Bussiness Networking

Remembering What Matters Most in Internet Marketing‏

2010-02-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody. Mark here. Court asked me to to jump into this 5 day
course with some insight where your focus should be as you start
your business online.

Every day you'll have to decide how to spend your precious time as
an internet marketer. You'll have to balance the creation of
content, deciding what to sell, and how to sell it (even if what
you're "selling" is Google ads you want people to click). You'll
constantly ask yourself "What should I be doing right now?"

The temptation will be to do spend your time on things that matter
a little, but not a lot. Things like the design of your site. We've
had students who spent weeks and weeks fine-tuning the color scheme
of their site...not how I'd advise spending your limited time. So
what should you be doing?

Here's the answer: traffic matters most. If you have traffic you
can do anything. Spend your time building traffic, and everything
else will follow.

Let me share a quick story from my early days of trying to make
money online. It turns my stomach a little to tell it, but it
really illustrates the point well:

Without traffic, you have nothing.

A few years ago I was about 18 months into my new found mission to
earn a full time living online. I had made some great money with
Adsense arbitrage (buying traffic for cheap here and selling it
over there for more). I'll tell you, it was a beautiful thing while
it lasted, but it didn't last long. Like most loopholes, it closed
quickly.

So I had a little money and a lot of (unjustified) confidence and I
set out to find the NBD (next big deal) that was going to take me
to millions of dollars online. Within a couple of months, a
relatively wealthy and well-respected friend of mine told me I
needed to get in on a "For Sale By Owner" website he was making a
pretty big investment in. He said he could get me 2% of the company
for $20,000.

The big hook for this site was how sophisticated their "back end"
was, which meant they'd used some really fancy programming to
handle the organization and display of the millions of homes that
were (supposedly) going to be listed on the site. It was
revolutionary, and it was going to take the real estate world by
storm. I remember the "CEO" of the business telling me how one of
his main concerns was that we'd be sued by Realtors because this
website was such a threat to their business. "This thing makes them
absolutely obsolete."

By the way, the company had zero revenue and no real prospects of
making money in the near future. They were also getting basically
no visitors to the site, so it didn't matter how sophisticated
their "backend" was, nobody was ever going to use it.

I will now reveal the sum total of my due diligence before diving
into this so-called "investment." You may want to take a few notes:

"Hey, there are millions of homes in the United States. A For Sale
By Owner site is a brilliant idea, and these guys have done some
amazing programming to make this the most user friendly FSBO site
on the web. Everyone is going to want to sell their house on this
site! We're going to be RICH!"

And with that, I drove to the bank and sent the clowns running the
company a cashier's check for $10,000 (The plan was for me to put
in the other ten thousand a few weeks later).

Long story short - the whole thing fell apart literally within a
couple weeks of my $10,000 deposit. My money and my "impressive" 2%
stake in the company disappeared. I have never felt so naive and
ridiculous in my life. I thought my wife was going to run me over
with the car. I can't say I didn't have it coming.

You know the most embarrassing part? I can't believe I'm going to
admit this...

In the few days leading up to my "investment" I had been telling my
wife how owning 2% of this website was amazing because when it sold
for $500 Million or so my cut would be $10,000,000. I was
absolutely convinced my 2% share of a website with not a single
penny of revenue was going to be our ticket to freedom. Talk about
a savvy entrepreneur...

So what's my point? What great lesson did I receive in exchange for
my $10,000 tuition? I learned a thousand lessons - but the one
that's most applicable to you is this:

There are a million ugly sites out there with terrible content and
no fancy "back end" making money every day, week, and month. The
people running them aren't smarter than you or more capable than
you, but they do have one thing on you. Traffic.

If you have traffic, you have an income stream. And if your traffic
is from the search engines (especially Google) then you have a
mostly passive income stream.

So as you think about starting a business online, don't go chasing
shiny objects with no value (like I did). Make the decision to
build a website that's a veritable vacuum of search engine traffic.

This is your mantra:

If I can get search engine traffic, I can make money.

My story does have a happy ending. A few months after the FSBO site
crumbled I settled into a simple habit of effective keyword
research, and within a few weeks I discovered something called
"trailer hitch covers."

Maybe you already know what a trailer hitch cover is; maybe you
even own one. I had never heard the term, and I had no clue that a
trailer hitch cover was a decorative ornament you plug into your
trailer hitch when you're not towing something.

In spite of having no idea what a trailer hitch cover was, the
search numbers were there and the top websites in the niche weren't
too strong, so I decided I would build a website to rank for that
keyword, and I would make a profitable business of it. I knew if I
could get the traffic, I would make money.

And I did. A little over a year later I was ranking in the top 3 on
Google for "trailer hitch covers" and also "trailer hitches." The
site is on pace to do gross sales between $75,000 and $100,000 this
year.

If you can get traffic, you can make money.

If you can get MORE traffic, you can make MORE money. It's not
easy, but it is that simple. The whole focus of our
members' area is to give you step-by-step tutorials (no
matter how inexperienced you are) on how you can create a steady
stream of free traffic to your portfolio of niche sites. Give us a
chance to prove to you that you can make this method work for
yourself by clicking here and getting started:
http://thekeywordacademy.com/coaching/117.html

http://thekeywordacademy.com/day4

See you tomorrow!

Mark and Court

578 W Pacific Drive, American Fork, UT 84003, USA

Business Networking

2007-04-10T06:37:00.001-07:00

Business Networking

Business networking is essentially walking advertising, it is the effective linking together of like minded individuals who develop a relationship are able to form a bond and trust. Here are some tips and advice when thinking about joining business networking.

The whole idea of business networking is to develop trust and build relationships by being open and honest. It is about doing what you can to help others and receiving help from others in return. Before joining network meetings ask yourself what it is you are particularly looking for and want out of business networking. Some groups are based more on making contact and learning, rather than focusing on making business connections. So choose a group wisely who will be able to help you with what you are looking for.

Look around and join as many different groups as possible which interest you, take notice if the people support each other. The majority of groups will allow you to take part two or three times before asking you to decide whether to join or not.

Make sure you ask questions which require more than a simple yes or no answer, what you are attempting to do is to open up the conversation and discussion. So always ask questions that are open ended, such as who, what, where and when.

In order to stay in the limelight and give back to others what you have been given, hold volunteer positions in organisations.

You have to know what it is you want and be able to get this across to other people. All too often people will ask the other person what it is they want and what they can do to help them and the person has no immediate answer to give.

If you have met people who you think may get some benefit from what you do, or if you can benefit from what they do, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with them. This is what business networking is all about.

If you are given referrals then follow them up and act upon them, your actions are a reflection on those who give you referrals, learn to realise this and your referrals will grow.

Lonely Entrepreneur provides success strategies for solopreneurs and small business people working from home, and offers advice, information, tips, resources, networking opportunities and business coaching. For Business Advice join our Free network now!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lonely_Entrepreneur

Step by step guide to creating a small business technology plan.

2007-03-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

The first step in creating a technology plan for your small business, or big business, is to understand clearly what you have now. This doesn't mean you need to do a software audit, or hardware inventory. You need to understand the applications you use to run your business, and the current flow of information throughout the buisiness and to and from customers and suppliers. The next step is to decide where you want to go. What do you want to get from your network.

Would it be best to focus on improving productivity? Then you’ll perhaps automate your order entry process. Does it make more sense to add sales? Then add or fine tune your sales force automation software.Now compare your assessment from the first step with the results from the second step and peform a simple gap analysis. What do we want and what do we have? As part of the anaylsis you should take in to account any small business technology trends that may be beneficial to your business. Before putting your plan to paper review our small business networks guidelines article.

It's a series of small articles describing what your technology should look like and which areas you should devote your money and personal resources too. Now for the most important part! Create a strategy to complement your technology plan. We've run across so many small businesses that create a very nice technology plan but they have no strategy for putting it in to place. The strategic plan is simply a list of the milestones in your technology plan, and a path to reach them.

If the first part of your technology planning is to upgrade your servers the corresponding piece of the strategic plan should look something like this:.Upgrade the main file server:Purchase a Dell Server #000145 at $2300 by AugustPurchase an upgrade of the Windows server softwareUpgrade the tape drive and backup softwarePerform the upgrade by September 15th.Re-deploy the existing server as a test server for the IT department.

Test the upgrade and move on to step 2, the accounting workstation upgradesNothing overly complicated but it allows you to track your progress. Think of the technology plan as where do you want to go? The strategic plan is, How are we going to get there? .

http://www.easyarticles.com/article-2437.htm

Large Posters makes things easier for you

2007-03-10T06:02:00.000-08:00

By: Chris Broad

Communication has been used as a medium to reach out to people since time memorial. People have always been on the search to find out newer and innovative means to communicate with fellow beings. Earlier drums were used for this, pigeons were also used or this purpose and today there are an amazingly large number of options which can be used for communication. Posters are one of the most commonly used means for communication be it large posters or small posters. The size of the poster is not of too much significance till the purpose is served. And posters have been found to be extremely effective in doing this.

Large posters can be used for communicating different types of message. One reason for using large posters is that it is easy to put up and most importantly has a tremendous capacity to reach out to a wide group of people. Large posters can be easily put up in malls, outside theaters, in exhibitions and any other place where people can look at it. The idea is to put up the large posters at the most vantage position so that the entire process becomes very easy. So if you are looking for a means of communication which you can use for publicity purposes, you know now that you need to use large posters for it.

Getting large posters made is not a difficult task for you to do. You simply need to find the right people and the right sources that will do the work for you. Well it is understood that only a professional will be able to help you out in doing this properly. You need to tell him clearly exactly how you want the poster to be done. Professionals who work for making posters have the technical qualification and expertise to do exactly what customer wants them to do. Make sure to include attractive pictures and effective punch lines in the large posters if you want to be successful in your venture.

Large posters can be put up almost everywhere and this is another reason why large posters are hugely popular among many people. So you want to mobilize public support for a cause that you feel strongly about, want to tell your customers about a festive offer or a discount offer or simply want to tell people in your neighborhood about the garage sale that you are going to have you can make use of large posters for all these purposes. This is very simple indeed and any one can make use of large posters for any purpose.

You can make large posters in any color, shape size and design. Well it is understood that the same type of large posters will not be effective in giving out different types of information. Making the large poster unique from all the other entire posters is sure to catch the attention of people. After all this is the main purpose behind doing all this and if you get the results easily then nothing better then that.

http://www.articlepile.com/article13342.html

Methods to promote the website (2006 version)

2006-10-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

By: James yaqins

Many friends have conclude the methods,but with the passage of time,a lot of new approaches.Often these new approaches,in actual operation have more remarkable achievements.

Many applications currently web2.0 very fiery,but search engines on web2.0 elements,more friendly. web2.0 elements used to promote their sites.Of course,I want to integrate my predecessors and on the means to promote web2.0 way to do something in conclusion:1:SEO.

In fact,we should consider the establishment of the website at the same time,the proven effective for several things.URL alphabet,simple straightforward headlines division title "and his" meta-appropriate,functional RSS subscription,rich website linked to the website map, labels, the most important thing is not to do evil.After they finish,submit to the search engines.2.RSS.Use RSS in addition to enriching website connected,users will have a subscription.

Then there are several RSS polymerization sites,the search included so fast.For example RSS.bokee.com,feedss.com.Users interested in the content of the site through subscription,we can increase the traffic,and users can also increase the viscosity.3.Cyber Digest.This method is very good,very effective.

Some cyber digest can give your website often bring considerable traffic.4.Link exchange.It is imperative to promote the website.5.E-MAIL.It is a good way to promote.Many of the website's success,to a great extent,depend on the promotion of the way.6.Advertising.That,we need to spend a lot of money,but the recommended method is more economical to promote their advertising,so basically the same expenditure.Website traffic has also been promoted.7.Rich conten.

Users rely on the word-of-mouth marketing legend,it is actually very effective.Recommendation:Join the key social search engine.Search engine traffic to the website is huge.However,the search engine has its own personality.Want to use search engines to have a great traffic or require a lot of ability.Of course,we can choose a new social search,such as:deyeb.

Actual effect!Web2.0 combination of many elements such sites,but he is a social search engine,users will be the message.Promotion of the content, it is easy to achieve the ultimate goal of such websites.Methods (There are many similar websites, you can find themselves):1.Download Tools Bar2.Promote their own to the collection and search results through tools bar.3.Also in the "group" and an "encyclopedia" to promote your information.And the effects of promotional skills.Not blindly made advertisements,were shut out.

Rich content carrying the promotion, is the best way.Actually,the most important thing is to do a rich content,the most important thing is to promote the prudent choice is not connected,Quality is important.Combining a variety of marketing methods,the best result is a search engine marketing and Internet advertising.

Other methods have certain effects.However,However,it is desirable to attract target customers,or more of the traffic is useless.James yaqins own http://www.kersearch.com,this is a free articles search engine and directory for search engine marketing.You can get some tips for search engine marketing and earn income.See more articles on the search engine marketing,please click http://www.kersearch.com

Tips For Raising Your Search Engine Rankings

2006-10-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

By: johnsmith

Search engine rankings are an important factor to consider when you have a web site that needs more traffic. If your web site doesn’t have a good position in the rankings then it will be hard to find.

Since most searchers click on the first few results, you need to make sure that your web site is ranked highly enough so that people can easily find it on the first page of search engine results. Although no Search Engine Optimization company can guarantee a high rankings for your site permanently, often times hiring a web marketing company will pay off many times over. For those of you doing it yourself or those of you that want to ensure your marketing company is doing a good job, here are some tips for raising the Search Engine Rankings of your web site.

1. Content

Content is an important factor in high search engine rankings. Make sure that you have plenty of content throughout your site with your target keywords in the articles. It’s also worth doing a search for web sites similar to yours and taking a look at their articles for ideas. Keywords are an important factor and they should be used throughout the content of your website.

2. Web Site URL

Your web site’s URL can help you rank higher with the Search Engines if it contains your keywords. However, don’t think that naming your site after your keywords will always help your rankings – you need to do more than just that. But still, it is one of the factors in improving a search engine ranking.

3. Search Terms

Search terms should be written out in text, instead of graphics. If you use pictures, be sure to give them alt tags. If you want a good rank in search engines then these things that may seem small should be considered, as search engines can read the text but not the graphics.

4. Page Title

The title of your page is very important, and if you choose the title properly then it can surely make a big difference in Search Engine Ranking. Terms such ‘free article on safe children\'s toys’, or ‘contact the children\'s toy expert today’ are good to use as titles on pages containing such content. The titles themselves are very specific to the page and also may not have much competition being as specific as they are. The title area is the most important place to include your keyword phrases, so make sure that you utilize it.

Master these four tips and you’ll be on your way to getting free traffic. Look for other tips to keep your site moving up.

The author is a Writer working with A-1 internet design, which is a professional Search Engine Optimization Company providing effective Search Engine Optimization services, SEM services, and business to business email marketing, online marketing services to promote your business over the web. Get more valuable information at A-1 internetdesign

http://www.articlepile.com/article11728.html

A guide to help you avoid the

2006-10-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

By: Rohit Daga

The internet offers many ways of making money. There are many genuine websites, but there are also a huge number of scams as well. You need to be careful so that you do not end up in a scam. Unfortunately, it is very hard to differentiate between a genuine site & a scam site, by the time you find out, you have lost your valuable time & money.

The scam sites are very "professional" in the way they create scams, this makes it very hard for a person to know if the site is genuine or not. The following pro-active measures will reduce your chances of getting scammed:Never pay anybody to become a member of any "get paid to" website. Once you have reached the minimum payment level, make a payment request.

These sites offer you a good way to make a decent additional income. A few people will be able to earn enough to make a living from these sites. If any site tells you you that you can become rich, then proceed with extreme caution. Never provide your credit card number, debit card number, bank account details, SSN, etc to any website. Many scamsters ask you to provide these details for "verification" purpose. They are only trying to get these details for misuse.

US law requires survey sites to ask for tax details once a person has earned over US$600 (this amount may vary from time to time) in a year. Provide this information only after you have earned this amount. Having paid this amount, the credibility of the site will not be in question.

Avoid sites which do not have any privacy policy. Look at how long the company has been operational (working), the older the better. This is important as some sites will go out of business. If the site is relatively old, the chances of this happening is greatly reduced.

Do not join any paid to read email site which has a minimum payment amount of US$75 (or above). For survey sites, avoid sites which have a minimum payment amount of US$150 (or above). Such high payout requirement are not user friendly & reflect poorly on such websites.

If a site is offering you more than 35% of the your referral's income, be cautious such high referral payouts are not sustainable. HYIP's (High Yield Investment Programs) tend to be scams. Avoid them. The chances of getting scammed is just too high.

Keep visiting www.123Angel.Com to keep yourself updated. Finally if you have had a bad experience, make sure you report it. By doing this you are helping other people avoid such sites.

Secrets Of Successful Home Based Internet Businesses

2006-10-28T03:41:00.000-07:00

Getting Web Words Write(c) Michael Laleye

Your work at home based Internet business relies heavily on your Web marketing to bring in new customers. To make this tactic work you must know how to write great sales copy for your site. Here are some ideas on just how to do that.

The first tip for keeping consumers on your site and inducing them to buy your product or service is to create headlines that get their attention. Of course, it has to be followed by material that keeps their attention, but we’ll get to that later.

Don’t be weak, but don’t be hyperbolic. If you’re weak you’re boring and not very convincing. If you use hyperbole you won’t be believed or trusted – the kiss of death for a work at home based Internet business. What we mean by weak is, “Welcome to my site. I think you’re going to like what you see here.” Well, if you’re not sure, they sure won’t be. Hyperbole is, “You’ll be glad you found the only site you’ll ever need again.” Yeah, right. Bye.

There are two things you must focus on when you create your site headlines. People want help and information, and they want it fast. Get right to the point. If you’re offering legal services for DUI citations you might start off by saying, “We can help You Save Your Job, Your License, Your Freedom and Your Reputation.” See how that works? You haven’t promised you will, because of course you can’t. But you’ve gotten right to the heart of why they are seeking you out, told them emphatically that you can help them, and did it in a dramatic and attention-getting way.

A work at home based Internet business must know its target audience and hone in on that segment of Web users. You can’t be everything to everyone, nor can your copy convincingly claim that. You must know what you are going to offer and to whom you are going to offer it and then focus your sales copy and your advertising campaign to bring those folks to your site. The best way to learn about who your audience is may have to be to get a small audience to your site and then see who they are and where they go. Your Web host can provide the details of the server logs from which you will learn which pages are the most popular, not only because they are visited most often but because users stay on them the longest. They can also tell you the days and times of day most people come to your site as well as the point at which (the page) they leave your site.

From this you’ll know your age, gender, and other demographics of your niche (if you’ve been smart and required or encouraged free registration) and what pages need rewrite and redesign to keep folks from leaving at that point.

The other important sales tactics for your work at home based Internet business are to establish business credibility with clear contact information, clear biographies of all key players in the business, and business testimonials. You want to focus not only on the features of your products and services but their benefits as well. Tell your potential customers what you can do for them. Don’t forget, as many do, to ask for that sale – over and over again.

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What Is Your Networking Quotient?

2006-10-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Use these 10 questions to determine how focused you are on Networking
1. I have at least 400 people in my network who receive information from me at least once a month2. I have a compelling 30-second commercial3. I focus more on selling through my relationships than on selling to people directly4. I have marketing materials like business cards, brochures and a website, which showcase my expertise. They have a clear, attention getting headline, bulleted points about what I can do for my clients and a low risk, irresistible offer5. I ask more questions than talk and take time to get to know the people I meet6. I have a list of top ten referral partners7. I meet at least one new referral partner a week8. I thank my referral partners using note cards, gifts and reciprocal referrals9. Within 2 business days I call and talk to the referral provided to me by a referral partner10. I practice win-win philosophy both in business and personal life
So how did you do? If you got 10 out of 10, obviously you are a professional networker. On the other hand, if your score is below 7, you have not tapped into your network effectively enough. Either you have not been focused enough on building your network or you have not learned the skills in getting the most out of your network.
There are three keys to networking:a. The size of your network: The bigger the network, the better it is.b. The influence of people in your network: Very few sales professionals and business owners pay attention to this part. They don’t realize that it is better to have a handful of influential people in your network than a number of people with very little influence. The other part is how influential are these people in your target market. Some people are influential but have very little to do with your target market. Make sure the people you are networking with have credibility and access to your target market.c. Your skill in influencing your network: Again most people assume that they have the necessary skills. All they have to do is show up at a few events and shake hands. That is the strategy which is based on hope. Also this shows that the salesperson is an amateur networker. The question you must ask is what are you doing consistently to make your network obligated to provide you referrals? Giving gifts, leads and solving people’s problems on an ongoing basis is the key to gaining influence in your network.
I hope this has given you a good start in understanding the power of networking and how to go about it.

Download FREE First Two Chapters of “Network Your Way To $100,000 and Beyond” at www.networkto100000.com.
Minesh Baxi, business coach877-968-2500www.mbaxi.com minesh@mbaxi.com

© 2006 Minesh Baxi, author of “Top 10 Blunders Business Owners Make”. His second book, “Network Your Way to $100,000 and Beyond: Build a Team of Powerful, Proactive Referral Partners and Put Your Marketing on Autopilot”, co-authored by Chuck Gifford, reminds us that many professionals want to eliminate competition, work less and make more. To claim the first two chapters of this exciting step-by-step plan to grow your business in competitive times, visit http://www.networkto100000.com.