Friday, June 29, 2007

Top 12 Proven Tips to Strengthen Your Marketing Muscle

The more you stretch it the stronger it becomes. And that will make you a better marketer, and more confident to generate more and more business.

Listed below are my top 12 proven ways to strengthen your marketing muscle. I realise you may find some of them challenging to undertake. That’s the whole point. If you don’t stretch your marketing muscle you wont improve it.

Ready… knees bent…breathe in…

Website:

  • Try running a few pay-per-click advertisements on Google (Google Adwords). It doesn’t cost very much at all. You will learn a lot, even if you don’t get an immediate flood of business.
  • Optimise the home page of your web site by fixing the page title, using a few descriptive headings, and sprinkling key words in appropriate places on the page.
  • Ask your typical customers what they think of using your web site. But don’t just ask. Run a low-cost user-test by having one person sit in front of a computer and navigate your site. Ask them to do a typical task at your site. Talk with them about how easy (or not) it was for them to do the task.
Advertising:
  • Investigate an important customer niche market and find the main publication, website, or professional journal they read. Contact the publication and ask about their advertising options.
Write an article:
  • Choose one topic that you know your potential customers will be interested in, related to the services you provide. Write a brief article of 500-600 words explaining how they should approach/manage the topic you selected. (This article is 750 words.) Include some useful action-oriented tips. Add the article to your web site. Email it to your contacts. Add it to one of the many online article directories so that other people can access it and publish it on their website.
Speaking:
  • Approach your local business group, networking club, social group, or community group and ask if it would be possible for you to present a short talk to them. Pick a relevant topic that you can cover in the time they allow (usually 15-20 minutes would be enough).
Selling:
  • Create a value-added offer and mention it during all your sales discussions over the next week. Don’t forget to tell your networking group as well, if you are a member of one.
Public Relations:
  • Focus on one event you run, survey you conduct, or client success story you have, and write a media release around it. Focus on the people in the story. Include a photo – with people – if possible. Send that to appropriate publications and websites.
Newsletter:
  • Start a newsletter. Make it monthly so you do not get overwhelmed. Decide on a few topics you can write about, then select one as the first subject. Even if you don’t have a large list of contacts. Make a start. Be sure to follow good email practices.
Ask for a testimonial:
  • Contact previous clients and tell them you are updating your marketing material, and you are approaching them to get their feedback on how they found your service. Get the testimonials in writing, or write one for the client based on what they tell you. Be sure to ask if it is OK for you to use their words and name.
Networking:
  • Meet with one person over coffee who offers a complementary service or product. Keep it casual. Get to know their business. Make sure you also explain how you help clients. Don’t expect an order from them. Discuss possible future opportunities with them as a referral or alliance partner.
Promotion:
  • Create a one or two-page summary of your services and the benefits you offer. Don’t just list features, or your credentials. Include a testimonial or two. Use this document as the main follow up after you meet new people, or when contacting prospects. It is important to have it as a PDF document (not Word, Publisher or other program) so that you can send it via email and everyone can open it.

Read More...

Thursday, June 28, 2007

11 Golden Tips To Cut Costs When Launching A Startup

Launching a startup can be very expensive. In the last few years however the cost of launching innovative projects and web startups in particular has dropped dramatically. What you usually need to spend on is: hosting, domain registration, help from friends and a “big garage”. What is really important is to be patient and find a niche for your service or product. Many people get discouraged because of entry costs in markets and costs of creating and launching a startup.

Let me tell you how you can cut costs easily:

1. Look into projects according to your background.

The best way to save money is have a proper knowledge of the industry and the products you are going to provide. If you are an engineer try to stick to your background; biochemistry or astronomy will probably be something to avoid especially if you don’t have anyone with such knowledge in your company. The key to success is competitive advantage which derives from unique abilities and skills.

2. Ask your family and your friends to comment on the project.

You family and your friends will always tend to be subjective, but their advice will be free. Asking “what do you think about it?” will allow you to identify potential opportunities and serious mistakes. This could be vital.

3. Observe competitors before spending money.

This is something that I always stress. Don’t create another Youtube or Google, focus on innovation. A good solution is to avoid cloning, but invent something new every time. The only exception that comes to my mind is cloning from one country to another. Fotki.pl for example is very similat to Flickr.com and is a polish clone of it. This site is very popular and in this case it turns out to be a good approach to business.

4. Keep your ideas secret.

It usually takes 2-3 weeks to clone a project. Your ideas are the most important thing in the whole company. Never share all your ideas or you will end up with nothing. Competition is fierce and big players in the industry are always one step ahead, so be careful.

5. Negotiate with suppliers

Cutting costs by negotiating with suppliers is extremely important. Your bargain power at the begging is very low but if you are cunning you can find special opportunities even in competitive markets.

6. Don’t tell media what you are doing in the first stage of your project.

This point is connected with point 4. If you tell media about your ideas they will do exactly, what you planned to do. Marketing comes next, first concentrate on the product.

7. Be flexible.

If you see that there is something to be changed, change it. There is no point being stubborn. Be critical and you will be able to optimize your product or service.

8. Spend more time thinking than doing

It doesn’t matter how much time you spend working on a bad project. It’s better to wrok an hour on a very good idea than 24 hours on crap. “Quality is the king”.

9. Be ready to give up when everything goes wrong. There are thousands of project to look at.

This point is vital to survive. Risk diversification and project selection will take you out of major problem. If something goes wrong, switch to something diffeent.

10. Run a blog to keep in touch with users.

Keep in touch with customers. It doesn’t matter how you do, but they have to know that you are able to support them in case something goes wrong.

11. Don’t hire, outsource instead

It is always a good idea to focus on the core business. If you need to have something done from someone else, especially from time to time, try to avoid hiring.

Read More...

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Increase Your Internet Traffic With the One-Line Attention Grabber.

There are many articles on the Internet today that advise people on how to promote a successful e-commerce website. These articles are valuable resources, yet I find that most do not go beyond the technical aspect of website promotion. Mainstream topics of web promotion today explain how to rank high on a search engine, how to create viral affiliate programs and how to create targeted e-direct mail. These techniques are very important and I encourage every e-commerce businessperson to become an expert in these subjects however, it is my opinion that many Internet entrepreneurs are not tapping into their full profit potential because they are ignoring the basics of marketing. Whether you are an established Internet guru or brand new to the e-commerce scene, I think this short article will serve to light a fire under your proverbial rear end as I reintroduce one of the basics of marketing known as the one-line attention grabber.

A one-line attention grabber can be used like a neon sign to attract interest and to encourage curious web surfers to visit your site. Your attention grabber should wake people up, startle them and create an irresistible desire to read more about your web page. A good attention grabber leaves the reader eager for answers. Also known as a slogan or tag line, a one-liner can help you grab a potential customer’s attention so you can introduce what you do or what you can do to benefit the customer. Here are a few well-known examples from some popular and successful companies.

“Always Low Prices!" –Wal-Mart “Have it Your Way" –Burger King “The Quicker Picker-Upper" –Bounty “It’s Everywhere You Want to Be" –Visa “Reach Out and Touch Someone" –AT&T

Creating a slogan does not require a great deal of creativity. It could be simple as stating what you or your company does. For example, if you have an Internet business that sells nutritional supplements, you can have a slogan that states “your source to a fitter and healthier life." A good slogan is simple and merely invites potential customers to read or learn more about a company or website. It can also make for an interesting title to a web page. Now that you have the attention you want, it is up to you to make these potential customers fully grasp what you can do for them and to convince them that acquiring your product or service is in their best interest.

Getting traffic to your website will require some work. Even if you have a firm grasp of the technology involved in website promotion, you would be wise to not overlook proven marketing techniques such as simple attention grabbing slogans.

Read More...

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Top 10 Tips - Dressing for Success.

Are you afraid to plan, purchase and coordinate your wardrobe, because you think you might not know enough about style and fashion? Fear no more with these top ten steps to dressing for success tips:

Top Ten Dressing for Success Tips

1. Buy a basic wardrobe
2. Care for your clothing
3. Accessorize
4. Choose colors compatible with your complexion
5. Mix and match pieces
6. Choose outfits to wear for each occasion
7. Buy the right style
8. Dress-up and dress-down
9. Shop at expensive stores and save
10. Buy discount designer outfits

Your basic wardrobe should include garments such as daytime dress, coat, suit-dress, after five dress, sportswear, rain wear and accessories. The basic dress is a simple black dress that you can use to dress up or dress down. These garments should complete your basic wardrobe. Once you establish your basic wardrobe you can build on it to produce great outfits for any occasion.

Read More...

Monday, June 25, 2007

3 Important Qualities of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs today have transformed to become a new breed of business-savvy individuals. Although they may come from all corners of the world, they still possess the same qualities. You should check out these qualities in order to know whether or not you fit the description of an entrepreneur.

1. Patience Most successful entrepreneurs understand the need for patience. After all, Rome was not built in a single day. From formulating a strategy to planning and implementation, you should know that it will take time. If you are not normally a patient person, you can make a realistic plan complete with an acceptable timeline. This way, you will be focused on meeting each deadline and not on how long each portion of the plan is taking. Make use of this time to explore and look at your plans on every angle. Conduct researches and interviews to verify information.

2. Organized Because most entrepreneurs establish businesses single-handedly, being organized is a must. You must be able to manage your time and resources well in order to maximize their full potentials. If you are having difficulties managing your time, you should consider looking for effective ways to accomplish this, such as making lists. Most entrepreneurs manage excellently because they have learned to discern which among the many tasks at hand is least important. Prioritizing is the key and even if many people say that there is no single formula for establishing a business, you will learn eventually that effective time management helps immensely.

3. Perseverance As an entrepreneur, this quality is important for the simple reason that businesses do not succeed overnight. You should expect bumps along the way and some losses. If you are willing to look at these setbacks as challenges and opportunities to persevere and work harder, then your decision to be an entrepreneur is right, but if you feel disheartened at the first sign of trouble, then this is not the career for you. Entrepreneurs usually welcome these obstacles because they test flexibility, adaptability and of course, perseverance.

Becoming an entrepreneur requires you to have a complete set of entirely new qualities. Luckily for you, these qualities can be considered as skills that can be acquired through dedication or commitment. Now that you have realized that establishing a business is exciting AND very challenging, you should prepare yourself for any unexpected problems, the good news is you will learn a lot from all these situations and gain much enlightening and rewarding experiences.

Read More...

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Everything they dont want you know about Credit Cards: Part 6

Part 6 - Networks

ACCESS NETWORKS

For most credit card applications, the cost of the access network is the single biggest factor in overall costs, often accounting for over half of the total. For that reason, there are many different solutions, depending on the provider, the application, and geographical constraints.

The simplest form of access network uses 800 service, in one of its many forms. Terminals at merchant locations across the country dial an 800 number that is terminated on a large hunt group of modems, connected directly to the acquirer's front-end processor (FEP). The FEP is typically a fault-tolerant machine, since an outage here will take out the entire service. A large acquirer will typically have two or
more centers for terminating the 800 service. This allows better economy, due to the nature of 800 service tariffs, and allows for disaster recovery in case of a failure of one data center. An advantage
of 800 service is that it is quite easy to cover the entire country with it. It also provides the most effective utilization of your FEP resources. (A little queuing theory will show you why.) However, 800 service is quite expensive. It always requires 10 (or 11) digits dialed, and in areas with pulse dialing it can take almost three seconds just to dial 1-800. The delay between dialing and connection is longer for 800 calls than many other calls, because of the way the calls get routed. All of this adds to the perceived response time at the merchant location, even though the acquirer has no control over it.

Large acquirers prefer to offer some form of local access service. In this service, terminals at the merchants dial a local telephone number to gain access to the acquirer. Typically, the local number actually connects to a packet network, which then connects to the acquirer. If the packet network is a public network, the terminal must go through a login sequence to get connected across the packet network. Typically, local calls are much less expensive than 800 service calls, and local calls typically connect faster than 800 calls. The cost of those calls are absorbed by the merchants directly. In those few remaining areas where local calls are still free from a business line, this works out well for the merchant. Otherwise, the merchant can end up spending a lot of money on phone calls. Usually, the acquirer has to offer lower prices to accepters who use local calls, to help offset this. Even so, these networks are generally much less expensive for the acquirers. Such networks are difficult to maintain, due to the distributed nature of the access network. Since most packet networks are much more likely
to experience failures than the phone network is, the merchant's POS terminal is usually programmed to dial an 800 number for fallback if the local number doesn't work. Also, it is generally not cost-effec-
tive to cover every free calling area in the entire country with access equipment, so some 800 service is required anyway. There is also an administrative headache associated with keeping track of the different
phone numbers that each merchant across the country needs to dial. When you have tens of thousands of terminals to support, this can be formidable.

Acquirers are beginning to experiment with Feature Group B (FGB) access. FGB access was the method of access used to get to alternative long-distance carriers before "equal access" was available. The tariffs are still on the books, and they are favorable for this application. FGB access provides a single number, nationwide, for all merchants to dial in order to gain access to the acquirer. The call has
simpler (hence, presumably, faster) routing than 800 service, and the call is charged to the acquirer, not the accepter. FGB access does have to terminate on equipment that is physically located in the Local
Access Toll Area (LATA) where the call originated, so there is the problem of having distributed equipment, as above. This also implies that it is not cost-effective to deploy FGB access everywhere, as well. There are also some technical oddities of FGB, due to its original intent, that have made it difficult to implement so far.

The other big switched access capability that is likely to have an impact in the future is ISDN. So far, this has been inhibited by limited availability and lack of adequate equipment on the merchant end, but it could be very beneficial when these problems are solved.

Private-line networks are pretty straightforward applications of point-to-point and multipoint private lines. Since private lines are quite expensive, engineering of the networks is challenging. Usually, sophisticated software is used to determine the optimum placement of concentrators in order to minimize costs. Since tariffs, real estate prices, and business needs change frequently, maintaining a stable, cost-effective network is hard work. A typical asynchronous private line network will have multiplexers at remote sites, with backbone links to companion multiplexers at a central site. Synchronous private line networks may use multiplexers, or remote controllers, or remote FEPs, depending on the application and the availability of real estate.

INTERCHANGE NETWORKS

Interchange networks physically consist mostly of point-to-point private lines. In many of the large interchange networks, there is a central "switch" that takes transactions from acquirers (thereby acting as an issuer), and routes them to issuers (thereby acting as an acquirer). Often the switch provider will actually be an acquirer or issuer as well, but this is not always the case. Usually, the provider of the
switch defines standard message formats, protocols, and interchange rules. These formats and protocols usually comply with national and international standards, but sometimes do not. Often the switch will provide translation between different message formats and protocols.

The switch provider is generally very concerned that settlement complete successfully. Failure to settle with one or more large issuers can leave the switch provider with an overnight deficit of a couple million dollars. Even though this is a temporary situation, it has significant financial impact.

In some current networks, authorization and settlement take place on completely separate facilities, with separate hosts in some cases. This is mainly due to the history of the industry in this country. Re-
call that authorizations were originally done by voice calls, and settlement was done by moving paper around. These two processes were automated at different times, by separate means. Thus VISA has a BASE 1 network for authorization, and a BASE 2 network for settlement. Likewise, MasterCard has INET and INES, one for authorization and one for settlement. These functions are becoming less and less separated as communication and computer facilities evolve, and will probably be completely integrated over the next five to ten years.

Interchange networks are probably the most volatile part of the ATM market right now. There is currently a shakeout going on in much of the market, with larger, more aggressive regionals buying out standalone networks and smaller regionals. This causes local banks to change local and national network affiliation from time to time. So a card may work in a given ATM one day, but fail in that machine the next, which confuses many consumers. Most large regional and national networks have operating regulations requiring labeling of ATMs and cards, so that if you see the same logo on your card and the ATM, you can be pretty sure it will work.

Some regionals are interconnected, and others are not. The two biggest nationals, Cirrus and Plus, have operating regulations that effectively prohibit a member of one network from connecting to the other. But a regional on Cirrus could be connected to a regional on Plus. In that case, whether a machine will take your ATM card depends on the routing algorithm used. In most cases, the acquirer will have a table of issuers that are directly connected, and will send anything else to the regional switch. The regional switch will have a table of each issuer it is directly connected to, and tables of which cards are acceptable to other regionals it interchanges with. Anything else goes to the national switch. The same process happens in reverse from there. Often the order of search in the routing tables is determined by fee scales, not geography, so transactions can be routed in completely non-obvious ways.

So the easiest way to tell if your card will work in a given ATM is to stick the card in and try. I don't know of any machine that will eat a card just because it can't route the transaction - it will generally give some non-specific message about being unable to complete the transaction and spit the card back out. Of course, if the transaction is completed from a machine that you're not sure of, you also aren't sure what the fee is going to be if your bank passes those fees on to you. Sometimes the fee will be printed on the receipt, but usually it isn't. If you do the transaction in a foreign country, you may not know the exchange rate used. (I once couldn't balance my checkbook for a month until I got a statement with the transaction I did at Banc du Canada in Montreal.) But if you need the money and are willing to pay the fee, you have little to lose by trying out just about any ATM.

This completes the course in Credit Card 101. Hope you all found it
enjoyable and informative.

Joe Ziegler
att!lznv!ziegler

Additional reading:

Magnetic Stripe Technology Index
How plastic card magnetic stripe are encoded, ISO-7811 standards

Credit Card Validation - Check Digits
Illustrates how the Luhn formula works using an example credit-card number

Everything you ever wanted to know about CCs
An easy-to-understand, in-depth look at credit cards and the credit-card industry.

Luhn Formula
Explanation of the formula used to generate and/or validate the accuracy of credit-card numbers.

Read More...

7 Surefire Ways To Increase Your Traffic Starting Yesterday

To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google's Adwords and Yahoo's Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase your traffic would cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Overture is the top surefire way to increase your traffic.

You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of site feature these advertising system and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Yahoo's advertising.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic could be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company's name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content
Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site
Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

6) Join forums and form online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.

Read More...

Saturday, June 23, 2007

3 Easy Steps for Gathering Competitive Intelligence.

It's important to complete a competitive analysis during the start-up phase of your new business, about the time you're putting together your marketing plan. In fact, if you get underway without performing a competitive analysis, you run the risk of creating marketing tools and product or service offerings that are way off the mark. This can cost you valuable time and money during the critical early months. You should also plan to gather competitive intelligence as your business grows, in order to stay competitive.
Who's Your Competition?

One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is failing to recognize the range of competitors for their businesses. Your new company will have two types of competition-real and perceived. For example, imagine you're a former college athlete who's decided to start a personal fitness training business. Your competitors will fall into two categories: other personal trainers, and gyms and health clubs that offer trainers or advisors on staff. Although you'd directly compete only with the other personal trainers, your prospects-people who want to shape up-would perceive the gyms that offer these services as a viable alternative to hiring you. So to complete your competitive analysis, you need to evaluate the marketing materials and services both types of competitors offer.

Get the Facts.

The first step in your competitive analysis is to collect all the marketing materials used by your competitors-both perceived and real. Begin by clipping your competitors' ads. Then request copies of their brochures and other marketing materials-not so you can copy their ideas, but so you can check out marketing strategies and formats, competitive pricing, special offers, the key benefits (or promises made), and clues to marketing niches that may be underserved.

If possible, you may even want to "mystery shop" your competitors-go out and actually buy their products or services so you can experience the purchasing process with their store personnel or salespeople. If your competitors are large enough, you can gather information about them on the Net.

Use major search engines to look for recent press releases and articles about them. There are even free sites on the Web that allow you to customize your own daily news page, such as NewsPage by NewsEdge Corp. (www.newspage.com). And don't forget to check out your competitors' Web sites. How do your direct and perceived competitors use the Net to attract customers and sell products? This will give you important clues about information a Web site of your own should contain.

Put It All Together

Now you're ready to draw some conclusions about the types of competitive offers and pricing your new business should use. Best of all, you'll have clear guidelines for developing your marketing tools. Complete your analysis by answering these questions: * What size are their materials? Do most of your competitors use standard mailing envelopes, or are they using large folders with inserts? * Do your competitors use photography or illustrations in their materials? * Do they have Web sites, and how deep are they? Do they sell products online or just offer information? * How are your competitors' products or services similar to yours? How are they different? * What key benefits do their marketing materials communicate? Can you offer additional benefits that are valuable to prospects? * What special product, service or pricing offers do your competitors use to stimulate responses to brochures and ads?

Once you find answers to these questions, you'll be in the perfect position to create marketing tools that work as hard as you do.

This article originally appeared as "The Spying Game" in the October 1999 issue of Business Start-Ups magazine.

Read More...

Friday, June 22, 2007

How to Take advantage of online marketing sites and watch your business grow.

There's no question that consumers are using the internet to navigate their way to local brick-and-mortar retailers. A recent study by ROI Research Inc. and Performics shows that online searches influence 20 to 30 percent of purchases made at retail locations--and that number is only increasing. More and more sites, like Local.com, are making their presence known by competing against major search engines like Google and Yahoo!. So study up, plan your budget and get in on the online advertising game.

1. Website: Google AdWords
How It Will Help You: AdWords helps you target local online customers by setting your pay-per-click ads to appear only when people search a particular city, state or region. There's no minimum spending requirement--your daily budget is up to you.



2. Website: Yahoo! Local Listings
How It Will Help You: Local Listings will promote your business to customers looking for information in Yahoo! Local. Choose from three different plans (one is free) to meet your company's needs.

3. Website: CitySearch
How It Will Help You: CitySearch offers online advertising tools to easily open your account, manage your daily results and receive ad placement on MSN, Yahoo!, Google and Ask.com. Similar to the idea of pay-per-click advertising, CitySearch offers two paid plans, "Web Connect" and "Call Connect."

4. Website: Ask.com's AskCity
How It Will Help You: Ask.com recently launched AskCity, a new local search application that's a one-stop destination for making plans. In one screen, consumers can map a route, make dinner reservations, purchase movie tickets and e-mail plans to others. Pricing for advertising on Ask.com varies.

5. Website: AOL's CityGuide
How It Will Help You: AOL's CityGuide specializes in providing local entertainment information to AOL service members. Advertising with AOL allows marketers to target consumers specifically by lifestyle and market.

6. Website: Craigslist
How It Will Help You: Craigslist gets an estimated 10 million unique visitors per day. With an online classified ad format organized by region or city, Craigslist connects buyers and sellers in more than 300 communities; for the most part, posting on the site is free.

7. Website: MerchantCircle.com
How It Will Help You: This free site offers a local business listing service that allows you to better manage your online reputation and become more visible in search engine results.

8. Website: Dotster
How It Will Help You: Dotster is a web domain registration and hosting company offering a local web advertising package called "Local Site Promotion." You set your monthly budget and Dotster will make your ad visible on all the major search engines.

9. Website: Local.com
How It Will Help You: Advertising on Local.com will give you access to their 10 million-plus monthly customers. Choose from a free basic listing or pay-per-click options.

10. Website: Froogle Local
How It Will Help You: Google's shopping search engine allows users to search for specific products by location. It's a great way for users to find retail stores regardless of whether you use e-commerce.

11. Website:ReachLocal
How It Will Help You: This site provides a central location for businesses to set-up, maintain and track local search advertising campaigns. Pricing varies.

12. Website: RegisterLocal
How It Will Help You: RegisterLocal is a service, costing $199.95 per year, that allows you to create a master profile they submit to search engines and directories on your behalf.

13. Website: TrueLocal
How It Will Help You: This local search engine features full-text searching and offers advertising opportunities for businesses. Currently indexing more than 13 million local businesses, TrueLocal starts at just $1 per month.

14. Website: YellowPages.com
How It Will Help You: YellowPages.com is a large online local directory site featuring city guides and advertising solutions. Basic listings are free.

15. Website: Web.com's MyEzClicks program
How It Will Help You: MyEzClicks lists your business on more than 30 major search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN for a monthly fee.

Read More...

Thursday, June 21, 2007

5 Simple Rules of Logo Design.

Easier said than done, you say? Maybe. Luckily, there are time-tested guidelines you can follow in your quest for a great logo. Whether you hire an agency or decide to create it yourself, commit these rules to memory--or at least bookmark this web page:

1. Your logo should reflect your company in a unique and honest way. Sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many business owners want something "just like" a competitor. If your logo contains a symbol--often called a "bug"--it should relate to your industry, your name, a defining characteristic of your company or a competitive advantage you offer.


What's the overriding trait you want people to remember about your business? If it's quick delivery, consider objects that connote speed, like wings or a clock. Consider an abstract symbol to convey a progressive approach--abstracts are a great choice for high-tech companies. Or maybe you simply want an object that represents the product or service you're selling. Be clever, if you can, but not at the expense of being clear.

2. Avoid too much detail. Simple logos are recognized faster than complex ones. Strong lines and letters show up better than thin ones, and clean, simple logos reduce and enlarge much better than complicated ones.

But although your logo should be simple, it shouldn't be simplistic. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn. Look at the pros: McDonald's, Nike, Prudential. Notice how their logos are simple yet compelling. Anyone who's traveled by a McDonald's with a hungry 4-year-old knows the power of a clean logo symbol.

3. Your logo should work well in black and white (one-color printing). If it doesn't look good in black and white, it won't look good it any color. Also keep in mind that printing costs for four-color logos are often greater than that for one- or two-color jobs).

4. Make sure your logo's scalable. It should be aesthetically pleasing in both small and large sizes, in a variety of mediums. A good rule of thumb is the "business card/billboard rule": Your logo should look good on both.

5. Your logo should be artistically balanced. The best way to explain this is that your logo should seem "balanced" to the eye--no one part should overpower the rest. Just as a painting would look odd if all the color and details were segregated in one corner, so do asymmetric logos. Color, line density and shape all affect a logo's balance.

Many logo gurus insist your logo should be designed to last for up to 10 or 15 years. But I've yet to meet a clairvoyant when it comes to design trends. The best way to ensure logo longevity, in addition to the rules I've listed above, is to make sure you love your logo. Don't ever settle for something half-baked.

Read More...

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

S Corp Or Llc? That Is The Question.

As a business owner, it only makes sense to protect your personal assets from company debts and liabilities. The question is: what’s the best way to do that? If you’re going back and forth between the limited liability corporation (LLC) and the S Corporation (standard corporation), you’re certainly not alone!

LLC vs Corporation – The Similarities

So what benefits do these two business entities share? Owners of an S Corp or LLC both enjoy limited personal liability, they both avoid "double taxation," and they both pay income taxes on a flow-through basis like sole proprietors and partners.

In the past, business owners who wanted to protect their personal assets but also wanted to report income and losses on a personal tax return had to create an S Corporation. Today, that can also be accomplished with an LLC. And for many small businesses, the flexibility of the LLC makes it a pretty popular option. In fact, in the LLC vs S Corp battle, the LLC is quickly becoming the entity of choice among small business.

Benefits of LLC vs S Corp

•Simple & Fast – An LLC can be formed in one easy step, while an S Corporation election is made only after a General Corporation is formed first.

•Skip the Formalities – S Corporations are required to hold annual meetings and keep formal minutes, while an LLC is not.

•Flexibility – LLC members can split profits/losses in any way they choose. In an S Corporation, shareholders must receive dividends according to the number of shares that they own, regardless of the amount of effort put into the business.

•Ownership Freedom – Any combination of individuals or business entities can own an LLC. Only United States citizens and resident aliens may own an S Corporation.

Still, when it comes to the question of S Corp or LLC, a clear winner cannot be named. While many business owners are enjoying the simplicity and flexibility of the LLC, it’s not the best choice for everyone.

Benefits of S Corporation

•Issuing of Stock – If you want to entice or compensate employees with stock options or stock bonuses, the S Corp is still the way to go since LLCs do not issue stock.

•Tax Benefits – S Corp shareholders pay Medicare and Social Security tax only on money received as wages or salary, not on profits received as dividends or that stay within the company.

•Fewer Audits – An S Corporation is said to have less risk of government audits as a corporation, compared to an LLC.

As you can see, there’s no clear cut answer as to which form of business entity is better. Each individual business owner will have to weigh his or her options in the battle of LLC vs S Corp. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, it might be time to talk to a business attorney or accountant about what’s best for you. Another great option is utilizing an online incorporation firm – they can answer your questions and assist you in setting up your S Corp or LLC for a reasonable fee.

Read More...

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The 6 Web Traffic Techniques.

Building a great website is not enough; visitors must be able to find it. Successful sites build links, optimize their sites for the search engines, build partnerships online and use all other means available to extend their reach. These sites generate more traffic, leads, sales and create greater exposure.

While there are literally dozens of options for getting in front of your ideal visitors, here are some key web marketing techniques to promote and drive traffic to your site. In some cases you will be pulling traffic in from search engines and ads; in some cases you are pushing your site out to new audiences.

SEO (search engine optimization) Optimizing your site for the search engines is the key to grabbing the lion's share of visitors from the natural search traffic. Search engines use many factors when deciding where a site ranks. Still, the best first step to any successful SEO campaign is to identify the search terms / phrases that you wish your site pages to be found in the search engines. Once you have a well researched list of keywords and an SEO plan worked out, start the optimization process by applying them to the following site elements:

Write compelling Title tags for each page. Place the most important keywords within META tags (description, keywords tags). Develop keyword-rich Alt attributes for images. Define page headings that include important keywords. Create keyword-rich anchor text for links. Optimize page copy. Clean up HTML coding errors.

PPC (pay per click) PPC refers to a site's paid listings in the sponsored results of the search engines. Pay per click advertising works by charging you each time someone clicks on your listing. When a user searches for a particular keyword, site ads are displayed according to how much they bid on that particular word or phrase. The beauty of PPC advertising is that you only pay when someone clicks through to your site.

PPC campaigns can be set up and begin generating traffic in less than 24 hours, but can be complicated, competitive and require constant monitoring. Competition for position and keywords drives click prices up. PPC is not for every business, it is up to you to determine how PPC fits into your overall marketing campaign and combine it with SEO or other online marketing techniques to drive targeted traffic to your site.

Directory Listings There are thousands of online business directories where you can submit your site. Backlinks from directories are very important, helping drive traffic to the site and helping to improve a site's status in the search engines. Directories fall under two cateogories: general directories which provide general authoritative information about sites, and topic specific directories that target specific interests and industries. Find the most appropriate directories that relate your industry and get listed.

Email Marketing Email can be a very cost effective tool for promoting your business. Because the nature of email marketing is immediate, a message can be tracked within hours of a campaign being launched. A monthly newsletter, weekly product or promotional update to your clients or prospective customers will generate return traffic, as well as enhance the relationship between you and your visitors.

Additional Traffic – building techniques: Write and submit authoritative articles about your products or services. Research content related sites to place ads on that will bring your site additional traffic. Begin a business blog that positions your business as the expert in your industry. Advertise your site in free and paid classified sites. Include your site's URL on all online and offline business materials. Join online forums that are related to your industry. Create a custom advergame highlighting your brand or product.

By using the techniques and methods outlined here you can get the ball rolling and begin experiencing growth online. Which option you choose depends on your own marketing goals.

Read More...

Sunday, June 17, 2007

How to use Federal Government to Fund your Business.

SBA-licensed one-stop funding shops SBICs and SSBICs are looking for businesses to fund. Could your business be next.

What It Is: Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) and Specialized Small Business Investment Companies (SSBICs), which target entrepreneurs who have been denied the opportunity to own a business because of a social or economic disadvantage, are licensed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). These investment companies have their own private capital of several million dollars and may borrow additional funds from an SBA-sponsored trust at favorable rates. SBICs tend to be more risk tolerant than banks or regular venture funds, specialize in a particular industry, and target young companies that aren't ready for a traditional venture deal.

Appropriate for: Companies that are capable of repaying a loan. This typically means established to early-stage companies with good sales and earnings, or companies about to turn the corner toward profitability.

Supply: SBIC financing is abundant. According to the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies, there are more than 400 SBICs and SSBICs with more than $21 billion under management.

Content Continues Below

Best Use: For activities that generate cash flow in a relatively short period of time, such as product rollout, or for additional manufacturing or service capacity for which there is a demand.

Cost: Expensive. SBICs and SSBICs charge interest, but in addition, many look for some kind of equity compensation in the companies they finance. This equity compensation is usually in the form of stock, as well as options or warrants that allow the holder to buy stock at predetermined prices for a predetermined period of time.

Ease of Acquisition: Challenging but attainable because the company must submit itself to traditional credit analysis to prove it can repay a loan. This difficulty is countered by the fact that these investment companies are hungry for new business and can be helpful in shepherding companies through the application and due diligence process. In addition, an SSBIC or SBIC generally represents a one-stop shop, and companies need only satisfy the requirements of this single investor to obtain funding.

Range of Funds Typically Available: $150,000 to $5 million.

First Steps
The affiliation SBICs and SSBICs have with the federal government through their SBA license tends to mislead many entrepreneurs. This is because many labor under the mistaken idea that there is an arm of the government that gives money to businesses that cannot secure financing from traditional sources of capital. Unfortunately, SBICs and SSBICs are not this elusive Holy Grail. Second, many entrepreneurs believe that the SBA, through a mechanism such as an SSBIC or SBIC, lends money to businesses with no visible source of repayment.

Unfortunately, this is not the case; SBA-licensed investment companies tend not to finance companies that do not exhibit an obvious source of repayment or that show a high degree of risk.

In fact, briefly exploring the financial structure of these SBA-licensed investment companies is helpful because it shows not only the kinds of deals they won't do, but the kinds they will, and what types of companies should spend their time pursuing this option.

For example, Freshstart Venture Capital Corp., an SSBIC in New York City, gets its money from two places. The first is equity capital, which Freshstart founder Zindel Zelmanovitch raised from public and private investors. But the second and far more substantial source of capital for Freshstart is funds from an SBA trust fund.

The interest Freshstart must pay on the funds it borrows, as all SSBICs and SBICs do, means the investment company must become involved in deals in which it receives interest as well. Otherwise, there is a massive mismatch between the investment company's sources and uses of funds. After all, how can an SBA-licensed investment company make investments in which it receives no interest but still pays interest on its own borrowings? The answer is investment companies can't because the difference between the interest they pay and interest they receive is precisely how it makes money.

And because their cost for funds can be quite low--from 4 percent to 7 percent--and the price SBICs and SSBICs charge on loans can be quite high--from 9 percent to 17 percent--these lenders can be pretty profitable. Freshstart, for instance, earned about $781,000 on about $1.8 million in interest income for the 12 months ending November 30, 1997.

If SBA-licensed investment companies are primarily lenders, what makes them different from a bank? There are two differences, really. First, SBICs and SSBICs tend to take slightly more risk than a bank in terms of collateral. That is, whereas a banker needs a loan to be fully collateralized, and/or guaranteed, at an amount that is equal to or greater than the loan value, an SSBIC or SBIC may not. Most investment companies specialize in a particular industry. As a result of their specialized focus, they tend to assign higher values to collateral than does a general commercial lender.

Second, SBICs and SSBICs take a larger interest in smaller loans that range from $150,000 to $1 million. Large commercial banks like to make large loans. It's that simple. The systems these banks have installed to analyze, disburse and monitor loans are so expensive that for many, a large loan is the only way they can hope to make money.

By contrast, many SBICs and SSBICs are smaller partnerships. They have limited capital and are careful not to make investments that will outstrip their financial resources. Some SBICs, however, are affiliated with large commercial banks. These SBICs are capable of making substantial loans, and many have investment minimums of $1 million.

To find SBICs and SSBICs in your area, The National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) in Washington, DC, represents SSBICs as well as other investment companies focusing on minority investments. The NAIC doesn't have a referral service but sells its membership directory for $35. Or try the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC), a trade group that consists of SBICs and SSBICs exclusively.

Read More...

Saturday, June 16, 2007

20 Factors to Consider Before Going Global

As with any new business plan, the first step you should take before crossing borders is to do your homework. Take these 20 critical factors into account before you begin:

Factor 1: Get company-wide commitment. Every employee should be a vital member of your international team, from the executive suite to customer service through engineering, purchasing, production and shipping. You're all in it for the long haul.

Factor 2: Define your business plan for accessing global markets. An international business plan is important in order to define your company's present status and internal goals and commitment, but it's also necessary if you plan to measure your results.

Factor 3: Determine how much you can afford to invest in your international expansion efforts. Will it be based on ten percent of your domestic business profits or on a pay-as-you-can-afford process?

Factor 4: Plan at least a two-year lead-time for world market penetration. It takes time and patience to build a great, enduring global enterprise, so be patient and plan for the long haul.

Factor 5: Build a website and implement your international plan sensibly. Many companies offer affordable packages for building a website, but you must decide in what language you'll communicate. English is unarguably the most important language in the world, but only 28 percent of the European population can read it. That percentage is even lower in South America and Asia. Over time, it would be best to slowly build a site that communicates sensibly and effectively with the world.

Factor 6: Pick a product or service to take overseas. You can't be all things to all people. Decide on something. Then stick with it.

Factor 7: Conduct market research to identify your prime target markets. You want to find out where in the world your product will be in greatest demand. Market research is a powerful tool for exploring and identifying the fastest-growing, most penetrable market for your product.

Factor 8: Search out the data you need to predict how your product will sell in a specific geographic location. Do you want to sell a few units to a customer in Australia or ten 40-foot containers on a monthly basis to retailers in France? Doing your homework will enable you to find out how much you'll be able to sell over a specific period of time.

Factor 9: Prepare your product for export. You should expect to adapt your product to some degree for sale outside your domestic markets before you make your first sale. Packaging plays a vital role in enabling international connections. Make yours the best in its class, and you'll be able to sell it anywhere in the world.

Factor 10: Find cross-border customers. There is no business overseas for you unless you can locate customers first.

Factor 11: Establish a direct or indirect method of export. It all boils down to export strategy and how much control you wish to exercise over your ventures. On the other hand, readiness to seize an opportunity is more important than having your whole strategy nailed down beforehand.

Factor 12: Hire a good lawyer, a savvy banker, a knowledgeable accountant and a seasoned transport specialist, each of whom specializes in international transactions. You may feel you can't afford these professional services, but you really can't afford to do without them.

Factor 13: Prepare pricing and determine your landed costs. Be ready to test out your price on your customer. See what reaction you get and then negotiate from there.

Factor 14: Set up terms, conditions and other financing options. Agree on terms of payment in advance, and never, ever sell on open account to a brand new customer. No ifs, ands or buts. Just don't.

Factor 15: Brush up on your documentation and export licensing procedures. If you find it too time consuming, hire a freight forwarder who can fill you in on the spot. Ask a lot of questions. Use their expertise to your advantage.

Factor 16: Implement an extraordinary after-sales service plan. The relationship between your company and your overseas customer shouldn't end when a sales is made. If anything, it should be just the start of a long relationship which requires more of your attention. The "care and feeding" of your customers will determine if they keep coming back for more.

Factor 17: Make personal contact with your new targets, armed with culture-specific information and courtesies, professionalism and consistency. Your goal should be to enter a different culture, adapt to it and make it your own.

Factor 18: Investigate international business travel tips. The practical aspects of international business can make or break the success of your trip. In preparing to go boldly where you've never gone before, plan accordingly.

Factor 19: Explore cross-border alliances and partnerships. In charting your global strategy, consider joining forces with another company of similar size and market presence that's located in a foreign country where you're already doing business, or would like to. Gauge your readiness-or willingness-to take on a 50/50 partnership and what it can and cannot do for you.

Factor 20: Enjoy the journey. Never forget that you are the most important and valuable business asset you have, and that the human touch is even more precious in our age of advanced technology. Take the best possible care of yourself, your employees, your suppliers and your customers, and your future will be bright, prosperous and happy.

Going global doesn't have to be a scary proposition. By considering and developing these twenty essential factors before going global, your organization can realize the full potential of globalization and capture dramatic revenue growth.

Read More...

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

4 Easy Branding Tactics to give your small company a big, professional image.

To successfully brand your business, you should project an image of strength and stability--traits often associated with big companies. Customers need to trust that you can and will deliver on your promises. They have to feel comfortable with you. You can tell customers you stand behind your products and services, but if your marketing materials scream "amateur" or "mom and pop," forget about it.

It's not about looking conservative; it's about looking professional. After all, big companies don't fall into a one-size-fits-all mold. There's plenty of room for creativity. Consider Apple Computer vs. Microsoft. While their branding couldn't be more different, both project big-company professionalism.

Content Continues Below

Fortunately, looking like a big company isn't rocket science. The cardinal rule to looking big is to coordinate your promotional materials--from your business cards to your website and everything in between. If your marketing materials don't match, potential customers may believe they're looking at different companies. Here are four easy ways to tie your marketing materials together:

1. Create a clean and uncomplicated logo. Consider the logos of Fortune 500 companies like Nike, Sprint and Target. These huge companies didn't pick clean, simple logos by accident. They chose them because they fit the key requirements of solid logo design: They're easy to remember, they can be resized without losing detail, and they work in one color (for instance, when used in faxes). They're unique and meaningful as well, proving you don't need complex artwork and intricate details to leave an impression.

A good logo is essential because it'll appear on--and should match--all of your marketing materials. From a graphics perspective, your logo is your brand foundation. Build it wisely.


2. Make one color yours. Choose a color--preferably one from your logo--and use it throughout your marketing materials. Again, look at the big guys: Target focuses on red; Sprint uses yellow. Notice that each has chosen one color, not two or three.

Color plays a huge role in memory recall. As much as possible, your color should set you apart, work with your industry and image, and relate to your brand promise. Most important, the color you choose should appear as the predominant color on every promotional piece you develop.

3. Work with only one or two fonts. Again, your goal is to get customers to remember you and associate your materials with your brand attributes. Fonts, like colors and graphics, project different images. For example, if you want to appear conservative, I would recommend Helvetica.

4. Stay the course. At some point, you may get sick of your brand standards. Unfortunately, this usually occurs at the same time your brand starts resonating with your customers. Or you may want fresh material for a trade show or customer meeting and may be tempted to introduce an exciting new color or unusual font selection. Remind yourself that while consistency isn't always fun, it's the proven path to branding success.

Nowadays, your company's actual size may not matter, but its perceived size does. And looking big will pay off big-time.

Read More...

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Lazy Man’s Way to Attract VC Investors.

Have you ever been to a conference where selected entrepreneurs are invited to present their ideas to a panel of investors who then critique their chances of getting funded? If not, then you've really missed out--these meetings are probably one of the best ways aspiring entrepreneurs can get a glimpse of what professional investors are looking for in what they call a "fundable company."

Recently, the Software Council of Southern California asked if I'd like to attend their event, VentureNet, to see what the latest trends were. I eagerly accepted, but my interest was not so much in what was going on at the stage level, but in picking the brains of the professional investors to see what they'd say "behind the scenes." Now, before I share what I learned, let me just make a few qualifying statements:

1. Every professional investor has a slightly different perspective on what's important. Yes, there are some things we all seem to emphasize, but our differences can be extensive. Thus, this article represents the opinions of just the particular cross-section I happened to interview on this one occasion.
2. The individuals I interviewed were very candid and, to protect them from being "profiled" with any one statement, no direct quotes will be made.

The professional investors offering opinions from which this article was extracted include: David Cremin, managing director of DFJ Frontier; Michael Song, a partner with Rustic Canyon; Bill Collins, managing partner of Publex Ventures; and Robert Kibble, managing partner of Mission Ventures. Some additional comments and insights were also provided by Jon Kraft, chair of the Software Council of Southern California.

So what do these gentlemen prefer to see in a company before they get excited enough to write a check? What, if anything, has changed from what they used to look for during the dotcom craziness of the late 90s?

Here's what they said is important now:

Seasoning. They're looking for more experienced, older entrepreneurs who have "been there, done that." The time of investing in the 19-year old kid who's a tech-genius isn't necessarily gone, but the kid had better be able to find an older, seasoned executive to join his team.

Customers. Contrary to putting the emphasis on the team or the revenue numbers, there seemed to be a new emphasis on the customer:

* What compels them to buy this product or service?
* What problems does this product or service solve? Why is it better than the alternatives?
* Why is it worth the price?
* Does it compel you to tell others about your experience?
* Are your customers asking if they can invest in your company?

Team. The team is still an important part of the equation, but the entrepreneur is just as important. Here's what the investors are looking for in both:

* Passion: The entrepreneur must demonstrate a contagious excitement about their vision for the company.
* Tenacity: The entrepreneur must prove they have the stamina and willpower to stay with their vision through thick and thin.
* Flexibility: The entrepreneur must be willing to reevaluate and refocus their plans when things don't work out as anticipated.
* Commitment: The entrepreneur must be willing to invest enough of their own money into this project to convince investors they're serious.
* Teamwork: The entrepreneur's team must prove they can work effectively together.
* Coachability: The entrepreneur and their team must be coachable. No team knows everything they need to know to succeed.
* Knowledge: Investors prefer to back teams that really know their market by having backgrounds that are rich and impressive in the market niche for which the company is engaged.

Opportunity. Investors want big ideas. Ideas that can change the world. Ideas that change our behavior, culture or way of thinking. Ideas that can build $100-million-size companies. Anything less is too speculative. The risks of investing in a company are so great--and the chances of a reward so small--that investors can't afford to bet on opportunities that won't surely have huge payoffs. And one of the biggest problems when addressing opportunity is "Am I too early?" Investing in a huge opportunity five years before the market will recognize and embrace it is a very frustrating thing. Not only will you lose your investment, you'll have to suffer the extreme frustration of watching someone else make a lot of money on the foundation you helped build.

Business Model. Will the numbers map out? In other words, once someone takes a sharp pencil and starts tracing where every revenue dollar comes from and then seriously challenges every expense it'll take to generate that revenue dollar, will you have:

* a profitable model?
* a repeatable model?
* an expandable model?
* a predictable model?
* a defensible model?

Many an entrepreneur fails because they don't know how to do this type of exercise with a "real world" view.

Well, there you have it: the latest and deepest thinking from a sample of professional investors. How do you and your company match up? If you were honest and found areas that were lacking, please find someone who can help you fix them before you approach anyone to invest. Your extra investment of time will significantly improve your chances for funding.

Jim Casparie is the "Raising Money" coach at Entrepreneur.com and the founder and CEO of The Venture Alliance, a national firm based in Irvine, California, that's dedicated to getting companies funded.

Read More...

Monday, June 11, 2007

10 Steps To Increase Profit With Web Site Promotion

Web Site promotion is supposed to be the main element of your web site marketing strategy. It is not sufficient just to design a gorgeous web site and place in on the Internet. Endorsing your web site has to be carried out continually if you desire to get an incessant flow of traffic to your web site. If you fail to draw traffic to your web site, all the effort and money that you put in creating your colorful pages of the web site are in vain. Also, before you go into detail on how to get traffic to your sites, you need to make sure that you complete following basic steps on your way to get the most out of your marketing campaigns:

1. The first step to successful web site promotion that gives a lot of profit is creating a successful web site promotion plan. Planning plays a vital role in web site promotion. When crafting your web site, make a plan on how to advertise it as well. Attempt to put yourself in your customer's place when designing your web site. It is too simple to just see your web site from your own viewpoint. You require having an apparent idea for your commerce, objectives, which may be long term, or short term that you desire to attain and the policies of how you will achieve them.

2. The second step to increase profit with web site promotion is to classify your target market. Many online marketers endorse their web site pointlessly in a field, which is too big. They may employ bulk mailing as one of their endorsement approaches. This may bring you visitors but does not guarantee sales. It is important to get targeted visitors rather than just traffic to your web site.

3. The third step is to promote your web site with every possible strategy. Use of forums and email marketing has proved to be an important method of web site promotion.

4. The fourth step to successful web site promotion is writing articles and submitting them to various web sites. The resource box of the article can be helpful for web site promotion.

5. The fifth step to increase profit with web site promotion is to promote your web site continuously. You don't need to work 8 hrs 7 days a week but reserve 1-2 hours EACH day for your marketing efforts. Intermittent promotion does not help to generate traffic.

6. The sixth step is to calculate your return on investment value from your promotion strategies. It is very important keep a track of the amount that you are willing to spend in web site promotion and the amount of money that you are profiting from your strategies. This will help you to avoid any kind of wastage on non-returning avenues.

7. The seventh step to make more money with web site promotion is properly analyzing your web site traffic. This will help you to find out whether the efforts that you are putting in to promote your web site are paying off or not. If not you need to change your strategies.

8. The eighth step is to keep a close on your industry and be prepared to make necessary changes from time to time so that you run according to the market changes. Make sure that the web site promotion tactics are not out dated and according to current marketing trends.

9. The ninth step is to monitor your web site in search engines. It is vital that you have a search engine optimized website and proper HTML standard so that you attain good ranking in results page.

10. The tenth step is to make use of all types of marketing methods to promote your web site, both on and offline. Do not forget the print media and other conventional methods to promote your web site.

Read More...

Sunday, June 3, 2007

The 9 Tips for Choosing a Good Domain Name.

In this digital age, your company's web site is your electronic business card. A strong domain name is the key to your Internet presence. It should be recognizable and relate to your business name, brand, product, and/or activities. Make sure it fits on a business card and is easy to remember whether seen in print or mentioned over the phone.

Use the name people know you by. Don't abbreviate, unless the abbreviation is your company's trademark. Ask your co-workers, your customers, your friends, and your family what domain name they'd expect your company to have.

Don't forget to include your domain name in your site's logo. And put your domain name on all company promotional materials such as business cards and stationary.

Length Matters
Conventional wisdom states that a good domain name is easy for customers to remember, easy to spell, and short. That said, it's increasingly difficult to secure short domain names among top level domain names such as .com, .net and ,org. In these cases (and you have 67 characters to choose from), it's preferable to choose a meaningful statement such as Lawreferralservice.com" or Hotelreservationservice.com," rather than lrs.com or hrs.com

Give a Good Impression
We all know that first impressions can be crucial, so choose your domain name carefully. Domain names often come without spaces, so pay careful attention to the total package. For example, PatternsExchange can look like patternsexchange.

Select Alternate Names
If your first domain name choice is not available, you can check the "whois" information box for the domain name, contact the person listed, and see if they're willing to sell it. If they want to sell, they will likely charge more than the $24.95 registration fee. An easier alternative is to register a variation of your first choice.

For example, if your company name is Mrs Smith's Cookies, but mrssmithscookies.com and the more obvious cookies.com are registered, try adding a small letter such as "e" to indicate that it's an online business. Or add the word online. Or add your location to attract local customers:

ecookies.com
Cookiesonline.com
CookiesNewYork.com

Alternatively, try registering a local domain name:

mrsmithscookies.ca
mrsmithscookies.us

Use a little creativity, and you may find your alternative beats your original choice. Once you've got a list of alternatives for your online business, test them with your friends and colleagues to see which ones they like best. Make sure these names can be easily pronounced and spelled by your test audience. Then, rank them in order of popularity.

Consider Spelling Mistakes
Consider mistakes people will make when typing your web site address and how your domain name sounds when you have to read it over the phone to a customer. Explaining special characters, abbreviations, and spelling is awkward and doesn't make good business sense. Will customers accidentally make spelling mistakes? Will they use the plural form of a word instead of the singular form, or visa versa? Make a list of possible mistakes, and register additional domain names that incorporate these mistakes.

Register Multiple Versions of Your Name
Register all possible domain name variations related to your company name. If your company's name is hard to spell, register common misspellings. Register every domain people might use to find your company. It only costs $24.95 a year to register each domain name, and that's a small expense to keep a customer.

Take this example: Before America Online acquired Time Warner for $178 billion, it registered at least 21 domain names that might be useful to the new company, named AOL Time Warner, from AOLTW.com to AmericaOnlineTimeWarner.com. Alternatively, web sites exist that capitalize on misspellings using them as advertising vehicles and diverting customers from your site.

Register Product Names
When users search the Internet for a particular product or service they often search by product or service, rather than business name. To increase the chances of having your site found, register extra domain names that relate to your core business or products. If you owned the hypothetical company name of Widgets & Widgets co. but you sold an array of household products, you could register generic domain names relating to all aspects of household goods. You may be too late to snap up obvious domain names such as detergent.com or vacuum.com, but a little creative thinking into alternatives can be lucrative. These alternative domains can be easily linked to your main web site.

Avoid Trademarked Names
Ensure someone else has not trademarked the name you register. You cannot register names already registered as copyright (for example, McDonalds). Like company names, domain names are unique and cannot be duplicated. Avoid registering domain names that are similar to your competition or to famous trademarks. Businesses have lost their rights to registered domain names due to conflicts with existing trademarks for off-line companies.

Register Locally
If your company is located in Canada, you can register a .ca domain name even if your business activity includes export trade. If you have an international presence, a top-level domain such as .com, .net , or .org is more suitable. Many businesses choose to register all three, and we suggest doing so. All three addresses can "point" to the same e-mail account and web site.

Conversely, you might open a virtual office in another country. For example, bread.com could also register bread.ca, which may "point" towards the same site, attracting a larger audience. Don't forget to check to see if a local presence is required in the country you wish to register.

Use a metaphor
If your .dot com businesses does not have a name, the world is your oyster. One Internet incubation company decided on the metaphor campsix, referring to the final basecamp on the Everest climb rather than a straight description of services. The name reflected the difficulty and challenges of building an Internet company to the scaling of Everest. Bear in mind that if your web site is the primary tool for business, the company name must be the company URL.

Read More...

How To Write An Effective Ad.

A letter or postcard allows you to "talk" one-on-one to your prospect. That means you should use "I" and "me" and "you" in your sales letter. Don't use the corporate sounding "we".

Remember just one person is reading your letter or postcard at once. So don't write in the plural, even if your mailing is going out to thousands of individuals. Just write the same way you'd talk to a friend explaining the advantages and benefits of the product or service you're offering.

Your message must get through to your prospects one at a time. The are individuals who read your offer, think about it, and react to it. They react to your message once they connect with you and feel an appropriate emotion based upon the content of your messages. So the real key to your advertising success is connecting with your prospects one-to-one. If you look at your own buying behavior you will realize that you buy from people that you connect with, people you trust. You feel good when you buy product that you could have purchased from hundreds of different individuals from someone you have gotten to know. Most individuals make their buying decisions the same way, except the rare exceptions who just shop for the cheapest price!

Start your killer copy with an emotion-packed opening statement that will get the attention of your prospects.

The Headline

The headline should be a benefit, a powerful promise. You my ask a provocative question. It should also solve a problem. Start your letter with a compelling, benefit-driven headline. Prospects will decide to continue reading by the headline. If your headline fails to capture their attention and keep them engaged, your letter will quickly end up in the trash like any other they receive everyday. Remember: The headline is the most important and must communicate a powerful benefit and makes a promise. The promise should be unique to what you are selling, and preferably should offer something that your competitors do not. Use "power words" in the headline.

Power Words

Absolutely.. Achieve.. Acquire.. Advice.. Amazing.. Announcing.. Appreciate.. Approved.. Aspire.. Astonishing.. Attain.. Attractive.. Authentic.. Bargain.. Beautiful.. Better.. Big.. Breakthrough.. Cheap.. Certain.. Colorful.. Colossal.. Complete.. Confidential.. Crammed.. Definite.. Delivered.. Direct.. Discount.. Discover.. Easily.. Effective.. Emerging.. Endorsed.. Enjoy.. Enormous.. Excellent.. Exciting.. Exclusive.. Expert.. Exploit.. Extensive.. Famous.. Fantastic.. Fascinating.. Fast.. Focus.. Fortune.. Free.. Full.. Fundamental.. Genuine.. Gift.. Gigantic.. Greatest.. Guaranteed.. Helpful.. Highest.. How to.. Huge.. Imagine.. Immediately.. Improved.. Informative.. Instructive.. Integrity.. Interesting.. Irresistible.. Just Arrived.. Largest.. Lasting.. Latest.. Lavishly.. Learn.. Liberal.. Lifetime.. Limited.. Lowest.. Magic.. Magnificent.. Mammoth.. Miracle.. Money.. Must.. Noted.. Notable.. Now.. Odd.. Outstanding.. Personalized.. Popular.. Powerful.. Practical.. Prestige.. Professional.. Profitable.. Profusely.. Prominent.. Promising.. Proven.. Quality.. Quickly.. Rare.. Recommended.. Reduced.. Refundable.. Remarkable.. Reliable.. Reputable.. Revealing.. Revolutionary.. Reward.. Satisfactory.. Scarce.. Secrets.. Security.. Selected.. Sensational.. Simple.. Simplified.. Sizable.. Special.. Stability.. Startling.. Strange.. Strong.. Sturdy.. Successful.. Sure.. Super.. Superior.. Surprise.. Technology.. Terrific.. Tested.. Tremendous.. Terrific.. Truth.. Unbelievable.. Unconditional.. Unique.. Unlimited.. Unparalleled.. Unsurpassed.. Unusual.. Useful.. Valuable.. Wealth.. Weird.. Wonderful. You. Introducing, and so forth.

If your headline is designed to arouse curiosity or grab attention then be sure to make nature of your proposition immediately clear in a subhead or within the first sentence. Otherwise you will lose the interest of the reader.

The Body

Here, using the same tone and stay with the spirit of the headline, and give details of your unique selling proposition. Address that reader as if it was personal and an offer just for him/her. You continue talking about the powerful benefits and offer proof of the claim you made on the headline. In the body of your ad copy you share the details of the benefits, and promise you made. Here you prove your case. Remember, by the end of the ad body, the goal is to create an emotional response that will cause the reader to do what you want him/her to do. In the body of the sales letter you will begin to offer proof. There are many possibilities for opening your sales letter, that could persuade the reader to buy.

*Tell a story that the reader can identify with

*Make an announcement of a new product or service, a one of a kind event, or important news

*Address the reader as your equal

*You could go with something provocative, perhaps a quote

*Address an obvious problem, one that your product/service will solve

*Ask a question, may be a provocative question

*Let the reader in on some secret or little known information

Another effective technique is to let the reader know you are offering something free ("Special Free Offer - Free Booklet - Fee Sample - Coupon Below").

Use plenty of short sentences, colors and graphic. White space makes the ad copy look shorter and more appealing. Even if your copy is long, it will look much more inviting to read than a solid block of long sentences. The reader will feel like they are flowing through your ad copy, compelling them to reader further.

Involve your audience! Use words such as: You, I, Me, We, Us. Your copy will seem more personal and more likely to appeal to your readers. Remember! Involve your audience! Tell them what's in it for them! keep the vocabulary of your ad copy simple and keep the sentences short. It makes it Fun! More Energetic! People don't like to be bored while reading, and especially while they are reading advertisements. Nowadays people are very busy and do not have time to go through all those ads. They are constantly bombarded with ads and offers for your competition. If your ad copy is too long they won't bother reading it . So do your audience a favor, make it interesting and appealing! If possible use humor.

Use power words all along your copy! Nothing catches more attention than the word FREE! NO CHARGE! Give away some sort of freebie in your ad copy, whether it's a free gift, advice, seminar, consultation, sample, information kit, coupon, or even a booklet.

Call To Action

VERY IMPORTANT. Call your audience to action! Ask them to do something. Tell them to JOIN NOW! or CLICK HERE! or ACT NOW! or BUY TODAY! or CALL TOLL-FREE XXX-XXX-XXXX! or OFFER EXPIRES .. You must state a deadline for your offer so that they act today if not they will procrastinate. That's human nature. Your audience is much more likely to do something if you tell them to do it. So start using those action words! People want things made easy; they want you to make up their minds for them. Tell them what to do.

Killer ad always asks the readers for action in the most powerful way possible. If you ask the reader to order, or to contact you for the specified reason you must make it easy for him/her to reply. You may support your postcard or letter with a postcard reply or prepaid envelope, and an order form. Supply a toll free number, or website URL. Always close with a thank you and use a signature at the end of the sales letter/postcard. Save one of the best points for last: Always use a P.S. For example, "If you order before September 1rst, we will include the following bonus . . ." Or "30-Day Money back guaranteed " Or "Discount is good until September 1rst"

Read More...

Friday, June 1, 2007

20 Reasons Why You Will Never Live Off Your Affiliate Income!.

20 Reasons Why You Will Never Live Off Your Affiliate Income!

Why is it that the top 10% of affiliate marketers earn 90% of all affiliate income, with the remaining 90% left to fight over the 10% of scraps left? What are the millionaire affiliate marketers doing which is different to you?

While there are a number of ways of improving your affiliate marketing offerings, you first need to appreciate where you may be going wrong before you can improve. Listed below are the 20 most popular reasons why you are not living off your affiliate income, what to avoid and how to attract more affiliate sales.

1. Lack Of Traffic To Your Site

Many many people fall into the simple trap of thinking, add some affiliate links to my site, and over time I will surely get some sales. Why? What is the reason behind this way of thinking?

Unless you actually have traffic coming to your own site (and the more focused the traffic the better) it will be nearly impossible for you to create a regular income stream.. True, you may get the odd sale once a month, but this is not enough, you need to aim higher and bring visitors to your site to stand ANY chance.

2. Poor Affiliate Products

You would not believe that amount of people who do not actually research what they are looking to sell. There are millions of affiliate products out there, and while there are a lot of high quality offerings available, there are also lots of low quality products. If you would not buy it, why should anyone else?

3. Priced Too High

This goes back to the age old argument of selling one high valued product, and taking a commission, or selling more low value products and taking a greater number of smaller commissions. Research has shown that the one factor which can scupper a sale is the price - if it is too high your potential customer will be turned off straight away.

Why not mix a number of low value and high value products? If your visitors buy a low value product and it works, you have more chance of them returning (with more trust in you) and even contemplating buying a higher value product. The trust factor is very very important.

4. Low Commissions

As mentioned above, it can often be more lucrative to sell lower value products (with reasonable commissions), but you need to ensure you are being remunerated properly for your leads. Why send hundreds of customers to an affiliate site where they pay you only a few cents a lead? Who is the big winner in this situation ? Certainly not you!

You need to balance the commission on offer against the amount of traffic which you can send, and the split of income between yourself and the owner of the affiliate program. Do not sell be too keen to pass over your users for small returns.

5. No Investment

In order to advertise your affiliate links you will need to put some of your own money upfront, either advertising your site or your affiliate links. Those who think that traffic will just fall into their lap are kidding themselves. You need quality focused traffic, and you need potential customers to see your link before your competitors. The affiliate marketing world is very competitive and you need to ensure that you gain maximum exposure. Adsense and PPC programs are very good ways of advertising your site, and while they can be expensive, they can reap massive rewards.

6. Quality Content

Even if it takes a while longer to establish yourself in the affiliate marketing world for certain products, always ensure that you offer quality, not quantity and certainly not rubbish. One poor looking affiliate site, one bad experience and you customers will disappear over night. If you promote rubbish on your site, what does that say about you and your respect for your customers?

As they say “the cream will always rise to the top”!.

7. Lack Of Feedback

If you are looking to forever improve your site, your offerings and the image and reputation of your site, you need to encourage feedback from your customers. Is there a problem with the product they bought? Were they happy? What could be improved?

Everyone likes to have a moan, but if you actually ask and listen to their concerns, their questions, they will respect you for it - they may not thank you, but they will appreciate it. Any improvements which you are able to make, any comments you are able to pass on to the affiliate program owner, will all ensure you receive less complaints in the future.

8. No After Sales Service

Similar to feedback, it is essential that you at least offer some form of after sales assistance (where relevant) to ensure that your customer is able to get the most out of their purchase, whether this be an eBook, Software or the latest Mobile Phone.

A sympathetic ear is always appreciated, and interaction with your customers has been shown to be the best way of building up a relationship - let them know that you are human!

9. Hard Sell

As well as high prices, the so called “hard sell” is guaranteed to put off any potential customers. Do not push the offers down their throats, be subtle, be helpful, but do not exert any pressure - even if you have the best product in the world. The hard sell does not work, and your reputation will not be enhanced.

10. Not Relevant To Your Site

It is essential that your build your affiliate program offerings around the subject of your site. There is no point in listing baby wear affiliate links on a site about mobile phones. The more relevant the affiliate links on your site the more chance of actually bringing in some commission.

If you can get your readers excited about a certain subject and then show them an affiliate link for a suitable product, you will have a great chance of them clicking on the link. Keep the site AND your affiliate offerings focused .

11. Old Products

The world of affiliate marketing is moving all of the time and it is essential that you keep your affiliate products up to date. Selling yesterdays favourite affiliate product will not earn you big bucks - sell today’s favourite and tomorrow’s favourite and you are talking.

It is vital that you regularly visit your affiliate link providers to ensure that you are offering the best and most up to date products around. Failure to do so and you customers may well look elsewhere, and you will have lost a potential sale.

12. Cookie Time Limits

Many of today’s better affiliate programs will actually offer you a set time, during which any customers you pass over will be eligible to earn you commission. Where you are promoting affiliate links which may offer a vast array of products, which will keep members coming back time and time again, you need to ensure that the cookie is of a suitable length.

The cookie is basically the marker which will be attached to the user, to confirm that they were sent via your affiliate link. Some sites offer cookie lengths up to 365 days, while some may offer short 10 days periods. If a customer, originally from your site, were to buy a product after the cookie period was over, you would receive NO commission.

This is an area of affiliate marketing which is often overlooked - do not make the same mistake, and end up selling yourself short.

13. Links Do Not Work

Of the thousands of affiliate links available there are hundreds which will become invalid, or have been replaced, every day. There is nothing worse than clicking through to a non-existent link, and this does not give a very professional impression of your site. Always check that your links are valid, even on a monthly or weekly basis, and ensure that old invalid links are either replaced, or deleted asap.

14. Know Your Customer

There are a variety of statistic and traffic programs available which will give you an insight as to where the majority of your traffic is coming from - i.e. which country, browser, etc.

It is essential that you make use of this information and tailor elements of your affiliate products towards the majority of your customers. Currency is one of the major elements which you need to consider, because this is something that can put off a prospective buyer if they are dealing in a currency which they are not familiar with.

As a rule of thumb, the US dollar is the more popular currency on the internet, and seems to have a universal acceptance. Research has shown that while UK sterling buyers are willing and comfortable dealing in dollars, many Americans are not comfortable dealing in sterling (or any other foreign currency).

While you will never get this element totally correct, you need to appeal to the masses, which will most probably require offering products in US dollars.

15. Presentation

How you present and expand on your affiliate offerings has a massive effect on how successful you will be. A simple 3 word text link will be no where near as successful as an article detailing in the product, and the affiliate link at the end. Tease your customers with details, make them want the product and then offer the affiliate link when they are thinking about the product.

16. Do Not Try To Trick Your Customers

There have been many many instances of people being duped into clicking on affiliate links, and while 99% of these result in no sales, 99% of your visitors who have been “duped” will not return to your site. Trust is a major element of any business and it is essential that you treat your visitors with respect and honesty.

You may hear about people making big bucks in the short term with dubious tactics, but these people will never have a long term income stream. They will always be found out, and one bad review of your site on the internet can soon spirally into hundreds - effectively black listing your site from a mass of would be visitors.

17. No Free Products? Is Your Mix Correct?

While it may sound strange advising people to give away free products in the same area in which they are trying to sell products, there is some sense in the madness. If you are able to give away quality free products to your visitors, your trust factor with these customers will rise sky high. The more trust they have in you, the more often they will visit the site, and the more comfortable they will be actually buying a product via your affiliate links.

Too many webmasters seem to throw themselves straight into the market without a strategy, and this initial optimism soon dies with many giving up. You will not build up a quality income stream overnight, it will take time, you will have to build up trust, and be patient.

18. Have You Tested The Product?

If you were selling one of your own products, you would have tested the format, the product and the feedback before launch. It should be no different with affiliate links - ensure you are familiar with the offering, how it is presented, the standard of service and if it actually delivers what it promises.

The type of products which may need the most investigation, and possible purchase, are eBooks and software downloaded from the internet. If it works for you, and is clear and concise then you can do no more, although if it does not work, or does not do what it promises, you should not be promoting it.

19. Internet Feedback - Forums, etc

Before you sell any product it is essential that you search the internet to see if there has been any negative feedback about the provider or the product. Popular sites such as www.sitepoint.com and forums.digital point.com are very useful sites to search. They often provide great feedback about affiliate providers and products.

Know you product, know your customers, and you have a firm basis for success!

20. Do You Really Know What You Are Talking About?

There are many many products on the internet which are being sold by people who do not even have a basic understanding of what they are selling. Many are blinded by the commission figures, the potential for sales, and forget about researching the actual product.

A focused site with a good knowledge base, and unique content will go a long way towards building up a rapport with your readers, increasing the trust they have in you, and ultimately increasing your chances of a sale. Even a bit of basic knowledge about a product goes a long way, although the more professional you come across, and the more information you can pass to your readers, the better.

Conclusion

While there are many reasons as to why your affiliate sales may not be what you expected, you probably have the basis of a good income stream. Small changes to the presentation, your promotion of the site, and your mix of products can and will have a massive effect on your sales. If you do the basics well, the rest will follow, and once you have the basis of a good affiliate sales income, you can replicate this time and time again on other sites.

Multiple, smaller income streams, are more consistent than one large income stream which may well stop tomorrow if a competitor beats you to the market. Spread the risk, and increase the reliability of your income - but do not forget to reinvest back into your site, your design and your affiliate offerings, do not stand still as the market is forever on the move

Read More...