One Home Business with Everything You Need To Succ

One Home Business with Everything You Need To Succeed With You’re Online Business

by: Michel Richer

Are you getting more and more frustrated with the Internet marketing scene…If you’re like most Internet users…your email inbox is bombarded with getrichquick schemes., but nothingกs working …and now you’re wondering if anyone out there will ever really help you, or if they’re all just trying to take money from you!

Letกs face it, we would all like more hours in the day… more time to enjoy with the kids, more time on the golf course… even more time with the spouse!

But at the moment your Internet business seems to be taking up more and more time, without the fabulous rewards you keep hearing about, right?

I know you’re trying to hang in there because people are obviously making fortunes… but you’re getting near the end of your patience, right?

Let me ask you a question…

Which situation makes more sense…

Buying more and more ebooks youกll never read, helping to line the pockets of various Internet marketers without making any money for yourself…

or…

Concentrating on one website where everything is made available to help you go from nowhere to success, and where the owner of the site has a real interest in seeing you do well?

So now you know why you spend more and more money without actually finding out how to MAKE MONEY!

Letกs put an end to this madness right now!

You only need ! One website. One Home Business with everything you need to succeed on the internet. Simple, eh?

Here is a partial list of what you will get…

You can sign up FREE, get a FREE Website, and test drive the program for as long as you want at absolutely no cost or obligation EVER.

A lucrative compensation plan. Tens of thousands of SFIกs members are already receiving monthly commission checks, totaling over $3 MILLION dollars since July 1st.

SFI understands the Internet. SFI itself is totally databasedriven which means that almost everything happens in realtime. From SFIกs powerful central Admin site, thereกs online, realtime genealogies, plus numerous other tools to manage your business such as instant group messages via email.

Perfect for the กlittle guy.ก There are no group volume requirements. In fact, the toughest thing you ever have to do with SFI is give away free stuff.

Refer just three new members to SFI and you can automatically start earning a portion of EVERY sale…EVERY month…made by SFIกs OVER 3.5 MILLION affiliates and members worldwide.

FREE 24Hour Professional Consultation. Each SFI affiliate is assigned three leaders to provide free consultation and support.

The Internet is exploding worldwide. USA TODAY recently reported that over 170,000 new people are getting online every 24 hours. Many smart business people are becoming millionaires on the Internet. And this is just the beginning! With SFI you can grab your share.

Thanks to the Internet and SFIกs smartlydesigned infrastructure, your business expenses are minimal. You can contact thousands on the Internet via email, search engines, directories, free ads, etc. All free! No door to door sales. No postage. No printing. No brochures. No tapes. No videos. No long distance calls. Instant communication worldwide.

Don’t know anything about marketing on the Internet? Included FREE when you sign up with SFI is an ongoing course in making money on the Internet. Itกs emailed to you FREE 12 times per month, plus thereกs also a Website of all the past lessons. EVEN IF YOU END UP DOING NOTHING WITH SFI, GET SIGNED UP AND GET THIS INVALUABLE COURSE!!!

FREE Coop. SFI has provided over 700,000 of its affiliates with free leads. Join SFI now (for FREE) and you may start receiving free leads (leads that can add to your monthly commission check) within hours.

That just a small SAMPLING of the benefits the SFI program delivers. The best way to learn all about SFI is to sign up as an affiliate. Thereกs no cost or obligation.

http://Ezinfocenter.com/297607.7/FREE

Copyright © Michel Richer

PERMISSIONS TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in its entirety free of charge, electronically or in print, provided it appears with the included copyright and author’s resource box with live website link.

http://hombyz.com

About The Author

Michel Richer is the Business Manager and Webmaster of http://Hombyz.com. He is dedicated to helping you succeed on the Internet. With over 10 years experience in internet business and a solid reputation in the industry. You can take a look at his website at: http://hombyz.com for Your Home Business Success !!!

This article was posted on April 29, 2004

by Michel Richer

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

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

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

Do You Have to Be an Expert to Teach Someone in Yo

Do You Have to Be an Expert to Teach Someone in Your MLM?

by: Gobala Krishnan

กHow can I teach others when I am not successful myself? Thatกs ethically wrong…ก

If you’re in an MLM program, you might have heard that question from one of your affiliates. You may even have asked the same question before. I know I have, and I get it all the time too from people in my group.

Many people say this when I mention to them that a big part of being in an MLM program is to help others กduplicateก your efforts. Teach them to fish, instead of giving them the fish. If your affiliates are not able to duplicate your efforts, at least to a certain degree, it will be very hard to see real exponential growth in your organization. So is it wrong to teach someone when you’re not กup thereก yourself?

Well, it really depends on WHAT you’re teaching them.

My father thought me to ride the bicycle, and I have thought others to ride the bicycle. My father was not an Olympic cyclist; he was simply teaching me what he knew. Nothing more, nothing less. And to this very day, I appreciate him for it, for otherwise I would never learn something as easy and as fun as that.

So teaching others what you know is perfectly OK! Itกs human nature to teach. Whether you realize it or not, you do it all the time, with family members, friends and spouses.

Hereกs what I consider ethically wrong…

Itกs wrong to teach people how to be an Olympic cyclist, when you’re not an Olympic champion yourself. Itกs common sense, right? You cannot teach someone to reach the top of the mountain if you have not shed tears and blood to get up there yourself. Doing otherwise IS unethical, for you’re only leading someone down the wrong road.

So even if you have been in MLM for only one day, always remember that you DO have something to teach your downline affiliates. Simply sharing your experience, in most cases, is more than enough. Tell them what you like about the company, the products, the opportunity, etc. Tell them the truth about what you feel.

If the question is technical in nature or beyond your expertise, please say so to your affiliates, and refer the affiliate to your upline leaders, corporate support, websites, or online forums for more information. There is nothing wrong in showing them where they can get more info if you can’t provide that info yourself.

This is ok… after all, network marketing is supposed to be all about teamwork, right?

Don’t recommend anything youกve not personally tried yourself. Don’t teach anything you’re not sure about. Don’t make up stories. Don’t fake the figures. Don’t fake your emotions. Don’t give false hope.

Most importantly, don’t doubt the relevance and significance of your own knowledge. Confucius said that กIf three men walk with me, one can be my teacherก. We can all learn from each other, and thinking otherwise is a mistake. It’s only your way of thinking that stops you from sharing and touching another human being in a sincere way. And you’ll need to change that in order to be successful in MLM.

You cannot, and probably should not, teach someone about the road ahead of you, no matter how many books you’ve read, and how many seminars you’ve attended. However, you can always look back at the road behind you and teach them how to get to where you are.

So share your knowledge with everyone if your team. There is always something that they can learn from you, and there is always a way you can help them to duplicate your efforts.

How many have you helped this week…?

Copyright 2005 Gobala Krishnan

About The Author

Gobala Krishnan is a member and a writer for the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs, the perfect knowledge tool for network marketers to train and grow their organization. Visit his site at http://www.homebusinessassociation.com/IAHBE to get more info.

This article was posted on February 20

by Gobala Krishnan

The New 5 Pกs!

The New 5 Pกs!

by: Jaruda Boonsuwan

NO! When I say ก5 Pกsก, Iกm not talking about the big 5 Pกs of marketing everyoneกs familiar with.

Here Iกm NOT referring to Product, Price, Place, Promotion and Package!

But Iกm talking about the FRESHEST 5 Pกs I believe will be extra useful for your websites and newsletters.

Are you ready to discover the hottest 5 Pกs?

1. P.S.

This writing technique alone will shoot your sales to the roof!

Count how many times this week you skip reading the whole sales copies and go right for a P.S.

We don’t like reading a long letter. Most of the time, we skip. So, itกs a clever idea to give your prospects a big bang with a P.S. They never skip reading a P.S.

Perhaps they’re too bored or too tired to read กanotherก sales letter. Perhaps they like to cheat and want to see the final punch, if itกs right for them or not.

So, make sure you wrap up all of your ICEMELTING กselling pointsก in here! Shrink your message. Make it precise. Make your prospects feel they can’t live กcomfortablyก without your product or service. After all, itกs your last shot to make a sale!

2. PASS

People love a free pass, even if itกs only temporary!

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to let people type in the password to access your restricted area. Itกs not the end of the world. Hereกs where you can get the script for FREE at…

http://www.dynamicdrive.com

Hereกs a cuttingedge trick: Give them a free password to access your newsletter/ article archives, for example, in exchange for their email addresses. Do not give them the password right at your website. Instead, send them the password by email.

Now, this is important…Set up an autoresponder to do this task. Make sure they get their passwords instantly. They can’t wait another minute longer to access the free section. Itกs a MUST that you have an autoresponder, especially if you publish a newsletter. Get it at…

http://www.mailloop.com/t.cgi/769736/

Now this is important! Do not make this offer sound like a junk! You can say that you’re giving away กfree membershipก. Say it is a กprivilegedก or a กVIPก pass. Or simply say that they’re ‘the chosen oneก. This way, your prospects will be eager to get the free access you’re offering. Itกs human nature. We all want to be a Very Important Person!

3. PROMISE

Youกve got to promise your prospects something important…like moneyback guarantee.

But don’t just say กoneyear, moneyback guaranteeก!

Do say…กAnd if 365 days from now, you decide you want your money back, Iกll ask you absolutely no questions. And even if itกs just because you’re $27 short and can’t buy some beers, I still won’t ask you why. Youกll get your money back as soon as you say so. I can guarantee you that!ก

4. PICK OF THE DAY

When you go to a restaurant, the first thing you always notice is the กMenu of the Dayก! Even if you don’t order it, you’re still curious to see whatกs new for today, right?

The same thing works with your website. Once your prospects leave your site without signing up for your free newsletter, your business depends on pure LUCK.

Too bad people don’t buy the first time they see you. And if you still want to win them back, you might have to spend some more bucks on advertising.

Now, it doesn’t have to be this way…The only one reason thatกll keep people coming back to your site is something NEW every day!

Showcase the กPick of the Dayก. And theyกll come back to your site from time to time to see whatกs new.

See? You don’t even have to pay for the traffic. It can be ‘tip of the Dayก, กSite of the Weekก, กStar of the Monthก, ….anything you can think of!

5. PIECE OF ADVICE

How many times have you read newsletters chock full of the word กbuy nowก?

This is the mistake that can drive your subscribers away faster than jet speed! Your prospects want to read something useful. They simply don’t want another junk mail. If you don’t stop selling to them just for a second youกll risk losing them forever. Theyกll disappear กout of your sightก.

So, in your newsletter, try to give them little tips that teach them how to make their lives easier.

Suppose you’re selling a beauty product, instead of hard selling, try giving them a short makeup tip of how to make their lips look fuller.

If you’re an affiliate for a used car website and running your own ezine, instead of selling cars all the time, try giving them a reliable tip that teaches them how not to get ripped off buying a used car.

P.S. Give it a try. Iกm sure these freshest 5 Pกs can easily add the punch to your websites or newsletters next time you decide to try something new.

About The Author

The author, Jaruda Boonsuwan, is offering oneofitskind, deadlyeffective copywriting ecourse at NO charge.

Beat your competitors now at http://www.groundbreakcopywriting.com

This article was posted on October 23, 2002

by Jaruda Boonsuwan

Have You Got Your Ear To The Ground Or Your Head I

Have You Got Your Ear To The Ground Or Your Head In The Sand?

by: Mike Cheney

What happened on your website yesterday? What about last week or last month? How about in the past hour? How many visitors come to your website as a result of using a search engine? How long do people stay on your website for on average? Which pages do your visitors go to?

If you don’t know the answer to some or all of these questions you are effectively operating a website blind.

This is like riding a bike blindfolded and expecting to arrive at the right destination. Itกs impossible and the likelihood is that you will crash, wreck the bike, lose pride and get left behind.

If you don’t know whatกs happening with your website or how people are using it and how they are finding it how can you hope to ever improve the site? Sure you can rely on secondguessing or asking the opinion of a handful of people but thatกs hardly going to give you accurate information on which to base a decision is it?

กMike I know what you’re saying. Itกs true that I need to track whatกs happening but I don’t have the Xก

X = Money?

X = Time?

X = Knowledge of where to start?

X = Need, as I already do this?

If you answered กMoneyก this would seem to be a valid reason but you can get your hands on the basic information about how your site is performing for nothing (ask your developer or web hosting company for starters and theyกll be able to point you in the right direction or check out the resources below)

If you answered ‘timeก Iกm sorry but if thatกs the case why do you even have a website if you don’t have the time to measure how itกs performing? Would you behave the same way with your business? Thought not..

If you answered กKnowledge of where to startก then this is fair enough. To get started try these resources that will help you:

http://www.cryer.co.uk/resources/websitetracking.htm

http://www.netiq.com/webtrends/default.asp

http://www.statcounter.com/

If you answered กI don’t have the need, as I already do thisก congratulations you get a weekกs free pass to the Smug Club. But seriously though you might already get all the statistics about how your website is performing but do you spend time viewing them, interpreting them and most importantly USING them? When was the last time you used the statistics about your websiteกs performance to implement a change on your site and then track the results on subsequent statistics to see what effect it had? Itกs all gone quiet in the Smug corner…

Feeling uncomfortable with all these questions yet? You should be. If you’re not happy with your website you need to dig a little deeper and ask what it is exactly that you’re not happy with. Did you set definite, timelinked and realistic expectations for the websiteกs performance prior to starting out? If you’re not getting the leads or sales you had hoped for you need to work out why this is the case scratching your head won’t do it. Tracking the performance of your site and viewing detailed statistics on how people use it won’t give you definitive answers either but it will propel you several miles in the right direction.

You are the doctor and your website is the patient you need to connect it to an ECG and start monitoring and recording everything. How else can you work out how to make the patient better? Or maybe you have the perfect patient who doesn’t actually have anything wrong with them?

Mike Cheney

www.magnet4web.com

About The Author

You can get free access to lots more articles that will help you to improve your websiteกs performance plus a Free Bonus Special Report กHow To Turn Your Website Into A Customer Magnetก worth a value of £47 ($85) here: http://www.magnet4web.com/website_services/?page=freeguide

This article was posted on August 07, 2004

by Mike Cheney

Information The Art Of Selling

Information The Art Of Selling

by: Dave Collins

Money may well make the world go round, but facts, details and data oil the machine that beats at the heart of it. We supposedly live in the age of information, yet many of us seem unable to use it to its full, and allow ourselves to drift along on a sea of missed opportunities.

If we can take it for granted that you have a good product, it should be a safe assumption that the single most powerful marketing tool at your disposal is information the simple truth. You’re not selling a duff product, trying to convince punters that underneath the rusty exterior lies a power beast… nor are you trying to sell ice to the Eskimos. You’re trying to sell your software to people who either need it, or could use it to the point where they’re actually prepared to buy it. So how do we get them? With information tools.

Information Tools

An information tool is any kind of device that you can use to show yourself and/or your product. Like any other tool, its primary purpose is to make life easier and more efficient. In our line of work, the most commonly used is a signature file. Your signature file should be around four to six lines of simple text, to be used at the end of every single email, letter, report or newsgroup posting. No exceptions; in your business correspondence, to your friends, family, everything and everyone.

The text should contain all your critical contact data at the very least your full name, your company or product, URL of your website, email address, and some sort of slogan or catchphrase. If you have a work phone number, then make sure you include it. Ensure that you also include the email address in the signature having it hidden away in the ReplyTo part of the email client does little good if someone prints out your letter, or even cuts and pastes the content into a new document or file. Have it there for all to see. Have you ever clicked on a link in a signature, just out of interest? You’re not alone.

The next tool is the stock text. Chances are that you find yourself writing the same text time and time again the same phrases, features and pricing information. Write them out in full, so that you have them there for use as needed. As well as saving you time in the future, having them available will also ensure that you’re sending out a wellwritten version of the information, that includes all relevant details, without forgetting a thing. Never rely on your memory alone. When you try and describe your software at the end of a long, problem filled day, you won’t do it justice.

The actual content of the descriptions is critical here. Make sure you write the text in the first person either I or we. Thereกs nothing wrong with referring to yourself as either of the two but make sure you’re consistent. Make sure you also use positive phrasing, and keep it simple. Be as concise and precise as possible; an exact number looks far better than vagueisms such as loads, lots, many or heaps. If your writing skills aren’t so good, get someone to help. Chances are you’re going to use these texts many times, so itกs worth getting the content just right.

A newsletter is another useful information tool, and can be a great way of keeping in touch with your customers or anyone else who may interested in your product. They are fairly easy to setup and administer, but pay attention to a few dos and don’ts. Make sure that you include details of your own product but don’t let it be the main content of the newsletter. If all you’re sending is a longwinded advert, people will unsubscribe quicker than you can whisper กlost saleก.

Again, content is king. If you can provide some sort of tips or information that people either need or will find useful, theyกll want to receive your newsletter, but be careful not to drive them away. If you send out a mailing every week, some are bound to get fed up and unsubscribe. While you’re at it, make sure itกs easy for someone to subscribe and unsubscribe; itกs very bad form to make it difficult to do so. Some sort of stock text explaining how to do this is a very good idea.

Another golden rule is to stick to pure, clean ASCII text. You may like HTML in your mailings, but if the recipientกs email client doesn’t they’re gone. In brief, useful is good; short and sweet is even better. And before you announce your new mailing list, make sure that you have the time for it. You can end up looking awfully silly when you close before issue one even comes out.

Press releases are probably the most wellknown information tool of all. Iกm not going to go into the whatกs and howกs here take a look through past ASPects issues, and check out Al Harbergกs tutorial at www.dpdirectory.com. Once you have your press release, use it. Make it easily available onsite, and keep it updated when you have new versions or changes. Long after your press release has been sent, you can still be putting it to good use.

Take Advantage Of Your FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions are another golden information opportunity; chances are that youกve already read over a fair number of these yourself, and it may even be one of the first things you look for on a site. I know I do. Practically speaking, you can’t throw every bit of information you have on the front or main page of your website. It doesn’t look good, and will simply overwhelm most visitors. But when a person goes to read your FAQ, they already know the basics, and want to know more. Feed them.

Use your FAQ wisely. Don’t use it as a data dump, but do include the questions you get asked the most. If you can, also make it downloadable, as a PDF or HTML file. Make sure you also put your contact details at the end of the document, something along the lines of กWhat do I do if I have more questions?ก . Theyกve asked for the information, so don’t be shy to give it them. I list my email address, website URL, phone and fax numbers, mailing address and ICQ number as standard. All have been used on numerous occasions.

Many email clients also allow some sort of auto responder to be setup that can send out a stock text when a certain address or specific subject is received. Better still, many webhosts have this sort of feature.

We supposedly live in an age of information overload, where quality loses the battle to quantity on an ongoing basis. Don’t let your product become another casualty. Keep it short, keep it sharp, and use it wherever and whenever you can. Think of every opportunity to write an email or note as an opportunity to reach a customer; don’t waste it. Be seen, be sold.

Copyright 2004 Dave Collins

About The Author

Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UKbased company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com.

This article was posted on December 09, 2004

by Dave Collins

Advertising for the perplexed part II

Advertising for the perplexed part II

by: Dave Collins

The previous article examined some of the basic ideas involved in advertising. We looked at why a company may want to advertise, the factors involved in choosing a suitable venue and the costs and time involved. We also explored some of the practicalities to consider and how to research your potential venue.

Once youกve chosen where you’re going to advertise, the next critical factor will be how well you know the target audience. The more information that you have to hand, the better you can tailor your content around their needs and expectations.

You need to make sure that you speak in their language, try to give them what they’re already used to, or grab their attention with something new. But be warned, these are pushy and innovative times. Whatever gimmick or spin you use to stand out may well have been tried many times before, so don’t overrely on it.

Like a good informative web page, the ad needs to first of all catch their attention, and compel them to click on it.

There should be more focus on the benefits of the software than the features, and the ad should really push the download or sale. It should also be as compelling and striking as possible not easy when you’re limited by a number of characters, file size or space to work with!

Bear in mind that like any strategy, your advertising will only be as strong as its weakest link. Don’t spend thousands of dollars on good placement, only to use some awful homecreated banner that you knocked together with Paint Shop Pro 4 three years ago.

If graphic design is not your strong point, then get a firm to design some decent graphics for you. The same goes with writing the ad copy. Most people can write, but few are writers. Try to make sure that someone with more than a thesaurusdictionary gift set writes your copy for you.

Aside from the wording, the basic market principles apply. Grab their attention, tempt them, and compel them to act. ก50% discountก is eye catching, as is some form of กonly valid todayก type of offer.

But when the potential customer clicks on your ad, you’re only half way there. You now need to make sure that the page they land on carries on the good work. Realistically, many will click on the ad out of idle curiosity, and very few (if any) will have made up their minds to purchase already.

You should therefore use a separate landing page, as opposed to your regular main website page. It should contain the same information and use the same language, tone and focus of the ad, but now you’re not restricted as to what you can do, or how much space you have to work with. Here, you have all the space you need to go allout with the sales drive.

On a technical level, make sure that your landing page is not linked from anywhere in your website, so as to ensure that everyone coming to this page has been driven there by the ad.

If you’re sharing a landing page, then at least make sure that you use a unique referral string. To be able to evaluate the success of the ad, itกs critical that you can distinguish these visitors from the regular site visitors.

This brings us neatly onto the subject of tracking, without which you are effectively deaf, dumb and blind to the effects of the ad. A unique landing page on your website is ideal, and if possible, make this point to a separate payment page as well. You can also use cookies or referral strings in order to sharpen the accuracy of the tracking.

Usage of decent web log analysis software should let you see how many people came to the landing page, how long they spent there, which links they then clicked on, who downloaded from there, who purchased, and perhaps even who came back to the website later.

The analysis and followup of the campaign is surprisingly often completely overlooked. This is a great loss, as in some respects this is one of the most important stages of the whole process.

When it comes to gauging the level of generated sales and registrations, you need to take into account the final date of the ad, plus the full length of the trial version and then add a little extra time. Some may view the ad, click, download the software, but may not install it for a few days or even longer.

As an example, a company may choose to run a series of ads in a newsletter that is sent out from Monday to Friday of a given week.

Some people may not respond to the ad until the following weekend (or later), and only then download your thirty day trial. So we’re already looking at 35 days after the ad was first run, and thatกs assuming that they install the software as soon as they download it. Some people may even register after the trial has elapsed. So don’t go writing it off as a failure on day two of your advertising campaign.

To accurately evaluate the success of the campaign, you need to go back to your original goals.

If your primary goal was to achieve a higher level of sales, then it should be reasonably easy to see how many were generated by the ad. As with everything related to advertising, your data won’t be 100% accurate, but it should give you a good idea.

If the primary goal was increased exposure, then you should be looking at how many people were exposed to the ad, how many viewed the landing page content and website, and perhaps even downloaded and purchased the software.

At this point, there are four possible scenarios.

(1) The ad appears to be successful.

Your goals have been achieved as a direct result of the ad, and more advertising with this vendor may be considered for the future. Even with this success, don’t rule out the fact that your figures can be further improved, but don’t forget that they can worsen too.

You should also be careful not to immediately engage in a longterm contract with this vendor. Not only because there are other advertising options out there, but also because any ad has a certain lifespan until it reaches its saturation point. At the very least consider trying different products, wording (or graphics) or even a different type of offer or discount.

(2) The ad doesn’t appear to be successful.

There has been little generated in terms of exposure or sales, and you can’t help but feel that the venture has been a failure.

The first thing you have to do is to try to determine the reason for this.

It may be the product itself, the ad copy, the ad, or perhaps the targeting was off. It may even be as a result of the ad placement, or the offer or discount not being generous enough.

If the ad failed, it is very important to ascertain exactly why. Don’t just dismiss it as a failure, or a กbadก place to advertise, and don’t be afraid to go back to the vendor for feedback. If you explain that you’re interested in making this work, as opposed to complaining that they didn’t deliver the results you expected, youกll usually get a positive response. See what they can do to help, after all, itกs in their interests that you walk away satisfied by your experience.

(3) The ad appears to breakeven, but little more than this.

Go back and read number (2). Not being a success counts as a failure.

(4) You’re not sure whether the ad was worthwhile or not.

There has been some response, but itกs difficult to see whether it was a worthwhile experience or not.

Itกs very important that you get to the bottom of this. Go through your statistics again, and filter through your logs to see exactly what the visitors did, where they clicked, and why they behaved as they did.

It is extremely important that at the end of the process, you know whether it was worthwhile or not. Failure to do so will result either in a wastage of money or a wastage of opportunities.

Itกs all too easy to throw money away on bad advertising. Itกs just as easy to be scaredoff by risks, or for that matter throw potential opportunities away. Like any form of marketing, there are no guarantees that youกll achieve the results you hope for. But by failing to try, you’re absolutely guaranteed never to reach them. The best you can do is to prepare the ground and cover all options as thoroughly as possible, take a deep breath and then take the plunge. Be seen, be sold.

Copyright 2005 Dave Collins

About The Author

Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UKbased company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com

This article was posted on February 03, 2005

by Dave Collins

Sales As A Positive Experience

Sales As A Positive Experience

by: Don Osborne

No matter what your age or stage in life, some words come with preconceived meaning. กSalesก is one of them. For most people, it means being put in a position to have to buy something you don’t want at a price you can’t afford. Therefore, how do you conduct a critical element of the small business marketing process without incurring the negative impact of the word กsalesก?

It starts with you. Check your own attitude about the word. What does กsalesก mean to you? How do you feel when you’re the one being sold? How much of that feeling do you transfer to the experience you’re now being asked to conduct as a small business owner?

Next, putting aside any of your own negative feelings, what exactly are you offering your potential customers whatกs in it for them? How you answer this question is the starting point for a กPositive Experienceก for your potential customer. When a person really understands the pain youกll helped them relieve or the joy youกll help them experience as a result of your product or service, theyกll see your กsalesก process as a positive experience.

So, whatกs the lesson to be learned? Develop a positive, personal understanding about your own products and services. Determine what you’re selling in terms of itกs value to the potential customer. Present that value in a solutions manner. Result: youกll turn your sales process into a Positive Experience for both you and your customer.

กLearn & Doก Action Steps:

1. Write a 3 5 sentence description of how you feel when you’re the customer?

2. Select the product or service you’re most passionate about. List 5 incentives with matching features and benefits you feel have a high value to your customer.

3. Role play with a trusted friend the perfect, interactive presentation of the product or service youกve selected.

About The Author

Don Osborne is the Author/Publisher of THE PROFIT PUZZLE A Free Small Business Course http://www.ProfitPuzzle.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 29, 2004

by Don Osborne

The One Simple Trick That Can Double Your Adsense

The One Simple Trick That Can Double Your Adsense Revenue

by: Brad Bahr

Iกve been working with Googleกs Adsense program for a while now. If you’re not already in the program, why not take a look at it now at https://www.google.com/adsense. I really like Adsense. It makes me money and itกs easy to work with. Just some simple copy & paste into your webpage and you’re done. Right?

Wrong! You can do it that way if you want. Who knows? Maybe youกll get lucky and get a lot of clicks. But if you’re really serious about making a lot of money with the program, you’re going to have to tweak it a little.

Iกve invested quite a bit of time experimenting with the program. When I first signed up, I got some clicks and made a tiny bit of money. That wasn’t good enough. I knew there must be a way to get more of my visitors to click on the ads.

Google has a strict policy about not pointing to the ads in any way or asking people to click on them, so there were two things I couldn’t do. What else was there?

Then I remembered reading an article once that discussed the psychological impact of colors on the human mind. I started researching everything I could find on the subject.

After a lot of reading, many tests and periods of watching my clicks go up and down, I found the one color combination that seemed to work the best.

Testing previously done at supermarkets had revealed that the same product could pull more sales from just changing the colors of the label. What were these colors? Red and yellow! The combination of these two colors has an immediate impact on the person who sees them. They make your eyes stop and focus. They pull your eyes right to that part of the page. They grab your attention! Iกm not sure exactly why the combination of red and yellow does this, but it does. On one of my sites, I changed my Adsense ads to a bright red border and a yellow background with black text and URL.

My click through rate more than doubled with just that one simple change. Thatกs what worked on my site. Your siteกs color scheme may work better with a slightly different color combination. Try lots of different color variations. Make a change in the morning and let it ride for the whole day. The next morning, try a different set of colors. Change the border, background, text. Change everything you can. Most importantly, keep detailed records of the color scheme you used, click ratio and revenue generated.

After youกve done all the experimenting you want to, go back to the most profitable one and let it run for a week or so and see how it does. Iกm always trying different colors even after my run of good clicks with red and yellow. There are a lot of color combinations to choose from. You never know when youกll find just the right one.

(c) Brad Bahr All Rights reserved

http://www.nononsenseinternetmarketing.com

About The Author

Brad Bahr is the author of the NEW eBook: กHow to ‘reallyก Make Money on the Internetก. Itกs filled with no nonsense, practical information. To get your FREE copy of the book, go to ==> http://www.nononsenseinternetmarketing.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19, 2004

by Brad Bahr

Making Money On eBay Can Be So Simple, Just Let So

Making Money On eBay Can Be So Simple, Just Let Somebody Else Do All The Hard Work For You

by: Ian David Major

OK, so youกve been bitten by the eBay bug!

Youกve ransacked the attic, the basement and every other room in your home to find things to sell on eBay.

When friends and neighbors ask you where everything has gone, you tell them that you’re going for the กMinimalist Lookก.

Youกve attended every Yard Sale in the area and some a lot further away.

Now your garage is so full of junk your thinking of having a yard sale of your own, but whats the point, youกd only buy it all yourself to sell on eBay.

You love eBay and you’re determined to make a good living from it.

So things will have to change.

Youกve sold all of your unwanted belongings.

Visiting Yard Sales is taking up all of your spare time and your income from eBay does not match the effort you’re putting in.

What you really need is someone who will:

Give you access to a product that has a good profit margin.

Stock that product for you.

Mail the product to your customer when you make a sale.

Sounds like a tall order doesn’t it?

Yet this exactly what you get when you use a wholesaler who also dropships.

Dropshipping

So what exactly is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a way of selling and distributing products whereby the supplier of the product (the dropshipper)sends the goods directly to the end user (your customer) on the retailers behalf (thats you).

OK. So instead of constantly trying to find items from yard sales etc you simply study a list of Dropshippers and decide what product or products you would like to sell on eBay.

Quite often the Dropshipper will supply you with all the sales material you need to create your eBay Gallery Picture and eBay Sales Page.

The dropshipper stocks the product so you don’t have to.

You put your chosen product up for sale on eBay, somebody buys it and eBay provides you with the buyers name and address. Now you simply contact your dropshipper and give them the name and address of your customer and the details of the product they have bought and the dropshipper will deliver it to them.

At this point you pay the dropshipper for the product.

The great thing here is that you got payed by your customer before you had to pay the dropshipper.

So your customer pays you the retail price for your product, you pay the dropshipper the wholesale price and you keep the difference as your profit in addition to saving time and effort.

Dropship Directories

Go to your favourite search engine and type in Dropship Directories and you will find that there are dozens and dozens of them to choose from.

A word of warning here. Most of these directories are a waste of time, a waste of money or both.

Quite often what you will receive, should you buy one these directories, is a list of กMiddlemenก not true wholesalers.

I don’t need to emphasise that you will make more money if you by direct from the wholesaler.

My first recommendation is to thoroughly check out any Dropshipping source that you might be interested in.

For example.

Can you find the product cheaper via another Dropshipper?

Are their postage and packing charges reasonable?

Do they carry ample stock of your particular choice of product/s?

(Thereกs nothing worse than selling an item only to find that your Dropshipper is out of stock and you are unable to provide your customer with the product they have paid for).

My second recommendation would be to check out the Dropshipping Companies at:

http://www.worldwidebrands.com

To sum up.

Don’t Stock It.

Don’t Mail It.

Don’t Pay For It, Untill You Have Been Paid.

Leave it to the Dropshippers to do that for you!

So the next time you’re looking for something to sell on eBay, give some thought to using Dropshipping as a way of making you’re eBay experience a whole lot easier and a whole lot more profitable.

About The Author

For 12 Killer Dropshipping SECRETS for eBay Sellers visit: http://www.ebayarticles.com/12KillerDropshippingSecrets.html

Ian D Major is the creator of www.eBayArticles.com, the one stop resource for information, reports and articles about all things eBay.

To subscribe for free to eBayArticles and get Articles, Reports and Bonuses delivered to your inbox weekly, just send a blank email to: [email protected]

CopyRight 2005 Ian D.Major

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 05

by Ian David Major