Intranet Project Names Some Ideas

Intranet Project Names Some Ideas

by: David Viney

กWhatกs in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.ก

In this famous quote from Act II of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and the fact he is a Montague and she a Capulet (warring families) means nothing to their love.

However, there is some strong evidence from the UKกs Cranfield University and elsewhere that the name one gives a project does have a marked impact on the behaviour and motivation of the people involved. It may surprise you, but the name you give to your Intranet Project could well be the most important decision you make in the early stages of mobilisation!

The Direct Approach

There is an argument in faour of naming your Intranet Project the wait for it กIntranet Projectก! Often, socalled กsecret squirrelก names (where one has to ferret out from colleagues what Project Banana is all about) serve only to create an unnecessary air of mystique (fit only for secret M&A projects). They can also serve to be divisive, by separating กpeople in the knowก from people outside the immediate project audience.

The functional approach

A functional name focuses on what the intranet does (e.g. search, find, access). This enjoys the same benefits as the direct approach, but affords one a little more poetic license. What about names like กProject Connectก or กProject Gatewayก, which serve to signal the core กmust haveก requirements for the project?

The conceptual approach

There is a problem with the direct or functional approaches; Research from Cranfield has demonstrated that people on projects tend to be very heavily influenced in their actions by the name of the project itself. If you call your project the Intranet project, it is a working intranet (i.e. the technology) that you will get. If your ambition was something much more visionary, such as a wholly new way of working for your people, you are likely to be disappointed!

The conceptual name targets what is achieved by the functionality, rather than the functionality itself. For example, if your company name was BigCo and your purpose was seeking to get everyone in the company working together, you could call the project กProject OneBigCoก or กProject Unityก. For the aforementioned new ways of working objective, you could use กProject Future Workplaceก.

The abstract approach

The abstract approach deals with how the project makes people feel. For example, กProject Blissก (for happiness), กProject Wizardก (for magic) or กProject Pulseก (for fastpacedness). Although one world usually fails to capture all you are trying to achieve with an Intranet Portal, this approach can prove highly effective (particularly where countercultural).

If all else fails

Nothing grabbed you so far? Well there is no saving you, then! I suppose there are always the standard fallback options: names of greek or roman gods, names of planets, names of birds and names of dances. These have the added value that if you spawn followon projects in a sequence you have readymade logical followon project titles. Incidentally, กProject Mercuryก would be my recommendation for planets or gods (as Mercury was the roman god of communications).

For more ideas on project names, why not check out my presentation in the Intranet Portal Guide.

About The Author

David Viney ([email protected]) is the author of the Intranet Portal Guide; 31 pages of advice, tools and downloads covering the period before, during and after an Intranet Portal implementation.

Read the guide at http://www.viney.com/DFV/intranet_portal_guide or the Intranet Watch Blog at http://www.viney.com/intranet_watch.

This article was posted on November 08, 2004

by David Viney

Marketing Via Messageboards & Email Discussion Li

Marketing Via Messageboards & Email Discussion Lists An Alternative View

by: Sean Burns

One of the most suggested means of getting traffic to a site in the early stages is to get involved in messageboard and email discussions on your topic of choice. The idea is that you can show your expertise and therefore get traffic to your site via your signature file (most discussion lists allow you to include your signature file with your post a few lines with your name, site address and maybe a very brief description). Whilst this is a valid tip, I don’t believe that the real reason for why you should do this has been investigated far enough previously.

Firstly, if you post an ad for your site on a discussion list, your are spamming and will create a bit of a fiasco. This does not make good business sense. So, the way to do it is to look for people asking questions and answer them. The issue here is your reasons for doing this. If your reason is purely to drive traffic to your site, you probably won’t be terribly successful and, sometimes, people will work out what you are up to. Therefore, your goal should be to be seen as an expert in your field, not to get traffic to your site.

Even if you don’t include a signature with your posts, you can still make a name for yourself and, in the long term, this will prove to be a far more profitable approach. I have visited many discussion lists in my time and it is easy to see the people that have gained respect. From a business point of view, they are the ones who will benefit from this approach, not the people who post simple answers to try to get an immediate effect.

Your goal must always be to achieve success in your online venture and your personal credibility will play a major role in this. So, when looking at marketing on messageboards and in Email discussion lists, establishing your credentials as an expert in your field must be your number one priority, not short term traffic generation methods.

About The Author

Sean Burns is the author of the WebmastersReference.com Newsletter http://www.webmastersreference.com/newsletter. More than five years of experience in site design, marketing, income generation, search engine optimisation and more is passed on to subscribers hype free. Sign up today to get real information of real value to webmasters.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 06, 2003

by Sean Burns

How To Get Qualified Visitors to Your Site

How To Get Qualified Visitors to Your Site

by: Denise Ryder

Having an eBusiness isn’t just about getting gobs of people to your site and hope that a number of them buy. Having your little web counter screaming 50,000 visitors a day doesn’t mean กjackก if no one buys from you. It isn’t about the quantity of your visitors itกs about the quality.

Steve Boutelle has realized this and it sparked this question from him…

Steve Boutelle here . . . LOVED the article on ethics! something thatกs definitely a major part of any truly successful business practice. Iกm sending in my Marketing question here it is:

What are your top proven recommendations for getting qualified, targeted visitor traffic to your site that will continue over the long term?

Great question and one that is on the mind of every eBusiness owner กout there.ก

I know you are probably looking more for the ‘tacticsก to put into place rather than going back and regrouping a bit and we will get to the tactics but first things first…

The main thing that has to be on your mind is to stay focused. When you first get into an eBusiness you have to do your homework. What I mean by that is find out what people want and need and then build a business around meeting those needs.

You CAN’t BE all things to EVERYONE. It just doesn’t work. What you need to be is the กexpertก per se in one or a group of related needs/wants and build your business around that.

When you are กfocusedก you will see that a great many things come together for you. You will find that you aren’t spending gobs of money on traffic generating systems, with the hopes of getting กsomeoneก to buy. You will have a better idea of where those people are and become more proactive in your marketing strategies and budget spending. There is a huge difference in terms of marketing dollars and success rates when you go from a mass marketing approach to a targeted approach ;o)

Go back and look at your web sites and look at it from the shoes of a visitor and see what they see. That little exercise will ALWAYS give you a lot of information in figuring out why people aren’t buying and what needs to be adjusted.

So…first thing in getting long term targeted traffic is to stay focused and try not to be everything to all people. Meet the needs and wants of a targeted market and not the masses. One you know your target market and what they want then the following kicks in for you as far as specific marketing tactics is concerned…

1. List building I have sprouted off here continually about the NEED to have a list (or several lists) of your own. A list that is separate from your affiliate programs so that it can follow you wherever you go. If you have a focus then of course your lists become more focused as well. You will have a list of people who have a want and need for your products/ services as opposed to just a bunch of tire kickers who aren’t really sure what they want or need. Does that make sense??

Your business should have more than just one list. You can have a general list (ie, a subscribers list for your newsletter perhaps), and it should also have specific lists built around sales of certain products and services you offer. If you are in the health and nutrition market and sell several different products in the line, then for each product your sell, those customers become targeted to that product. You can then look at that and make targeted lists from that and act accordingly.

List building, as I said above, is THE KEY. You have the ability through your lists to be specific and target only those who want and need your products/services.

2. Advertising once you know your market and who needs what you have, in the process you find out where they hang out. When you know what newsletters and forums they go to then it makes things easier for you. Again, you are focused with respect to your marketing and are going into newsletters that speak directly to your target as opposed to the masses. Prime example here…

ProfitSpace focuses on marketing and copywriting tactics for the eBusiness owner. My target market for ProfitSpace is eBusiness owners.I can’t tell you how many classified ads I receive from people who are selling health and nutritional products. A person who is selling H&R products specifically is targeting people with health issues. While yes I am sure that there are eBusiness owners with health issues, they aren’t in the frame of mind to read about it in a marketing newsletter. They are looking for business help. That person selling these products would have generated far better response by going to a newsletter which targets health related issues.

You NEED to target your advertising to fit the newsletter you are advertising in. If you are SELLING health products then go to a health related newsletter. If you are trying to build a downline for your mlm then fine, stick with a newsletter geared towards business.

Another thing about advertising that will certainly help you in building long term targeted traffic. DON’t SEND A PERSON TO YOUR SITE, send them instead to a no cost eReport, eBook or eCourse that ties in and relates to your target/focus. REMEMBER if you don’t have a list then you are basically shooting yourself in the foot. You WANT the email address and the name of the visitor…you DON’t WANT them to go to your site, see what you have, hope theyกll bookmark you and come back. They won’t do it.

Let me give you an example of what I mean…

In the case of Mariangie who is promoting telecommunication products. Instead of placing a typical classified that leads a person to her site, she writes a no cost eReport on, oh…say…how to save money on your monthly cell phone charges and writes a classified promoting that report. BINGO she has a name and email address of someone who has a need to save money on their cell phone. You can go much farther in terms of marketing with a warm body to market to as opposed to marketing to a ghost ;o)

See how that works??

So…look at the focus of the newsletter you are advertising in and make sure it reaches your target market…AND…lead a person to a report or some other list generating tool…NOT TO JUST your web site ;o)

3. Articles I can’t tell you how effective writing articles has been for my eBusiness (actually, yes I can!!). Articles RULE!! For one issue all eyes are on you, you take center stage. Writing articles as it relates to your business is a fantastic way of generating trust and rapport, and gives you credibility. We mentioned about about targeting your advertising and articles work in much the same way. Find those newsletters who reach your target market then write good, informative articles that ‘talk to them.ก Share your knowledge and they will come and see what you have to offer, sign up for your reports/courses and spread the word about you.

I know that many people will not write an article because they feel they aren’t writers. กDon’t eat that Martha, itกs ca ca!!ก Anyone can write a simple กhow toก article. Just do up an outline for yourself and use it as a guide to gather your thoughts and then just take your กhow toก process and put it into steps for people to follow.

Articles not only promote you and your site in a subtle way but the Resource Box provides you with the PRIMO classified ad spot there is in the newsletter. See people will read your article, understand what you are saying and THEN read who wrote the article. Thatกs where the resource box comes into play because that is essentially your ad. There they find who wrote the article, your site address and then of course an incentive to get them on YOUR LIST…by offering a them a no cost report ;o)

Keep in mind that that ONE ARTICLE can reach more people than you could ever possibly imagine. You aren’t limiting yourself to just one newsletter…you can send that very article to several publishers within your TARGET MARKET and reach tens of thousands of people all at the same time. The great thing about using articles is the fact that it doesn’t cost you a cent..just takes a little time in putting your knowledge to paper…oh, I mean to disk ;o)

4. Develop your own information products Why rent if you can own. What I mean by that is why use someone elseกs information products when you can quite capably write your own and use it to itกs full advantage. Developing your own eReport, eCourse, or eBook provides you with SUCH AN ADVANTAGE. You can use your own knowledge and create a product and then leverage your marketing through the efforts of others…AND like articles reach far more people than you can possibly imagine.

Now if the mere thought of developing your own info product really scares the heck out of you…well first off, don’t let it. If you are writing articles then you can do a little formatting change and turn a group of articles into a report or course very easily. However, if that STILL makes you feel like a deer caught in the headlights, then your have an alternative. In terms of using information products in your marketing…opt for the reprint or customization rights ALWAYS.

Why??

Well, because as I said above you use these products to leverage YOUR marketing efforts. Yup, you didn’t write the course youกre using but your links and advertising is weaved throughout the particular course. When people who subscribe via your web form for the course will always know who they received that course from because your advertising is throughout, NOT someone elseกs. It just doesn’t make sense to work hard at marketing a course and then NOT have your information somewhere inside. Why are you doing that to yourself?? If you are going to spend time and energy in marketing a product make sure that it leads to YOUR LIST and IT HAS YOUR INFO inside at least. If you are allowed within the confines of the license then let others give YOUR COPY of the product away and leverage your marketing through their efforts…but DON’t let someone else ride your coat tails without getting something out of it.

Do you see how that works???

I offer an eCourse and offer customization licenses, so people have an option. To me as the author it makes no difference if you opt for the license or not…it is still a win/win. The person gets to use my course to build their list so they are smiling. In that regard the win for me is that I am leveraging my marketing through their efforts and because they didn’t buy the customization license ALL MY ads and links remain in place. Now if they took the time to see just how this works and what they can do to change it around a little they would see that by spending the $6.95 in the long run that ecourse just turned the tables for them. They STILL get to use the course as a list building tool AND they also stand to get hits by being able to add their own offers each day for the duration of the course. PLUS, by offering THEIR CUSTOMIZED version of that course to others to use for their list building…they have just turned the tables again by using the efforts of those who are using that course.

I can totally appreciate the fact that eBusiness owners have been through hell and back and have been burned many times by products and/or services offering them the moon. I understand the reluctance to spend money…HOWEVER, in the case of purchasing an eCourse or eReport customization license that gives you such a winfall of potential…it just makes for smart business ;o)

Ok, we have gone over four tools for help you gain targeted traffic. Now the other part of Steveกs question involved กlong term.ก Well, it stands to reason that if you keep up with the article writing, developing new information products are at least using those that are out there to YOUR full advantage, and using classified advertising the right way…that the long term will follow. This isn’t rocket science and YOU DON’t need a degree in marketing to pull any of these off successfully. All you really need is to be persistent and consistent ;o)

Every eBusiness owner needs to start with some form of marketing strategy or foundation. These four tactics will certainly give you a good solid foundation. Once you have them in place and they are pulling for you, youกll then be able to look at the other tactics like paypeclick search engines and give that a shot. The point that I want to really stress is the fact that if you start with the four tactics I mentioned above and they will always be working. Then as you progress you add new tactics, test them and if they prove to be beneficial then you add them.

It does take a bit of time and effort to see the rewards, but they will happen…just stick with it and don’t give up ;o)

About The Author

Denise Ryder is a Marketing Coach writing from her home office in Northern Ontario (Canada). She is publisher of ProfitSpace Newsletter (http://www.profitspace.com). Download her no cost 7Day eCourse กHow to Guarantee eBusiness Success…Before You Even Get Startedก http://www.profitspace.com/success/index.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 19, 2004

by Denise Ryder

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

The Lazy Manกs Way To Building a Massive List In M

The Lazy Manกs Way To Building a Massive List In Minimum Time

by: Dan Kelly

As you read every word of this article, youกll be stunned by how quickly and easily you can build a massive list of opt in subscribers without spending a fortune. (The idea is to make money, not spend money. Right?)

Iกll get right to the point…

It can be a real pain in the butt trying to build an optin list using the กold schoolก methods of list building that every Internet marketing guru out there is teaching these days.

They tell you… กUse pop ups and pop unders, delayed pops, and exit popsก, กPut a subscription box on every page of your websiteก, กUse PayPerClick (PPC) search engines to drive traffic to your optin pageก, etc. etc. etc.

Those methods are OK, in my opinion. If you’re using them now and they are effective for you, continue using them. If you’re not, Iกd suggest that you at least experiment with them to see if they work for your situation.

> THE BIG PROBLEM IS THIS…

The two biggest problems youกll face using the กold schoolก methods are… either it takes way too much of YOUR TIME or it costs way too much of YOUR MONEY to build a list of any respectable size.

(In the BizOp, MLM, and Internet marketing arenas, many potential joint venture partners won’t even talk to you unless your list has at least 50,000 100,000 subscribers.)

> WHATกS THE SOLUTION?

Very simple…

Instead of waiting for customers to come to you (which you have to do even with PPC search engines)…

You can BUY subscribers.

Thatกs right! There are companies out there that will sell you the names and email addresses of people that have REQUESTED information about business opportunities.

> WARNING: NOT ALL LEAD SOURCES ARE CREATED EQUAL

There are 8 things you want to look for from any lead/subscriber source.

Here they are:

100% OptIn: You want to buy the contact information of people that have actively requested more information. There are various methods of capturing contact information. Some leads sources sell you names that came from CDROM that has 12 million names on it. Some lead sources precheck the subscription box, so many of their leads didn’t know that they were going to be sent any information from you. You want to make sure that all the names you buy have explicitly requested the information that you are going to send them.

Targeted: You want Business Opportunity Seekers ONLY! What good is it if the names you buy really just wanted to be on someoneกs joke list or recipe newsletter? Iกll tell you… Absolutely NOTHING! Actually, less than nothing if you get a lot of SPAM complaints and your ISP bans you from sending emails or your email addresses ends up on blacklists all throughout the Internet.

Only กFreshก Leads: Plain and simple… The older the list, the less responsive it will be to your offer. As time goes by, people become less and less interested in what they requested information on. The more time between their initial request and your first contact, the easier it is for them to forget that they even requested information. My personal recommendation is that you never buy leads that are over 30 days old, unless you can get them at a steep discount.

Quick Turnaround: You don’t want to wait months for your leads source to fulfill your order. Many smaller sites aren’t able to keep up with the demand for leads so you could be waiting months if your order is large. You want a source that can fulfill large orders in a timely basis. Time really is money… especially when someone has yours, and you’re left waiting months for your list.

Accessible & Effective Support: You want to be able to ask a question any time, day or night, and get a fast, courteous, and most importantly, effective solution to your concern. With some companies, you send them an email and it takes them days to get back to you, if they reply at all. And, speaking bluntly, many of them use incompetent people for their support because they’re only after a quick buck. Their motto, กGrab the money and run… They should be able to figure it out.ก

CANSPAM Compliant: If you buy a list that has been harvested from websites, forums, newsgroups or any number of other places, you could get in serious trouble just for sending them your email. Itกs just not worth it! Please, only send your information and promotional material to people that want to hear from you.

Exclusivity: You don’t want to compete for your leads attention any more than you have to. Spam filter, blacklist, and unexplainable Internet กglitchesก cause email marketers enough grief. You want to know that your list is not going to be resold to a dozen or a hundred different marketers. My personal recommendation is that you NEVER purchase a lead that is sold to more than 5 marketers. The quality of response will be horrible if you’re competing with that many people for your prospectsก limited time and attention.

Alternate Means Of Communication: If you can get them, you also want their home address and home telephone number. If you’re really serious about promoting your opportunity, you should be communicating with your prospects with more than just email. Postcards and short phone calls/message have be proven to increase response to almost any offer especially offers where people are naturally skeptical at the outset.

BTW, some websites (I won’t name any names.) make it sound like they’re doing you a favor by กgiving you their name at no additional costก. Give me a break! Names are MANDITORY!

ACTION STEP: Now that you have the criteria, you should evaluate your current lead sources and check out a few new ones.

About The Author

Dan Kelly is the CEO and webmaster of BizOpListbuilder.com

กHelping entrepreneurs build and profit from their single greatest marketing asset their list.ก

To see how inexpensive it can be to get your very own list and to check out all 8 bonuses you get buy ordering today visit http://www.BizOpListbuilder.com/ today. Youกll be glad you did!

I look forward to helping you build and profit from your very own optin list.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 23

by Dan Kelly

Creating A Network That Works

Creating A Network That Works

by: Diane Hughes

Do you ever stand in awe of those people who seem to know everybody and everything? I know I do! Regardless of what you’re looking for, these people have their finger on the pulse of the กNet and know where to find it. Their network of resources and people is incredible! Yours can be, too. Itกs actually very simple to create a network that works to bring you business, offers feedback and provides those resources that we all need to have.
Make A Wish List
The first step in creating a network that works is making a list of what you want. Go ahead, think of the perfect situation where you would have anything you needed at your fingertips. For example, if you have a Web design business you might find it very helpful to create associations with people who offer services that compliment yours. Why? Because if these people are heavily involved with the process of getting a Webbased business up and going, they could send you many leads and that could turn into paying clients.
What else might you want? Perhaps free advertising or publicity to bring more business your way? Sure! Write it down on the wish list.
Making Wishes Come True
Now, the next step is to find the resources you need in order to make those wishes realities. Itกs not as difficult as it sounds. Just expand on your wish list a bit in the following way.
We mentioned needing associations with service providers that compliment our example of Web design. So write down companies that provide: Web hosting, merchant accounts, shopping carts, autoresponders, Internet checks, copywriting, graphic design and scripting/programming.
We also said we needed some advertising or publicity. So add to the list the following: ezine ad swaps, banner ad swaps, local newspapers, local TV and radio stations, Chambers of Commerce.
Finally, itกs time to go to work. The best way to start is to alert your friends and associates of what you are trying to accomplish. Itกs simple to send a quick email that states something to the effect of, กIกm in the process of expanding my resources and find Iกm in need of the following [provide the list]. If you know of anyone who you highly recommend in one of the above areas, please offer them my phone number and email address. I am interested in arranging a joint affiliation with them in order to increase both our businesses.ก
You can also send the same message to any lists or bulletin boards you frequent. Most people are more than happy to refer those they have had pleasant working relationships with.
Final Decisions
Lastly, once you get the results from your search back, contact the ones you feel most comfortable with. Again, honestly explain what you are doing and that you would like to create a joint partnership with them in order to exchange leads, prospects and services.
Even if someone does not suit your needs at the moment, enter them into your database for future reference. I once had a graphic designerกs email address and samples for 6 months before having a need for them. However, because I had already established contact, once my need arose it was smooth sailing!
When you are ready to begin your projects, just contact those on your list who can fill a need. Perhaps you want to advertise your Web design services. You can ask someone in your network (a Web host, a graphic artist, etc.) to participate in joint advertising with you. This will allow you to get excellent exposure for ½ the price because those costs are shared with your กpartnerก.
You can also set up a referral process. I have several arrangements with others in where we exchange referrals. Some do it for a fee, others just do it on a oneforone basis. You and your network member can decide what works best for you.
The results of this simple process are normally tremendous. The majority of small business owners are always looking for ways to expand their businesses. Exchanging leads with one another, creating joint affiliations and bartering are great ways to create a broad network that truly does work!
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 Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

This article was posted on May 31, 2004

by Diane Hughes

Keywords are the ขKEYข to a Profitable Web Site

Keywords are the ขKEYข to a Profitable Web Site

by: Gail Kaufman

The only activity that should preface keyword research is the brainstorming you do to come up with list of potential themes for your web site. Think about things that you find interesting, are passionate about or that leverage your skills. Once this is done you are ready to find out which topic on your list will be the most profitable to pursue.

Keyword Research

Keyword Research will reveal answers to 3 critical questions:

1. Is there a demand for what your site offers? If not, you need to keep moving down your list until you find something that people are already looking for.

2. How are people searching for your topic? For example, if your theme is ขJapanese foodข how are people searching for information? Are they typing in ขJapanese recipesข, ขlow sodium miso soupข, ขhistory of Japanese foodข, ขJapanese food in NYCข, etc. This part of the search will allow you to build up good topics for your site pages and provide keywords that you will use to optimize your pages to become a search engine magnet.

3. How many sites will you be competing with – does demand outstrip supply or vice versa? Right now your job is to build huge lists of highdemand, lowcompetition keywords. Be thorough and exhaustive in looking for phrases that people might use to find your site.

You cannot cut corners at this stage of the process or your business will suffer. This can be slow, tedious work but fortunately there are some good tools to help you automate your keyword research and help find the most profitable keywords to build your content around. There are some good free tools to help you make light work of this including Search It! and Overture. More comprehensive tools that provide demand, supply and profitability data that help you find profitable niches include Brainstorm It! from Site Build It! and Wordtracker.

Keyword Optimization

You may have heard the terms ขsearch engine optimization (SEO)ข, ขkeyword optimizationข, ขpage optimizationข, etc. Basically, they all refer to the same thing – making sure your pages have the right amount of keywords, placed correctly, to effectively get your site ขspideredข or found by the search engines, such as Google.

Repeating keywords throughout a site is just as important as choosing the right keywords. If you use the keywords too often the search engines will ignore them; if you don’t use them enough the search engines will not find and index them properly.

The main keyword, in our example ขJapanese foodข, should be used as part of the domain name and in the title tag of the HTML code for the page. It should also be used in the heading of the page where you tell visitors what the page is about. Also, most SEO experts agree that it is best to put your keyword in the first and last sentences of your page.

As for the body copy, there are some good rulesofthumb that help you achieve the correct กkeyword densityก or keyword repetition. Many experts say you should use the 4% 7% rule (approx. 25 words in a 500 word document). However, don’t use a single keyword over and over or your copy will seem forced. Instead, weave in some variations of the keyword (e.g. plural forms, synonyms) to ensure your content flows well and makes sense! Simply filling up a site with your keywords will not fool the search engines; rather, it may be considered spamming and your site can get banned!

Many people say that content is king, but in fact, it’s content that is keyword rich that is king. It is absolutely critical to find your best keywords and use them in the right way to attract targeted traffic. It takes some time and practice but if you persevere your web site will be built on a strong foundation.

About The Author

Written by Gail Kaufman cofounder of http://www.websitedesigngenius.com

Visit her site for information, free valuable ebooks and practical tips on how to build an affordable and profitable web site with no technical skills.

This article was posted on August 24

by Gail Kaufman

Book Summary: Effective Networking For Professiona

Book Summary: Effective Networking For Professional Success

by: Regine Azurin

This article is based on the following book:

Effective Networking for Professional Success

กHow to Make the Most of Your Personal Contactsก

by Rupert Hart, Stirling Books, 1997

ISBN 0 949 142 09 3

125 pages

We are all ขselfemployedข now.Today there is absolutely no job security. We are living in an age of corporate downsizing, and freelance consultants, or selfemployed workers are growing by the day. Networking is one skill you need to practice to get ahead and survive these uncertain times.

Wisdom in a Nutshell:

1. Networking is essential for both new jobs and business contracts.

2. Effective networking is 12 times more effective than answering advertisements

3. Advertising is becoming ineffective except on a large scale.

4. Networking helps you find hidden opportunities and can set you apart from the competition.

5. An indirect approach is better than a direct one. Use someone you know to introduce you to your target contact. Never go straight to your target without a gobetween who will put in a good word for you.

6. You can overcome your natural shyness, your fear of using people, and your fear of rejection.

The 3 key networking techniques are:

1. Build a network of partners to keep an open eye and ear for new opportunities for You.

2. Reach targeted individuals in two ways: directly or indirectly.

3. Build visibility by raising your profile. Go to every social gathering you possibly can.

Building your network is an ongoing process. You need to increase your range of contacts constantly.

Planning your campaign:

1. Define your objective

2. Select the right technique

3. Understand that ขdeal flowข or your number of prospects must be great in order to bag one new business contract.

4. Identify your target

5. Work out your positioning. This is a short statement of what you are about, what you can offer.

6. Think about what you can do for your network partners in exchange for information and contacts.

Building Network partners:

1. Talk to everyone you know about opportunities

2. Clarify what network partners can and will do for you

3. Know which contacts to build into network partners

4. Find those friendly network spiders, those types of people who just seem to know everyone.

5. Use the telephone.

How to grow and refresh your network:

1. Go out of your way to be where people are.

2. Get into the habit of being talkative.

3. Get the contact details of people you meet. Not just exchanging business cards but stapling information like birthdays, anniversaries, hobby clubs, and key information onto their cards.

4. Choose the right method for the right person.

5. Warm up longcold contacts.

How to find targeted individuals:

1. Focus on what you want to achieve and how people can help you.

2. Use your network partners to find suitable companies.

3. Gather key information on these companies.

4. Figure out who is the one with the power to hire you.

5. Find people connections and common areas of interest.

Reaching targets through network partners:

1. Find and persuade the best partner for your targeted individual.

2. Engineer an introduction.

3. Build wordofmouth exchanges about yourself.

Reaching targets directly:

1. Decide if you should write a letter or not.

2. Be able to demonstrate your achievements.

3. Have a line ready to get you past the secretary.

4. Act as though you expect to be put through.

5. Be ready to leave a short, persuasive message for the decisionmaker.

Your opening line:

1. Be cheerful, confident and straightforward.

2. Exploit connections and recommendations.

3. Mention common interests.

4. Report news of interest to the target.

5. Wait for a response. Know when to shut up.

6. Write down your opening lines before picking up the phone.

How to be visible without really trying:

1. Ask a question at a conference.

2. Make a point in a meeting.

3. Write letters to your industry magazine.

4. Introduce yourself to lots of people at an industry show or ball.

5. Buy people a drink at the bar at a lecture.

6. Discuss a book with an industry leader.

7. Wear bright ties.

8. Make people laugh.

9. Have an opinion on everything. (But keep an open mind)

10. Hand out an unusual business card.

11. Recast your CV to be a little different.

12. Take up an unusual hobby. (But not too unusual)

13. Don’t overlook using the email and Internet to communicate your cause.

About The Author

By: Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla

Regine Azurin is the President of BusinessSummaries.com, a company that provides business book summaries of the latest bestsellers for busy executives and entrepreneurs.

http://www.bizsum.com/lite.php

กA Lot Of Great Books….Too Little Time To Readก

Free Book Summaries Of Latest Bestsellers and More!

Mailto: [email protected]

BusinessSummaries is a BusinessSummaries.com service.

(c) Copyright 20012005, BusinessSummaries.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 22

by Regine Azurin

Home Based Business Success and the Power of Belie

Home Based Business Success and the Power of Belief

by: Nick A. James

There was well over one million searches last month on the internet for home businesses. This means numerous people either aren’t happy where they’re at – they need more money or they want to be home raising their kids.

Think about it – people are either working so hard to pay the bills that they can’t slow down and enjoy life or they struggle to pay the bills and thus their life is stress and endless worry. Look at all the home foreclosures each month – it’s unbelievable.

However, while most people really want what a successful home business has to offer they usually aren’t prepared to make that a reality.

Let’s talk here about belief – all great accomplishments start with a seed of belief. But for that seed of belief to grow into a great accomplishment it needs a lot of water and nourishment – especially at first.

The key is to nourish that seed of belief so it grows – that seed of belief is very vulnerable at first – it can easily die as it has no roots.

Right after someone has started a home business is when it’s most vulnerable. Your brother in law Butch will say – are you some kind of moron – those home business things don’t work – my cousins Clem and Jethro didn’t make a dime in the entire 2 hours they spent working. Of course who’s to doubt a business giant like Butch – after all he just advanced to the rank of assistant night supervisor at the Quickmart after 7 short years.

Are you on fire? I heard a preacher once say – are you on fire? Or are you trying to put out someone else’s fire.

If you’re not on fire – I mean a raging fire what happens to a tiny flicker of flame – it easily goes out with the first wind.

However, a raging fire doesn’t go out with the first wind – actually when the winds blow it just serves to make the fire grow even hotter. You can go away and that fire will continue to burn where you planted it.

Actually we are all one of the following three types of people, which one of these are you.

People that make things happen People that get on board with those who make things happen and People like Butch that wonder – what happened.

As a kid why did you never have trouble getting up on Christmas morning? Two reasons really – because you knew that something really good was going to happen to you. But two you had an unshakeable belief that there would be presents under the tree. Hence the great excitement and anticipation thus creating a great positive attitude.

The secret is extraordinary people are excited to get up everyday and so should we. By believing something great will happen each day we bring together unseen forces to help us. Plus this attitude attracts the right people to aid us in accomplishing great things.

Anybody can get excited over something good that’s a sure deal – like Christmas. However, what separates the extraordinary from the ordinary are those who have the vision to see what others can’t see in the future and take action.

There are two roads in life. One is a very broad and paved road and the amazing thing about this road is that you don’t have to look for it or have directions to find it. By simply doing nothing it will find you and in 40 years or less on this giant freeway it will take you to the twin overpopulated cities of Regret and Failure.

On the other hand there is another much harder to find road as it’s simply a bare unmarked trail at the beginning and many people walk past it everyday without noticing. But once in a while to the weary, searching traveler it opens up a glimpse of the great vision it contains waiting at trails end.

The great thing about being on this second road is you meet other travelers who make traveling easier and considerably much more fun.

Everyone on this road sees something fascinatingly different ขon down the road.ข Walt Disney saw Disneyland and Epcot Center on this road. Orville and Wilbur Wright could see the future of air travel. Henry Ford could see a nation of automobiles. Our founding fathers could see a land of free men in a country that was the greatest land of freedom of opportunity the world had ever known.

So if you dare we invite you to take this path on the ขJourney of No Regrets.ข Where the hardest step is always the first.

About The Author

Nick A. James offers informative tips and information on nutrition, health and working from home. His many years of Internet Marketing expertise puts him in unique postion to help others starting a home business (http://www.healthgojijuice.com/homebusiness.html). For free newsletter, free reports and amazing info contact him at: http://www.healthgojijuice.com.

This article was posted on April 09

by Nick A. James

The Only Way To Succeed In MLM

The Only Way To Succeed In MLM

by: Gino Harteel

Let assume you found the perfect mlm business, you did your homework of course, you contacted the head office and the local support, if available, asked some innocent questions and checked how fast and professional they responded.

You also tested your sponsor, finding out, how committed he or she is with the business of your life.

And if everybody passed the test, you finally join the opportunity of lifetime.

Thatกs what I did in 1997. As I am a good talker, I had no problem finding and introducing people to this wonderful opportunity.

I searched around and asked my upline for the perfect way to organize my downline.

To make a long story short, I have come a long way, but let me explain, what IS working very well.

Please review www.infolotto.com. It is a site of my own that I dedicate to new Euro Millions and UK Lotto players, they can become an affiliate and if they find 5 people who join the syndicate lotto, they play for free.

Well, I could register as many people as I could directly under me and receive 20 % commission, this is the first level rewards.

But instead, I transfer the new member to my second level, third level and what do I notice ?

People realize the potential that finally they will play for free and in the second phase, earn a monthly income.

In my own experience, this is the way to conduct your mlm business and youกll succeed !

It is working for me, take my advice and apply it to your own group.

Good luck.

About The Author

Gino Harteel has been involved with mlm since 1997 and has been building downlines in different ways. On www.infolotto.com you can find out how he has been building his downline with success.

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 19, 2004

by Gino Harteel

Nobody Reading Your Blog?

Nobody Reading Your Blog?

by: Bolger Redet

So you got a your own weblog. Everything looks great, you have nice layout, some nice pictures and last but not least excellent articles.

You also update your blog on a regular basis but nobody seems to read it ! You start to think where did I go wrong. Well if your blog is really good you just need to be patient. Also make sure you submit your blog to directories specialized in blogs and search engines.But even if you did all this you might get not the amount of readers you wished for.

Get unlimited readers for you blog !

Smart people started to notice blogs are very popular so they came up with a great ideas. Blogexplosion.com is such great idea. The concept is simple, if you read other blogs then other people read your blog. So the more blogs you read the more people will be reading yours. Sounds good you might think. Well it actually is a very good concept. Just register your blog for free and login, then pick a category blogs you would like to read and start reading. You must read each blog for at least half a minute, after that you can select another blog. For each blog you have red you recieve a credit. This credit means one other member is going to read your blog. Again great concept. But there is a downside, first you have to spend of lot of time reading blogs in order to get other people to read yours. You can choose to read only blogs in a specific category (of your interest) but it is still really time consuming. Other people who are reading your blog might do this because they only want other people to read their blog. You can imagine these are not the most interested readers you wish for. But blogexplosion.com also offers non members to search their directory for blogs. These visitors are potenial quality readers for your blog! Other downside is that you can not only earn credits by reading other blogs, you can also buy them ! If everybody is going to do this then this concept doesn’t do so well anymore.

About The Author

Bolger Redet is webmaster at http://www.bloxster.net a free quality weblog hosting service. Bolger is working on the bloxster.net website to provide their users tools to publish multimedia content

This article was posted on August 07

by Bolger Redet

Do You Have The Courage To Ignore The Experts?

Do You Have The Courage To Ignore The Experts?

by: Graham and Julie

Do you have the courage to ignore the experts? Do you have the willingness and ability to understand and use the power that is within you? Courage is that state of mind when you do something that you know is right for you and your loved ones and the rest of the world thinks you’re mad. The ability to make the decision and then make it happen. Courage is not progressing through life with gay abandon, ignoring all the fears. Quite the contrary. Courage is an understanding of fear. An understanding of what to fear and what not to fear. Courage is the ability to challenge what is deemed to be common sense.

The world will constantly knock the courageous because they want mediocrity. They want mediocre players and people. People who don’t rock the boat. People who do what they are told. People who willingly stay within the rules even though they know they are causing harm to others.

Pause for a moment. Just think . Does it take courage to make the latest technology go faster, make it bigger, more complex than the last edition? Does it take courage to add to what already exists? For us, courage is shown by those who fight for something new. Follow their dream and see the benefit of going in the opposite direction.

The question is do you have the courage to do what you want? To touch your potential. Do you have the courage to speak out for what you believe in? Do you have the courage to go for it? Remember when you were a child. Were you curious? Were you a risk taker then? No doubt you had lots of courage when you were a child. You did many things based on a focus and no evidence. As a child no doubt you trusted the processes of life. So what’s different now?

If you are now feeling a huge resistance to going forward to naming your aim and objective, to realising your potential. Don’t worry it’s normal. The resistance is a normal way of moving forward. It’s your natural brake that is saying hang on a minute lets have another look at this. Every time you meet resistance within yourself or others it means you are growing because only as you start to think and state something outside your box do you encounter opposition. So don’t be discouraged and write yourself off. Stay with it.

You see, the feeling of fear and not following your beliefs was no doubt planted in your childhood. The time when you were told that you ought to value money. That you ought to save. You need to be careful, you need to have heroes and follow others. Perhaps instead we should have been taught to respect money but to be generous with it rather than be thrifty. Perhaps we should have been taught to go for our dreams rather than settle for security. As Andrea Dworkin, the feminist and civil rights activist, stated in one of her speeches:

By the time we are women, fear is as familiar to us as air. It is our element. We live in it, we inhale it, we exhale it, and most of the time we do not even notice it.

We think it applies to men as well as women. Well at least Graham says it applies to him. Every time he thinks of stepping out of his box, fear is present.

So there isn’t a fearless state. We just have to accept it and carry on. What is that phrase? ขFeel the fear and do it anywayข. Start by looking at your aim and objective. What is your aim? Do you have one? Is it a general I want to earn $50,000 a year or is it more focussed on an activity. For example, I want to tap into, understand and use the power that is within me. I want to assist others to do the same. All you need is an aim and the willingness, the courage to make effort to implement it.

Once you have your aim the hard work really starts. Now it’s time to practice, practice, practice. To read all you can around your subject. To buy all the books that will help you. Go on courses that will help. Meet successful people in the sphere of your chosen aim. Pick everyone’s brain. Whatever needs to be done to reach your aim.

Don’t worry about your capabilities they will come. If you have chosen the aim from your heart, from your subconscious then the capabilities will follow. How do you know your aim is chosen from your subconscious? Because you have no doubts about it. It feels comfortable. More than that it makes you get up in the morning.

As they say, the journey begins with a first step. Now; do you have the courage to take it? Do you have the courage to ignore the experts and do what you really want to do in the world?

It’s up to you.

Courage charms us, because it indicates that a man loves an idea better than all things in the world,

that he is thinking neither of his bed,

nor his dinner, nor his money, but will venture all to

put in action the invisible thought of his mind.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 1882)

Good Luck

Graham and Julie

www.desktopmeditation.com

About The Author

Graham and Julie

To see more of our work please go to: www.desktopmeditation.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 21, 2004

by Graham and Julie