Wednesday, March 07, 2007

How To Find People Who Want Your Products And Services

Would you ever try to sell car insurance to people who don't have cars? Or how about selling meat to vegetarians? How about offering homeowners insurance to people who can't afford to buy a house?

A business owner who knows marketing knows that doing any of the above is a huge waste of time. People who do not own cars do not need car insurance. People who do not eat meat will not buy it and renters are not shopping for homeowners insurance. Offering these products to them will result in completely wasted time and no sales.

But I have seen many business owners are doing exactly that - they are spending time and money trying to sell their products and services to people who will not buy them. They do that by advertising and marketing their products and services to people who are not in their target market. And they get no results. Same will hold true for your business. If you market your products and services to people who are not in your target market, you will not get any sales.

Your target market are people who need, want and can pay for your products and services. If you want to make money, you need to offer your products and services to people in your target market. It is easy to sell car insurance to people who own cars and need car insurance. It is easy to sell meat to people who want to eat meat.And you can definitely sell homeowners insurance to people who just bought a house.

In order to sell your products and services, you need to reach people who need them and get them to your web site. So where can you find people who are looking for your products and want to purchase them? They are using the search engines and you can find them there. Over 70% of the people who buy online, use search engines to find products and services to purchase.

To get people who are using the search engines to find the products and services you are selling to your web site, use a process called search engine optimization. It is the process of modifying your web site content and meta tags to improve the search engine ranking of the page. Meta tags includes certain HTML tags (title, heading, emphasized text, keyword and description meta-tags), as well as links between pages on your same site and links to your web site from other web sites.

Once search engines know what material you offer on your web site, they can index it in their database. Once your web site is indexed in the search engine database, it will show in search engine results for keywords that are relevant to the information you have on your web site.

It is very easy to sell your products and services to people who already want to buy them. Use search engine optimization to get these people to your web site, sot that they can purchase your products and services.

How Promotional Articles Can Result In Huge Sales

Despite the power that promotional articles have online, there is no doubt that many people greatly underestimate its’ power while many others have no idea at all of what this amazing marketing tool is capable of doing or achieving for them. Since the web is primarily a information medium, it is hardly surprising that the main vehicle used for the distribution of that information, namely articles, can be such a potent marketing weapon online. Most people who come online are usually looking for information and are eager to find sites that are packed with the information that they are looking for.

Despite the power that promotional article have online, there is no doubt that many people greatly underestimate its’ power while many others have no idea at all of what this amazing marketing tool is capable of doing or achieving for them.

The greatest advantage that promotional articles have going for them is in the fact that they are the best online ad anybody can use. It is widely known that World Wide Web users hate to be advertised to and as a result, the less your message looks like an ad, the more effective it will end up being.

Promotional articles that start out with a mission to deliver valuable information to an audience will always end up enjoying a huge audience. The clincher is being able to merge your ad message into information of real value. A single article doing this effectively has no limit as to the amount of revenue it can generate for a web site.

More so if the webmaster involved has taken the time to research the best keyword phrases to use. With the right keyword phrases used, it means that the promotional article is capable of attracting a huge audience via search engine results. What’s more this audience will tend to be highly targeted and will mainly consist of the exact prospects for the advertised product or service whose message is contained in the promotional article.

This sort of article can attract millions of avid readers and if only a fraction of them end up being prospects and clients, it is enough to make most web site owners very rich.

Unlike traffic directly from search engines, visitors who arrive at your site after reading your promotional articles will not only be highly targeted, but they will also already be prepared in that they will have a very good idea of what is available at your site. This means that they will usually be much easier to convert into paying clients. In other words fewer readers arriving at your site through promotional articles will tend to be much more profitable to you than huge numbers arriving via any other web promotional method you can think of using.

In order for this form of internet marketing to work for you it is important to find a trust worthy company that has years of experience with web promotion experience that will give you results.

This is the true potential which promotional articles have that is yet to be exploited by many web site and blog site owners.

The importance of an Internet Presence

As the internet becomes more and more popular, the importance of a successfully established and managed internet presence is usually self evident. Studies over the last few years reveal that the internet has already surpassed newspapers and yellow pages for information and research regarding companies, products, and services. 70% of US adults use the internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services, and 63% of those who make online purchases use search engines to research offerings before making a purchase. If your website is not easily to be found on the internet where potential customers, clients, and prospects are already looking, you simply do not exist to the largest and most cost effective source of business you may have.

The difference between a website with practically no sales and visits, and a flourishing website that generates significant traffic and profit ultimately lies in promotion and marketing. In fact, many websites even get away with slow, unattractive, and unimpressive content simply due to their online visibility. Of course, they won’t be performing as well as they could.

A study by Oneupweb shows that as many as 88% of websites are not optimized for marketing and promotion! If a company gets, say, 50 visitors a day to an intelligently developed website – they should expect some of these 50 visitors to make a purchase or request whatever the site may offer. Now, if a company starts to get hundreds or thousands of visitors to their website every day, even a poorly developed website lacking many of the above points will probably outperform the website with 50 visitors a day. Traffic, generated by online marketing and promotion is the most important aspect of a successful and profitable web presence.

If you build it, will they come?

With billions of websites on the internet, and new pages being added at an estimated rate of 7.3 million every day, how will one more website make a difference?

There are many factors that largely affect the performance and results of a website:
  • Website appearance and general image
  • Website load time – the time it takes users to see what they are looking for
  • Navigational Structure of the web site
  • Web site content and it’s presentation
  • Conversion Allowance - The ability to allow people to find what you offer and obtain it
  • Cross browser/platform compatibility – ensuring every visitor has the same experience


But, even the most beautifully, strategically, and intelligently designed web site will not make a bit of difference if no one knows about it and no one can find it.

Obtaining a professional and profitable Web Presence

With 7.3 million new pages appearing online every day, it’s obvious a lot of people are creating content for the web. Everyone from middle-school students to college professors are creating and uploading websites, and the quality of web content varies as largely as it’s authors. To make matters worse, a website seemingly perfectly developed to an untrained eye commonly contains one or many elements which will inevitably lead to the failure of any significant success.

How To Quickly Grow Your Opt-In Email List

The valuable use of these email lists is to secure regular repeat visits to the web site. Either way you will enjoy getting an instant response to your message and hopefully instant sales. An opt-in email list means that the email list only has users that have opted to join a specific email list, when you decide to use email marketing for your next campaign I suggest making sure your email list is 100% opt-in.

On their own, opt-in email lists can also be extremely valuable. They have been known to earn webmasters a very hefty extra income and profits from their own products and also from various affiliate programs products and services that they choose to advertise through their email newsletter to their few-thousand-names opt-in email list. All the more reason why being able to quickly grow your opt-in email list can be so profitable

One of the most important keys to the success of any online enterprise is the size and quality of their opt-in email list. Actually there are those who put it more bluntly and declare that if you do not have a sizeable opt-in email list, then you simply do not have an online business.

In many ways these blunt experts are quite right. An opt-in email list is a very valuable marketing tool for any webmaster. One can regularly email their list to get them to visit their web sites again and again to take a look at the latest or new features that have been added.

On their own, opt-in email lists can also be extremely valuable. They have been known to earn webmasters a very hefty extra income and profits from their own products and also from various affiliate programs products and services that they choose to advertise through their email newsletter to their few-thousand-names opt-in email list.

Having said all this, how does a person grow a huge list within a short period of time?

A useful technique is to purchase an existing list from a reputable site, or place an ad in a popular ezine using the headline of the most popular article on your site. The ad should have a link leading to your site where readers can read the article. However you should ensure that there is something missing. Either an important tool needed to help implement the tips within the article or a resource of sorts. You can even leave out the last paragraph or two which your readers can then finish reading within your ezine. Which means that they will have to subscribe to finish reading the article.

To assist you in the process some internet marketing companies may offer a web-based email marketing software that can help you to manage your lists, messages, and promotional tools.

This is a very effective strategy for growing a huge list of your own very quickly as you ride on the success and huge size of an existing related opt-in email list. The utilization of opt-in email lists have shown to be a successful web promotional tool.

How and Why You Should Find Bathroom Remodeling Instructions Online

Have you recently made the decision to have your bathroom remodeled? Better yet, have you made the decision to do it yourself? Although many homeowners prefer to have their bathrooms remodeled by a professional, there are others who are more than happy to remodel their own bathrooms. In addition to having complete control over your next bathroom remodeling project, you may also be able to save yourself a fairly large amount of money by doing your own remodeling. Although there are a number of advantages to doing your own remodeling, there are also a number of disadvantages. One of those disadvantages is the difficulty.

With bathroom remodeling, it is important that you keep one thing in mind. Many of us have different understandings, when it comes to the meaning of remodeling. There are many individuals who assume that you must change around a whole bathroom for it to truly be called a remodeling project. Yes, remodeling projects are often associated with big changes, but small projects can also be considered remodeling projects. In all honestly, the size of the project really don’t matter because, when it comes to remodeling your bathroom, all you really need is one hard task for it to become a problem.

If you are planning on remodeling your own bathroom, but you are worried about the difficultly of doing so, you should rest assure. There are a number of different steps that you can take to make it easier for you to remodel your bathroom, all by yourself. Perhaps, the easiest way is to familiarize yourself with the work that you will be doing. The best way to do this is by using the internet. Online, you can not only find bathroom remodeling ideas, but you can also find tips and instructions. These instructions may come in handy, especially if you weren’t given a set of installations instructions with your new bathroom fixtures or other remodeling materials. Whether you are interested in learning how to install a new bathroom sink, replace your bathtub, or install a new shower stall, you should easily be able to find what you are looking for online.

When looking for kitchen remodeling tips or instructions online, it may be best to perform a standard internet search. If you are looking for something in particular, such as instructions on how to install new bathroom cabinets, you may want to tailor your internet search to bathroom cabinet installations and so on. Tailoring your search, to exactly what you are looking for, is one of the best and the easiest ways to come up with the results that you need. In addition to performing a standard internet search, you may also want to visit the online website of a home improvement store. Many home improvement stores have free information, as well as instruction guides, on how to remodel bathrooms on their online websites.

Using the internet to find bathroom remodeling tips and instructions is one of the best ways to do so. However, you may not necessarily need to. Many bathroom fixtures and bathroom remodeling materials are sold with a set of directions. If you notice that your instructions are missing, you may want to speak to a sales associate. If the mistake was by error, you should be given a set of replacement instructions; instructions that may tell you or show you exactly what you need to do. If a set of directions does not come standard with you are buying, whether it be remodeling materials or bathroom fixtures, you may be pointed in the direction of a how-to book.

As you can see, you can easily find bathroom remodeling tips, as well as detailed instructions online. Whether you are looking to learn how to install a new bathtub, toilet, kitchen sink, cabinet, or all of the above, you can easily find the information that you need online, with a standard internet search. Of course, you can also purchase a kitchen remodeling book or a how-to guide if you want, but why waste your money when you can find the same information online, free of charge?

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Vending Machines For Sale - The Best Place to Start

Are you looking for vending machines for sale? You are aware that advertisements about vending machines are not like any other ads that you might normally find anywhere. Even in classified ads, are rare. Nevertheless, there are great opportunities for you if you are willing to use the internet to find a vending machine for sale.

Some of the online businesses that sell vending machines have an established record in business and you can choose the vending machine you need. The sales clerks will assist you in choosing which vending machine is made of the best quality and is at the right price.

It is very practical for you to choose a used vending machine that is for sale. If you do not have a large budget to start your business, you can buy used vending machine to cut down some unnecessary expenses. It is even better for you to buy vending machines from a business person who is retiring from the vending machine business.

Most distributors will allow you to pay for the vending machines over time. This is a advantage if you only have a small amount of working capital.

Many people who are running a vending machine business use this technique. Some pay off the total amount of purchase price after generating a comfortable second income. You can start purchasing a few vending machines and when your business gains success, you can add more machines to bring in more revenue.

The different vending machine supplies are never expensive and you only need to have a small part of your home where you can store some of your unused vending machine and parts.

Buying a used vending machine for sale is a great way to start a business. You only have to make sure that the used vending machine for sale is functioning properly so you will not spend any money on repairs.

You can contact the different vending machine distributors to find out the availability of vending machines for sale. This will give you an idea on how much money you need to purchase one.

There are different types of vending machines for different products. Some vending machines for sale are cheaper than others because of the products it can sell. It is very important for you to decide what products will be sold before planning one buying a vending machine.

The choice of vending machine depends on how you want your business to be. If you are planning a minor vending machine business, you can purchase a balk vending machine, but if you are planning a big business, you should buy larger vending machines. Then, when your business starts to grow, you can add more machines to gain more revenue.

The Yellow Pages are the best place for you to start to find the best deal on vending machines for sale. You can buy vending machines at a very low price. Start an Internet search now to find the best deal on the available vending machines for sale that won't cost too much to ship.

Make your business successful and make money online with this information!

All right, I am going to give you a basic solid foundation on how to potentially make a nice extra stream of income all online, no guarantees of course. This does require you to think a little, but the good part is you make all the decisions! There is no need for you to join some type of scam site, all you need is this legit information ;). I believe that one of the simplest and effective ways to make money online is by simply writing up your own information product or ebook and selling it through your own site.

Step 1 : Think of a solid business plan

Before you take off writing anything, you need to make your own business plan. You need to set both short term and long term goals and determine the proper accounting for your business. How much will it cost to start up, and how much do you currently have?

If you do not know html or have no clue about putting up a website then will you pay someone to do it for you? How much money are you predicting to make in the first six months? How will you raise the capital to start up with? Well, just to tell you, starting your own online business is very cheap compared to an offline one.

In matter of fact, all you need is about $1000 to start up. This may seem like a lot, but let’s say that you invest $1000 in your business, and 6 months later netted in $100,000. I do not know about you but that seems like a darn good return on an investment. That is what I love about the internet…. you can start up for next to nothing and make tremendous returns on your investment. It would be very difficult to invest little money in an offline business and generate extreme returns. So, just to tell you, if you are new to the game then here is what your start up costs will most likely look like.

Start up costs

Asset One: Domain name/Hosting: An example of a domain name is www.google.com. An example of a hosting service is godaddy. This is where your website servers will be hosted at. It is like renting space for your website online, very similar to real estate.

Costs: Around $20-$30 per month.

Asset two: Website professional done: You can hire a good graphic designer on a freelance service and have them do your whole website for you in matter of days! The good news is it is very affordable.

Costs: Some will do your website for as low as $200-$300 USD.

Asset three: Autoresponder: You can get a good autoresponder for around $10.00 USD a month. This is critically important so that you can snatch visitors contact information that come to your website. Once you collect their information, you can keep in touch with them throughout the years. If they come on your site and leave then you will most likely not see those visitors ever again. So, always have a way to collect their information, and an autoresponder is a great way to go about this.

Improving your Affiliate Marketing Business by leaps and bounds

It is an open secret now that money grows on trees @ Affiliate Marketing. However, there are many precautions and skills to be exercised while cultivating this tree lest it does not blossom. There are various shades and forms to this business of affiliate marketing whose idea and knowledge is a must for affiliates waiting in the wings. Scroll through this page and allow us to take you under our wings before you embark upon it.

Affiliate Marketing is a thriving business in cyberspace today! Essentially a partnership between the merchant and one or more affiliates through an affiliate network platform, it is a revenue sharing relationship in which an affiliate gains for providing sales or leads for the merchant - which an affiliate network such as epurplemedia comprehensively tracks.

Avatar It is a boon for both the affiliates and the merchants where the former get to capitalize on their idle web space while the merchants pay only if they get a customer. This is ultimate Optimisation of resources without risking life and limb.

Both the affiliates and merchants should keep in mind that it is important to join a very professional affiliate marketing program. The affiliates, in particular, have many considerations both before joining one and also when at it. The following paragraphs will focus on how the affiliates can play their cards right.

A good affiliate may consider putting several merchants in one niche to discover the moods, tastes and preferences of the traffic. This helps in knowing your customer well and above all lets you know the benefits of various merchants for your business.

You may consider joining message boards and chat rooms related to the products you are selling. Do not jump to sell it. Begin the conversation, strike a rapport with your potential customer and strike only when the iron is suitably hot.

Ebooks are also a viable way to gain more business. You may submit an ebook with advertisements and links to your affiliate site to an ebook directory. Do ensure that it is well-written for there is no dearth of run-of-the-mill content. You may even consider making your own affiliate program directory and participate in more than one affiliate program.

You will score brownie points if you do not use the same ad being used by all affiliates. You may devote some time and resources in creating your own attractive ads. Novelty pays more than banality; more so in online marketing full of Tom, Dick and Harry. Alternatively, look for an affiliate program which will tailor-make ads for affiliates rather than providing a template/same ad.

Web rings are useful Search Engine Optimisation technique and you may consider joining a relevant one. Use ezines or newsletters. Also, subscribe to newsletters by various Affiliate Marketing Network such as the epurplemedia.

5 Tips on Choosing a Trustworthy Car Dealer

Purchasing a new car is a major investment. Aside from buying a new house, it may be the biggest purchase you will ever make in your entire life. For this reason, you should be certain that you are dealing with a trustworthy car dealer before deciding to part with your hard-earned cash.

We have all heard the horror stories about those shady car dealers who talk fast and separate a sucker from his money even faster. The good news is that they are the minority and that most car dealers are dependable and honest. Here are a few tips to help you find a trustworthy car dealer.

(1) Do your homework Before you start talking to car dealers, try to find out what they are all about. Research online and check their track record, the quality of their after-sales service and other information that will shed light on their reputation and trustworthiness.

At the same time, try to get a firm grasp of the kinds of cars that you may want given your particular tastes and budget. This way, when you start speaking to car dealers, you can tell if their sales pitch about the car you want is accurate or just a lot of hogwash. Bear in mind, though, that just because a salesperson quotes you a price that is higher than what youve seen online, it doesnt mean hes a crook. Trying to make a decent profit is just part of their job.

(2) Trust Your Instincts Sometimes you will come across a salesperson that you simply dont trust or are not comfortable with for no apparent reason. Those bad vibes mean something. Perhaps your subconscious has spotted something out of place about this person and is sending you a signal. In this instance, it would be better to ask for someone else.

(3) Use your head, not your heart Oftentimes, the biggest reason why consumers fall for fast-talking, sleazy salespersons is that they make their purchasing decisions based on feelings and emotions rather than rational thought.

There is a lot of psychology that goes into buying a car. We may be enamored with the way it looks, the feel of the steering wheel in our hands, the way the seats press against our body or the feeling that a certain car is perfect for our personality. It just feels right. When you feel this way about a new car, think hard. Otherwise, it will be easy for a smart car dealer to persuade you into making that purchase.

(4) Be careful during negotiations Once you enter the negotiation phase, be very careful since this is where most of the dirty tricks begin. For instance, keep your wits about you when a salesman offers you a car that is, say, $1,000 cheaper than their competitors because there may be some additional hidden charges that you will have to pay such as a documentation fee or handling charge or when your salesman forgets to charge you for sports rims. This is an old ploy. Sometimes you just have to stand up, say no thanks and look for another dealer.

(5) Do a full inspection Finally, dont forget to make a full inspection of your new car before leaving the lot. Check for scratches, flaws or other imperfections. The repair of these items should be covered in your deal with the car dealership. It pays to make sure.

3 Common Mistakes that Will Crush Your Affiliate Marketing Profits

As an affiliate marketer, I have made many mistakes over the years. Some I have learnt from and others I still continue to make from time to time. What can I say? I'm a slow learner.

Affiliate marketing is the easiest business to get into when setting up your own online home business. This is so because you don't need your own product, you don't take care of the after-sales process, you don't even have to worry about payment processing. This is all done on your behalf. Your job is to refer prospects to the sales website and collect your check at the end of the month.

Sounds easy, right?

Well compared to setting up your own product or service, affiliate marketing is a lot more straight forward. However, there are a few pitfalls that could seriously damage your profits if you don't take them into consideration when getting started.

Here are three of the most common mistakes that are familiar to all affiliate marketers:

1. Not Using the Product or Service Beforehand - This is quite obvious really! If you haven't used a product or service then how are you going to effectively sell it to others? Don't get me wrong, I have sold products in the past without knowing what I was selling and have indeed made some sales but this is the wrong way to go about an affiliate marketing business. Not only will you quickly lose the trust of your email list members but it is simply not as effective as when you can give an honest review of whatever you are offering.

You don't always have to buy the product. Try contacting the product owner, explain that you wan't to help them sell their product and ask for a copy in order that you may review it. They won't always comply. The more successful you have shown to sell products in the past the more likely they are to send you a complimentary copy. If all else fails, buy the product, you will soon make your money back in affiliate sales.

2. Promoting the Wrong Affiliate Product - I see affiliate programs out there offering commissions as low as 5% on $30 products. Personally I would not go near these. Some internet marketers will offer commissions as high as 75% to get you to sell their wares. 50-75% is common for info products and this is what you should be aiming for when starting out.

It is also prudent to check how successful sales of the product has been. You can be almost certain that if there are a lot online marketers selling a service that it has proven it's ability to sell to a target market. Clickbank also list their affiliate products in order of sales ability so this is a good place to start.

If you chose a product with either low commissions or a crappy sales record then you will be losing a lot of money on both counts. The important thing to remember is that you can make a lot more money out of the same workload IF you make the right decisions.

3. Joining too Many Affiliate Programs - This is one I am personally guilty of, but I'm learning to focus my resources and am finding more success doing this. Have you checked your email inbox lately? No doubt it is filled with the latest hot offers. 99% of these are being sold by affiliate marketers.

It is all too easy to sign up for every new service that comes along promising instant profits for affiliates. You could find yourself a member of tens of affiliate programs and no further on in terms of increased income.

Find a suitable product, following the credentials in step 2 and focus on this. At least wait until you are making a profit in one program before moving on to another.

If you follow the steps above you will be off to a great start in the affiliate marketing arena and will significantly maximise your profits. You will certainly start off on a better track than most burgeoning affiliate marketers.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Online Catalogs – What Are They?

Online catalogs are often associated with library records and materials. But today catalogs are not only helpful inside the library. They are being used in the promotion of the company’s products and services. In fact as the technology continues to advance, more and more features are integrated in the catalog format.

Online catalogs are being used now to serve as a display of what you’re offering to customers. It’s like a store which sells your services online. Because it’s online, it’s fast and easy to access.

Essentially, an online catalog is an automated catalog wherein you can find all the information about the products of the company. However, people sometimes give no attention to how their catalogs look like. In this regard, planning for the online catalog is very important. Its success will result in a great boost to your sales.

You can improve your online catalog by following these basic tips.

First and foremost, analyze your sales. Check if how many customers shop at your store. If you’re not successful in securing the interest of customers at the point of purchase, then something is wrong. There are various causes of this dilemma. One reason is customers think that your products are not suited to their requirements. Another reason is that your catalog is not pleasing to the eye. These letdowns can be easily solved if you only take time to analyze what you are selling to the customers and what specific needs do they have.

Then, increase your sales. Improve your selling strategies. This can be done by making sure that the online catalog is presented with a very good logical organization. The products should be presented in a very clear, negotiable manner. You can add impact to your catalog by using well-made graphics or images next to the text. The description for each product should be easy to understand so that the potential customers would immediately know what you’re trying to tell them even at a glance.

In addition, if you’re looking for some catalog print solutions, the online catalog printing is the right service to go for. It’s a form of catalog printing service which makes it easier for you to produce catalogs, whether in offset or digital.

Catalogs are considered as a great marketing piece. They offer an efficient and creative way of introducing your offerings to your target market. No matter what kind of catalog you’re looking for, there are some online catalog printing services that are available. They can be used to meet your printing needs when it comes to catalog creation. But if you want a hassle-free way of highlighting your company products and services, online catalogs will really fit in the job.

Helpful Hints for Designing Print Catalogs

Is it hard to create a catalog?

Do you think you can’t cope with your catalog print jobs? Well not anymore for there are different catalog printing services at hand. The printing services can be accessed without much effort for you can find them all online.

But if you don’t have any clue on how to print catalogs and what kind of catalog should you produce, you can take a look at these basic rules in catalog design.

Catalog design is the center of attraction in a catalog. In view of that it’s of the essence that you take time to think about all the elements that make up a good catalog design.

Check out these helpful hints in designing a catalog:

1. Make sure to place a best-selling product at the upper right section of the catalog. This is very important for the reason that customers easily see that section whenever they stare at the catalog. But also bear in mind that it’s not usually the strongest product that ate pleasing to the eye. In this case, you can put a product in the catalog that will best catch the attention of the customers.

2. Clear and simple typeface should be used. The catalog should be easy to read and easy to understand. It should immediately get your word out at first glance. But there are also some instances wherein some selling point s of the catalog should be in bolder or bigger typeface.

3. Create an order form for the catalog. It’s very advantageous that the catalog you make has an order form with it. Why is it advantageous? Well simple because order forms are part of direct mailing. You can immediately have orders from the customers which is not possible with magazines and brochures. Catalogs with order forms are proven tools to in increase the orders of customers.

4. Think about the layout of the catalog. It should be consisted of well-designed icons, good typography and special spreads. This is of the essence for enhancing the corporate image you want to project to your target customers. Use your creativity to make the catalog look more interesting. It should eliminate the monotony of your catalog design. It’s vital that you know how to make your customers pause and see your catalog.

5. Go for the standard form of catalog. It’s more cost effective to make catalogs in standard format rather than in special forms. But it’s undeniable that sometimes an out-of-the-ordinary catalog can easily get the interest of customers.

6. Four color is the best choice. A catalog printed in four color is more compelling than the two color print. Four color printed catalog is more effective when it comes catching the eye of prospects. As a result, you’re able to produce more sales.

Advantages of Search Engine Optimization

Some people tend to miss out that the advantages of search engine optimization are visible to all people.

There are really some people who are willing to spend money on doing a search engine optimization but to some other people it is very difficult for them to shell out some cash for it unless of course they would know the real advantages of search engine optimization to their business. Investments that are being done for the search engine optimization will then in fact give great return to your businesses.

The most important advantage of search engine optimization is that it can deliver your business website among the top ranked sites in the Web. Definitely you’ll be having a great deal of doing business from the major search engines if you ranked at the top 10 or top 20 of the search engine results. Most of the users browse and look for the necessary information they needed on the first page of the search engines result, so if your business website is ranked on the top, so users would easily find you website.

Indeed, entrepreneurs can earn lots of money from online marketing. Now, if you happen to purchase advertising space on Google AdWords that charge per click, you will spend only ten cents for each visitor to your website. But the problem in here is that when it takes about a hundred clicks before you get a sale and the price of your products is $10 per piece, then you didn’t get any profit at all. Pay per click marketing strategies can cost a lot of money. Another advantage of search engine optimization is that even over months or years, it is affordable.

The major search engines just recently, originated a campaign in giving priority to those who have original and unique content and quality incoming links. Search engine optimization by creating unique content has the advantage of attracting lot of users and visitors to your website and can also build link recognition to your website. And this will absolutely increase sales. Creating and having unique content would help your website to be on the top rank and of course lot of visitors would like to visit you website again and again since they can get valuable information on your website.

One more advantage of search engine optimization is improving your ability to sell products. Since if you made and write articles about the essentials of using that certain product, and how it can help people, so then you are giving the users or readers the information which can lead to the reader’s decision. The article will help readers to come up of buying the products that you are selling.

Yes, indeed, there are lots of ways to advertise a website, but the search engines have the widest targeted audience and it provides affordability.

So if you truly wanted your business to be known and successful, start optimizing your website. Yes, it will take time and effort, but as soon as you are rank on the top, then the time and effort you have done, soon paid off, and definitely, you will see that it is worth it. Since being on the top rank will provide you visibility and popularity and lots of profits.

Download Unlimited Music – Useful Tips You Need To Know

Many have joined the crowd to download unlimited music for their MP3 players. Compact disc (CD) sales have declined by more than 19% since the onset of 2001 while online music sales are climbing to new highs each year. According to a report from the International Federation of Phonographic Industry, the revenues for digital music sales have tripled to hit above the $1 billion mark in 2005. This situation is not about to change anytime, with iTunes accounting for over 85% of song downloads in the same year. It was also then that online music sales accounted for an estimated 6% of all record company sales. You are on the right track if you too want to download unlimited music online.

Well, for anyone to download unlimited music seems easy but it is not if you don’t have any inkling of what to look out for in an excellent and honest download site. There are things you should be assessing to screen out the good ones. There are many scam sites that masquerade as legitimate download sites. In fact, some even offer online music for free. What they do is offer you a download client which is a package of malware that constantly flashes advertisements of their sponsors before your face. Not only is that annoying, you could be exposing your computer to unnecessary risk of adware, spyware and virus attacks.

Here are some handy tips to find a good music download site where you can download unlimited music.

1. Selection of Music Genre

Make sure that this site allows you to download unlimited music of your favourite genre. You can contact the site and find out if they offer the music of your choice. Alternatively, if you are the lazy kind like most of us, simply pick one which has a wide selection.

2. Check the Terms and Conditions

Browse through the terms and conditions to make sure you can download unlimited music legally. Read through and see if there is any abnormality.

3. Download Speed

Downloading speed determines whether a site is well-established. Good sites maintain their websites well, and ensure that they can support high downloading speeds even when thousands to millions of users are downloading music simultaneously from different parts of the world. A site that is often overloaded speaks of how low their server resources are. If it is not willing to invest in excellent service quality, flee from it.

4. Customer Feedback

Positive customer feedback is a good indicator of the health of the website. It also suggests professionalism and satisfaction guarantee.

5. Payment or Charges

There are download sites that offer monthly subscription for their service, and others that offer a flat fee for yearly, two-year or lifetime membership. Take your pick but if I were you, the choice is obvious. 6. Music or Song Download Limit

Download sites that put a limit to the number of music download used to be common. Nowadays, there are several membership sites that give you access to download unlimited music once you purchase their memberships. There is absolutely no limit. 7. Safe Downloading Environment

Be sure to stick with a site where you really can download unlimited music safely. There are horrid stories about how some poor folks got their data wiped out by viruses when they download music at certain sites.

Training your workforce to deliver top quality web design assignments

They say that the web design industry is a knowledge based business and I could not say it enough times to my team. Quite obviously a business which is knowledge based depends heavily, if not entirely on…yes, what you know. Today, more than ever, knowledge is power and this is particularly true of the web design industry. So what kind of training is required for a sound web design business company?

Start with the beginning. If you’ve decided to offer a comprehensive range of web design services you need web developers and web designers. Web developers are the guys who do the coding…the hard and tedious stuff, if you don’t like this sort of thing. Many web developers have attended web development training courses while many others have taught themselves web design and coding. Personally, I find the self taught web developers more creative and competent. Let’s say that the motivation is there to start with. So, to establish your web design business, you need a few good coders, whether they do php, asp or other web based programming language.

You also need some good web designers. First impressions count and sell products. No matter how good and smart your code, you need a good web design, the right look and feel to attract your customers and get the sales. True, some web designers are more gifted and talented than others. But do take time to review and share good web designs with your team. What better way to improve your in house web design skills than to go over some well designed web sites and learn by observing. Study each line, each shape and colour of the web design. Web design is about details. Train your guys to look for details in a web design. The thickness of a border, the right icons in the right place can make all the difference.

Quality training is another vital element of the training programme. Train your web designers to understand your web design customers expectations. Develop an eye for details. Customers get very nervous when their web site is going live. They believe that the minute the web design is published online the whole world is scrutinising it. So web design customers are very intolerant to quality flaws in a web design. Training is vital. Have a quality checklist and train your web designer to spot the obvious mistakes like broken links, misspelling, misalignment in the web design. Once a web design is complete, the web designer must go over the web site with the checklist and tick each item on the web site. While this sounds obvious and simple, you cannot underestimate training.

All this training takes time and if your web design production is busy and deadlines are tight, it will not get done. Yet, training is vital to your web design business. I recommend setting a date each month when training is done. You know which date it is each month so you can plan your production accordingly. Make time for your web designers to get together once a month and share their web design knowledge and tips to the team. Web design techniques are progressing constantly and web designers can find whole online libraries full of the latest resources. Encourage your web design team to go online, learn the latest web design trends and provide a set up with a date, time and place for a regular training to take place.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Online Games - Business Model Overview

People of all ages and from all walks of life spend a large amount of time and money on online games, which makes it a billion dollar industry. Looking into the Business Model adopted by this billion dollar industry.

MMO Games (Massively Multiplayer Online Games):

Over the last few years, MMO games have taken the world by storm, success stories of games like WOW have inspired literates to write books and take surveys explaining the phenomenon. These games are played by millions and are bandwidth eaters, which do not bite cost but gulp it. MMO games are high expenditure ventures and need a lot of funding to continue with game development and server maintenance.

Critics argue that the state of art business model is still in a divergent state. Every author is elaborating different proposals. However, the current scenario supports the following business model.

1. Initial Game Title sales: This revenue ensures to keep the development momentum going and helps pay for the initial development cost.

2. Time Based Subscription Model: The revenue model is based on a simple fee, which gives unlimited access to the game during a certain period of time, usually a month, but with other subscription rates for three, four, six or twelve months.

3. Virtual Currency Model: Revenue model is based on selling currency for use in a virtual in-game economy.

4. Virtual Real Estate Ownership Model: Second Life® came with a new concept of MMOG. Their producers, Linden Labs, provide the infrastructure that is the open virtual word. Their expected revenue will come from subscription fees, in US dollars, and land taxes, in Linden dollars (the in-game currency). These Linden dollars (L$) that can be traded for real money, at a variable rate, depending on the law of supply and demand.

Interesting News ( a fact on the value adding within the Game itself – which eventually adds to the capital of the game producers – taxes paid on the property worth) : http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162315.html

5. Brand merchandising: MMO’s are also involved in selling branded products to fans and user alike for a profit consideration.

6. Paid sponsorship for product promotion: Companies are using the MMO platform to promote their products for a consideration of promoting their products within the MMO community.(growing in millions) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1175367493081978705

7. Expansion: Expansion is added to make money on user up gradation and also ensure a continued interest in the games.

Casual Online Games:

Casual online games are a little lighter in the resources and are a little less intense on the game play and graphics but equally addictive. The business model adopted by casual online games is molded a little different that the MMO with some similarity in brand merchandising and sponsorship. Casual Online Games like GoPets focus on building game loyalties by offering free accounts and free game downloads for enjoying the game.

How To Monetize Your Traffic

Establishing your own online business is not as easy as it used to be. There are thousands of competing websites that are all too eager to get a significant helping of your market. Every technique and system you can discover to help increase your sales would be extremely useful.

We really need to accept that most of us are in it for the money. We are not going to fritter away our time just for the fun of it. A high percentage of Internet Marketers would not hang around for months and years until hell freezes over just waiting to see a profit. While there are a minority few who take life lightly most definitely want to see profit pretty soon.

There is not anyone I know that sets up an online business that doesn't envisage making a profit. We all have start-up expenditure that needs to be regained. With a regular stream of traffic, we at least have a very good chance to accomplish that expectation. Monetizing your traffic would increase your likelihood of making the best out of it.

An internet business is no different to a retail park store or High Street business, in that it needs customers. A high street shop or retail store needs traffic in order to get people looking in their window so they can entice them in, the main difference online is the volume of traffic that can be achieved. Remember an internet business means that you have the potential to sell to anyone anywhere in the world that is if you choose the correct product or service.

Increasing Revenue out of your Traffic

The best and most proven system of increasing revenue from your traffic is to advertise. The internet generates hundreds of thousands of users daily. The vast majority of them are probing for information about something. Although a few are simply searching for basic information there is also a fair share that are actually eager to buy something, something that they really need.

The internet has made the world a smaller place; you can advertise a product from Istanbul and still find a buyer from the outskirts of Philadelphia.

Generating traffic is not a simple job. You need to outwit a tremendous number of similar websites to achieve a satisfactory flow of traffic. But if carried out properly this may well unlock a massive flow of opportunities, one of the advantages is monetizing your website traffic.

So the bottom line is the more traffic you attract the more liable you are to succeed but only if you know how to get the best out of that traffic. Targeted traffic is what you must strive for, no point in attracting traffic that is not related to your niche unless of course you are one of the few that could sell snow to the Eskimos or sand to the Arabs.

Advertising is the one of the best ways to create revenue; with a clever marketing plan you can use your traffic flow to give you a head start.

Now that you have a healthy flow of traffic you should now be experiencing a fair amount of interested customers, customers that are content to put money into your bank account. Additionally, these customers are also traffic that can be redirected to sponsored links that are eager to pay you for a largish slice of the traffic that you already have generated.

10 key benefits of the Day Job Killer which will help you improve your online income.

Day Job Killer was launched on Tuesday 6th February 2007. Day Job Killer actually takes a direct approach to help average affiliate marketers make much more money online. You can also call it “Affiliate Project X Part 2″.

For a quick background on Day Job Killer, you must first know about the author Chris, and his famous “affiliate project x”. Affiliate Project X was probably the best information product I purchased during 2006, he packed so much information into an ebook with less than 60 pages, and all marketing strategies was used by himself. He proved you don’t need 400 pages to teach people how to make extra money.

Day Job Killer will most likely be another huge success, and I have purchased it right after it launched, and here are the 10 benefits of Day Job Killer which will help kill your day job:

1) The Day Job Killer is authored by the same guy who wrote Adwords Miracle and Affiliate Project X, which broke the Clickbank record for sales when it was released last October (selling over 6,000 copies in just 1 week). The reason for the massive success is simple: people who bought it and used his methods made money, so the success spread and went viral all over the internet! So, you can clearly see that the Day Job Killer is going to be THE number One money-making affiliate guide for 2007! You know you're playing with a winner who understands affiliate marketing inside out.

2) The ebook is less than 100 pages and is extremely easy to read. It has no fluff, no hype, no outdated textbook information that doesn't work in the real world. The techniques are being used right now by a few savvy affiliates who are making a killing online.

3) The techniques are "stolen" from real internet marketers and gurus who have been using it against the average affiliate. Learning these techniques means beating the gurus at their own game. So, not only do you make easy, day job killing cash, you also get to p*^s off the gurus who have been holding you back...and you get to rob them blind while you laugh all the way to the bank.

4) The techniques are very easy to learn. You don't have to be a computer genius or learn any special new skills to use them to make big money in affiliate marketing.

5) The Day Job Killer methods have been "field-tested" on 12 test subjects just to prove that the techniques will work for any affiliate, regardless of level of experience (it works for newbie and advanced affiliates). Remember that these are techniques secretly being used by successful affiliates and internet marketing gurus right now at the expense of the average affiliate. Those 12 test subjects are now making money (the most successful of them now makes over $500 a day and the least successful is making $150 a day).

6) The ebook contains original and unique information and techniques: Most "make-money" ebooks are just a re-hash of the same techniques found in all the others. This is why those techniques hardly ever work in the real world. These are not techniques that you will find in a hundred other ebooks or guides. The information contained in Day Job Killer doesn't exist in any other ebook so you know you're getting hard-core, cutting edge ways of making money.

The Method of Applying for a Credit Card Merchant Account

If you expect to make any profit as a reseller or e-Commerce seller online, you have to be able to accept credit card payments online. The potential for generating business any other way is too remote to consider. People are simply not willing to order online and then have to wait until you receive payment and assure that their check clears the bank before you ship the merchandise. People who order online are looking for quick and efficient service, and that means having a credit card merchant account.

When the idea of e-Commerce first became popular in the end of the 20th century, it was usually through partnerships that your internet provider had, and what you purchased was billed to the same credit card that you used to pay your internet service. As eCommerce grew and merchants and resellers set up their own websites, it was no longer the internet service provider who handled payments, so the concept of eCommerce credit card processing was introduced. Of course, now we have expanded beyond that to shopping cart software and credit card merchant accounts that have the ability to process both e-Checks and debit card transactions.

With so much emphasis on a credit card merchant account, the typical e-Commerce seller can be frustrated when trying to decide who is the best choice as a solution to your dilemma of accepting a credit card payment online. With so many different choices, the only way to narrow it is to make a list of things that pertain to your individual situation such as:

• Average dollar amount per transaction
• Sales volume per month
• Typical credit card (MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover
• Projected sales volume for the next six months to a year

By listing your needs, you will better be able to select the right credit card merchant account. You don't want to jeopardize your profits by taking more or less services than you need because many credit card processing companies charge by the volume and type of cards you accept. Of course, if you are a new e-Commerce seller, you will not know any of those things, so you may want to use the figures in your business plan and make adjustments later if necessary. You also may want to stay with just the two major credit cards until you determine what your needs are. If you find that you are caught in the middle and need to accept debit cards, but the cost appears prohibitive with your credit card merchant account, you may choose to offer PayPal to your customers as another option. It isn't advisable to use this as your only option since it requires an email address, and some of your customers may be borrowing a computer to place an order and don't have access to an email account on a regular basis.

The important thing is that you have to remember is that the future of your e-Commerce business depends upon you being able to accept credit card payments online. The profitability of your website is contingent about having the lowest possible rates, so you have to research before you make a decision. Take the time to do your homework, and you will have a profitable e-Commerce website that earns money for you even when you are sleeping or on vacation.

5 Essential Marketing Tools For Starting A Successful Internet Home Business

Let's start with this one cold hard fact: creating a successful Internet home business is not an easy task. It takes hard work and a whole lot of strategic planning. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to sell you something!

Building any solid business takes hard work and planning. Why should creating a successful business on the Internet be any different? Just because you're dealing with computers and a world wide marketplace doesn't mean it will be easy to construct and build a successful enterprise. It will take some work and effort on your part.

However, knowing what tools to use and some vital marketing knowledge will make your task much easier and much quicker. The Internet does have its own unique tools and methods which you should be familiar with before you start any web business. Complete knowledge of these marketing tools and information will greatly increase your chances of creating a successful Internet business.

1. Domain Name/Website

You must start with a Domain Name - most marketers either make their domain something catchy and short that visitors will quickly remember such as Digg.com, BestBuy.com, Yahoo!.com or they will directly tie in their main product or service in the domain such as Hotels.com, YouTube.com, Carloans.com and so on.

Your domain must be attached to a well designed and easy to navigate website. Preferably one that is professionally designed and equipped with all the commercial tools you need like a shopping cart and payment system. Like any business, you must try to accept all the major credit cards and display all the proper trust building icons such as 'Better Business Bureau'...

Most professional online marketers keep graphics to a minimum and highlight their main benefit or product in a headline at the top of your webpage. You only have a few seconds to impress your prospective customer so summarize your whole site in one short benefit-loaded phrase or slogan. Be precise and direct in your presentation.

2. Keywords/SEO Strategy

Keywords, what surfers type into search engines to find what they're seeking on the web, are the real cornerstones of any online website or business. You must find out the exact phrases and words people are using to find your product or service and target these keywords with your online site. Create pages and content on your site to draw in this targeted traffic. As a general rule, the more targeted your traffic/visitors are, the greater your conversion rate, i.e. the more sales you will make.

Professional online marketers do keyword research and a whole lot of testing to find the right high converting keywords that virtually guarantees sales. These marketers find the buyers at the right stage in the buying process, where customers already have their minds made up and are ready to buy. For example, someone searching for 'cars' is not as targeted as someone searching for '2007 Ford Mustang with Shelby GT exterior design'.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

This Email Promotion Worked So Well George Bush Wants To Use It In the Next Election.

In order to make money online with email promotions you need first of all to have those who receive them open them, if they are just automatically deleted then all the work of writing and sending them out as been for no avail.

Develop a mindset for writing email promo's

The very first thing you need to do is develop a mindset for writing great email promotions because of the way the human mind is wired the quickest way to develop this mindset is to copy successful well written promo's in your own hand writing over and over again into an exercise book. This will cause your brain to create the necessary synapses. The more often you do this the less effort and ease with which you will be able to write your own promotion will become.

In order to get good at writing email promotions you have to practice, it can be compared to learning how to ride a bike, you can read all the books you like but until you get actually get on a bike and ride it, do you actually get any good at it.

The most important part of any email promo is the subject line.

If your subject line does not arouse the curiosity of your reader then chances are its headed for the deletion scrap bin. Write blind subject lines. Blind means telling people what your email is about or will teach them but without giving away the contents. Don't give away the contents of your email in your subject line if your reader doesn’t have to open your email to see what the contents are about then they wont.

Here is an example of a blind subject line

An easy to implement trick for increasing your subject line results.

All your reader knows is they are going to get told a trick to do with subject lines what that trick is they have no idea. Now if they have come to read your email because they have signed up to learn about internet marketing then they will be interested in learning about using subject lines and email marketing. Keep your email's content relevant to the source your readers came from. Don't offer people dog breeding tips that have signed up to receive a newsletter on classic cars.

Increasing your open rates even more.

People have less time to read emails these days, most people receive hundreds a day and will only open the ones that have some benefit for them or arouse their curiosity. A very powerful way to increase your email open rates is by using subject lines that promise a benefit to your reader but without actually telling them what it is.

Example of a benefit driven subject line.

How to increase your income by fifty percent in less than 24 hours.

Keypoints

* Always keep your email tightly focused and on one subject.

* Ask our self would I care about this information.

* Chances are your reader doesn't care about what you did over the weekend or how long it took you to write this promotion. So write your emails with a single goal and structure your format to achieve that goal.

Make Money With Several MLM Opportunities

Multilevel marketing is a tricky business but once you understand the intricacies of how MLM opportunities work, it will not take long to realize that by being involved in several mlm opportunities you can have money flowing in from several different directions as once.

A few people have been highly successful using multilevel marketing techniques but the majority of folks the income realized by these programs is usually enough to allow them to quit their regular job and work from home. How they continue to add to their income is by becoming involved in several different MLM opportunities, and finding out that if one can be adequate, then three or four incomes can be boost their standard of living.

Since multilevel marketing programs are mostly self-operating, it takes very little time to keep them up and running and most of your time can be spent researching new mlm opportunities or learning the newest methods of marketing the sites you are already operating. A word of caution though is not to start more than one business at a time or your attention and efforts will be divided and your results will seldom be as successful as they could be by devoting you time to one MLM opportunity before beginning another.

It is important to understand that the rags to riches stories about online fortunes are the exception rather than the rule. Yes, a lot of money can be made through online mlm opportunities, but most businesses start slow, growing at a steady pace eventually capable of providing a good income but do not expect it to happen overnight.

Being connected with affiliate market programs can add to your income by posting another company’s ad on your website and receiving a sales commission on any sales referred by your site. One company that pays good commissions is Success University. Since you will want to look at that company anyway to find out all you can about learning the tricks of network marketing, go ahead and see how their affiliate market plan works. Earning up to $40,000 a month is possible, although unlikely in the immediate future, the potential is there for enterprising and motivated individuals.

Another means of bring in cash from an internet business is to become a web host reseller. You do not need any technical knowledge or abilities, just a web site that directs your visitors to have their web site hosted as usually lower prices, for which you receive a portion of the hosting fees. Some companies will sell the web space to a reseller and a much lower cost that typical web hosting. They can then establish their own hosting packages, charge what they believe the market will bear and pocket the difference.

What Business will they Franchise next?

The franchise industry is famous for its fast food, printing & coffee franchise opportunities. These businesses are well known for the quality of their output and reasonable prices. Some of the earliest entrants to the franchise market include well know companies like McDonalds & Wimpy.

Now, some new businesses have entered the market place. You have house hold repair franchises, fence building & maintenance, off licences and stores that help you facilitate your online sales. You can even buy a franchise opportunity which involves killing bed bugs!

Some of the new entrants in the market place cater for busy couples and single people, who do not have the time to take care of normal household duties. As the marketplace changes in terms of demographics, and the average age of the population increases, many new opportunities are opening up in the franchise industry.

You have domestic cleaning franchises which are ideal if both partners are working. You dictate how many hours' help you need and based on this and the size of your house you get a quote. In many cases you end up paying slightly more than if you had advertised for the cleaner your self, but then you have no fall back if things go wrong. If your regular cleaner is not well, then the domestic franchise will send out a replacement!

You also have franchises which find you the right tradesman for any urgent repairs. You call one central number and they will provide you with the right tradesman for the job. They are exceptionally good when it comes to the jobs that require more then 1 tradesman. Not only do they organise all the tradesman required, they also make sure that they come in the right order!

What are the future trends in Franchising? Almost any business that you can think of can be run as a franchise opportunity. If the business process is easy to duplicate, easily taught and profitable, then it can be franchised out. The kinds of businesses that are hard to franchise out are where specialised knowledge is required.

With the recent explosion in technology, faster internet speeds and much cheaper computers, I believe that this is the field where we will see new franchises coming to the marketplace. You are already seeing businesses that provide a local search portal on the internet, offering franchises.

Another growth area will be in education. You now have advanced software that can help you to educate your children and even adults. Franchise businesses that can cater for providing quality education whether it is via the web or by preloaded software; the market is huge!

According to a recent NatWest/BFA survey over 90% of franchise businesses are trading profitably. Over 80% of franchisees are happy with their current franchisor.

If you are interested in buying a franchise business, make sure you have professional advice. It is very important to check that the franchise agreement protects your rights and clearly sets out the obligations of the franchisor.

Can’t Afford An Search Engine Optimization Expert? You Don’t Need To

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION experts can charge from a few hundred dollars a month to several hundred dollars per hour for their services. Needless to say, not everyone can afford the expensive costs that SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION experts charge. That doesn’t mean they should just let their website sit all lonesome in the depths of cyber space, being ignored by the search engines. Your website can be optimized for search engines without having to pay a lot for it.

More and more people have websites as billions of dollars are spent online every year. Today, it is vital for businesses to have a website. A business without a website will lose a lot of business to a competitor who is online. Many people are also looking for ways to make extra income from the internet. More potential customers out there and more competition makes SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION all the more vital.

SEO is necessary if you want higher traffic which leads to higher sales and a higher value of your website, as well as other benefits. It is probably every webmasters dream to get listed on the front page of Google. Many new website owners just buy or put together a website and put it online. Then they can’t understand why no one is visiting their site.

Search Engine Optimization is the best way to get visitors to your website without having to pay for Pay per Click ads, which can really add up. You can spend a lot of money paying for traffic, but with SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION you get a lot of traffic for free. Many website owners are just regular people without the large budgets or high tech knowledge. If you fit into this category, no worries.

You don’t have to be an expert nor pay an expert to have your website optimized for search engines. You can do it all yourself. There are only a few things you do need:

• Find a good ebook that will teach you the steps and tips you need to know about SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. The good thing about ebooks is that they can be downloaded instantly at any time of the day or night. It is better to get a good SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION guide, written by an expert than to spend countless hours trying to find the same information yourself. That is time you could already be spending getting ahead of your competition.
• Study the information given in the ebook.
• Put forth the time and effort to utilize the SEO methods for your website.

That’s all you need. You can find a good SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION guide for well under a hundred dollars saving you a large sum of money. You just need to provide the time and effort and keep the thousands of dollars an expert would have charged you.

Another benefit to learning all about SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION yourself besides saving a huge amount of money, is that you have now have the knowledge and can use this information for years to come. If you decide to have more than one website, you can use your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION knowledge on all of your sites, instead of not knowing how to do anything and having to hire an expert everytime SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is needed.

Keep in mind, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is not something that happens overnight nor can it be done with very little effort. You will have to put in the time and dedication and have patience. Results won’t be seen right away. But when you do see that your site is ranking with search engines, see higher traffic and better sales, it will all be worth it and you will have a good feeling knowing you did it yourself!

Buying Cell Phone Accessories Online? 5 Tips to Shop Smart

How many times have you strolled through the mall and been “attacked” by one of the cell phone kiosks’ employees trying to shove a cell phone down your throat? Do you really want to support this type of annoying sales pitch by buying a mobile phone from them? And what about accessories- do you want to feel pressured into purchasing something for your phone that you know you don’t need? For these reasons (among many others), buying cell phones and accompanying accessories online is quickly becoming the next big wave, so we’ve crafted the top five tips (in no specific order) to help you shop smart on the World Wide Web. Make sure to find a site with:

1) A Wide Variety of Brand Name and Generic Accessories- While the latest accessories always arrive in brand name form first, many of the best cell phone add-ons are available in a generic form at a significantly lower cost to you.

2) A Price Guarantee- Have you ever bought something after shopping around for a while only to find the exact same item at another store for less money? It’s annoying, to say the least, so check to make sure that the online store you purchase from has some sort of price protection or guarantee. It will help to ease your mind, whether you have to use it or not.

3) Free Shipping- Not for every purchase, but at a reasonable purchase level your shipping should be covered by the online store. You should never buy $50 worth of products and have to pay $10 or $15 in shipping charges. Saving that amount in shipping fees is worth being hassled at the mall.

4) Fast Service- If you order your products today, why should you have to wait a week for it to be shipped to you? Allow a reasonable amount of time (under 3 days) for your purchase to be on its way to your front door.

5) A Privacy Policy-All payment and personal information needs to be protected, and it’s up to the ecommerce site to do so. Their privacy policy should be accessible from their website’s homepage on the World Wide Web for all potential customers to see.

As a reminder, the employees of cell phone shops and kiosks are paid on a commission basis. During certain promotions, they are paid at a higher rate when you buy certain products, so they will obviously try to sell you these phones and accessories over ones they don’t make as much money on. How can you really be sure that what they’re selling you is what you actually need? By shopping online, you’ll get the plain truth about each phone and service with accurate descriptions in writing before you buy.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Boom In Online Retailing…Boom for Online retailers?

Online retailing is on the upswing all over the western world but in UK this trend has captured the imagination of the common man. According to research conducted by money transfer site Paypal Europe, by 2010, 6% of UK consumers will purchase goods and acquire services online. In 2005 consumers in UK bought goods worth £8.2 billion from various marketing web portals, which is up by almost 29% from the online sales achieved by portals in the year previous to this, stated Verdict, a respected market analyst. This is something which has caught fire with the proliferation of broadband, which is considerably quicker than the old dial-up services.

With the increase of consumers it is all but obvious that the number of platforms offering these services will shoot up. Now, the dilemma for the consumer is in this plethora of ‘players’, with whom should they play the game? The answer as usual is hidden somewhere in the ‘fine print’. The two things one should always be aware of are: whenever anything sounds too good to be true, it most probably isn’t and everyone in this field is here for doing business and is not your best buddy as most of these online retailers, selling almost everything under the sky, claim. The standard practice that almost all of them indulge in is offering cold cash for joining their domain and then offer cashback for the purchases made online, so far so good.

What has left the consumer exasperated is the inadvertent delays, which these portals claim are unavoidable, in paying up the cashback amount or in few cases non-payment of the ‘promised’ amount. As the complaints against the old players are rising people are increasingly looking more towards the new players who are stepping into the market with a newer outlook towards the trade and better work ethics, at least this is what the consumer thinks or wishes.

The latest entrants are expected to rise above the set benchmarks because that is the only way they will be able to survive in this highly competitive field. They are bound to offer lucrative schemes and better services because that will be the logical and practical thing to do as to establish the brand name they need to win over the trust of their potential consumer and the easiest way to achieve it would be to deliver on their promises. This simply makes business sense and business is what they are here to do.

Holiday Season Sales Predictions For 2006

With the recent drop in gas prices, should online retailers expect a cheery holiday sales forecast? According to the National Federation of Retailers (NRF) one-fifth of all retail sales in the United States occur during the holiday season. With the critical holiday shopping season upon us, many companies are gearing up for a busy and eventful holiday season.

Although they expect holiday sales to be "subdued" this holiday season, the NRF still expects a gain of 5 percent to $457.4 billion, which is short of last years 6.1 percent increase. But, online holiday sales will continue their fast-paced trend, with sales expected to reach 27 billion (Forrester Research, Inc.), which would represent a 23 percent increase over last year.

Another holiday season forecast by eMarketer, predicts that during November and December, online retailers will have sales figures of 24.3 billion; which is a 22.1 percent increase over last year.

However, Jupiter Research, Inc., paints an even rosier sales forecast calling for 2006 online sales to be 32 billion, which would be an increase of 18 percent over last year. Additionally, Jupiter reports a record 114 million users will shop online in 2006.

In an October survey cosponsored by Shop.org, an e-commerce arm of the NRF, and Shopzilla, which is a comparison-shopping site, it was reported that 72 percent of the online retailers expected good (15%-plus) year-over-year online sales growth this holiday season. Twenty-one percent of the retailers forecast hyper growth (75%-plus) year-over-year online sales growth.

But with all these facts, figures and forecasts, what will holiday shoppers be looking for this year? According to NRF research, gift cards continue to be big sellers and this year many stores are capitalizing on this trend by offering cards geared toward the individual's lifestyle, adding that some cards are even personalized by including photographs or a particular theme.

More "hot" gifts included in the NRF research included women's clothing, specifically, plaid and hand-knit crocheted looks in women's categories, sweater dresses, short jackets and boots. Additionally, look for diet products, gift certificates to spas or gyms, cell phones and cell phone accessories, ipods, computer gaming products and computer gifts to be very popular on the wish list for young adults and teens.

Of course, we have all heard of the new Tickle Me Elmo 10th Anniversary Edition dolls that are any child's list from age seven and under. But is the demand for this toy going to dwindle the supply down to nothing? Probably. But, Fisher-Price insists there is going to be a steady flow of product going out to the retailers. Retailers have taken steps to assure they don't run out of a product by limiting the number of an individual product that a customer can buy when that product is in short supply, with the idea being that there should be enough for everyone. But could Tickle Me Elmo winds up on ebay selling at outrageous prices because of shortages? It already has.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Success University - Online Training With Matt Morris For Online Success

Before you can hope to be successful in any business, you have to understand that business and know how to peak the interest of your potential customers. Whether you are offering a product or a service, people have to understand what it is, why they need it and why they should get it from you.

Online marketing has changed the way people do business and unless you can embrace the knowledge needed to meet these changes, your success will be limited to those customers willing to deal with you in the same old way. Internet marketing takes a completely different approach because people who conduct business online, search for companies with which to do business online, and you need to be found.

After attending the University of Texas, Arlington, Texas Matt Morris saw the future in the internet and worked diligently to become fully knowledgeable in internet marketing. His determination led to not only, financial success, but also to being somewhat of an expert in marketing on the internet. As a Marine Corps Sergeant, he understood the need to lead others and to provide the proper training to help make his fellow Marines a success. Combining his knowledge of internet marketing and his passion for helping other succeed led him to establish Success University.

He understood that without the proper training, no one could move above mediocrity. While he enjoyed personal growth at two network marketing companies, he believed he could help other attain their personal goals by sharing what he had learned. Joining with other leaders in the market, sales and technical field, Success University provides the training essential for just about anyone to achieve success.

However, signing up for the course is not going to make you an instant success that is why it is called Success University. You have to actually read and learn the materials and put them to practical application. After reviewing the course materials and all the extras you can receive as a student, you can then judge how everything you can learn can help make your business grow into the business you have always known it could be. While you can make money introducing others to Success University, by practicing what you learn you can make a positive impact from your own business.

Distance learning has grown exponentially over the past few years, with major accredited colleges and universities understanding many people want to improve their knowledge but do not have the time to attend traditional classes. Additionally, some educational resources are not appropriate in a classroom setting since people learn at a different rate and not everyone needs to learn or know everything that is being taught in each lesson.

The online learning experience at Success University teaches what you need to know about running an online business and what better venue in which to learn but online. Your business is online, great training opportunities are available online and your future success is online. There us no better combination to help you achieve financial security than attending distance learning classes at Success University online.

10 Steps to Researching Your Competition Online

Regardless of what business you're in, you have competition, or other businesses who are clamoring for the same consumer dollars as you. The competition may or may not be in the same industry, e.g. if you own a movie theatre, your competition will be all venues providing entertainment, such as bowling alleys, theme parks, skating rinks, miniature golf courses, in addition to other movie theatres. Take a moment to determine what business you're in and determine if your type of business might also attract consumers from other industries.

As an online business owner, your competition may not be as easy to gauge, especially if you don't have a retail location for your business, or if you have a global virtual company where you can work with clients regardless of location, as many coaches, consultants, virtual assistants, graphic designers, speakers, and website designers do. How do you begin to assess your competition when your business has no geographic limits? It's very similar to the steps that a traditional business might take, but it's all done online.

Here are the ten steps I use to research my competition online:

1. Brainstorm all known competitors. If you've been in business for any length of time, you probably already have a good sense of which other companies offer what you offer. Look up their websites and make a note of the website addresses. You'll be using this information later.

2. Compile a list of keywords your customer would use to find a business like yours online. How would your target market find you online? Create a list of all keywords that they might use. If you have a business that serves a particular geographic region, you'll want to create a geographic keyword listing as well, like "cleaning business" + "Beaumont, Texas" or "cleaning business" + "Southeast Texas".

3. Conduct a keyword search on the major search engines. The major players in the search engine game today seem to be Google, Yahoo, and MSN. It is the results from these search engine queries that will be the ones most commonly found by your target market. You should try your search with and without quotation marks, like "cleaning business" and cleaning business and conduct a search by location, as well, if that applies to your business. Make a note of the top 10 listings from each search engine query and those will comprise your top competition, along with other local competitors that you know about.

4 Visit your competitors' websites and analyze their offerings. Create a summary of each competitor's services and/or products. Determine the strength and weaknesses of your competition from the perspective of your target market. Assess how your offerings are better/worse/different from that of the competition. Are your prices higher or lower than theirs? Why? What makes you unique? How can you capitalize on that uniqueness and set yourself apart from the competition? By following these steps, you'll discover your competitive advantage, or the reason(s) your target market does business with you instead of your competition.