how they can serve the consumer better.

Not to mention, apps are definitely cutting-edge insofar as technology is concerned. If you are able to offer you consumers an app for their smartphones, you’re signaling to the consumer that both you and your company are hip to the technological savvy of the populace. You’ll be able to get your customers information on an as-needed basis. Apps can even help customers locate your stores or outlets if they should happen to be in an unfamiliar area and have a sudden Jones for your product.

So if you’re looking to break into the world of mobile marketing, you should most certainly give app development a second look. If you can get your idea into an app and onto the phones of your consumers, your consumers will most certainly be giving you a second look as well â€" and a third, a fourth, a fifth, and as many more as fast as technology can travel.

Are You A Product Creator Pro?

http://bit.ly/OyaDqr This is my new found tool that I am using to publish a TON of top of the line products with a beautiful outcome. You can literally publish ANY piece of content, book, document, newsletter, or anything else for that matter with this super simple, jaw dropping, smack your knee, and say HOT DAWG this is totally awesome.... software!!

•  Allows you to transform tired looking Word documents into pro-designed books, reports, newsletters, and more, automatically.
• Creates stunning books, newsletters, and reports automatically using a growing library of professional page templates.
• Convert DOCX to PDF automatically (and beautifully) using this software.
• Create Kindle-ready ebooks and print-ready designed PDFs automatically using a publishing web app.

Click Here To See It In Action Now!

I highly recommend product creator pro to you if you are a seasoned writer, or weather you're brand spanking new to making money, or publishing stuff online, OR offline. I am truly impressed as to the quality of documents, and books that I am publishing with this fabulous tool. I can definitely say that it is most certainly something you'll need to take your business to the next level for sure.

I recommend that you click the banner link, and watch the video on the other side, so you never have to pay $100's if not $1000's of dollars to get great looking products created for your business. It's definitely worth it. I'll also leave some links of some of the projects I've published using the software in documents, as well as, books on amazon too!!! Check it out.

 

BOOKS WE'VE PUBLISHED USING THIS PHENOMENAL SOFTWARE:

http://bit.ly/" title="Curiosity & Wonders Trivia & Fun Facts" target="_blank">CURIOSITY & WONDERS TRIVIA & FUN FACTS - Solar Eclipses (Trivia, Quiz, & Fun Facts)

SEXUALITY - STD GUIDE (STDs and Communicable Diseases)

Your Guide To Living Well With Heart Disease (Heart Disease Awareness)

Your Guide To Physical Activity and Your Heart

DOCUMENTS WE'VE PUBLISHED USING THIS PHENOMENAL SOFTWARE:

LINKED IN - The Basic Marketing Blunder You Want To Avoid [SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT]

A Guide to Hosting a Twitter Chat

Tips for Pregnant Moms

Forum Marketing Fundamentals

http://bit.ly/OwOXv0

Forum marketing can make your online business get noticed. Forum users, by and large, are tech and net-savvy and like purchasing things online. Many forum frequenters are also authorities in the topics discussed in the forum.

Forum marketing, thus, helps make a good impression in front of a knowledgeable and influential audience, which can help spread word all over.

What follows is a step-by-step guide that will tell you how to effectively make forum marketing a part of your marketing strategy.

Not all forums host the people you want to communicate with. You have to choose a set of 5-10 forums to concentrate your energies on. Ensure that these forums have at least 10,000 posts from at least 1,000 members; that there are at least 10-15 new posts every day.

Avoid forums which are hosted by your direct competitors; and those which are flooded by spam.

Create your forum accounts as soon as possible. This is helpful because seniority is given a lot of importance in most online forums: some even require you to wait a few days before posting for the first time.

When you sign up, you’ll be asked to agree to their user agreements and posting guidelines. Read these documents carefully. A lot of people skip this and just click yes, because there is a lot of legal jargon. But some important things to look for are:

? Are you allowed to include links in your posts?

? Can you promote your business?

? Can you use commercial messages as your signature?

? Can you contact other members for business purposes on the forum?

? Are there restrictions on new and privileges for old members?

? Your user name is the first thing that’ll be noticed. Pick one that’s memorable, simple and can be easily pronounced. You might want to use your real name and/or the name of your company. Do not use random combinations of letters and/or numbers, or something that’s significant to you and you alone.

Create a profile that will help you establish credibility. Put up a description of your experience and expertise. Personal information can help break the ice, but don’t venture into topics that can alienate anyone, like race or religion or political affiliation.

Above all, treat forum marketing as an integral part of your long-term strategy, not just a one-off opportunity to bombard the message-boards with information about your hot new product.

Earn More Cash Using Affiliate Marketing

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An attraction of affiliate marketing is the savings that the merchant will gain when he no longer conducts his own advertising and publicity. Some merchants, who already have a well-established affiliate marketing program, no longer bother to conduct any activity that will lead to more sales. Such may not impair the current sales of the online business, but it failed to tap into another avenue of selling that can increase the revenue of the online business.

Thus, the merchant must still conduct some form of advertising even when he has an effective affiliate marketing program, and even when he has hundreds of affiliates conducting the promotions for him. The merchant must look into making a second or even a third sale to the customers he acquired. Such is called back-end selling. The practice of back-end selling can complement affiliate marketing.

Here are some ways that a merchant can perform back-end selling:

Newsletters â€" Whether through email or sent through snail mail, these publications are perfect avenues to introduce the other products of the merchant. These other products are the back-end products. Therefore, in the merchant’s website, there should be a part where the customer is asked whether he would like to receive free newsletters from the online company. If the customer clicks yes, then this customer will be taken to a page that will ask for his email or mailing address.

Thank You Letters â€" Sending a thank you letter for patronizing the merchant’s products is not just a form of courtesy. It is a wise business practice. With the thank you letter, the merchant must mention the back-end product.

Customer Satisfaction Calls â€" If the merchant is not comfortable in writing brilliant thank you letters, he may choose to give the customer a phone call. During the phone call, the merchant will check if the customer was happy about the product they already bought. This call shows a concern for the customer. But it is again an avenue for back-end selling. The merchant will attempt to mention the back-end products.

Customers Only â€" In the website of the merchant, there will be a webpage that can be accessed only by its customers. When a visitor has become a paying customer due to affiliate marketing, this paying customer can go to the webpage that contains more about the product that he has bought. In that same page, there may be ads for the back-end products

Back-end selling for the merchant becomes easier because the customer has already given his trust after the initial sale brought by affiliate marketing.

Internet Advertising For Your Business To Stay On Top

http://bit.ly/NcQimc

If you have a business of your own, or you are just interested in making money online, then you need to advertise online. Perhaps you have been online searching for information on how to do just that, and you are overwhelmed by all of the choices. All of those options can be a good thing, or a bad thing. They're bad if they make you confused and keep you from taking action. They're good because they can fit in with virtually any business. Here are some things to keep in mind about internet advertising.

What a lot of new marketers don't understand is that traditional advertising can be quite expensive. So, when they are confronted with something that costs $20 or so, and can reach 1,000s of targeted customers, they balk at the price. Perhaps this is because they believe that all online marketing should be free. But the truth is that it isn't.

Don't get me wrong, you can certainly get started with internet advertising for little to no cost. But the price you pay will be in the form of time. It's up to you if you would rather spend money or time, but the general rule of thumb is that the more you spend, the less time it will take, and vice-versa.

Internet advertising is flexible enough to fit into any budget, and you don't need to invest a lot of time either, though there are always trade offs between the two. With so many choices, it can be hard to decide where to start. Guess what? It doesn't really matter! Nope. It's far better to get started and try your hand at it, than it is to wait around until you "learn everything".

That being said, it's still important to take your online marketing efforts seriously. Sure, it doesn't cost much, and is relatively easy, but you are trying to run a successful business. Therefore, you need to treat all aspects of what you do as if they will have an impact on your bottom line, and internet advertising is no exception.

You need to be careful about which methods you try, especially when you are just starting out. There really aren't any bad methods, but not all of them work well for all businesses. So, before you dive in head first, think about who your target market is, what makes your offer unique, and the best way to present your offer to your market. Doing these three things are just the start, but they will put you way ahead of all of the people who don't do them.

Regardless of which internet advertising methods you decide to go with, the key is to get started as soon as possible. Start now if you can. The sooner you get in, the sooner you will be able to reap the rewards of your efforts. If you ask those who are successful online, they will tell you one of the biggest differences between failure and success is taking action. What you do now will determine the future of your business.

Drive More Traffic Using Search Engine Traffic

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Using keyword search engine ranking to help propel your website to the top of the search engine rankings is one very effective way to drive more traffic to your website all for free.

Besides the free traffic another wonderful benefit of this type of traffic is that it meets yet another criteria for quality website traffic: all the traffic that comes to your website via this technique will be very qualified and targeted.

You may be wondering how I can know that, simple, since the people who visit your site are doing a search for a keyword phrase you are targeting you know that they have a big interest in your product or service, they are very targeted.

Don't worry, I know this can sound complicated... and it can be complicated, but in it's simplest form it looks a little like this:

Let's say you are selling a book about improving your golf swing. The whole focus of your website is to help golfers improve their game by improving their swing.

You've isolated a list of keywords that are very focused on golf swings. These keywords get decent monthly traffic and relatively low competition.

For this example, let's say you are targeting the keyword phrase "improve your golf swing". Using this phrase in your website optimization plan will help the search engines find your site. They will be able to identify that you site is about improving golf swings.

If they believe your website can offer valuable information on improving golf swings to anyone who visits it, they will rank your site very high. Ideally you want your site to be ranked within the first page of results.

So, if someone goes to their web browser and types in the phrase "improve golf swing" and your site is one of the first ones that show up, they will very likely click on the link and be taken to your website.

Since they were actively searching for the term "improve golf swing" you know that they have a high level of interest in improving their golf swing which makes them a good potential customer of yours.

This technique works well for not only your website but you can also use it for distributing articles for article marketing as well as for all your blog posts.

Just use your keywords as the basis for your posts and articles. If you choose the right keywords and submit them to good article directories, your articles or blog can show up in the top ten for that particular keyword phrase... again, good free traffic.

There are a few things to keep in mind: for one thing, the algorithms that the search engines use to determine how relevant any particular site is change frequently.

To be really competitive, especially in a competitive market, you need to stay on top of your optimization efforts (or hire someone to do it for you), but you can still benefit from this method even with just a few simple tweaks to your website.

As a business owner you understand the importance of getting every advantage you can and using

keyword search engine ranking techniques is one of those advantages.

Search Engine Optimizations Misconceptions

http://bit.ly/ObccaN

Some people think that in order to benefit from search engine optimisation that they need to go to drastic lengths and take a lot of time to learn how to do it. But, the reality is that you can benefit from just a few simple tips and you can use these tips for your articles as well as your blog posts.

The best way to go is to start by building a big keyword list of words and phrases that are closely related to your niche. Ideally, you will want to find keywords that get at least 1,500 searches a month and no more than 20,000 competitors.

Once you have your keyword list built all you need to do is to pick one keyword per article and / or blog post and write a well written article around that keyword. You should then include the keyword in the title of your article or blog post.

Please do not make the mistake of thinking that the more keywords you include the better. That is called keyword stuffing and it will do far more harm than good. The search engines have remarkably sophisticated algorithms that can pick up on this and your article will be penalized if you try.

Instead use the keyword once in your article or blog post title, once in the first paragraph, once in the last paragraph and once or twice throughout the rest of your article. You want the article to read naturally.

Remember, you aren't just trying to attract the search engines, you want to make sure your article makes sense for human readers too, actually this should be your main focus. You don't have to short change your readers just to keep the search engines happy, you can do both.

You want to strive for a keyword density of no more than 3%. Obviously the longer the article the more keywords you can include and still make that 3% goal. I recommend you keep your article and blog posts at about 350 to 500 words in length.

That is the optimum length because it is long enough to allow you to include some useful information without being so long that it turns off any potential readers. If your article is too short it just looks like it is all for the purpose of keyword stuffing and many search engines and article directories don't appreciate that.

On the other hand, internet surfers are notoriously short on attention span, so to get the most out of your articles you can also include bullet points and keep your paragraphs short and to the point. Also, don't make your articles too long, over 500 words, or too short, less than 350 words.

There is a lot more you can do with search engine optimization if you want to invest the time and effort. But, for most people just a little knowledge and keyword placement in your articles or blog posts can really help you get more traffic to your website.

Search Engine Optimizations Misconceptions

http://bit.ly/ObcbUz

Some people think that in order to benefit from search engine optimisation that they need to go to drastic lengths and take a lot of time to learn how to do it. But, the reality is that you can benefit from just a few simple tips and you can use these tips for your articles as well as your blog posts.

The best way to go is to start by building a big keyword list of words and phrases that are closely related to your niche. Ideally, you will want to find keywords that get at least 1,500 searches a month and no more than 20,000 competitors.

Once you have your keyword list built all you need to do is to pick one keyword per article and / or blog post and write a well written article around that keyword. You should then include the keyword in the title of your article or blog post.

Please do not make the mistake of thinking that the more keywords you include the better. That is called keyword stuffing and it will do far more harm than good. The search engines have remarkably sophisticated algorithms that can pick up on this and your article will be penalized if you try.

Instead use the keyword once in your article or blog post title, once in the first paragraph, once in the last paragraph and once or twice throughout the rest of your article. You want the article to read naturally.

Remember, you aren't just trying to attract the search engines, you want to make sure your article makes sense for human readers too, actually this should be your main focus. You don't have to short change your readers just to keep the search engines happy, you can do both.

You want to strive for a keyword density of no more than 3%. Obviously the longer the article the more keywords you can include and still make that 3% goal. I recommend you keep your article and blog posts at about 350 to 500 words in length.

That is the optimum length because it is long enough to allow you to include some useful information without being so long that it turns off any potential readers. If your article is too short it just looks like it is all for the purpose of keyword stuffing and many search engines and article directories don't appreciate that.

On the other hand, internet surfers are notoriously short on attention span, so to get the most out of your articles you can also include bullet points and keep your paragraphs short and to the point. Also, don't make your articles too long, over 500 words, or too short, less than 350 words.

There is a lot more you can do with search engine optimization if you want to invest the time and effort. But, for most people just a little knowledge and keyword placement in your articles or blog posts can really help you get more traffic to your website.

How To Reach New Prospects Through Blogging

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One of the cheapest and most effective ways to get the word out there about your business’ goods and services is with a blog. Blogs are excellent because they can be updated at your leisure, are specifically calibrated for ease of use, and, best of all, they can be entirely free.

How can a blog help you reach into a niche? The answer is simple: you blog about what your particular niche is. A good blog can help your page be seen as a well of knowledge, and people gravitate toward where the knowledge is. If you’re a chef, what about starting a blog where you speak about your recent innovations in the kitchen, or perhaps do reviews on various kitchen products? A blog is like a constantly updated stream of information from you directly to the consumer.

Blogging has become something akin to the face-to-face interaction that is often absent from online marketing. While with a traditional store the customer could engage in dialogue directly with you, the Internet makes such interactions nearly impossible. However, with a blog you can appeal to the reader with your knowledge of the niche and interest them with your current news or opinions â€" to which the reader can respond to with comments. In this way, your blog becomes a living, breathing thing with which you can communicate with potential customers.

Another great thing about a blog is that it showcases your site as “alive.” While sites are mostly comprised of static pages, simply having that information up on the Internet does nothing to tell your readers that your business actually still exists. Having a blog makes your page seem fresh, and even people who are not sticking around to read your blog will be more likely to surf around on your other pages if you have a blog that stays recently updated. This means that you’re still around and will likely answer queries if the potential customer has them.

Additionally, a blog is a great place to advertise things that are going on with you or your business. For example, if you’re offering a promotion or are planning on being away from your business for a while, having a blog is the best way to get the word out. You can even upgrade to video blogging if you’d like to surf the height of the technological waves.

In short, having a blog is an excellent way to reach out to any niche market of your choice. A well written, thoughtful blog can add credibility to any website and encourage greater traffic and eventually greater conversions. For people looking for the best of Internet marketing through niche advertising, give a blog a try.

Quality Links Are More Important Than Quantity

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If you are a search engine optimizer you know how important link building is to your rankings. The problem is that these days most people are aware that link building works and have found ways to exploit and dominate the process.

I have heard stories ranging from Chinese sweatshop link builders to automated software solutions that essentially pollute the Internet with garbage (fake profiles, bogus blog comments, etc.). Anyone who attempts to game the system is usually doing everyone a disservice. There will be a short-term gain from getting ranked well for your keyword but eventually you will be removed altogether.

I am sure that the engineers at Google are already working on several plans to make link popularity less relevant in the future. I have made a short list of things I think would be useful tools to judge the popularity of a website, brand, person, product.

Mentions Within The Social Media Space.

Increasingly, social media sites like twitter offer new metrics into the world of popularity. Not only is the data up-to-date and current, it's much more difficult for anyone to mimic a piece of content going viral and social media. Companies like Google could easily make deals with Facebook and twitter to access their data feeds and use them as a gauge for popularity.

Additionally, Google could search for mentions of the name of a company, twitter account for that company, or any subsequent products as a measure of likability.

Mentions Within E-Mail Communications.

Google is now one of the largest free e-mail providers in the world. It would be very simple for them (if they aren't already) to monitor the number of times a link is sent through Gmail's mail servers. This would also be difficult to game because your accounts would quickly get flagged for spam. Additionally Google can monitor the Gmail accounts to see which ones appear to be trying to increase their footprint.

Although I believe that your link popularity score will always play a role in your final ranking. I think it's time for that metric to stop beating the primary source of data for Google. Once this happens, companies will increasingly be working towards social media strategies to help their bottom line.

If you participate in any kind of link building consider this. Quality will trump quantity in the future. One really good Flickr profile will be better than 100 crappy blog comments. Try to engage the communities within each one of your social profiles online.

The Power of List Building

http://bit.ly/N1hbOo

Video: Brad discusses why it’s important to have an email list and the best ways to build your list.

Forums Are Real Markets

http://bit.ly/TbKcpB

f you are trying to make a mark in deliberate online marketing, then you should definitely try to utilize the different forums that are available online. To begin with, forums are excellent to get information. Thus, one should frequent these forums to establish one's professional status. This can be done prior to actually starting to sell his/her product or service. Almost every full time marketer is fairly active on the various popular Internet Marketing forums. These serve as excellent medium to achieve brand awareness for one's program.

These further serve the cause of generating several useful contacts. There are a lot of like minded people you can find online and these forums help on to garner networking prospects like never before. Thus the forums are extremely useful social mediums too.

One thing that you should definitely avoid while making use of the forums is to push your product indiscriminately and too frequently to ruin your professional image and lose all trust of fellow users.

There is only one way of garnering the trust of the forum members and holding on to it and this can only be done by offering information or services which are genuinely useful to fellow users along with a proper promotion through signature tags, valuable posts etc. There might also be the case when the forum would itself allow for promotion for example many forums have marketplaces where you can actually sell your products and services.

A significant part all online marketers efforts should be framed on forum marketing. This can prove to be another very useful equipment to create a brand of one's own. To create a professional brand on a forum is the most efficient kind of promotion. Trust does not come as something easily buyable.

How To Monetize The Content You Create Daily

http://bit.ly/QDqjtP

I was talking with one of my coaching clients yesterday, who was complaining to me about time management problems. It seems that she can't find enough hours in the day to make videos, write articles and participate in the global conversation online.

Normally when I hear this problem I know that most people who complain about time management are actually time wasters. Case in point: my client was spending an hour each day making cold calls which she felt was a good utilization of her time. Entrepreneurs love to make justifications for the things they do and cold callers are no exception, in many cases we can always look to the one or two really good customers who we have found through a cold call to make it all worthwhile.

What my client didn't understand was that if she spent that hour each day publishing content to the Internet she would be much more effective over the long term. Filming a five-minute video and putting it up on YouTube is very easy. It's also very easy to get 1000 people to view that video. YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world next to Google. If 1000 people watch your video, it's the equivalent of making 1000 five-minute phone calls.

Start thinking about the messages you want to get across to your audience and start thinking about the mediums you want to use to deliver those messages. I prefer to use articles and video to deliver my messages. Increasingly my audience has been growing exponentially because I spend more time putting content out and less time talking to people one-on-one.

I am not saying that you should completely replace face-to-face or telephone communication, I am suggesting however that you find ways to maximize that communication and leverage it to a larger audience. As a for instance yesterday I spent 30 minutes on the phone with one of my trainers. We did a question-and-answer session that was intended for a larger audience. This call was recorded and will be heard by thousands of people.

Lately when people have been asking me for mentoring or business coaching and they don't have any money to pay for my time, I have been asking them to do recorded calls with me that I can later release on my blog. These calls will be a valuable tool for me to recruit new clients, so even when I give up some of my free time, I am able to monetize it down the road.

The Power of Video Marketing

Using Facebook Fan Pages vs. Facebook Groups

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Video: Facebook Fan Pages VS Groups

How To Get More Prospects By Exploring Your Sub-Niche

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We’ve spoken about the dangers of getting too specific. Now, let’s talk about the advantages of being too specific, at least some of the time.

You want to have your business appeal to as many people as possible. This means that if you’re a car repair shop, being able to show knowledge of everything from tires to chassis is a great way to rope in people who are interested in all levels of car repair. You’ll be able to establish relationships with these people who will hopefully become repeat customers of yours, and maybe even offer references to others.

What you want to avoid in general is getting too pigeonholed, as this can cause you to miss out on a lot of business.

However, the fact of the matter is that staying broad and appealing is a good thing, but people do tend to have specific interests. Maybe you know a lot about overall car repair, but you prefer to tinker with the engine. Maybe you like all car brands, but you prefer Jaguars. Humans do tend to gravitate toward increasingly specific levels of mastery depending on their inclinations. Just because you happen to know more about Jaguars than any other brand of car doesn’t mean that you should hide your knowledge out of fear of seeming too specific.

The “too specific” parts of your business can be used to your advantage. These are called “sub-niches,” and are basically where you can get super specific without losing huge chunks of your audiences.

In fact, being able to use your sub-niche is a great way to really get your business to flow. Maybe there aren’t that many people in the world who are as psyched about Jaguars as you are, but if you can tap into this sub-niche, you might be floored about how much business they’ll give you. People love to tap into others who have similar specific interests, and if you can manage to find the people who are as obsessed about the Jaguar engines as you are, you’ve probably made about fifteen new best friends. Best friends are excellent for advertising â€" and they’ll likely mention you to others who just have general interest in car repair, just because you’ve connected over Jaguar engines.

The trick is not to let the sub-niche take over the niche. Again, more balance. Maybe you like talking about Jaguars more, but you shouldn’t let it keep you from the general “help me with my oil change” threads on forums. In this way you can stay broad enough to help even the most out of touch layperson as well as the experts in your sub-niche. Behold the power of the sub-niche if used properly â€" just don’t let it take over everything else!

Establish Authority On Your Niche And Make Loads Of Cash

http://bit.ly/PqzEy2

One of the most important things that any business can have, whether online or not, is legitimacy. If customers think that a particular business knows how to get a job done correctly or sells flawless products, not only will they come back, but they’ll also offer your name to others. And all business owners crave that word of mouth referral like nothing else, as it’s marketing gold.

But how to get that reputation? With online businesses, it can be a little bit more difficult to cultivate word of mouth recommendations simply because your customers might be from all around the globe, and thus are less likely to ask each other for referrals as compared to neighbors in a single community are. Like everything else about online businesses, it’s possible to get that reputation you want going, it just requires a bit of ingenuity and unconventional thought.

One of the best ways to start building your reputation as an online business is to start off with a bang â€" give away free content. This doesn’t mean that you need to give out free products; though, certainly, if you can afford to do so, freebies are a great way to get a customer’s attention. What you can do, however, is start giving out your advice. If you’re a construction company, set up a “how to fix it” section of your site that anybody can visit. If you’re a shoe repair shop, make some videos about how to do simple things like fix shoelaces and upload them to YouTube. This is a great way to draw in potential customers who may not have originally been looking for your services, but advice â€" but these surfers can quickly become customers if they believe in the strength of your advice.

Another great way is to get involved with online forums relating to the product or services that you sell. If you’re a car repair shop, consider joining some forums based on car repair and start offering up your free advice on the subject. Most of these forums allow their users to post “signatures,” which are little text/picture snippets that appear at the bottom of every post. If you use this opportunity to advertise your site, you’ll start generating interest when you build your reputation within that particular forum. Just be sure to actually contribute to the conversations in the forum itself, though â€" most forums have moderators and if your account is deemed to be producing too much spam, you’ll be removed from the community. Not to mention, people who only use forums to place advertisements and not contribute to the topics at hand are looked at with derision. Besides, if the topic of the forum is something that you are interested in â€" and assumin g that you started a business in a particular topic, it hints that you are - you might even end up having fun by participating in forums.

Fun? Online business? Who knew?