Hard Work!

Hard Work!

by: Robert J Farey

MAKE A MILLION $ PER MONTH.

No work involved.

Do it whilst sitting on the beach at Maliboo.

This may sound a bit extreme but how many adverts have you seen that are similar to it?

The trouble is that so many newcomers to the internet get taken in by this sort of hype. No wonder that so many get disillusioned and wrap up and go away never to return.

It is a real pity that this sort of thing is allowd to happen. If only people would tell the truth they would get a far better response to their adverts.

Tell it as it is.

With the right information and a little incentive it is possible to start a business working from home, using nothing more than a desktop computer and something to sell.

Starting a business is easy. Earning money from it is a different thing. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work.

Just a minute!

What do we mean by กhard workก?

Sitting at a keyboard for a couple of hours a day does not sound like hard work to those who are used to physical effort.

Nevertheless, If the typing was all that was required it would be a doddle.

There is more to it than that.

For instance:

Devising an advertising strategy takes a certain amount of expertise. That is something that the average Jack or Jill needs to learn, either the hard way from expreience, or the much easier way by asking the right questions from the right people.

What a lot of newcomers do not understand is that whatever they need to know, there is someone out there who is willing to give them the answers.

Willing to take them by the hand and guide them on the path to success.

That is something that you don’t get in normal business circles.

There are thousands of websites out there offering genuine help to those who need it. A lot of them have an ulterior motive, they have something to sell but that does not mean that the advice that they give is not useful. Would you buy from someone who gave you poor advice?

If they give advice that you can trust, perhaps you will trust them enough to purchase something from them at a later date. That is quite ethical.

Always remember: If something seems too good to be true, you can bet your boots that it is.

Most of the con artists are pretty obvious, but make sure that you keep your ears and eyes open at all times.

Enjoy your work and make a lot of money. You can do it if you try.

All the best in your endevours.

Bob.

About The Author

Robert earns his crust by targeting the thousands of newcomers to internet trading. He aims to cut their learning curve to enable them to start earning money from the word go.

He learned the hard way. You can learn the easy way.

Checkout his website. Itกs not posh. Itกs not perfect, but it is effective. http://www.learnandearnnow.co.uk/

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 21, 2004

by Robert J Farey

Get High Quality Traffic by Writing Articles

Get High Quality Traffic by Writing Articles

by: Mario Sanchez

One of the best ways to promote your website is by writing articles that you can post in ezines, and sites that provide free content to ezine publishers. This will help you develop credibility and, with time, build a solid customer base. There are a few things to take into account to maximize the effectiveness of this sometimes overlooked marketing technique:

Your article should be short and to the point. It must act as a free sample that entices your reader to go to your website for more.

To maximize its effectiveness, you should present it as a tip, a solution to a problem.

Write in easy to understand ขlayman’sข terms.

Whenever possible, write from personal experience. People love to hear other people’s experiences (how did they do it?). This approach also tends to hold their attention longer.

Be extracareful to avoid spelling and grammatical errors. They will make you loose credibility.

Don’t make your article sound like a sales pitch; offer honest, valueadding advice.

Don’t include links to your affiliate programs in the body of your article. It will make your advice seem biased.

Finally, don’t forget the most important part: always include a resource box at the end of your article. A resource box is a small paragraph (no longer than six lines) with your name, the name of your business, a short tagline, and that allimportant link to your website. If your readers like your article, they will follow your link and you will be getting instant, high quality traffic to your site.

About The Author

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest (http://www.theinternetdigest.net) a website and newsletter that gives you free advice on web design and Internet marketing.

This article was posted on June 10, 2003

by Mario Sanchez

A Hard Lesson Learned ….

A Hard Lesson Learned ….

by: Diane Hughes

Are you like me? I like to handle things on my own so I don’t even THINK about incorporating help with anything I am working on … especially my business as a whole.

Well, I learned something new recently. It was a HORRIBLE experience that actually turned out for the better. Let me tell you my story:

I have a team of about 2000 associates. Since all my sites are hosted at Host4Profit except for the site that their websites are hosted on, I decided to transfer everything over. Well, I have transferred many sites before so I knew how it worked. I knew I would get access to Host4Profit before transferring with my registrar and that all I had to do was upload everything over to the new host while my old host was still active. This would make a seamless transfer. No one would ever know anything happened …

To make a long story short, it didn’t turn out to be as seamless as I hoped and things were a little messed up for about a day. Needless to say, I received TONS of emails!

กWhat happened?!ก

กWhere did you go?!ก

กGive me my money back!ก

กHello? Are you there?ก

Well, I couldn’t ANSWER these emails because I was busy getting the transfer problem fixed. This caused most of them to email me a SECOND time, therefore doubling the amount of emails sitting in my email box! Stress was building as I worked to get the problem fixed ….

After the problem was finally resolved, I sent an update letting everyone know what happened. I got back to any emails that I felt needed answering … this whole thing took almost 18 hours of my time and NO SLEEP for me!

The stress and the fact that I had no sleep took itกs toll on me. When I got some really rude emails from some angry customers and associates, I didn’t take my own advice and let it sit until I calmed down. You know what I did instead? I gave refunds to all of them! I didn’t even want to deal with it … as a result, I refunded over $1000 in sales.

I know, I know … you’re asking yourself, กHow could that be a good thing?ก Well, it made me get out of my bull stubborn กIกll handle it allก attitude and incorporate some much needed help. Now I have someone to answer those emails, someone to answer those calls, and various other things. What a RELIEF! Why didn’t I do it sooner?! 🙂

If you answered กYesก to my first question above, heed my advice. Take off those bull horns and find a couple of people that you trust to help with some of your dauntless duties. And if your business is not big enough yet to incorporate help and you’re handling it just fine … don’t forget this advice when it grows right before your very eyes

Copyright 2004 Diane Hughes

About The Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your BusinessInto A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

This article was posted on April 26, 2004

by Diane Hughes

How Advice Columns Build Loyal Readers

How Advice Columns Build Loyal Readers

by: Rix Quinn

Last year while researching a book on memorable speeches and essays, I stumbled across an ageless writing technique that continues to captivate readers.

Advice articles first appeared several hundred years ago. Some were submitted to papers and magazines anonymously. The questionandanswer format probably appeared a little bit later.

While opinion articles have been around for years, few develop the loyalty and following of advice columns.

Test this for yourself by gathering newspapers and magazines from the last several decades. My guess is: you’ll find the old question/answer columns still ageless and vibrant.

Advice features generate return readers. Why? Maybe it’s because people love to share problems and possible solutions.

Want to start your own ขadviceข column for a magazine or newsletter? Here are three simple steps to get started:

Survey your readership for the two or three industry issues perpetually discussed.

Find out all you can about those issues, and experts in those areas with whom you can consult.

Prompt questions from readers about those issues, and answer them regularly in a column.

Current popular syndicated features, for instance, offer advice on personal relationships, doityourself projects, and travel.

In a professional or trade magazine or newsletter, your question/answer feature might cover the history of your profession, provide an open forum where readers share information, or follow a howto format. That’s your decision.

One lesson Iกve learned: If I don’t know the answer, I generally admit that right away, and consult an expert in the area with more expertise than I. Also, I state that the opinions I express are subjective, and invite others to share their opinions, too.

Bottom line: If you want to connect better with your readers, you must also give them the opportunity to reach you.

About The Author

RIX QUINN wrote the new book กWords That Stickก, which offers lots of writing tips for professionals who hate to write. The book’s available at your local bookstore, or Amazon.com.

Rix can be contacted directly at 8179207999. His web site is http://www.rixquinn.com

Copyright 2005 Rix Quinn Communications, LLC

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 15

by Rix Quinn

Why You Should Ignore This Advice

Why You Should Ignore This Advice

by: Steve Shaw

Doesn’t make too much sense does it? Am I really going to give you some advice that asks you to ignore the advice Iกm giving you? Well, thatกs not strictly true. I am however going to show you how to qualify the advice you are given, so you can sort the wheat from the chaff, and help you to survive the information overload on the Internet.

Firstly, you need to find out who is giving the advice. Are they speaking from a position of experience? Is the advice they are giving firsthand? Or is it secondhand advice, something they have heard somewhere else, have not put it into practice themselves, and are simply handing it onto you and presenting it as their own (and perhaps somewhat altered).

For example, if you read an article from someone on how to get more visitors to your web site, you need to ensure it is written by someone who has high traffic levels themselves. If you visit their web site, and discover it ranks somewhere below a million on Alexa, are they really someone you should be taking advice from on traffic? After all, would you take financial advice from someone who is bankrupt?

Ensure that if you get advice, it is coming from someone who knows what they are talking about from personal experience (and that you can see adequate proof).

Secondly, does the person giving the advice have an underlying motivation or is it กindependentก? If they are recommending the use of a particular widget on your web site, and they are actually selling that widget, even as an affiliate, how useful is that advice? This is where you need to look for supplementary advice from third parties, such as via testimonials.

Thirdly, ensure that it works for you. Something may have worked for someone for a whole myriad of reasons, such as time, place, coincidence, a particular type of business, a particular type of visitor, and so on; but, that doesn’t mean it will work for you.

For example, the use of banner graphics has completely different results on different web sites. On some sites, they improve sales. On other sites, itกs been found that sales can be increased by removing the banner. The same can be said for the use of guarantees. In brief, something that works well on one web site may have the opposite effect on another.

You always need to test it out for yourself, and make up your own mind based on your own results, before coming to a conclusion on whether a particular piece of advice helps you towards your own goals.

Copyright 2004 Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw creates systems and software for effective emarketing. His powerful PopUpMaster Pro software creates popups that beat the popup blockers and can significantly increase your conversion rates. For more information: http://www.popupmaster.com

About The Author

Steve Shaw has been marketing fulltime online since March 2002, developing software products and systems for effectกive emarketing for more information see http://takanomi.com.

This article was posted on May 03, 2004

by Steve Shaw

How to Sell More Stuff to More People, More Often

How to Sell More Stuff to More People, More Often

by: Rothline

So the goal is to sell more stuff to more people, more often? All you have to do is have all the tools the professionals use and put them at your fingertips.

You will need to get the best advice from a wide field of business and marketing experts.

Start building a library of sample business marketing plans that you can easily edit and/or export to your favorite wordprocessor.

Sales planning, forecasting, budgeting, management and strategies will need to be handled efficiently and effectively.

Budget all of your marketing efforts, and analyzes performance, provide a BreakEven Analysis and a Competitive Comparison Matrix.

Get a primer in advertising with advice on creative content and execution.

Get expert advice on every aspect of marketing communications, from advertising to trade shows. Build a Marketing Communications Plan.

Master advertising and direct mail analysis, press releases, and comarketing agreements.

Organize, develop, track, measure and control your marketing and advertising efforts.

Thatกs all you have to do. And itกs not that difficult, when youกve got the correct software.

กGet the Software that makes it easy and possible to accomplish your goals.ก

Marketing Builder 2.2 http://rothline.com/vweb/ecommerce/os/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=19_30&products_id=126

About The Author

Rothline

กGet the Software that makes it easy and possible to accomplish your goals.ก

Educate, Entertain, Enlighten, Explore, Examine, Earn, Evolve, Economize and Embrace. Pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness with the assistance of software.

http://www.rothline.com

This article was posted on January 09

by Rothline

The Headless Newbie don’t burn that credit card

The Headless Newbie don’t burn that credit card

by: Marc Howlett

Are you a headless newbie?

I know I was when twelve month ago when I started looking into setting up an online business. Whichever way I turned people were willing to offer me advice, ebooks, freebies, newsletters, amazing money making opportunities, advertising, search engine placement and much more. This was great but my head started spinning and my credit card started to melt and worst of all I wasn’t making a cent.

I learnt a lot during this time and have started to see my commission cheques increase so here are my top 5 tips to help the newbie with the credit card rush to stop sit back and actually start earning some money.

1: Before you sign up for anything read the sales page fully and see what you are actually getting for your money. Many of these pages contain a lot of information and the tendacy is to skim them for the interesting parts ie: How much does it cost. This is exactly what they are desinged to do, so slow down and read everything fully. When I first started I signed up for several programs just because they seemed to offer a lot for not a lot of money, this was true but none of it was at all useful.

2: Join some relevant forums and ask questions about the affiliate programs you are interested in. People are only too happy to help and you will get some good honest feedback both good and bad.

3: When you decide on a program give it time and if it doesn’t work straight away keep going. One of the biggest mistakes is to jump from program to program to find one that will work. As with any business it takes time to build and see results so stick with it and keep telling yourself what brought you to internet marketing.

4: Decide on a monthly budget and make sure you stick to it. With the ease of online credit card transactions you will often be tempted by amazing one time only offers, these are designed to get a snap decision from you.

5: Don’t keep checking your emails for sign ups. Firstly you will be disappointed if you dont have any and secondly you will be sent lots of emails offering you the world. Its very easy when you are down to try something else and this often invloves your credit card.

Thats my top five but the biggest piece of advice I have been given lately is to take the odd day off and don’t do anything, especially at times when you are down and nothing seems to be working. I did this recently and came back to five sign ups, the feeling was great and I went about my business with new vigour.

Copyright 2004 Marc Howlett

About The Author

Marc Howlett is a sales professional with several years experience. Currently working full time as a sales director for a large import wholesale company. I am also making a full time living working part tme online. For help and advice check out my website:

http://www.cashattack.com

For personal advice contact me by email: [email protected]

This article was posted on October 20, 2004

by Marc Howlett

Health and Medical Advice on the Internet: Use it

Health and Medical Advice on the Internet: Use it Wisely to Overcome Illness and Find More Happiness in Your Life

by: M6.net

I’ve got a bit of a problem with depression and anxiety. I’ve been tackling these problems for several years without the use of modern medicine. Tai Chi, meditation, martial arts (exercise), and positive interaction with other people seem to keep a lid on my illnesses most of the time. I don’t like the idea of medication’s side effects, and I don’t believe the answers in life are often found in the easy path (E.G. taking a pill), but rather on the hard path of effort and determination. This is not to say that I don’t feel medicine is not effective, not at all, I just feel all the options should be looked at before making big decisions to do with one’s health.

Health of body and mind has always been one of the most important issues in life for us humans. Seeing a doctor is usually the best option when one comes down with an illness or ailment, but people have always tried alternative routes to recovery: E. G. the ‘home doctor’ books of old. Maybe you don’t like sitting in a room waiting with a bunch of other sick peopleyou might catch something there! You could be housebound, or maybe you feel like hearing several opinions as you’ve found past experiences with some doctors have been tainted by poor judgments. Well, the Internet is here with a multitude of options to help you get better.

Medical advice and data abounds on this household tool in the form of selfhelp sites, searchable medical encyclopedias, support groups, live chats with doctors, and you can even have professional consultations online (for a fee). My advice is to just be wary of the type of language that the site is expressing. Many sites will have extensive lists telling you of all the symptoms in the Universe: everybody on Earth could be construed as being ill in some way! This can cause people with a propensity for hypochondria to start diagnosing themselves with all sorts of diseases. In my case, reading about all the symptoms of depression actually made me feel more depressed as it made me focus on my weaknesses (without too many optimistic perspectives or treatments expressed on some sites).

Look for sites that look at things in a positive light. Maybe search out some alternative therapies as well so you can get all the possible different approaches that can be taken to tackle your illness. Some websites can be very helpful with interactive features like ‘Ask the doctor”, online questionnaires, and question and answer archives that give you an idea of what others have asked and the solutions they were presented with. There is heaps of information on both prescription and overthe counter medicines so you can make your choices in an informed manner. You can often find information specific to groups, like children, the elderly, men and women.

Just remember your body is your temple and you must be wary of many variables not often foretold in literature. Beware of medicines from other countries as they may be different or have different names. Keep in mind only you know your personal history, all people are different, and always get several opinions. Watch out for sites with grandiose claims as miracles come from higher powers and not from companies who might just want to get rich quick!

I do acknowledge the fitness and diet sites as being very useful as well. You can devise your own fitness plan derived from lifestyle information, and forums and newsgroups give you many opinions on which road to take. You can have your diet analyzed by online trainers, some of which send free newsletters and even send you emails of encouragement to help you towards your goal.

So, there’s a whole new world of online health advice and information for humanity to access right from home. Get all your options and remember your attitude is often the first real step to overcoming physical, mental, and spiritual adversity!

About The Author

Jesse S. Somer M6.Net http://www.m6.net

Jesse S. Somer is a simple human hoping to show others like him about the positive vibe the Internet is creating in people all over the world.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 16, 2004

by M6.net

Internet Marketing In A Room FULL Of Naked Men!

Internet Marketing In A Room FULL Of Naked Men!

by: Willie Crawford

NO, thatกs not one of my secret dreams 🙂 Itกs an observation that you need to make. Years ago, I read Harvey MacKayกs fantastic bestseller, Beware The Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. I really enjoyed the book and even sent Harvey a note. He sent me an autographed copy of his book กSwim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.ก Itกs one of my most prized possessions but back to the naked man…

When you surf the various websites offering advice and information products teaching you how to earn an online income, it becomes glaringly obvious that many people who created these products haven’t done what they teach! They are in effect, กnaked men offering you their shirts.ก

Anyone just starting out online can understand why this happens. If you put up a website on making money online, and you admit that you haven’t made any yet, people will realize that you have no useful advice to pass on. To avoid this consequence, beginners often กfake it, until they make it.ก

One of the reasons many online marketers never กmake itก in the first place is because they ARE following the advice of กnaked men.ก They are absorbing, believing, and then reteaching the conventional wisdom so prevalently shared in the internet marketing arena. The consequence is that not only does the creator of the info product fail, but so do all of his mislead followers.

We have two problems within this situation. The first is, กHow does a beginner establish himself as an expert if he has achieved no major online marketing success?ก The answer is that he creates a product in an area that he IS an expert in or that he has very thoroughly researched.

The beginner can also very easily create a product by interviewing or partnering with someone possessing the knowledge or skills he lacks. I sort of touched upon this in another article I wrote entitled, กDon’t Pretend To Be An Expert, Become One.ก That article is available on my website at:

http://williecrawford.com/articles.html

The second problem is in knowing who is genuine and who hasn’t really learned the ropes yet. My advice to many of my clients is to fully check out anyone before following their advice. Simply go to any major search engine and enter their domain or their name. Visit many, MANY of the sites that are listed as featuring something related to this socalled expert. This will give you a very good feel for who you are really dealing with.

If sites about them contain testimonials, contact some of the people providing the testimonial… especially if something doesn’t quite กfeel right.ก Thatกs right… Iกm advising you to trust your instincts.

Another way to easily check out someone is by using a website called ‘the Way Back Machine.ก This website visits sites scattered across the internet and takes a snapshot of them. So if someone tells you that theyกve been in business for 5 years and you see that their only website is barely a year old, run away very fast and don’t look back!

The way back machine can be found at: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

If you enter my url, http://williecrawford.com in the search box, you will see that it offers snapshots of how sad this website looked beginning in 1998. Prior to that time, all of my websites were selfreplicated websites offered by various affiliates programs, and websites built on free hosts such as FreeYellow, Angelfire, Hypermart, Webspawner, and about 30 others 🙂

To digress just a little, I purchased my own domain name when someone responded to one of my posts in Links Exchange Digest insisting that I would have a lot more credibility if I got my own domain name AND ditched the Hotmail account. I kept websites on free hosts for several more years, but finally started really listening. People were telling me that using a free hosting company… building and promoting their domain, was just bad business. When I listened and took their advice, thatกs when things REALLY took off for me.

Iกve just pointed out to you a way to avoid the naked man look. If you are a beginner, get you own domain… one with a url that is easy to remember and that suggests what your business is all about. My domain name, WillieCrawford.com was a poor choice in many ways, but over the years it has developed a very strong brand. My second flagship domain, Chitterlings.com, was a better choice since it centered around กsoul foodก and the name was easy to remember to anyone familiar with that category of cooking.

Another way for beginners to avoid pretending to be something that you are not, and build online credibility, is simply to market other peopleกs products. If you want a higher than normal commission either approach them about joint ventures, or obtain reprint rights to indemand products. Don’t waste your time and resources promoting products that there is no demand for. Many reprint rights that are offered for free are priced that way because the owner of the product couldn’t sell them 🙂

The benefit of obtaining products that are proven sellers through reprint rights is that you often get a tested website that will generate a steady income for you if you just drive traffic to it. Itกs really easy, but again, you have to make sure that the product is one that is worth the effort. The criteria that I use and suggest you use is, ask yourself if you would purchase the product at the price you plan on offering it for. Also read the template website being offered and notice whether or not it gets you really pumped up. If not, look elsewhere.

I do recommend that you eventually develop your own product or service. However, that may take some time. In the interim you need to establish a professional business thatกs built on quality and integrity. Avoid coming across as a fake or กnaked man.ก Also beware of those who have to fake it until they make it. You know and appreciate that we all had to start somewhere. Most of us could not afford to buy a huge, thriving web business, so we had to start from meager beginning. Just look at my websites in The Way Back Machine for proof of that 🙂

Copyright 2004 Willie Crawford

About The Author

Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build an online business since late 1996. Frequently featured in radio, magazine and newspaper articles and interviews, Willie teaches the average guy what the top marketers are doing but seldom talking about. Willie provides detailed how to information in his newsletter, through his personal coaching, and at his annual how to workshop. Learn more at: http://InternetMarketingHowToWorkshop.com

This article was posted on March 25, 2004

by Willie Crawford