How To Make The Presentation They’ll Remember

How To Make The Presentation They’ll Remember

by: Blur Lorena

Getting board with presentations? Does your audience yawn or snore or check their watches every time you present? If you’re planning to conduct a presentation, here are some useful tips.

Presentation needs an exhausting preparation. Decide first on the topic that you want to present. Choose a topic that concerns your audience. Make a detailed outline or script. Then research on the topic, note all important points. If possible use simple, familiar terms.

Prepare the devices you are going to use. If you are going to use a slide show, choose the software you are most comfortable with. Examples of softwares are Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Persuasion and Lotus Freelance. You can also use Adobe PageMaker and Illustrator and other Illustration software. These presentation softwares will help you create high resolution slides and printouts.

If you want an effective presentation make your slides more attractive. In creating a slide make sure that each slide has a basic idea. Use standard slide size, two by three or the standard 11 inch slide. Minimize the words from 15 to 20 per slide. You can use different fonts. The size of the font should be readable and consistent. Do not overuse attributes such as bold, underline and italic. Use identical design that is relevant to the subject. Use colors to add emphasis. You may add charts or graphs, photos and images.

If you want to use the projector, print the slides using inkjet or laser printer or have it printed through a service bureau. Slide services load the file on film recorder and capture the images on film. Prices depend on the quality of the output.

Rehearse your presentation with the devices you are going to use. If possible, rehearse in the room or place where you will conduct the presentation.

Check everything before you start the presentation, the equipment, the script and the printed materials. During the presentation, tell them exactly what you want to tell them. Introduce your topic. Your introduction should include set of goals for the presentation or agenda, information and summary. Start from the last, the summary. Summary should emphasize important points. Keep your presentation simple. Focus on the topic. Do not read or memorize; you are not reciting, you are presenting.

Make your presentation educational and entertaining at the same time. An attractive slide show helps. Read the slide in such a way that your audience can follow. Always acknowledge them.

About The Author

Blur Lorena

For questions and comments about the Artcile you may contact The Postcard Printing Moderator at 888 888 4211 or visit http://www.mypostcardprinting.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 24

by Blur Lorena

So You Want To Be A Consultant?

So You Want To Be A Consultant?

by: Matt Bacak

Letกs say you have more than 20 years experience in your chosen field. For the sake of this article, letกs say you have been in the nonprofit field for 25 years and are at the very top of your game. And letกs say you’re a bit bored with the humdrum daytoday routine of being an executive director. You love nonprofit sector, but you need more of a challenge and you yearn to help people grow and achieve success in their nonprofit careers. Plus, youกd like to earn a little bit more money and are a bit tired of the board of directors overseeing everything you do.

Perhaps itกs time to go into business for yourself. Perhaps itกs time to become a consultant, a coach, a speaker and trainer. The thought is exciting, albeit a little frightening. You’re current salary is certainly respectable for a person with your skills and experience, and the health insurance and retirement plan are comforting benefits that you don’t want to relinquish. But none of these factors have been able to sufficiently scratch that darned itch that keeps telling you itกs time to start your own nonprofit consulting business.

Going into business for yourself as a consultant, coach, or speaker (or all of the above) requires determination, a little selfsacrifice (in the beginning), and a lot of experience. People hire consultants because they need the expertise of someone who has been there and done that…hundreds of times. There are consultants in literally every career field, and once they become accustomed to the process of generating clientele, they can make over double what they were earning as employees. In fact, recent statistics show that successful and established consultants can make anywhere from $1,200 to $5,000 per day.

There is power and prestige in consulting that can rarely be found in management positions, even executive positions. The power comes from calling the shots as a business owner and making sure people know they need you; the prestige comes from being the very best in your field…and making sure people know it.

But thereกs a not so subtle difference in owning your own business and owning your own consulting firm. Lots of people own businesses. My fiancé owns a deli, my father owns a small publishing business, and my mother owns a bakery. But owning your own consulting firm lets people know that you’re the crème de la crème in your field and if they want to rise to the top like you have, theyกll hire you to help them.

Consulting firms, like the one you will soon own, can be anything from a one man show to a large agency boasting senior and junior associates. Most consultants make their day to day income from coaching and mentoring individuals in the field charging anywhere from $300 (for junior level staffers) to $500 (for senior executives) per hour. They also assist clients with organizational development, strategic and financial planning, and a host of other services including workshop facilitation and board and staff retreats. And if they like to speak in front of audiences, many consultants make thousands of dollars simply talking to a crowd for a few hours about their experiences and knowledge.

While itกs not as easy as 123 to quite your job and start making $5,000 a day as a consultant, itกs certainly not as difficult as it looks especially if you’re very very good at what you do and have expertise that few can match. Start off as a moonlighter, which is the term used when someone has a ขday jobข but works on their own business in the evenings. Make a simple business card for yourself and during your lunch hour at work, go to chamber of commerce or rotary meetings where you can network and talk to people about your new consulting practice.

Itกs not too difficult to pick up a small client or two this way, and once you do a good job for them and build confidence in yourself youกll begin to branch out and up. People will hear about you, your phone will start ringing, those simple business cards you handed out at the rotary meetings will change hands and generate bigger clients, and youกll begin to realize that maybe you really can quit that humdrum job and make it big on your very own.

About The Author

Matt Bacak became ก#1 Best Selling Authorก in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s eBiz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets http://promotingtips.com

This article was posted on August 08

by Matt Bacak

Creative Ideas To Profit With Autoresponders

Creative Ideas To Profit With Autoresponders

by: Zamri Nanyan

An interested visitor who has been strolling through your site has finally come to just what she is looking for and is about to make a purchase. Itกs a sunny afternoon, and her cat, who happens to be sitting on the moss under the visitorกs large fiftyyearold snowrose bonsai tree, suddenly jumps down, and the priceless tree topples over.

In the blink of an eye, your visitor exits your site, and your sale is dust unless you have had the foresight to utilize an autoresponder that has captured her email address. If you have installed an autoresponder, you can then followup with her, and in all probability, make the sale when the poor woman has finished repotting her precious bonsai.

Autoresponders are remarkable, versatile programs that do so much more than just automatically answer your email. Here are a few ideas that will help you to creatively and productively use your autoresponder to transform the casual visitor into a profitable customer. Use your autoresponder to:

1. Publish a newsletter. Certain quality autoresponders will manage subscriptions and followup with interested prospects. Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed about your services or products, while building your reputation as a credible expert in your particular business.

2. Publish a newsletter only for your affiliates. Inform them of current sales you are running and of promotional material that your affiliates can use themselves to increase their commissions. Include tips, advice, and techniques that your affiliates can use to successfully go out and promote your business.

3. Write reviews. Cover books, software, music, ebooks, movies, etc., and put each review in an autoresponder. Review your affiliate programs, using a link to your affiliateกs page in your autoresponder.

4. Distribute your articles. Writing and distributing targeted articles is a powerful tool to build your business credibility, bring traffic to your site, and increase your sales potential. If your articles contain valuable information, many editors will print what is known as a resource box for you. A resource box contains your bio and a brief description of your service or product. It can also contain your autoresponder address. Letกs say youกve written fifty articles. Put them on separate autoresponder accounts and create a master list that contains the titles of each article, the autoresponder address, and a brief abstract. Then promote your master list. Additionally, include your publishing guidelines so your affiliates can add their articles to your list, increasing the number of writers who are represented in your article list.

5. Create mailing lists. Inform subscribers to your articles when youกve written new ones that they may want to publish in their own newsletter or website.

6. Automate your sales process. Use an ad to insure repeated exposure of your message, which has been proven to effectively increase sales. In your ad, put your autoresponder address where a visitor will be exposed to numerous marketing materials. This multiplies the chances of converting visitors into customers. For example, if you’re selling a particular product, put testimonials about how spectacular it is on your autoresponder, and add a detailed, enticing description of your product.

7. Distribute advertising. Letกs say you sell advertising on your website or in your newsletter or ezine. Set your autoresponder to send the information about rates and how to place an ad automatically to all prospectsก email addresses. Then have your autoresponder followup. It can also send notification of any special deals you are currently offering.

8. Distribute an email course. Each day, have your autoresponder send out another lesson. Just be sure that each lesson has quality content not a sales pitch. Your content will do the selling for you, and will do it much more effectively. You can include tips centered on a different topic for each lesson, illustrating how your product will benefit the reader. Include the tangible benefits the visitor will reap by purchasing your product. Make sure to include a paragraph or two at the end of each lesson enticing your prospect to consider making a purchase.

9. Automate a reminder about your service or product after a visitor has completed your course. This will increase the possibility of sales from visitors who have taken your course but are dragging their feet about actually making a purchase. You can also use these reminders to promote new products or services, and the products and services of your affiliate programs.

10. Distribute free reports. This gives your visitor an idea of the type of information you can provide and the quality of your product or service. Make sure these reports are not sales letters or you will more than likely lose a potential customer than gain a sale.

11. Create trivia quizzes on your site and place the answers in an autoresponder. Your visitor will then be motivated to request your autoresponder, and you will have a record of the visitorsก email addresses who took your quiz. Or create a contest and have any visitors that enter send their responses to your autoresponder. Your autoresponder can be setup to send them a confirmation of their entry.

12. Offer a trial version of your product. Give your prospects a sample of your ebook, course, software, membership, etc. People who are exposed to a little taste often end up wanting the whole pie. You can also capture their email addresses when you offer them a free trial from your website. Set up your autoresponder to give instructions on how to obtain their free trial, and then make sure to followup to try and close the sale.

13. Link to hidden pages on your autoresponder. For example, a hidden page could be your affiliate page that contains graphics, promotional articles, and text links that interested affiliates can make use of. Inform visitors that they may have free access to your affiliate page by simply requesting your autoresponder. You will then gather a list of visitors who may be interested in becoming your affiliates.

14. Use an autoresponder on your order page. Post a request form for visitors to be notified of special offers or discounts in the future. This creates a very effective mailing list that contains the names of people who are already your customers.

15. Put your links page on your autoresponder. It should contain up to fifty links that would be of particular interest to your visitors. Make sure to add your own promotional copy at the top or bottom of this page.

Now that you have proof that autoresponders can be used creatively, see if you can come up with some brilliant ideas of your own!

About The Author

Zamri Nanyan models a lowcost, highprofit concept to build successful internet businesses, as mentioned at www.LowCostHighProfit.com. He now owns and operates several moneymaking websites from the comfort of his own home. Read more about Zamri Nanyan at www.ZamriNanyan.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 17

by Zamri Nanyan

Want to Make More Money? Fish in a Bigger Pond!

Want to Make More Money? Fish in a Bigger Pond!

by: Kimberly Stevens

Setting prices is a dilemma most service business owners encounter at one time or another. This week, it was Susan’s turn. ขWhen I first started my business, I felt uncomfortable charging for my services. Since I was doing it to make a living, I finally just picked a price I thought wouldn’t scare too many people away. Now, based on my available work hours, I can’t really take on more clients but at the rate Iกm charging them, Iกm not going to make enough money to keep the business alive. How do I raise my prices without losing my clients?ข she wanted to know.

For whatever reason, it is uncomfortable for many of us to look a person in the face and state our hourly rate or the cost of a project they want us to complete for them. This is usually rooted in our fear of rejection. We think, ‘What if the prospect gasps and falls out of his chair convulsing on the floor?’ or ‘What if he snorts with disdain or launches into uncontrollable laughter?’ At the beginning, we really need the work and generally decide weกd rather start getting some clients to build our reputation and skills, thinking weกll charge a rate we know theyกll accept. Besides, we can always raise our prices later. Well, now is กlaterก, so it’s time to bite the bullet.

First, understand you aren’t asking for their firstborn child you are asking for money in exchange for the service you are offering. Shakti Gawain, author of กCreating True Prosperityก, introduced me to the concept of thinking about money as just another form of energy. Just as you put energy into the service you provide, the client puts energy into their field of interest in order to make money to pay you for your service.

On the businesstobusiness side of things, the clientกs business has clearly made the decision to outsource the service they are discussing with you. They have decided to use their internal staffกs energy to focus on their core business while outsourcing those things they don’t have the skills or time to do. The same is true of individuals they could paint their house, but they’re calling you. Clearly, they don’t want to do it and know itกs going to cost money to get someone else to do it Either way, they are going to hire someone to do it, so why not you?

That said, itกs time to raise your prices. Youกve got two sets of people to deal with here your current clients and your future clients. Future clients are easy simply start quoting the higher hourly rate or basing your flat rate proposals on the new hourly rate with no mention of a recent price increase. Your fear that you will lose out on some bids WILL come true. Youกve been fishing in the pond that attracts the lowerend clients, so you will probably have to start marketing to and networking with prospects on the next higher rung. But, so what? Itกs still your choice – you can stick with the lowend guys and struggle to make your business profitable or you can start charging a respectable rate for the skills and professionalism you bring to the table to create a prosperous business. Itกs up to you.

Now, the current clients are the ones you are likely most afraid of. What will they say? Will they never want to work with you again? The best time to raise prices is at the beginning of the year, either calendar or fiscal, or at the beginning of a new contract with an existing client. Never try to negotiate a price increase in the middle of a project. If a project is taking significantly more hours than you quoted for a reason out of your control or it’s directly within the clientกs control, you can consider discussing it with them. However, if you want to be sure to maintain positive client relationships, you may choose to learn your lesson from this one and protect yourself with a contract that outlines contingencies such as that going forward. But, in most cases, never try to increase your hourly rate on a client in the middle of a project. This sends a message that will likely get you the response you most fear that you are a moneyhungry soandso who only cares about him or her self.

Instead, wait until a natural beginning, ending, or transition period to communicate your price increase. One way to do it is to send your client a beginning of the year letter that expresses your appreciation of their business in the prior year, outlines any policy changes youกve made for the coming year, communicates your price increase, and states your anticipated pleasure of working with them in the coming year. If you are raising prices at the end of one project and are about to bid on another project with the same client, during your discussions tell them you have raised your hourly or project rate and hope they still find it to be competitive and will continue to work with you since youกve really enjoyed collaborating with them.

Notice you did not hear me guarantee you will keep every single one of your current clients. Like you, your clients make purchasing decisions based on a variety of factors, each person weighing each of the factors differently. If youกve been the lowest price available in your field, youกve no doubt attracted clients who make decisions based mainly on price. Increasing your price so you are no longer ‘the lowprice guyก, may send them packing. So be it. Once you raise your prices to a respectable rate you can profit from, that’s competitive and fair, you will begin to attract clients who will pay it. Itกs all about positioning. You can position your company as the lowprice guy, the topoftheline guy, or the value guy (middle of the road price with a quality service).

The lesson here … it’s your business and your revenues are what you make them.

About The Author

Kimberly Stevens is the author of the ebook series, *The Profitable Business Owner: A StepbyStep System for Starting & Running a Successful Service Business*. Download Sample Chapters & get her free MiniCourse, *The 10 Most Common Mistakes Business Owners Make & How To Avoid Them* at: http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ebooks.htm

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 07, 2003

by Kimberly Stevens

PPC Management: When To Give Up On A Loser

PPC Management: When To Give Up On A Loser

by: Dave Brown

Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a dream come true. You can get traffic almost immediately from some PPC search engines. And it can be mighty cheap too. Next to joint ventures, PPC search engines have been responsible for most of my online income. Iกve gotten some great returns on PPC campaigns. And I know other people who have too.

Right now, I have one PPC campaign thatกs making me $56.69 for every $1 I spend. I know, thatกs pretty incredible. And itกs not typical. But I have another thatกs making me $8.84 for every $1 I spend. Yet another makes $7.73 for every $1.

But I have other campaigns that have lost me money. Making money, instead of losing it, with pay per click search engines involves wise management. There are many different factors that decide whether youกll be in the red or in the black. And you need to be aware of what these are.

In fact, there are times that even the best management of your PPC campaign won’t save it. Some of them will be losers and thereกs nothing you can do about it. But you need to know when to decide that you have a loser on your hands. At what point should you bury it and move on?

There are a number of different factors to consider. Thereกs no simple answer. I can’t tell you to simply abandon your PPC campaign after 200 clicks without a sale. Or to quit after youกve lost $50.

First of all, you need to know how much your profit will be on each sale (before advertising costs). For example, if you’re selling your own product for $47 through Clickbank, then youกll make $42.48 on each sale after Clickbank takes their fees.

But if you sell someone elseกs product for $47 through Clickbank, and you get a 50% commission on each sale, then youกd only get $21.24.

But you need to know even more than that. You also need to decide how much of that $42.48 (or $21.24) you’re willing to spend on advertising. In other words, whatกs the least you’re willing to earn on each sale? This will determine how much you can afford to spend on advertising.

Letกs assume you make $42.48 per sale. If you decide that youกd be happy with a $20 profit, then you can spend as much as $22.48 to make each sale.

So now you know what your advertising budget is. Next, estimate what your conversion rate will be. If this is a brand new product you’re promoting, then you may have no idea. In those cases, I tend to use 1% as a rule of thumb. That means that 1 out of every 100 people that visit the site will buy. Letกs use 1% for our example here.

So if you’re willing to spend $22.48 to make each sale, and you expect to make one sale out of every 100 visitors, then you can afford to spend 22 cents to get each visitor to the site. This means that you can afford to bid 22 cents on each keyword on the PPC search engines (max).

At this point, you can go ahead and set up your PPC campaigns. Find your keywords. Place bids. I won’t cover these issues right now because they’re off the topic. The purpose here is to know when to drop your campaign because itกs a loser.

Now, just because you *can* bid 22 cents on each keyword, it doesn’t mean you should. You should bid as low as you can to get good traffic (whatever you consider *good* to be).

In our example, letกs fast forward. Imagine youกve already gotten 150 clicks, and your average bid has been 22 cents a click. So youกve spent $33, and you haven’t made a sale yet. Should you ditch this campaign?

No. *On average* you can spend $22 per sale. But thatกs an average. Which means that sometimes youกll spend more, and sometimes less. And if your conversion rate is 1%, then thatกs also an *average*. So don’t freak out if you haven’t made a sale after 150 clicks.

When you decide to drop a campaign though, make the decision based on how much you’re spending on it. Not the conversion rate.

When I first start a campaign, Iกll often wait until I spend at least double my advertising budget with no sales before I consider dropping it. Maybe even triple my budget if Iกm emotionally attached to it. 😉

But if I haven’t made any sales by then, Iกll usually stop the campaign. However, you may want to wait longer if you’re willing to spend more money to see if it works. I think Iกm probably more of a conservative.

At any rate, I *rarely* end a campaign before I get 300 clicks. 300 is typically the minimum number of clicks before I feel I can judge whether a campaign will pay off. And I will generally only end it then if Iกve had *zero* sales.

Sometimes, though, youกll make a quick sale and get excited. But then you see few or no sales after that. If you find that you’re consistently spending more than your budget for the first few sales, then get ready to end it if you don’t figure out how to make it better.

I want you to realize, too, that when you bid less on your keywords, you can afford to live with a lower conversion rate. But when you bid more, your conversion rate has to be higher to provide you with the profit you want.

Iกve only talked about *starting* a PPC campaign so far. But sometimes, you may have a PPC campaign thatกs paying off, and then it starts choking and gasping for air after a while.

In that case, you need to decide when to pull the plug and retire it. Otherwise, it may eat up all the profits youกve already made.

Iกll usually be more lenient in this case. Since the campaign has made me money in the past, Iกm more likely to give it the benefit of the doubt and keep it running. I don’t know if thatกs a good idea or not. But sometimes, itกs just hard to say goodbye to an old friend. After all, maybe itกs just a temporary downturn.

But you still have to cut it off at some point. If I find myself breaking even (or even losing money) on each sale for any length of time, then Iกll start thinking about ending the campaign.

In our example here, if you notice that youกve been spending $45 per sale lately, then start thinking about the future of this campaign. Try to figure out whatกs changed and see if you can fix it.

How long should you wait before you abandon it? Two weeks? A month? Ten sales? A hundred sales?

Itกs completely dependent on your situation. If you make 20 sales a day, then obviously worrying after only 20 sales is unwarranted. On the other hand, if it takes you 4 months to make 20 sales, then maybe you shouldn’t wait quite that long. Listen to your gut.

In the end, be aware that PPC management is not a rigid science. You have to use a certain amount of judgment. But try not to be emotionally attached. If a little voice in the back of your head is telling you that you’re spending too much for too little, then listen to it.

What Iกve given you here are guidelines based on my own practices. Iกm sure there are other people who do it differently and are also successful. But these strategies work for me. And Iกm sure you can adapt them to work for you.

About The Author

Dave Brown is a selftaught marketer and software developer. He also publishes the uncommon and uniquely original newsletter on making the most of your life A Fresh Perspective. You can learn more at

http://www.davebrown.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 23, 2004

by Dave Brown

12Copywriting Tips to Make Your Advertising More

12Copywriting Tips to Make Your Advertising More Profitable

by: Thom Reece

Year after year people make the same mistakes in directresponse copy and advertising. You can avoid the most common and costly blunders by following the following proven tips…

1. WRITE IN DIRECT RESPONSE LANGUAGE:

Use short paragraphs and short words. This article has 68% short wordsfive letters or less. Strive for at least 65%75%. Never go under 50% unless you are writing to Ph.Dกs.

Make your sentences and paragraphs flow like a breeze.

Ignore good grammar when you have a good reason.

Keep the bucket brigade going: Start paragraphs with And, But, So you see, However…

Use the freshest concepts and the most colorful language you can without disturbing the flow.

Use hot words: free, profit, new, now, secret, easy, save, guarantee, today… and the hottest word of all: YOU!

Use bullets… lots of them.

2. WRITE LOTS OF HEADLINES.

Always think up dozens of alternative headlines. Put your strongest benefits in them and test your best alternatives. When writing headlines for web sites make sure they include key search words and phrases along with the benefits.

3. DROP THE WARMUPS…

Youกll destroy your entire letter/ad by starting off, กAs a homeowner, you know how maintenace costs are climbing every day…ก. Take your first draft and try cutting out the first two to three paragraphs… youกll usually find the real กmeatก starts to appear in your copy after you have started to กwarmupก to the writing.

4. STAND OUT.

Separate yourself from the competition as clearly as you can. Discover, isolate, and dramatize all the reasons for doing business with you…today…, instead of your competitor. Build your entire package or ad around these reasons (benefits).

5. SELL BENEFITS, NOT FEATURES.

Readers don’t buy products or features of products. They buy the benefitsofuse of the product or features. Be humble enough to realize that a buyer will not give you one red cent for any product or feature until you convert the features into benefitsofuse.

6. LEARN TO GIVE.

Most advertisers and charities think of direct response strictly as a device to กgetก. Unfortunately, most readers also want to get. So, to succeed, you must adopt a กgiveก attitude… beyond what you offer in the product or service. Give them something immediately in your ad, your letter, your web page. Give them news, business tips, interesting stories, resources, freebies, special deals.

7. USE TESTIMONIALS.

They’re proof that you’re as good as you say you are, and that youกll do what you say will do. Like…

กI increased profits by $100,000 last year using your services…ก Joe Smith, President, Smith Corporation

The more specific the testimonial the more power it has. Give full attributions whenever possible. Testimonials give you believability and credibility. You can’t do successful directresponse without these two essential factors.

8. OFFER A MONEYBACK GUARANTEE.

Whatever you are selling, make sure you offer a moneyback guarantee. Itกs a critical factor in getting someone to send in their monty to someone they don’t know or maybe never heard of.

9. CREDIT CARDS, TOLL FREE NUMBERS.

Credit card purchases and tollfree ก800ก numbers can increase your response by as much as 50%. If you’re on the web make sure you opt for secure online transmission (SSL) of credit card orders… or allow other means for your customer to provide their credit information to you.

10. ASK FOR ACTION.

Itกs amazing how often otherwise good copy never gets around to asking for the order. If you don’t ask for action… you won’t get any.

11. BUDGET YOUR TIME.

Devote about one third of your writing time to the lead elements, headline, subheads, teasers, opening paragraphs.

12. KEEP CURRENT.

Directresponse is more scientific than other types of advertising. Like any fastmoving science, it has itกs discoveries daily. This is especially true of writing for the Internet/World Wide Web. Subscribe to industry trade journals such as Target Marketing, DM News, Direct, and other relevant publications.

(C) Copyright 2004 Thom Reece All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Thom Reece is the CEO of OnLine Marketing Group, a direct response marketing agency with headquarters in Hawaii. He is the creator of the Online Marketing Resource Center [ http://www.ecomprofits.com ] & the major portal for the network marketing industry MaxxMLM.com [http://www.MaxxMLM.com]. Thom can be reached by email at: [email protected].

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 04

by Thom Reece

The Mountain Highs & The Valley Lows When Starting

The Mountain Highs & The Valley Lows When Starting A Home Based Business

by: Kirk Bannerman

The emotional aspects of starting a home business can have you experiencing high highs and low lows. In addition to the immediate luxuries of being your own boss, setting your own working hours, and avoiding a stressful commute, there are also significant things on the other side of the ledger…starting and building a home business is not just an automatic trip to the promised land. The need for self discipline is important…since you don’t have a boss and a place to report for work, it is now up to you to schedule your time and perform productive tasks on your own.

Set actual work hours. Decide what hours you are going to work each day and stick to it as much as possible. This is one of the beautiful things about a home based business…you get to make this choice based upon your own personal situation for that particular day. Make ‘to doก lists for each day. Then, as you complete the items, check them off the list. You can transfer anything you don’t get done on a particular day to the next days list and make some notation so that you can see that it is a carryover from the previous day…however, remain constantly aware of the procrastination trap which leads you to keep putting things off until tomorrow. Hopefully, this will help you to stay organized and on task and allow you to make some real progress in developing your home based business.

In the early going, one of the most difficult things about developing a new home based business is dealing with the emotional roller coaster that can result from the highs (successes) and lows (temporary setbacks) you are almost certain to experience. Once you have done the research and decided on a particular home based business opportunity, you really need to focus on PERSISTENCE and realize that any real business will not just automatically become successful in days or weeks…you should be prepared to give it your best effort for at least 6 to 12 months in order to begin to build a solid income base.

Highs and lows were something that I began to notice when I first started a home based business. I have many years of top level management experience in ขtraditionalข corporations and have experienced lots of business cycles (corporate ขups and downsข), but the natural ขups and downsข that occur in a home business (particularly in the early stages) can be emotionally brutal if you don’t prepare yourself in advance for the fact that it is a basic law of nature…it will be a rocky road until you have spent enough time and effort to build your business to a level that sort of smoothes out the peaks and valleys.

The impact of the high and lows you will probably experience in developing your home based business is amplified by the fact that you are now in business on your own You are the boss and get to make all the decisions, but you are also on your own in dealing with the frustrations that will occur along the way while you are developing your business.

About The Author

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and resides in California. For more details, visit his website at http://businessathome.us

This article was posted on September 25, 2003

by Kirk Bannerman

How To Dramatically Improve Your Websiteกs Convers

How To Dramatically Improve Your Websiteกs Conversion Ratio

by: Dean Phillips

According to the socalled experts, a decent conversion ratio is right around one percent. In other words, one out of every one hundred visitors to your website converts to a sale.

Personally, I think a one percent conversion ratio sucks! My website consistently converts right around ten percent. And so do a lot of my Internet marketing collegues. I can assure you, the websites of superstars like Marlon Sanders, Terry Dean and others convert a lot higher than one percent.

Why? Well, besides knowing what we’re doing, we’re also ultracompetitive and don’t settle for mediocre results. And with very few exceptions, a one percent conversion ratio is mediocre.

Unless you’re selling a bigticket item and making $100 or more per sale, itกs extremely difficult to make any real money with only a one percent conversion ratio.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and if your website is attracting mega traffic like Yahoo, then obviously you can do quite well with a one percent or lower conversion ratio.

But what if you don’t have mega trafficand most websites don’t. Then what? What if you’re selling a $20 ebook and you’re only attracting a hundred visitors a day to your website? With a one percent conversion ratio, that means your website is making a measly $20 a day. And believe me, thatกs much more common than you realize.

However, what if you could improve your conversion ratio to five percent? All of a sudden, you’re making $100 a day with the same amount of traffic. Improve your conversion ratio to ten percent and voila, that $100 a day turns into $200 a day!

So, how do you go about improving your conversion ratio? Well, the first thing you need to do is make sure you have a trustworthy and credible website. People buy from websites they trust.

For instance, is the design of your website up to par? Is it easy to navigate, or are you using distracting flash or stupid, meaningless graphics that don’t mean a damn thing and take forever to load? Simplify your website. Get rid of the flash, graphics and popups!

Do you have your own domain name, or does yours contain names like, กGeocitiesก, กAngelfireก or ‘tripodก? Be a professional. Get your own domain name.

Prove what you say. Back up your claims with cold, hard, indisputable and verifiable facts?

Put your name, telephone number and street address on your website?

Use authentic customer testimonials, complete with first and last names? Make sure you get your customers permission first.

Offer a fair and reasonable moneyback guarantee? Thirty days is good. Sixty or ninety days is better!

Make it easy for your customers to pay. And offer a variety of payment options. I can assure you, if you’re using Paypal only, you’re losing sales. There are a lot of people out there, myself included that just won’t do business with Paypal. Itกs too much of a hassle!

And most importantly of all, you have to have a powerful sales letter. A strong and effective sales letter can blast your earnings into the upper stratosphere!

YOU MUST HAVE A POWERFUL SALES LETTER!

If you aren’t capable of writing that type of sales letter, hire me to write it for you.

Follow the steps set forth in this article, and your websiteกs conversion ratio will improve dramatically!

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: [email protected]

Make Money Online! Internet marketing expert, Dean Phillips will teach you how to make money online, starting today…Guaranteed! For details just visit my website.

Website: http://www.letsmakemoney.net

This article was posted on September 29, 2004

by Dean Phillips

Learn How To Use These Six Explosive Marketing Tec

Learn How To Use These Six Explosive Marketing Techniques To Explode Your Website With Traffic

by: Reginald Turner

Learn How To Use These Six Explosive Marketing Techniques To Explode Your Website With Traffic

You could have the best opportunity, product, or service on the internet, but if you are not getting any traffic to your website, what does it matter? Getting massive traffic to your website is just the beginning of being successful over the internet. Nevertheless, itกs not the end.

Although getting traffic to your website should be your main focus, there is just more to it than just getting traffic to your website. In the next following section, we will talk about the six explosive marketing techniques that you would have to apply to your internet marketing efforts in order to become a successful internet marketer.

1.Testing When you are marketing over the internet, you are going to have to know what works and what doesn’t. Thatกs why you are going to have to experiment with different types of advertising to find that out. If you are experimenting with different types of advertising, how are you going to know what type of advertising is working? This what leads me to the next following marketing technique, Adtracking services.

2. Adtracking Services Ad tracking services are a great way to test which form of advertising is working and which is not. Some of these services are capable of keeping track of your hits, sales, etc. To find an ad tracking service, just go to a major search engine and type in กAd tracking servicesก and plenty ad tracking services will come up. After this happens, do some investigating and choose the one that is best for you.

3. Website Design You want to make sure that you have a decent looking website to promote your product or service. Don’t get to caught up in all the fancy graphics when it comes to designing a website. These fancy graphics that you see on other websites could cause your website to load real slow. You must remember when people are browsing on the internet, they like to get on a website to find what they are looking for and get right off. If your website takes a long time to load, you could loose a lot of sales. When you design your website, make sure you use gif or jpeg graphics because they load really quick. Remember, the amount of time it takes your website to load, could determine how many sales you are going to make, or lose.

4. Good Content Itกs very important to have good content on your website. The product or service that you are promoting should strongly state the benefits. You should talk about how the benefit of your product or service could improve the quality of their lives. Remember, people are not concerned about the features of your product or service, but they want to know what it can do for them.

5. Website Traffic If your internet business is going to survive over the internet, you are going to need a lot of traffic, but just not any kind of traffic. When you are marketing over the internet, you are going to need to get ‘targeted traffic.ก What do I mean by targeted traffic? For example, if you are promoting a service that deals with selling envelopes, you are not going to promote it to people interested in health care are you? Absolutely not. You want to make sure you market to an audience that is interested in your product, service, or business opportunity. For example, if you are promoting a service selling marketing software, make sure you find an audience of กinterested buyersก who are interested in marketing software. If you don’t target your audience, your career as an internet marketer will be short lived.

6. Time Management Again, going back to the adtracking service. If you use an adtracking service to track your marketing campaigns, you could use the statistics from the ad tracking service to tell where you should spend your time marketing. For example, lets say you use two different methods of marketing such as ezines, and submission software. Now you go to your ad tracking service to check the results of the two marketing methods that were just mentioned. You find out that your marketing in ezines bought you 1,000 hits, and your marketing using the submission software bought you 100 hits. I would not tell you to stop using the submission software because obviously itกs bringing you hits. It will make more since to spend most of your time marketing in ezines because it brought you more hits. Iกm definitely not saying what was mentioned in the above example will happen, but it just gives you an indication where you should spend most of your time marketing.

This article was not written to critique internet marketers in any way. It was written to help internet marketers become more efficient and smarter when it comes to marketing over the internet. Some internet marketers only focus on getting traffic, but some neglect things such as web design, testing, and good content which could make a big difference. Remember, getting traffic to your website is just half the battle won, but converting it into sales is a complete victory.

For more info about website marketing techniques, please visit: http://www.adalyzer.com/727/traffic_attack

About The Author

My name is Reginald Turner and my purpose in writing articles is not only to help internet marketers become more efficient and smarter when it comes to marketing over the internet, but to teach them how to quickly find out what type of marketing works and how to make more money over the internet in less time while exploding traffic to their website. If you would like more info about website marketing techniques, you could eithr visit: http://www.adalyzer.com/727/traffic_attack or just send a blank email to [email protected].

This article was posted on November 23, 2004

by Reginald Turner

Phone Tips To Get Things Done: Professional Phone

Phone Tips To Get Things Done: Professional Phone Skills

by: John Robertson

It happens all the time, you hear someone over the telephone and you make a generalization about the person you are speaking with. It may not be fair and it is akin to judging a book by its cover, but itกs true nevertheless.
Within 60 seconds, people will make assumptions about oneกs education, background, ability and personality based on their voice alone.
What type of impression is your กphoneก voice making? Indeed there are two areas you should be aware of when speaking. One is กwhatก you say, the other the กhowก you say it. Studies show that as much as 87% of the listenerกs opinion of you is based on your voice alone. That leaves only 13% allocated to what we are saying to make a positive impression. With numbers like these it is easy to see why your voice is so important in your career and personal life.
Today we live in a กvoice mailก environment. We are playing กphone tagก, leaving messages and listening to voice mails left by others. It may take as many as 34 tries before actual contact is made and you have a conversation. By the time you do connect, you can be assured that other party already has formed an impression about you.
The following are some tips that will help you improve your phone voice and technique.
1. THIRD RING RULE: Answer the phone by the third ring or make sure you voice mail is set to pick up by the third ring. Today people are not inclined to wait much longer and will assume you are not available and hang up. Remember, as much as we think we don’t like voice mail, we like the option of leaving a message.
2. PROFESSIONAL GREETING: Remember the 87% rule above and make a good impression. Be aware of what you are going to say in the greeting. Then practice and rehearse BEFORE you leave the greeting on your answering machine. Be short and to the point. Don’t drag out the greeting. It is obvious you are กOut of the office or away from your deskก otherwise you would answer your phone. Consider leaving such statements out of your greeting unless you are actually away from the office, then say so and leave a date for your return. I recommend that you leave clear instructions as to what information you need from the caller. Reminder the caller to leave their phone number, best time to return the call and a brief subject.
3. PREPARE THEN ANSWER: Have a note pad and pen by your phone at all times. Write down the callerกs name and use it during the conversation.
4. BE AN ACTIVE LISTENER: Take notes, ask for correct spelling, etc. 5. PROMPTLY RETURN CALLS: Make it your personal goal that you will be one that returns phone calls. This may very well be the most professional characteristic of all you can develop. Set a goal to return phone calls within 4 hours, it will make a positive statement about you and your image.
6. CHECK YOU MESSAGES: Check your messages several times a day. Learn how to dial in from a remote phone to get your voice mails. Many times the caller is facing a deadline and your information may be crucial for them to complete their assignment.
ITกS A TWO WAY STREET. When You Leave Messages For Others Remember These Tips:
1. SLOW DOWN: Don’t speak too fast. Slow down when you are leaving a message, especially if you have an accent. If you make your message hard to understand or if the listener has to replay it several times to get your message your reputation is slipping in their mind.
2. CLEARLY SAY YOUR NAME: Make absolutely sure the caller will understand your name. Consider spelling your name if hard to pronounce or is not a common name.
3. SLOW DOWN: When leaving your phone number go slow. Most likely the listener is writing down your number, make it easy for them to do so. Repeat the number. Consider saying your number at the beginning and end of your voice mail. People will appreciate this.
4. LEAVE YOUR NAME, COMPANY NAME AND REASON: Leave the listener with all the information they will need to know about you. Don’t make them guess. Always leave the reason you are calling. It is very unprofessional to just leave a message simply saying กgive me a callก
5. MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO RETURN YOUR CALL: Tell them a good time to return your call. Give them a date, time and phone number.
6. BE PROFESSIONAL: People do judge you by the tone of your voice. Increase your image by sounding professional in everything you do over the phone
Remember that you won’t be able to avoid phone tag, but you can definitely put things in your favor by doing several small things that will make a BIG difference in your image.
For more details on Business Communications, including effective email and voice mail use contact www.TrainingConnections.ORG.
(c) 2004 TrainingConnections.ORG

All rights reserved

About The Author

John Robertson is a Professional Trainer with over 20 years experience in Mid to Sr. Level Management in several Fortune 500 companies. His real world experience will bring credibility to your company. TrainingConnections.Org focuses on three major categories of Employee Performance Improvement; Leadership, Management and Sales Training. Contact us today for more information or check our web site.

http://trainingconnections.org/

mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on July 10, 2004

by John Robertson

Tips and Tricks To Getting Top Money for your Doma

Tips and Tricks To Getting Top Money for your Domain Names

by: Dayne Herren

Would you like to be that lucky person who sells their domain for thousands or even a million dollars? It IS possible to find quality domains and resell them for huge amounts of money. The time is ripe for acquiring top domains and selling them. Now that the Internet Boom is behind us, valuable names expire everyday. The best way to find these domains is to use services on the Internet such as DomainsBot to weed out the bad names. Or just check out Hot Lists on sites like Namewinner or Pool.
So what makes a กgoodก domain name? Usually short, single word domains and 23 letter .coms, .nets, and .orgs are the best. The more specific the better. These can be hard to come by but when you find them, you can almost guarantee that you can make good money from them. Once you have purchased a nice domain name, get a good appraisal of the name to get an idea of the possible worth (see AppraisalBlast.com). In order to sell your newly appraised name, you have to find a buyer. Here are your basic options for selling your domain name in a nutshell:
1. Sell it on Ebay
This is the easiest and quickest way to sell your domain name. There are several tricks to landing a good sale at Ebay. One is, start your price low. People want a bargain. Once you have received an initial bid, it will draw peoples attention to your name and create more bids. You may want to set a reserve price if you want to make sure you get X amount of dollars. When selling your domain on Ebay, make sure your domain name is in the title of the description. Also, include an appraisal to show to possible buyers the value of the domain. Keep your description short, clean, and really emphasize how important and rare your domain is. For example, if your domain is 3 letters and ends in กIก, stress how most 3 letter domains that are highly valuable end in กIก because it usually stands for กIncorporatedก. If it ends in กEก it could stand for กEnterpriseก. A little bit of marketing saavy can go a long way. I once sold the domain 0pp.com for over $200. It even has a number in it making it worth very little. But I emphasize its possible uses and potential. Also, spend the extra $1 for the Bold Listing and make sure your auction ends on a Sunday afternoon or evening. This is when most people are browsing Ebay. It will make a big difference.
2. Sell it on Domain Sites
The only sites you should even consider putting your name up for sale is on ebay.com, Afternic, or Sedo. These are the most popular and where some huge sales have taken place. The only downside is that there are high numbers of domains already for sale and usually the site will get a commission of something around 10%. There also may be a small fee to join. Appraisal Blast charges a minimal fee but no commission. Your domain will get more exposure there just because there aren’t hundreds of domains for sale. You may also have luck selling it on forums such as DomainState. The prices of sales there seem to be lower.
3. Contact Large Businesses with Deep Pockets
This approach takes some time and patience. Letกs say you have acquired a great domain name that would work great for any business in the field of the stock market. You may want to locate some of the bigger sites or businesses and make an offer to sell your domain name. Make sure the name you own doens’t have any elements that are already trademarked because you may be forced to give up the name. You may want to go on the Internet and look up current websites that deal with stocks and find ones that don’t have the greatest domain names. Make offers to these sites stating how your domain is much better and will HELP them. If you get a company to bite, the rewards are usually very generous!
In summary, selling domains for high amounts of cash depends on two key elements. First you must have a quality domain, one that doesn’t have numbers or isn’t too long. It must be clear and easily recognizable. ก.comก is the best, but even domains such as the ก.usก are gaining popularity. The second key is Marketing, Marketing, Marketing! I can’t stress that enough. You have to create a good reason for someone to buy your domain. How can THEY benefit from it. When these two steps are fulfilled, a sale is almost guaranteed!

About The Author

Dayne Herren is a domain seller and buyer, web developer, and artist.
Professional Domain Name Appraisals http://www.appraisalblast.com

This article was posted on May 14, 2004

by Dayne Herren

Five of the Most Powerful Elements Anyone Can Use

Five of the Most Powerful Elements Anyone Can Use To Grow a Highly Responsive List

by: Laurence Baker

Lack of trust is the biggest problem marketers have on the internet, or better yet, the biggest opportunity.

The power in this lies in the fact that affiliate programs have given us easy access to a huge variety of products and services that we can present to potential buyers, opening up an endless number of possibilities.

And really, you’re not limited to affiliate products. Many businesses would be happy to compensate you for bringing them sales.

But too many people have no reason to believe that out of the multitude of marketing messages they see every day, yours is one they need to pay attention to. You have to provide them with something they’d have a hard time finding elsewhere.

Usually, the easiest, most effective, and most permanent way to first is to earn their trust that something theyกd have a hard time finding elsewhere.

Here’s the key thing you must remember…

Your readers can only benefit from you and you can only benefit from them to the extent that they can trust you!

These days, not many marketers handle this well. Not because they don’t know enough, or don’t have certain skills, itกs just that, their focus is in the wrong areas.

That’s where you come in. You can grab an early advantage, but marketers will always adapt. It’s part of the process. And when they do adapt, it won’t be as easy to stand out anymore.

Not only that, but the ones who don’t take advantage of this aren’t likely to survive. So the sooner you take advantage of this, the better.

Everyon(e) has the ability to earn trust, that is, if they’re worthy of it. By following these tips, you’ll put yourself in a position of influence with your subscribers… and that’s a powerful thing!

1) Keep your focus as narrow as it has to be for you to bring the most value. In other words, focus on those areas where you have something unique to contribute. What your readers will probably read elsewhere… let them read elsewhere.

2) Find ways to over deliver, exceeding people’s expectations. This creates the element of surprise. People will tend to remember this, and by association you. That means better recognition and more influence – a recipe guaranteed to make sales.

3) Make your subscribers feel like they know you. By doing this, you make it much easier for them to trust you. It’s like adding a third dimension to your marketing. It helps to complete the picture. And no matter how many people you write to, always use a personal, one on one type of style. It should sound like you’re talking directly to them.

Let yourself show through in your marketing, including your opinions, insights, stories, humor, etc. and your intentions will show through, whatever they might be. If that’s a bad thing, then you’re reading the wrong article.

4) Don’t try to please everyon(e). This is the biggest mistake you can make. You’ll forfeit anything interesting or unique about your marketing if you do this. In other words, you lose your edge and your marketing becomes ineffective. Don’t worry about the subscribers that drop off. You’re better off connecting with a smaller group on a deeper level.

5) Through your actions, you have to demonstrate to your subscribers that you don’t sacrifice their best interests in the name of profit. Become their trusted advisor. Do what you can to steer them in a direction that’s right for them, as individuals. Educate them to be able to make better decisions on their own.

These are powerful elements, and yet most marketers make compromises or loose sight of them because they see them as a conflict of interest with other profit seeking motives. The problem is, these things will lose their power when any one of them has been compromised. And earning the trust of your subscribers is never a conflict of interest.

The benefits of a responsive list are tremendous. To start with, youกll make more sales with more profit in each sale. Then, wordofmouth marketing, always the most effective method, becomes easy, and even more effective. You also put yourself in a position to sell bigger ticket items. Translation a lot more money from a lot less effort.

If you have a passion for or enjoy learning about the things that your market values, then developing the kinds of relationships you need to make these sales won’t seem like work at all.

All the while, you’ll be growing and becoming more influential.

All of these things will work together to build your influence at an exponential rate, and your incom(e) is sure to follow. Essentially, if you use your power wisely, you’ll continue to have more of it in the future.

And that’s for the long run, because these relationships will still be there no matter what might happen with your business in the future. In fact, these relationships really ARE your business.

Copyright 2004 Laurence Baker

About The Author

Laurence Baker is the author of ‘relationships: The Master Key to Success,ก presenting a solution to the biggest obstacle in making more sales on the internet a lack of trust. To download a FRE(E) copy, visit http://www.netmarkhome.com/sya1

This article was posted on December 31, 2004

by Laurence Baker