09. April 2012 · Comments Off on The Adventures And Profits Of Making An Adult Movie · Categories: Make Money

First of all if you are looking for porn or links to porn in this article, I suggest you move on.

This article just details my whimsical decision to make an adult movie and profit from it. I was sitting at home, I was bored and I was trying to think of a fun way to make a little extra money. I don’t know why but I turned on my computer and starting searching for small business ides and one item I came across was that the porn industry was making ten billion dollars a year, and that the fastest growing segment in the porn industry was true amateur movies whether they where on DVD or on the web. Well, this set my mind to racing about a hundred miles an hour. I was not sure I could make a porn movie. I worried about the ethical aspects of it, but more importantly I wondered what would happen if my friends, or worse, my parents where to see me acting in a porn movie! This was my biggest fear, and of course in my mind I was looking for ways to say yes I am going to make a porn movie instead of ways to say I cannot make a porn movie. So the solution was simple. I would not be in the movies, or if I were, I would never have my face on camera. As far as the being recognized, the issue was solved in my mind. My second fear was what about the legality of making a porn movie, I sure did not want to go to jail so after a little research I found out that to hire adult models you had to get two copies of their identification and have them sign a models release, and keep records on file for as long as the movie was available on DVD or the web. So that was one more issue that was settled in my mind. Next I had to wonder what kind of equipment I needed to shoot an amateur porn movie. I already had a good MiniDV digital camera, but I needed to get some lights. If you have ever seen families’ home videos the lighting is always bad, so lighting the subjects is going to be important. I made several trips to photography stores and I found out that lights where expensive, so after a little time on an Internet auction site I purchased some inexpensive lights, and they worked just fine. Finally and perhaps the most important part, I had to find an attractive female model that was willing to take her clothes off and be on video for the word to see. I was pretty sure that this would be the hard part, but it was surprisingly easy. After placing a few ads on Internet sites seeking adult models my email was flooded with responses from women ready to be in my video.

I made contact with a couple of the women and settled on which model I would like to hire, I made her and offer, told her exactly what I wanted her to do, and she accepted my offer. Within twenty-four hours we had shot the video, and I paid her. I was surprised how easy it had all gone up unto this point. I did not realize it at the time, but the hardest part was distributing the movie and making money off of it. The Best and most effective way, was to build a web site, but I really did not want to put all my effort in to it. So after a little research, I found there was several companies that would distribute my DVD for forty percent of the profit. After a month I had recovered my money and made a little profit, and I still get check from that movie a couple of years later. I could have quit all my other jobs, and worked at this full time and maybe even been quite successful, but I had other interest. It was fun and profitable, and maybe I have not made my last movie just yet.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Product Launching And The Emotional Investment · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Product launching can be a bit of an unnerving experience.

Imagine what it was like for executives to roll out products like the wii, iPhone and Xbox? The manufacturer wanted to get everything right and if the buzz was significant (and it was with the three products listed), public scrutiny would likely be intense.

Your product may or may not be as publicly visible as these products, but it does bear your individual stamp. Your reputation is represented when you unveil a new product. While nothing can compare with the joy of childbirth the development and launch of an all-new product can be a similar personal experience. The reason this is true is that there may be very little that is more personal and potentially satisfying than being able to pursue and fulfill a dream. Once you reach the point of product lunch there is not turning back. The public will be able to view the product and they will formulate opinions about that product. They will share their opinions with others, and as unfair as it may seem they may form their opinions without actually making a purchase. It can be hard watching potential consumers form negative opinions about a product they have not purchased, but they will do so. They will also compare it to other products that may be similar and conclude that the product is simply a rip-off of the existing, more established, product. People in general are prone to comparisons. Even online search engines are designed to assist the consumer in comparison-shopping so it’s possible your product will be generally lumped into a category and listed with other similar products when a comparison shopping search engine is applied. You may want to rail against the system and fight against the tide of conformity, or you can simply work to establish the differences in your product and help set it apart both in description and product understanding. As the facilitator and/or creator of your product you know what is unique about it. This is the arena of separation.

This is where you can take that product and make it unique. Once the product is more firmly established work at establishing brand loyalty through a wide variety of means not the least of which is identifying the emotional attachment existing customers may have with the product. Every product you see on store shelves had a designer. Hours were spent developing the product and a steep emotional investment was made to move it from what one person could see in the back of their mind to a product that is useful and enjoyable by many. These product pioneers essentially worked very hard so that in the end you could take their product for granted. Where the product creator meant to or not their desire is that you come to enjoy the product enough that in the end you simply grab it from the shelf or order it online because it is a product you regularly use and know you need. Yes, product launching is personal, but it is also something that in a best-case scenario results in a purchase based on a common need.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Niche Preservation: How To Carve Yours And Make A Profitable Membership Site · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Membership marketing is the dream of several web entrepreneurs.

Ideally, you want to do something, or find something regularly enough, that people will pay you money to tell them about it, or provide a service that they will pay money to get access to.

Membership sites, done right, can bring in multiple income streams. Doing them right means doing targeted marketing and services and content. Targeting your market properly is a three step process. Identify. If you already have a market in mind, great. You’re ahead of the game. Now, the next step is to see if it’s a market that will generate income. While generating a membership web site that just has members and no income is great ego boosting, it’s not good for the wallet. The key to identifying your niche is slicing it as fine as possible. For example, if your passion is classic cars, and passing on information about parts and refurb shops, that’s one thing – if you make it classic Camaros, you’ll target only those people with a passion for that make and model of car, and given the volumes of information pouring in to them every day, getting information targeted to what they want is worth more money. The basic equation of content is that paying you money saves your customer the time of trying to find the things you’re finding for them. Brainstorming targeted niches needn’t be focused on a particular product. It also works to target a particular demographic, or a geographical area. Talk to your family, your friends, and business associates, and see if you can find that winning combination of membership niche and focus to get a nice stable business. If you don’t have a market in mind already, focus on what you have a passion to research and what you have a passion to do. Determine Demand. There are a number of ways to determine the demand of a niche. Start out old school – go the library and go to the book store. Look for what’s on the best seller list, look for topic areas of the library getting lots of traffic and look for sections of the book store, like cooking or religion or home repair, where an adjunct web site can provide timely information Next, do keyword research for AdWords on Google, and look for things that got «missed».

Start from the general and work to the more specific, and again, focus on topics that you enjoy researching and have a passion about. This can help find several nice possibilities for profitable niches. Keyword searches are great metrics for determining demand. Research The Subject And Customer Demands. Go beyond keyword research to isolate and identify your target market. If your aim is off, your profits will be too. Look on forums and chat rooms; they’re a fascinating cross section of your potential market. The people who hang there are the most dedicated of your customers, and you can observe them anonymously. Look for the things they’re searching for and provide it. If you’re feeling bold, register for the forum and talk to them. Ask questions. Look at the answers. You don’t want to give away the store, but a little Q&A is a good thing for identifying your customer base, and locking in on their needs. You should also dig in to relevant web sites. Look at what sites are serving the niche you’re targeting and ask yourself what you can do better. Look at the products they’re offering, look at the advertisers on their sites as well; visit the sponsored sites and learn, learn, learn. Back up your online research with another library visit. Read the specialist magazines devoted to your topic. Look at what products are being advertised, look at their editorial guidelines and look at their article submissions. Remember that magazine advertising costs anywhere from $800 per page to $5,000 per page – any company advertising here is probably worth approaching about advertising or affiliate marketing from your web site. Research other informational sites – start with article directories, like ezinearticles.com Dig deep into them, and see what demand there is for the information. Look at the sites of the people posting articles and take notes about what they’re doing right that you can copy, and what you can do better to get an edge.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Making Money Through Crafting · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Crafting is an art that is often underappreciated in the job force.

The few crafting opportunities available in a 9-to-5 setting tend to be in factories offering extremely low wages. Yet, this is not the only legitimate way of using crafting talents for making money. The other option for making money through crafting is by taking a work-at-home crafting job. Making money through this venue is much more profitable both financially and emotionally for crafters. The only problem is sifting through the scams from genuine opportunities. There will be some trial and error in this process as unfortunately sometimes real crafting companies will do things in a way that on the surface may appear to be a scam. This article will explain in detail what is involved when you do go about making money with a bona fide crafting company. With the knowledge you’re about to gain, hopefully you’ll be in a better position when finding at-home crafting jobs. First, you need to understand that the rule that you’re not supposed to pay for a job doesn’t apply when you’re making money through crafting at home. One of the reasons why is because most at-home crafting jobs are considered business opportunities, which means you are ‘hired’ as an independent contractor. And as an independent contractor, it is not unusual that you will have to pay for the materials needed to do your job. In the case of at-home crafting opportunities, you will usually have to pay for training materials and/or a starter kit. Most legitimate crafting companies will reimburse your fee if you can properly assemble what is contained in your starter kit. Secondly, when you go about making money through an at-home crafting job, expect that you will have to go through a rigorous inspection process. What happens is the crafting company will send you a model that is a ‘perfect’ sample of whatever craft you are working on. This model serves as a guide for what your craft needs to look like when it’s complete. However, you are not allowed to keep the model, as you must return it with your craft. The inspector will compare the model with your craft. If it does not look similar, your craft will be returned to you along with a list of things you did incorrectly. You must correct your craft in order to receive payment for your starter kit and move on to a larger set of crafts. Most craft companies will allow you to keep trying to redo your craft several times until you get it right. Some, (such as New England Crafters), may even give you unlimited tries without charging you for an extra kit. Once you do get your craft approved, the inspection process may be a bit more lenient since you have already proven yourself, but it doesn’t go away.

Finally, you should know that making money through crafting is not easy even with companies that are legitimate. Most crafting projects will require sewing, precision with a glue gun, working with clay, beading and much more. And while these things may sound easy, actually doing them especially on items that tend to be intricate can be extremely difficult. However, if you are already a crafter with intermediate or advanced skills, you should have no problem making money with an at-home crafting job.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Separating Business And Personal Finances · Categories: Make Money

Money management is one of the most difficult tasks that a small business owner must face.

In the early days, you may have a very uneven income stream, putting out personal funds for startup expenses and operating at a loss. As your business grows, it may become your primary source of personal income. Especially if you work alone or have only a few employees, it is easy for your business finances and personal finances to become intertwined. However, for many reasons, it is important that the two remain separate and distinct. Provided here is a guide to separating your finances. Why Should I Separate My Finances? The most important reason for separating your business and personal finances is for tax purposes. You may be entitled to certain deductions for your business, such as expenses for your home office and a mileage allowance for your vehicle. Many of these deductions are not available to individual taxpayers, only to businesses. Likewise, you may be responsible for paying certain taxes on your business that do not apply to your personal income. Separating your finances is the only way to ensure that you properly follow all tax laws and receive all advantages to which you are entitled by law. Another important reason for separating your finances is the development of a paper trail. If you need to obtain money for the business through grants or loans, you will be expected to show certain financial reports that demonstrate the business’ performance. If your finances are separated it will be much easier to determine which income and expenses belong to the business itself.

Separating your finances can help you decide how best to grow and develop the business as well.

You will be able to see the areas in which the business excels as well as those areas in which it needs some extra help. You can generate targeted, accurate reports and financial statements that show at a glance how the business performs in various areas.Painless Billing How Can I Separate My Finances? The easiest way to separate your business and personal finances is to open a business bank account. If you use credit to make business-related purchases, apply for a card in the name of the business. Have all payments made to the business account, and use only those funds and the business credit card to make purchases. How Do I Get Paid? You have multiple options for paying yourself. Some business owners find it best to write themselves a set paycheck every week. If you are confident that the business will retain enough funds to pay your salary each time, this will streamline the process and make it easier to accurately pay your personal income taxes. However, if your business is new or unstable, you may find it better to pass funds through the business account to your personal account. You might decide to retain just enough money in the business account to pay for expenses, and transfer everything that is left into your personal account. This is an ideal solution for those who have many personal expenses but few business expenses and earn wildly different sums on each contract. Setting Up and Maintaining Bookkeeping and Accounting Many business owners find themselves confused and overwhelmed by the paperwork that is involved in maintaining separate accounts. Consider hiring outside help. A Virtual Assistant company such as IAC Professionals can set up and maintain your bookkeeping and accounting.

Your VA can even handle payroll, writing your paycheck each week. You can maintain as much or as little control over the process as you desire. You can hire the VA for a set number of hours per week or per month, or simply retain his or her services on a per-project basis.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Running Home Based Businesses Can Turn You Into A Millionaire · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Home based businesses can help you quit your day job. Many people looking to make money are turning to different types of home based businesses. Building or joining a business is a great way help yourself out financially. As long as you come into your business knowing you will have to work and put in daily effort you should be well on your way to achieving the success you have always dreamed of. Many people join a work from home business with the wrong intentions. Yes everyone wants to make money but success does not come over night. It will take work and effort to build your company. This is one of the main problems I see when people first want to start a business. They expect results and huge results to happen overnight. This is just not realistic. Yes it is possible to make tons of money but it will not happen while you are sitting on your sofa, watching «Dancing With The Stars». Starting your own company is a great way to live the lifestyle you have always dreamed of. The thing to remember is it will not always be a joy ride. You will have your ups and downs. It is just apart of business. How you react to the ups and downs is what separates the winners from the losers. Every owner has ups and downs. The winners shake off the losses and keep going. Winners refuse to quit no matter what may happen and no matter how long it may take for them to achieve their goals. Losers allow the tough times to bring them down and normally end up quitting when times get tough. See it is all state of mind. What you believe about yourself will become true. That is a major fact of life. You become what you believe yourself to be. If you believe in yourself and believe you will succeed no matter what it takes and no matter how long it takes you will succeed. If you believe you are doomed for failure and you are a quitter, you will fail. When building your home based businesses be sure to have a solid plan. Your plan is essential. This is also what separates the winners from the losers. Winners have a solid plan that they know works. Most losers have no plan or they have a plan which is wrong or ineffective. Many people fail to get ahead in life because they have the wrong plans.

For instance «go to school and get a great job, then retire», is an outdated plan. Maybe that worked for our parents but today and in the future that plan will be outdated. It is no longer just enough to get a good job, just ask someone who has just been laid off, after working for a company for 40+ years. Many companies are exporting jobs overseas, the job market is not what it use to be. Building a business for yourself and your family is an awesome way to get ahead. Studies show the gap between the have and have nots is widening. Or to put it in layman’s terms, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The reason the rich get richer is not because they have some secret mutant power but it is because they have the vision and the courage to see and to take action in times of chaos.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Traffic Building And The Mark Of Integrity · Categories: Make Money

If I go into a neighborhood convenience store and discover they make homemade soup and a hand crafted sub sandwich at a good price and with great taste I am likely to go back again. They just improved their foot traffic because I plan to come back. If I see a sign that tells me a roadside diner has the world’s best cup of coffee and I get a cup that tastes a bit like motor oil I will likely refrain from visiting that location again. They have just decreased their potential foot traffic because I will stay away. Some of the lessons for online business are as follows… Let some things be a surprise. Allow customers to find a few pleasant surprises along the way. With Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it may be hard to keep everything a surprise, but when a visitor finds something they hadn’t expected on your site they might want to come back. Offer a product that exceeds expectations and is a fair value. It doesn’t matter if your business is online or brick and mortar people still shop for value and price.

Treat your customer fairly and they may come back. Never promise more than you can deliver. That roadside diner offered something they didn’t really have. They advertised something that was easily compared to every other cup of coffee the traveler has ever had and the experience came up short. If you promise big – deliver big. Traffic building is an important part of website development. Business owners can get into trouble though when they assume everyone wants to receive information on their business. This typically happens when lists are purchases or leased and a mass email campaign is launched to recipients who may not be happy to receive your email. This rarely accomplishes as much as a smaller list that contains the names of individuals who have already expressed an interest in your company and product. Sometimes online businesses will make bold claims and incredible promises that may result in a fast start to their business only to falter and sometimes fail when it is discovered they can’t deliver on the promise. In the Tortoise and the Hare the shelled one learned that it was slow and steady that won the race and sometimes this is true of traffic building strategies. It may seem as if the process is taking too long, but even brick and mortar stores realize it will likely take more than a year to get their new business noticed and it takes at least that long for trust to be developed. It is a process that each new business has to go through, unless there is a significant buzz about the product and business prior to the launch of the website. As important as traffic building is it must be predicated with integrity so trust can grow in fertile soil. Short cuts often result in short-term gains and long-term losses. Do everything you can to encourage prospects to visit your site. This is most often accomplished through marketing development with integrity and perpetual persistence. The resulting traffic is the kind of traffic you want.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on How to Find a Good Story Angle to Pitch the Media · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

John Jantsch Here is a good rule of thumb to follow when searching for a story angle to present to the media. Ask yourself this question: Will the readers of this publication think this is interesting, entertaining, informative or useful? Self-interested, veiled attempts at promoting your business will fall flat. The media does not care about your company’s success unless their readers care about it. The media does not care about your new product unless you can help them understand how their readers are longing to know about the problems it solves. The following is a list of topics that can help you get a reporter’s attention. If you can find a way to position your potential story ideas using one of these vehicles, you will have a better chance of success. Have Real News There is nothing that gets the media’s attention like news. Now, what you think is news may not actually be newsworthy, but if you have won a significant contract or licensed a new technology you may indeed have a story that provides a reporter with a news angle. Be First Everyone seems fascinated with things that are first: the first company to feature a technology, the first company to do a certain type of project, the first company in the area to win a national award, etc.

Of course, there are ways to be a new kind of first. The first woman – or minority-owned business in your industry to do something of note is also a first. Be Unique Sometimes you can receive positive publicity by simply doing or offering something that is unique. An unheard-of guarantee, service technicians in tuxedos, balloon telegrams for marketing are all examples of unique practices. Local Angles on National Stories If some aspect of your business is making national headlines, you may be able to weigh in with the local media on a local angle of the story. Local news reporters often prefer to quote local sources even when they are covering a national story. Has some legislation recently passed that impacts your industry? Has a major lawsuit been settled? Is a new product, service, or innovation receiving coverage? It is critical that you watch the national news trends to stay on top of these opportunities. Ties to a Trend Your association and industry publications often report on industry and marketing trends. Reporters love to get a jump on a coming trend. You can put yourself in the middle of a story by simply pointing out something that may be happening in other parts of the country that ties your company or product to a recognized trend. Overcoming Adversity Everyone loves a story with a great ending. If you personally or your firm has overcome some adversity, this may be a great source for a story. People Stories Promotions, new hires, awards, board appointments, wedding, births, and all other manner of story that involves people in your firm and what they do on and off the job can be a good source for story ideas. Maybe your company’s softball team hasn’t won or lost a game in 10 years. Maybe your firm has repaired eight houses for a charitable organization this year. Perhaps your firm has college tuition reimbursement program that is far better than most, and you have four new college graduates at the firm to prove it. Solving a Common Problem If you have discovered a unique way to solve a problem that your target market has or that impacts other firms in your same industry, you may have a story idea. Business publications in particular are always on the look out for innovative business practices. Don’t just think in terms of some solution to a client need. Maybe you’ve discovered a successful way to attract prospective employees.

These stories will often be read by potential clients and really help tell how your firm is different. In addition, it is easy to show how these types of stories can benefit the readership of a publication without appearing too self-serving.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Search Engine Marketing In Delhi Through Web Design · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Website Design Delhi which involves the complete layout of your web page-right from the content to the design. The content is also written by the Web Design Delhi Company. A proper keyword density is maintained in the content of the page so that it is accepted by the search engine. Use of too many keywords may lead your website being rejected by the search engine.

The web designers will place the graphics and the content to make is attractive and navigation friendly. Submission of the page: The pages are then submitted to the search engines. The choice is between submitting by simply filling forms or by paying to the search engine. This decision is taken by the Web designing company Delhi along with the client. This is done by the Web Design Delhi Company, increases your attention on the net. The higher the number of links you manage to replace, the brighter are your likelihood of ranking higher on the search engines. On the basic of ranking report, a complete track has to be kept by the web designing company of your website on the search engine. This involves caring track of the clicks on a daily basis. Updates and changes have to be made on the website according to the report to increase traffic. Web Design Delhi Company in India helps clients globally to reach their goals of online trade. With their know-how tools and methods, they effectively and capably help you to reach the top rank of the search engines results, gain traffic and visibility and earn profits. But of course, you have to make sure that you select the right kind of web design Company Delhi.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Site Search As Key Performance Indicator · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Do you know what’s happening in your own site search? Understanding site search is one of the most important KPI (Key Performance Indicator) you should measure. According to a Forrester study, over 50 percent of major web sites fail in search usability. When your search fails to deliver, your conversion suffers. A low converting site will result is less sales and decreased revenue. Search is not just another nice feature to have. You have to think of search as a revenue generating part of your business. Your company works hard to drive traffic to your site. Many visitors will use your on site search instead of browsing through your site. Online shoppers want to use site search to expedite the shopping experience. The faster and easier they can locate the product they are looking for the more likely they’ll buy on your site. The more roadblock you set in place to inconvenience the shopper, the more likely they’ll buy from someone else. Do you know what they are searching for? Are you in any way measuring what search phrases are queried on your site? It is not enough to have site search as a feature. You must analyze it. You have to understand it. Then, you have to make adjustments based on your findings. The best place to start learning about your site search is through the search log files. If you don’t monitor your log files, you will fail to gain an insight into what your customers are looking for on your site. Understanding site search is a KPI that should be part of your tactical operations. Learning about site search will tell you what your customers are looking for. In addition to understanding what site visitors are searching for, you have to test what results yield from searches.

For example, if your customers are searching for “return policy” what results are they shown? Are the search results relevant to the search queries? If the result you get is not the best possible result, you have to tweak you search engine. The top few results must be relevant, because searchers are not interested in reading deep down your search results. Result number 10 is infinitely more irrelevant than result number 1. Every reasonable search phrase should result in relevant search results. For example, if the site searcher types “return policy” in the search field, the search should result in some result. Every e-commerce site should have a return policy; therefore, the site search should yield the relevant result. One of the worst possible outcomes for a search query would be no result. If a user types any relevant key phrase, it should result in relevant results. If they don’t, your search is failing your customers. Site search is a tool to enhance customer satisfaction. If it works as it is supposed to, it has done its job. If site search fails it becomes a frustrating experience instead of a positive experience resulting in lower conversion rates, lost sales opportunities, loss of revenue and unhappy site visitors.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on 5 Effective Ways To Market Your Online Business · Categories: Make Money

Nikki Mhlanga You have built your own website and you are looking forward to start making money on line.

But the first thing you will need to have is a lot of traffic. Advertising your online business and generating traffic to your site can be challenging and expensive, especially when you are still starting in internet marketing. If you are on a tight budget, you will need to know about various relatively inexpensive ways of generating targeted traffic so that you get the word out about your site. Are there any effective, easy, inexpensive ways to generate traffic? Yes, there are. Create viral tools: Create a report or an e-book that is related to what you offer on your online business, and give it away for free. Place your website or links to your affiliate program or products in this e-book. You can enhance this strategy by making it possible for webmasters or other affiliates to brand the report with their own URL and give it away too. You will need to have a link somewhere in the report which points back to your URL too. If this is a very useful report of good quality, it will get distributed all over the internet, and the links back to your site will increase, which is what you need to get more traffic. Write and distribute a lot of articles: One of the best strategies to get traffic to your website is through writing and distributing articles on the internet. The internet is a huge place, and you will need to regularly write and distribute articles in order to get more links back to your website. What subject is your online business focused on? What is it that people would like to know more about? What can you teach them? It is important that your articles provide useful and valuable information. Publishers and ezine owners appreciate quality articles with useful information, and they will publish your article if it meets this criterion. In your articles, include an author’s or resource box at the end, and invite readers to visit your website. As your articles get distributed and reprinted online, you will get targeted traffic, and your search engine rankings is also improved, which will further help bring in more traffic Forums and Bulletin Boards: Participating in forums and discussion board, offering help and answering questions can help increase traffic to your website. These forums are indexed by search engines, and therefore participating on them will also increase your link popularity and earn you extra traffic. Most forums allow members to add their signature and URLs and some have a free advertising section. This will give you an opportunity to promote your business and also interact with others and encourage them to visit your website. Which are the forums and bulletin boards that relate or focus on your target audience? What are their rules and regulations regarding posts and participation? Once you know this, visit these sites on a regular basis and offer some genuine help, answer question and include your signature with your URL while doing that.

Trade Links With Other Websites: Having some links with other websites of similar topic can help increase the link popularity of your website. You will need to trade links with sites that offer similar products but are not direct competitors, that is, do not offer exactly the same product or service like yours. Although two way links help, one way links are even more effective. You can get one way links by registering your sites several directors, participating in forums and writing articles as stated above. Publish an ezine or offer an email course from your website: Website surfers appreciate free information and tips. By having an ezine on your website, you can keep in touch with visitors who may otherwise never return to your site. This will build the relationship with your subscribers, and they gradually become confident to do business with you. Alternatively, you can also offer a small email course to your website visitors, which is related to what your website is about. You can structure the course so that your subscribers will come back to your site to check it out. This generates repeat visitors to your website, and eventually these subscribers will be converted to customers. Follow these 5 strategies and drive traffic to your website.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Wholesale Merchandise Business: The Brilliant Smarts! · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Once there was a passionate wholesale merchandise business entrepreneur who sold everything he owned and a wide amount of the income he made towards searching for “The Touchstone,” a stone with magical powers, one believed to transform anything to gold. “The Touchstone” could be found on the far away seashore, among the other stones there. But unlike the other stones, “The Touchstone” was warm, but not hot. So the man who sought wealth went to the seashore and started picking up the stones, feeling them one by one, and throwing the cold stones to the sea. He did this for months until one day, he finally picked up “The Touchstone” but because he had been doing the same thing for a long time, he automatically threw the stone to the sea, just like all the others. It was too late when he realized that stone needed to get hotter and not stay average and warm like all others. Being in accordance with comfort and tradition is evil I tell you that! So what’s the moral of this story? If you do repetitive tasks, you’re likely to make mistakes and miss opportunities. Instead of putting your energy towards coming up with ways of growing your business, you’re stuck doing repetitive chores. If you want to have a profitable business, the money can be found in planning and setting your goals, not doing repetitive tasks. No matter if it’s wholesale merchandise up loadings to eBay or selling regular widgets, the rule of automation applies. This is why it’s important that you automate as much as your business as possible – from updating your product line, upgrading your services and even setting a blog no matter what kind of commercial tangible business you own, call it what you want, it’s a necessary profitable commodity. For instance, you can automate your invoice and payment confirmation follow-ups by using an auto responder program or service online.

Even if you have to pay a monthly fee for an auto responder service, it is money well spent because you can pre-load your auto responder account with customized codes to recognize the specific purchase of specific clients and personalize it as much as it is needed weeks in advance! If you use a company or program to take care of delivering your customers payment and delivery confirmation to your customers, it means you don’t need to be in front of your computer checking your e-mail every ten minutes to see if the customer already paid if eBay as example is one of your main income sources. The Internet has grown so much in the last few years that you can do practically any repetitive task with the help of software, scripts and other websites that will do these tasks for you. Automation presents another way you can be profitable online: You can supply the software, scripts or website services that will do the repetitive tasks for other e-commerce stores. You are actually creating a stream of income for yourself since these people’s businesses will grow and they will want more of their tasks automated. If you have a team of programmers, you can respond to a need and be able to provide that need in a reliable. Well, so it happens in the wholesale business. In this day and age, the last thing a customer or prospect wants to hear from you is an excuse that goes something like, “It may take me a while to get this delivered to you because I’m doing things manually.” Give your customers and prospects what they want when they need it. This means automating the repetitive tasks like delivering mailed tracking information, payment confirmations and back end similar offers. When you automate, you save yourself time and you also lessen your chances of making mistakes, be it wholesale merchandise or other online projects.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Internet Marketing Secrets · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

If you are developing a new website, or just want to improve the natural search results of an existing website, there are a few Internet marketing secrets you need to know – especially those that can provide a significant boost to your rankings. Marketing Experts Start with Google I have seen various statistics, but one thing is clear, Google is the dominant player of search – commanding approximately 60% of all search engine traffic. Ask any marketing expert where he or she would spend their search engine optimization efforts and they will undoubtedly say «Google». Do what you can to rank well on Google. As a result, you will see results on other search engines as well. One of the simplest Internet marketing secrets you can put into effect immediately is to register your domain name for 3 years. Many individuals who begin a web-based business register for one year only. You must realize however that Google is in the business of generating quality results from legitimate businesses. If you’re an established business, chances are that your web site has been up for more than a year. Google likes to see longevity and commitment. If you plan to be around for some time, register your domain for three years and show Google that you’re in business to stay.Optimize Your Home Page for a Keyword Phrase You have to use the right keywords if you want your website to appear at the top of any search result list. This can be tricky because most single key words are very competitive. What to do? Another internet marketing secret is to use a keyword phrase, not just a single keyword. Additionally, you want to find a keyword phrase that isn’t very competitive but generates a decent level of traffic on a daily and monthly basis. To do so, follow these simple steps: 1. Visit the overture search tool at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/.

This tool shows you how many individuals typed in a particular search term for the previous month. 2. Type in your keyword and notice other keyword suggestions. Select a number of keyword phrases to evaluate. The higher number of people searching on a keyword phrase generally means that it will be harder for you to get top placement for that term. A good number to shoot for, in terms of monthly keyword phrase searches, is about 1000 – 2000 per month. 3. Go to http://www.google.com and type in the keyword phrase(s) you’ve selected one at a time. After entering each, notice the total number of results listed in the upper right hand corner after your search. This is the number of web pages that are also associated with this keyword phrase. You want to find the keyword phrase that commands the highest number of monthly searches (step 2 above) and the least number of competitors. On Page Optimization If you are going to rank well for any keyword phrase, you need to effectively manage your on page optimization. Specifically, your use of H1 and H2 tags, page title, alt images, bolded text, italicized text, underlined text, and keyword proximity. The Internet marketing secret here is to copy your competition and do things slightly better. To do so, type in your keyword phrase in Google and visit the top 5 sites listed individually. Select «view source» in the Internet browser window you’re using for each site and see what your toughest competition has done. Have they included the keyword phrase in their page title? Does the keyword appear in bolded text only once? Italicized text one? Underlined text only once? Does the keyword phrase appear in the first 25 words on the page? The last 25 words? You will need to copy what the best websites for that keyword phrase have done and improve upon it. You don’t need a marketing expert to show you how to do what I’ve just described, simply copy the best and evaluate each point noted. Shape your site to appeal to Google and other key search engines. Off – Page Optimization The final Internet Marketing Secret you must learn is the importance of off-page optimization. This refers to the number of links pointing to your site, the PR rank (stands for Google Page Rank) of the sites linking to you, and the Anchor text of the link. There are some simple things you can do to begin developing an aggressive link campaign for those sites that link to your competitors – for the keyword phrase you’ve selected.

The best advice I can give you however is to research SEO and link building software on the Internet. This will allow you to make the most of your time and target the best sites to improve your link popularity. Building your link popularity is an arduous task and in my opinion difficult. I’ve certainly learned over the last few years that your effectiveness in this area is ultimately determined by the tools you use and effort you exert. Take my word for it, you don’t want to build your links manually, you’ll never get ahead – so research options on the Internet. Once you begin developing links, you’ll need to monitor them on an ongoing basis. Keep in mind that you will often have to provide a link on your website to the third party site. Be sure to create a links page where you maintain your link exchanges and monitor it regularly to insure that third party links to your domain still exist. If removed, you should remove your link as well. The Internet marketing secrets shared in this article are essential for improving your search engine results. Take your time and implement each one in a controlled and disciplined manner and you will see your rankings improve.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on 10 Reasons Why People Fail At Internet Marketing · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Internet marketing is one of the fastest-growing and profitable businesses today. It is an excellent way for anyone to start a small business with little investment, no overhead, and high profit margins. Anyone can get up and running with an online business in hours. Sounds like an easy way to make money, doesn’t it? Compared to other offline small business ventures, it is. Yet internet marketing failures still vastly outnumber those who have succeeded in internet marketing. For every story you hear of someone making $10,000 a month at internet marketing there are hundreds of untold stories of those who failed to make a profit or only made a few dollars and then quit. Why do so many fail when the potential to succeed is high? 1. Failure to plan – No matter what type of business you are running you need a business plan with well-defined goals.

What are your short-term and long-term goals? What steps do you need to take to meet those goals? Write out your plan and review it frequently.

You are running a small business. Treat it as one. 2. Failure to work the plan – So you already have a business plan? Are the following it? A plan means nothing if you don’t follow it. Work the plan every single day. Revise it if necessary but don’t detract from it. 3. Making goals too big early on – Many internet marketing failures try to do too much too fast. You are not going to create the ultimate web site for dog lovers overnight. Start small with dog training tips and add content daily. Those 1,000+ page web sites took months or years to build, so will yours. 4. Lack of knowledge – Would you be a successful plumber without knowing anything about plumbing? No. Then to be a successful internet marketer you need to learn internet marketing. Find a successful mentor willing to help you and you will be way ahead of the crowd. 5. Not investing in your business – You won’t get any support or very much web traffic on with a free web host. Many times, the best ebooks, scripts, and tools are the ones that cost money. You can run an online business for next to nothing but you’ll achieve faster and more profitable results by investing in the right tools. 6. «If I build it, they will come» – You can have the most comprehensive and informative website on natural healing in the world but if you don’t promote your site and work to drive traffic to it no one will know about it. There are many ways to drive traffic to your website. You should be using several of them. 7. Lack of patience – You will not be making $10,000 a month when you start. Internet marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes time and testing to build your web traffic and increase your conversion rate. In the beginning you might actually lose money and this is when too many people give up without giving their business time to grow.

8. Wrong niche – So you wrote that ebook on underwater basket weaving and you’re wondering why nobody is buying it? Find a niche but make sure it’s profitable first. Too many times people create the product first then try to figure out how to sell it. Find out what the people want then give or sell it to them. 9. No Uniqueness – There are a million low carb diet books out there, what makes yours so unique? Why should I buy your widget when Bob’s widgets are just as good and he’s been selling widgets a lot longer than you? Stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Know your competition and do what they do better or do something totally different. 10. Lack of commitment – To be successful, you must be committed to success. Behind every success story there are many hours of work and dedication. You’ll need drive and determination if you want to be the next internet success story everyone is talking about. Print out these ten reasons for failure and post it next to your computer monitor or tape them to your bathroom mirror. Everyday review your online business and make sure you are not making any of these mistakes. Do this and you are well on your way to being an internet marketing success.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Starting An Online Business With What You Know · Categories: Make Money

If you are considering starting an online business, before selecting any one business think about all of the products or services you buy online and which ones spark your interest the most. As a basic rule of thumb, if you do not buy it or will not buy it online there is little reason to believe that many more people will buy it. A product that you have used, and are happy with, is probably the best chance for success in starting a home business. The best way to sell any product is to have a full understanding of why people will buy it, not just that people do buy it, but the reasons they give for offering up their cash to own it.

One of the top door-to-door cosmetics companies recruited their sales team not through fancy marketing plans and glitzy advertising, but through the users of their product. Once people became familiar with them and were repeat customers, they were offered the chance to purchase the merchandise at wholesale prices by becoming a distributor. Many of them jumped at the chance as they could not only save some money on their own products, but could money by selling the great products to friends and neighbors. When you look through offers for online businesses you will want to consider if any of them can meet the same criteria. Is the product something that you personally have a use for and are willing to buy? Is it something your friends and neighbors would be willing to buy from you? Is it a good product at a fair price and has little competition? If you can answer yes to these three questions, you should probably jump at the opportunity being presented. However, if you cannot envision a market, have no idea what the product does, only that you can make a fortune if someone, somewhere is willing to buy from you, then you will probably end up looking for another line of work. It is important to understand the market for the product and not only how you will make your first sale, but to whom. How much potential customers are willing to pay for the product will depend on a number of variables, among them the real and perceived need for the product. Consistent hyped advertising often drives up the demand for a product, but once it hits the market if it doesn’t meet the customers’ expectations, plan on a bunch of returns as well as angry customers. On the other hand, if the market for a specific product is soft and demand is high, it can lead to lots of sales with very little profit. For example, if you have found an opportunity to sell organic toothpaste that promises to whiten the teeth and eliminate gum disease and cavities, it may sound like a great product. With a price in line with many of the major brands you believe there may be a good market among people between the ages of 40 and 60, but market research also shows that many in that age group are already loyal to other brands and are not likely to change, dropping the price is one option. However, marketing with the objective of grabbing market share can bankrupt a company unless they first create product awareness based on its original price.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Traffic Generation And Affordable SEO Services · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Traffic generation is of extreme importance to your online business, and affordable SEO services are equally important in securing that website traffic. In order to help you achieve the type of traffic you need to make your online business a success, we shall look at each of these statements separately and discuss what options are available to enable you to attract the visitors that are essential to your online future. Although there are ways to attract traffic other than through search engine optimization, it is definitely to your benefit if you can secure traffic by means of the free advertising that a high listing in search engines such as Google and Yahoo can provide you with.

There are many ways in which you can make your website as search engine friendly as possible and improve its capacity for traffic generation. Did you notice the mistake I just made there? I mentioned websites in the same sentence as search engine. True search engines look at web pages, not web sites. More on that in a minute. In order to make it easier for me (and you) I am going to apply the name Google whenever I write about ‘search engine’, since although Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Ask, etc are important, no one can deny that Google is the biggest search engine. Not only that, but it was the first true search engine. Yahoo started life off as a web directory, and if your site was not in the Yahoo directory, it would not be listed in a search. Now, however, in addition to being a website directory, Yahoo, MSN and Ask are true web search engines, the same as Google. I will explain the difference later from my website that you can access from the link in my Resource Box. For the moment, accept the fact that Google and the other true search engines crawl the whole World Wide Web for the web pages that are most relevant to the search term that your customers are using to find the information they are seeking. Did you notice what I just wrote there? ‘Web pages’? Not ‘web sites’ but web pages, as I mentioned earlier. Google and the rest list individual web pages in order of relevance to its interpretation of the words that your potential visitors use to find their information. That is very important to keep in mind. How do they do that? How do the search engines decide what is relevant and what is not to a character string – that is all that your search term is. That is another story really, but it is connected with what is commonly termed ‘Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)’, a misnomer for a mathematical statistical analysis of the vocabulary on each of your web pages. I say misnomer, because LSI is not an indexing technique, but an analysis method that uses character strings and known juxtaposition of characters, to determine what you are writing about through the use of contextual relevance of the whole passage of your text to the keyword, or theme, that you have highlighted by means of the search engine optimization techniques available to you. Nobody can make a web page LSI compliant, or ‘use’ LSI on a website. It is akin to saying that you can use probability equations to write an article on fly fishing. It is a nonsense that even the best known internet gurus believe, unless they are lying to us and I sure that they would not do that. They must therefore be more ignorant than we believed them to be, which explains quite a lot all things considered.

Which of the two options would they admit to I wonder. You no longer need the oft-quoted 1% – 3% keyword density on your web page, but instead more vocabulary and content on your page that makes the topic of that page clear, without any doubt, to software that parses our page for its meaning in additional to human readers who can tell that at a glance. You have to use more vocabulary than just repeat the keyword or Google and the rest of the search engines will not list your page. The most affordable SEO services will provide you with the small things that you do to your individual web pages to improve your listing position and traffic generation capability. Such services need not be expensive, although the sites you find online that offer them tend to charge high prices since they are targeting large companies rather than individuals with single small websites of a hundred pages or less. One technique that they all mention, however, is the use of meta tags. Many get it wrong! The only important meta tags are the Title and Description tags. You should also point out to the spiders what your more important vocabulary is by use of H tags, bold text, italics and underlining. Google appreciates that, but while you might be rewarded for doing so, you will not be punished for not doing so. There is a massive difference between breaking the rules and failing to give a helping hand. Your linking strategy is of critical importance, and you must have a good number of links back to your web page from other relevant web pages. Take note of the two important words I have used there: ‘pages’ and ‘relevant’. I could write 10 pages on Google PageRank without doing it justice, so won’t start now. Just believe me that you get a share of the Google PageRank of a page linking to yours (not of the home page of that site), and since most linking pages are designed only to hold URL links and consequently contain masses of other links on them, then your share is practically zilch. Do not therefore give a website a link from your home page that reciprocates with one from deep inside the directory structure that provides you with absolutely no benefit. You cannot lose PageRank by providing a link, but why should you give more than you get. Come to an arrangement: you will provide a link from your PR 5 page if the other party reciprocates.

Not if their link is from a PR 0 page. There are many more ways in which you can legally attract search engines to your website and achieve high listings and to generate loads of traffic. There are also many illegal methods of doing so. It is the end result that counts, but before you can even begin to understand what the term ‘black hat’ means, you must first understand what SEO means! Traffic generation is critical to your success, and if you can find affordable SEO services to help you to achieve that, then you are most of the way there. The effect that good search engine optimization has on the generation of traffic to selected pages within your website cannot be over-estimated and will likely determine your future over the next year.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Trend Or Fad? What To Ask Before Choosing Your Product Line · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

While it’s important for every online seller to keep their eyes on consumer buying developments in their product market, it’s equally important for them to understand whether those development are trends, or merely fads. It’s easy to confuse the two; but to source the right products for your E-Biz customers, you need to be able distinguish between them.

Short-term Thinking “Fads are random sparks that catch on with a group of people,” explains Lisa Suttora, founder of trending site http://WhatDoISell.com. “They come out of nowhere, burst into a full-blown buying frenzy, and then quickly fizzle out.” The problem occurs when you mistake a fad for a trend. By the time you recognize a fad product’s popularity and begin sourcing and selling it, that product is already on its way out. Prices spiral downward, and you end up holding a lot of inventory no one wants. Selling fads is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Because fads aren’t fueled by consumer wants or needs, there’s no repeat group of customers to whom you can continually market. You may successfully supplement your regular sales with fad merchandise on occasion, but jumping from fad to fad is not a good long-term business strategy. A Stable Approach Trends, on the other hand, are usually the result of other past trends that have merged and developed. Based on buyer lifestyles, trends move with rhyme and reason, and tend to progress and morph over time, rather than abruptly disappear. Upcoming trends are shaped primarily by consumer values. If you monitor the things that matter to your target market – the issues they’re talking about, and the things on their minds – you’ll see those ideals reflected in current trends. Following are just a few examples: • Recent concern for the environment has resulted in a surge of “green” products in nearly every product category. • An enduring demand for the best of everything has given rise to luxury or “premium” offerings in markets from food and beverages to baby strollers to laundry detergents to RV accessories. The advantage of working with trends is that they can be tracked and predicted. If you’re carefully following the trends in your market, you’re going to have a good idea of where they’re going next and what products you should begin sourcing now. Because you’re dealing with a target group of consumers to whom you can repeatedly sell a diverse array of products that relate to a common need or interest, you can achieve sustainable selling success. Which is Which? To determine whether you’re looking at a trend or a fad, simply ask yourself what the reason is behind this buying development: Is there a consumer desire or need? A lifestyle change? Can you identify a trend or multiple trends out of which it has grown? If so, you’re dealing with a trend. If there’s no rhyme or reason (think of the pet rock), then you’ve pinpointed a fad and should think very carefully before investing your inventory dollars. Understanding the difference between fads and trends is critical to your product sourcing.

Following fads won’t get you to your long-term goals, but you can and should build a successful e-tail business around market trends. Advises Suttora, “Study the trends in your product niche. That’s how you’re going to continually bring your buyers the products that resonate with their current concerns and priorities, and stay relevant to your customer base.”

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Opening Doors & Closing Business Deals Online · Categories: Make Money

Social networking sites that emphasize business offer powerful tools for finding new customers, recruiting new employees, generating interest in your business proposition and even finding a new business partner.

You can search for new contacts based on their business, location, interests, experience or even their past employment.

I have often started dialogue with some people through their blogs and articles. When somebody writes something interesting I often click on their profile to find out more about the writer. Sometimes I send a private message and if they reply then we are now connected. A real relationship is more than just about one message sent and one received online. Real relationships form when several messages have been exchanged and either a phone call or a meeting follows to start discussing potential avenues of business. I believe in the theory of random connections so I do not only connect with people that are obviously in the same line of business. I try to connect with people from all walks of life if I find that we have something in common whether it is a liking for the same type of music or even a common interest in some topical issues. If I have not had the time to pick up the phone and give you a call, and you would like to discuss something, do not hesitate to call me. I promise I do not bite and you never know what the initial call might lead to. Doing business on social networking sites is also about how well you can manage your profile; connect it to your marketing and your articles and blogs. You do not need to be an expert writer though. What is important is the ability to express in words the thoughts that are on your mind. One word of warning here; it can be very easy for somebody to misinterpret what you are trying to communicate online so clear up any confusion immediately and do not allow it to fester. Unfortunately many people new to business networking approach it completely the wrong way. They are very antisocial, just thinking about me, me & what’s in it for me.

The more established members of these sites see people like this all the time. They come in like a firework and soon explode and their light fades until they are a distant memory. People join social business networking site for a variety of reasons but one of the main ones is to advertise their wares to you. They did not join to receive your advertisements! Bear this in mind in all your blogs, articles and messages. Generate interest in your business proposition so that others are compelled to ask what you do. At this point you can feel free to give them your marketing spiel but keep it short the first time. Summary Open the Door – write interesting blogs / articles, read other peoples profiles, get in touch via private message when you find that you have something in common and then after a couple of exchanges pick up the phone to start real discussions. Doing Business Online – Do not wade in with your marketing spiel but arouse interest and when the other party asks what you do, keep it short but informative. This way you will generate trust and you will be one step closer to: Closing the Deal – Many smaller transactions can be done via the phone & email but a meeting is often required to close a larger deal.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Setting Up Your Business Logically · Categories: Make Money

One thing that most entrepreneurs should note, business success lies heavily on understanding what you are getting yourself into.

It is not a plain venture wherein you are simply going into business for the sake of earning money. You simply have to put everything in perspective. Getting into business is one thing but understanding it and making it flourish is another. How often do we let a particular course of action become the only way to do something – even when outcomes are telling us it’s not working? How often do we become so focused on a particular solution that we don’t seek out the little adjustments that can make the difference between success and frustration? How often do we become convinced of the rightness of our ways and not seek help from outside our little self – made fortresses? If you’re like me, that happens a lot. And most times it’s OK, but thank goodness my inner voice called to me about The Faucet and the Headlight – my inner voice saved me time, money and energy. Cultivating our inner voice – listening to it in the little things, creates a habit of thought that helps us use that skill in the big things as well. Being able to step back – define alternatives – take a different look – ask for and accept input from others – ask the «What If’s» and the «Something Else’s» – trust our inner voice – are the behaviors of successful people. I’ll bet you can think of your own Faucet and Headlight stories. If you’re like me I smile and shake my head and use what I’ve learned from them to keep reminding me to stay open to possibilities – on all levels. Not all mentor and Praxis test preparation systems are created equal. Many of the resources you will find aren’t up to date, and some are up to three or four years old! With actual exams being updated more frequently than that, you will want more current materials that show you what’s on the test for the year you are taking it. An old question means you can potentially be studying eliminated topics or be missing out on topics that have been added or revised. You have to look behind people’s opinions. They can give you an opinion, but it’s just an opinion. Why did they create these opinions? What are the facts they are basing their opinions on? It’s time to go fact finding. You make better decisions and faster decisions when you have good, hard, cold facts. All the great decision makers of the world want to know the facts themselves, not just the opinions people have formulated based on those facts. Quite simply, the key to your success is you! You can be communicating with your board president or your wife.

It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the presence you project will directly affect the level of success that you are able to attain. Although you may be both well-versed and well-prepared in your subject, what always will take precedent is your nonverbal demeanor. This nonverbal demeanor arises from your sense of your self – the concepts you hold true about you. And, if you are selling anything from a brand new concept to an innovative product, it behooves you to increase your awareness of your own, unique presence because it alone will affect your success.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Work From Home Through Online Freelance Jobs · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Online freelance jobs are widely available today and are excellent ways to work from home. Know more about working from home through freelance jobs in this article. The Internet has given way to new industries, new fields and new opportunities. It is remarkable how the Internet has given way for people all around the world to work from home. This proves advantageous most especially to those who need to balance family life with achieving financial stability. One of the most popular ways to work from home is to do freelance jobs. A freelance job is your best option if you want to earn money without having to be tied to the pressures of having to be tired down to the eight-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week, regular work. This is most suitable for housewives, stay at home moms, students, retirees, or even those who have regular jobs but would like to earn more. Freelance jobs allow you to be your own master, in terms of time and work load. More importantly, with freelancing, you have the option to work from home or anywhere you would like, for that matter. When you do freelancing, you offer your services to companies or individuals on a per project basis. The Internet provides a constant stream of freelance jobs. You can fully take advantage of this pool, work from home and earn quite an attractive pay check.

What is even greater about the Internet is that it offers a wide variety of freelance jobs to choose from. Typing, copywriting, data entry or encoding, medical coding, medical transcription, translation, proofreading, article writing, programming, web designing, photography, graphic design, marketing consultancy, accounting – these are just a few of the freelancing opportunities that can enable you to work from home. Depending on your set of skills, you can choose one to focus on and start earning. There is surely an online freelance job to suit anyone who has the interest and enthusiasm to do so. With the overwhelming expansion of the Internet and the increasing connection speeds all over the world, the demand for freelancers who work from home has immensely increased. With that came the increase of pay rates for freelance services. In fact, many programmers and writing professionals have chosen to give up their full-time jobs for online freelancing. Not only do they get more pay, but they also get the chance to work from home and stay in control of their time. How then can you find freelance jobs? The best method is to look through various online job listings widely available in the Internet. You can use your trusty search engines to look for sites which bring together job seekers and job providers. There are hundreds of them in the Internet, so make sure you narrow down your search and stick to a number which you most likely can handle. It can be easy to find freelance jobs in the Internet that allow you to work from home. However, it may be a little difficult to look for high paying jobs, especially if you are only starting out. You can initially settle for low pay, and then eventually raise your rates as soon as you have established your credibility as a freelancer. It will take time and lots of effort, but the pay is almost always (relatively) worth more than what you exert.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Mc Donald’s And Las Vegas Became Huge Businesses Using Promotional Marketing · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Promotional marketing is a great way to build your business.

Promotional marketing is often overlooked by many business owners. McDonald’s and Las Vegas Casinos have taken full advantage of promotional marketing techniques and you should do the same. Promotional marketing can be very effective when employed correctly. We will take a look at a couple of companies who use promotional marketing in their marketing campaign. Many successful companies understand the whole point of business is to get you in the door. If you notice Las Vegas does not advertise their slot machines or game boards, instead they advertise the Las Vegas lifestyle. They just want to get you there, full well knowing once you are there you will gamble. First let’s look at McDonald’s. McDonald’s does not have the best tasting food or the healthiest food but McDonald’s is still one of the most successful restaurant chains today. Why? Two reasons first McDonald’s buys real estate in key locations and second they employ effective promotional marketing techniques. Let’s take a look at the techniques they use. If you notice McDonald’s does not list the benefits of eating their food, why? Their food is not the best food around so they can’t. Instead they have a ton of promotional techniques. Remember the beanie baby craze? This was started by McDonald’s. McDonald’s just sold new beanie babies every week. These beanie babies were going on Ebay for hundreds of dollars. Do you see the whole strategy behind this? See all they wanted was to get you in the door.

Full well knowing once you were inside of a McDonald’s you would most likely also buy a hamburger and fries besides just a beanie baby.

They also employ the same strategy with their Value Meals, Happy Meals, Monopoly Game Sweepstakes, and Dollar Menu. Next let’s look at Las Vegas. Las Vegas casino’s are masters at using effective promotional marketing. Las Vegas Casino’s are their for one reason and one reason only and that is to make money. Las Vegas casino’s do not advertise about gambling, instead they focus on the Vegas lifestyle. «What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas!» is one slogan they have going. They advertise the free rooms, the Vegas nightlife, the Vegas shows, and boxing matches. Their whole goal is just to get you inside of their casino. Knowing full well once you are inside the odds are in their favor you will gamble and lose. It’s genius marketing. Now granted you may not have the spending budget of a McDonald’s or Las Vegas casino but you can still use promotional marketing for your business. For example you could give out a free Vegas vacation for the 1,000th customer. Or you could give out little things like a free car wash for the first 100 customers. The main thing to remember is to make sure you give out something of value and your promotional marketing efforts will be effective.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Social Bookmarking And Power Linking · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Social Bookmarking and Power Linking. Just in case you missed it… the Web has changed. I think a little history of the Internet is in order to grasp the big picture. I’m not going to give any dates (late eighties and early 90’s)… I’ll just give a quick run down. I would say nearly fifteen years ago I had a dial up Internet connection that allowed me to log into various College computers, BBS’s (bulletin boards) and Newsgroups. The Internet was much different than the Web is today. There was no graphics… it was totally text based and everything was dial up. All you could do was basically post to a newsgroup, post messages on some BBS’s and send email. Internet Marketing as we know it today did not exist. In time though – a few brave souls ventured out of the shadows and began marketing within the newsgroups. This started wars between the «Purists» and new «Marketers» that I still remember to this day. You see, the Purists considered the Internet to be their own little playground. They viewed anyone selling something as evil. After all… Marketers had the TV, the Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, etc, etc as an avenue in which to sell their crap. «The Internet is ours» was their battle cry. They viewed the Internet as a way for them to communicate with each other without having to wade through all the BS advertising – and they could control what was being said. When the evil «Marketer» entered the picture, this all changed – and it changed quickly. Once the evil Marketer had discovered the Internet as a new marketing medium, the «Purity» of the Internet, newsgroups and BBS’s was destroyed forever. The Internet was now becoming just another medium for Marketers to sell their wares. It was inevitable and only a matter of time before this happened. But the Purists fought it tooth and nail. The Newsgroups and BBS’s were now inundated and overrun with advertising. There was so much spam that you could hardly follow a thread or make sense of it.

The thread may have started out discussing a subject as «Microsoft DOS» as it’s first post… but it was hard to make sense of it as the evil Marketers would post «off topic» spam ads trying to sell their wares throughout the threads. As we all know things have changed a lot since those «Caveman» days… the evil Marketers persevered and the Purists lost the War (or did they?) Jump to present day… The Purists did not really lose – they just lost a battle ten or fifteen years ago, but they have recently won the War and staked their claim on the Internet as belonging to them with Web 2.0. Just in case you missed this «coup d’ etat» – give some serious thought to the current environment on the Web and Social Networking specifically. The Web no longer belongs to the evil Marketer. It is back in the hands and control of the Purists and they are once again controlling the conversations. I know… it sounds like a bunch of BS, but for the most part it is true. The difference is the Purists have discovered a way to once again «control» the conversations they want to have, while at the same time make a profit from these discussions (i.e. social networking communities). Welcome to Web 2.0 and Social Networking. I do not consider myself a Internet «Purist»… I’d fall more into the «Evil Marketer» category. This being the case, like you (if you are an Evil Marketer too) I have to adapt and change the way I do things or I will soon fall to the wayside and die a slow death. Like the saying goes, «When in Rome… do as The Romans Do» was never a truer statement than it is today. The way you sell things and market has to change – you are now in Rome. Marketing as we know it today on the Web is dying a slow death – but it is happening fast. Only those who adapt and change will survive. The Web 2.0 Marketer will survive this «coup d’ etat». Interruption Marketing has lost out to Participation Marketing and the Web 2.0 Marketer will prosper with these changes. It is no longer about forcing our messages down the throats of people – they get enough of that with all the other advertising mediums. It is all about authority, conversations and participating within discussions that other people deem important – not what you feel is important. Seth Godin has been telling us this very same thing for a few years now – but a lot have not listened. Why is this? Because it takes work and discipline (and change) to make relationships and participate in meaningful conversations.

It is easier to do what I would call «method of the day» or «hit and miss» marketing – at least in the short run. But that is all it is… marketing for the short haul with no regard to the direction the Web is moving. Like Seth Godin, Jack Humphrey has been telling Marketers they need to adapt and change their marketing methods for years now with Social Power Linking. Jack saw this «coup d’ etat» coming before most and began joining in with the «conversations» while most of us were still doing our marketing basically the same way as the «evil Marketers» of past (and current) – cramming and forcing our message down our visitors throats. I have posted before on Social Bookmarking and Social Networking and the success I have had with these methods. You can view other posts on this blog and see the results I have had by simply joining in and creating «conversations». This is not a fad or a «method of the day»… it is here to stay. With the direction the Web is heading (we are really already there) – Social Bookmarking, Social Networking, Conversation Participation with links from and pointing to those conversations is the key to being successful for the Web 2.0 Marketer. So don’t rebel against the «coup d’ etat» – come on it, the water is fine.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Who Are Venture Capitalists? · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Venture Capitalists are wealthy private investors who can help finance your business either it being a business in trouble financially or a new business venture. There is usually a five year lock up on Venture Capital investments, this means the Venture Capitalist or the business they are helping to fund cannot get out of the deal until the five years is up, sometimes this may be longer depending on the agreed business plan.

They also charge management fees and incentive fees as well as taking a good sized share of your business. Unlike Business Angels, Venture Capitalists like to have a director or management role within the company to discuss the running of the business as well as keeping a close eye on their investment making sure the business succeeds. But there are a few Venture Capitalists who like to give the company the finance they require then take a back seat and let the company who know the trade etc. and let them run the business on a day to day basis. Finding the right Venture Capitalist for you may be a scary prospect but there many Venture Capitalist firms now available which have Venture Capitalists waiting to invest in a new and upcoming business with good prospects. Making a proposition to a Venture Capitalist can be a scary thought, you need to remember they will want to know exactly what your plans are for coming years, the market you will be promoting your product, service in as well who your target audience are for this as well as how much it will cost to make if necessary and the cost you will sell it for, showing the profit you will make on each product, item or service. One thing to remember is that Venture Capitalists don’t care about the dreams you have about this venture, all they want is a good return on their investment in your business. Before going to see a possible Venture Capitalist the best thing to do is to get advice from other business people in the same area you want to go into to get their advice on your product and or service and their honest opinion of the idea. You will need a well detailed business plan when you meet up with the Venture Capitalist and if you are turned away by them don’t give up keep trying, if show people you’re serious about your venture and wont fall at the first hurdle your more likely to win people over with their own weaknesses. Some points to consider are: • Put all your thoughts on your new venture on paper, brainstorm everything • Research your proposed market or industry • Get someone to argue against you to see if you have a water tight solution • If you have little knowledge on a certain area ask for help from people who know • Create a budget, showing every detail you can think of • Read thoroughly your business plan to ensure there’s no errors • Know who your competitors are • Present yourself well – the more presentable you are the more likely you are to be respected by the Venture Capitalist make a good impression • Make sure you know your speech, your business plan back to front so you come across confident as you only have one chance

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Right Biz For The Right Entrepreneurs · Categories: Make Money

Going into business is a big leap and to be successful here, you have to be totally creative and focused.

Many have considered starting out a business in lieu of the corporate employment ladder and while most have faltered, there are a selected few who have made headway today. If your experience lies in architecture and construction, the home renovation market may be an important area for your job search. Home owners throughout the world are moving beyond traditional renovation methods in order to save on energy costs. Your interest in solar panels and your hands-on experience on construction sites can help you build new roofs for home owners. Other positions in the home renovation market include construction work around current structures and foreman positions that are given a mandate to recycle building materials. Your expertise may lie in the area of city and national environmental regulations governing water runoff and building standards. This expertise can be best used in regulatory positions within a government agency. Agencies assigned the task of studying industrial waste, the efficiency of government environmental programmes and adherence to air pollution standards are looking for new graduates every year. You need to possess a keen eye for detail as well as an objectivity in enforcing policies to succeed in compliance positions. If you don’t realize how silly that is, listen to this: When a person says he is looking for a job, I tell you, he isn’t looking for a job. If you give him a job without a pay, do you think he will take it? No sir, what he is looking for, is the opportunity to trade his time and energy and skill in exchange for money. Why then, does a person say he is looking for a job, when in fact he is looking for regular money? Because society has conditioned him to accept that the only acceptable way of getting regular money is to trade his time, energy and skill for it. If instead of a job, you offer him regular money, would he accept it? You bet he would! Unfortunately society doesn’t work that way. In fact, society has us believing there is no such thing as regular money without a job. So much so that a jobless person is regarded with sympathy, if not contempt. If you say everybody should accept his lot, go to work and bear with it, you are exhibiting herd mentality. If the whole village says the world is flat, do you accept that, or do you continue to believe that it is round? Just because everybody believes something or does something, doesn’t mean it is the best thing to do.

If it is, why do we hate Mondays, why do we look forward to public holidays, why do we wish our annual leave is longer? It’s because humans are not made to work. If you’re looking for an alternative income, you should have no difficulty finding one. Snap a finger and twenty will line up outside your door. There’s always Multi-Level Marketing. Then there’s sales, of everything from pots and pans to insurance, investment instruments, and encyclopedias. Before you sign up to an alternative form of income, ask yourself this important question: are you going to love that new job? If it’s no or if you’re once again trading your time/energy/skill for money, don’t go any further!

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on Setting Up Your Home Business Schedule · Categories: Your Hopes And Dreams

Do you have a schedule for your home business? If not you will need one. Running a home business is a challenging task. Running any type of business is a challenge. In order to succeed you will need to work in order to build your home business. Time management is key. Self discipline is a must when running your home business. It is very easy to get sidetracked when running a home business. Many home business owners end up not succeeding in their home business because of bad time management.

You must have the discipline to create a daily schedule for yourself and then stick to that schedule daily, until your schedule becomes a routine. The whole key in creating a schedule for yourself is to make your work ethic into a habit. Once your work ethic is a habit you will be well on your way to succeeding in your home business. Many people believe they have a great work ethic and they probably do have a great work ethic. But running a home business is different than working a job. First it is your business, you will not have anyone looking over your shoulder telling you to do this or so that. You will not have anyone to answer to except yourself. Which is why you must hold yourself accountable. I am willing to bet 90 percent of all home business owners follow this or a similar routine. Wake up and go to work. Get home and turn on the television and put off working on their home biz until tomorrow. Guess what, tomorrow they follow the same routine and put off working their home business until the following day. Then the weekend rolls around and instead of working on their home business they decide to put it off until Monday. Then their routine becomes a habit and they quit their home business believing home businesses do not work. You see that is the main difference between successful home business owners and unsuccessful home business owners. Successful business owners actually work their businesses daily, until it becomes a routine and then a habit. Successful home business owners form great work habits and unsuccessful business owners form bad work habits.

One thing you will notice with unsuccessful people in general is they always have one million and one excuses on why the job is not getting done.

Oh I was tired from work, it was the season finale of «Dancing With The Stars» and the list goes on…Winners just get the job done period. Unsuccessful people also have another common trait, they tend to blame everyone else except themselves for their problems.Winners take full responsibility for their actions and learn from their mistakes. Setting up a schedule for your home business is the easy part. Do what works for you best. I like to take care of all of the home business work I hate doing in the morning. Do what works best for you. But remember having a home business schedule is pointless if you do not practice it daily.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on The Rise And Fall Of The Multimedia Projector · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

One of the staple activities that any business entity undertakes on a regular basis is the holding of a meeting. The reasons for meetings vary; e.g., discussion of reports, presentation of concepts, issue resolution, etc. Invariably, these meetings require the use of documents to assist in the discussion. When the meeting is between 2 to 3 people, hard copy documents will suffice, but when there are more participants, it is more effective to have everyone viewing just one document so that the interaction is specific to one part of the document.

Huddling around a document is one way to do this. However, it does become quite a task. That is why the multimedia projector is fast becoming part of the standard office equipment of most businesses, large and small. Having a multimedia projector in the office did not use to be so common a few years ago. In fact, it was even considered to be excessive to have one. The early versions were very bulky (some were big enough to fit into a standard check-in suitcase. Some actually even came with one!), difficult to set-up (fickle mindedness seemed to be a design consideration, i.e., you could not just connect it to any medium), required that the venue be completely dark, and cost as much as your boss’s annual salary in terms of acquisition as well as maintenance. The bulb alone, which is almost guaranteed to get busted when the number of hours stated in the manual occurs, probably costs more than all your lights in the office! As a result, only large organizations could actually afford the investment. Smaller organizations had to content themselves with primitive devices like the whiteboard marker, or the traditional overhead projector (a device that projects the content of a hardcopy document printed on transparent film (modern versions can now display documents printed on plain paper). The use of multimedia projectors then was not really considered cost-effective. The days of the prehistoric multimedia projector, however, are over. Thanks to the new technologies used in designing and manufacturing them, multimedia projectors are now much, much smaller, lighter, project brighter, media-friendlier, (you can connect it to almost any computer or media player. There are even models that do not even require separate equipment! All you need is your disc or flash drive), easier (and, of course, cheaper) to maintain and, most importantly, cost a mere fraction of what their ancestors used to cost. This rise in technological superiority and fall in investment has accelerated the availability of a multimedia projector in almost every business, both large and small which, as a result, has made interaction in meetings more focused, efficient and productive. There are several suppliers of multimedia projectors (both in brick-and-mortar and online stores) that you can choose from so be sure that before you purchase one, you check out a few of them and ask as many questions as you want so that your purchase is an informed one. They will only be too happy to assist you.

09. April 2012 · Comments Off on The Business Planning Process: Launch Your Small Business Startup With Success · Categories: Reasons To Bless The Internet

Business planning is one of the most important steps towards building a successful startup business, and you can use some specific strategies to create a comprehensive outline. An effective business plan will help you determine your goals and help you organize all of your small business ideas with ease. If you’ve ever been stuck with too many ideas and not knowing where to start, business planning will help take the pressure off. Understanding the business planning process is important for creating something that works, and something that will help you reach your goals. Launching your small business startup is much easier with a clear, step-by-step outline; here’s what you need to know: Step 1: Organize your table of contents. This will help you outline each area of your business to include your mission statement, products and services, number of employees, and any basic market research information. Step 2: Collect attachments and appendix materials. These are especially important if your business plan will be reviewed by potential investors or business partners, and can also help with your online business planning strategy. Step 3: Create a list of key topics and sections.

Not only will this create a cohesive document, but you’ll also be able to jumpstart your business planning process with a clear ‘map’ or guide of all your strategies. This list is especially helpful if you’re not sure where to begin, since you can just put each item down on paper and organize it accordingly. Step 4: Assign projects and tasks for each area. This is an effective business planning strategy as it helps you break down each goal into actions steps. Assigning tasks and objectives in this way makes it much easier to stay on track during each step. Step 5: Check for grammar, spelling, and even factual errors. Making sure your plan and notes are clear of mistakes is especially important if you’ll be presenting it to others. Doing a quick check will also help you determine if you missed any pieces of critical information and help you fine tune the final draft. Step 6: Write up an executive summary for your small business startup. This is an important step for all business owners, and can help you pull together the entire plan in a few short pages. Many business owners turn to this summary when they need a briefing on objectives during the course of business, and you can include basic points and topics as if you were presenting it to a board or audience. Step 7: Get an outsider’s perspective. While you need to keep your business planning strategy and ideas as confidential as possible, sharing your plan with a trustworthy person can help you catch a few key elements of your project. Get an objective view of your plan and notes so you have everything in well-organized and presented in a logical way. Business planning doesn’t have to be difficult, but many startup business owners are intimidated by the process. Take the time to organize the critical areas of your business and put them in a logical order. Then, break them down into specific objectives and tasks so you have a strong idea of how you can be successful in each area. The time and effort you put into business planning will pay off for the long run, and help you launch your small business startup with success.