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Archive for March, 2008

Focus and Grow your Online Business

March 31st, 2008 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

You dream of owning a highly successful online business that offers you the freedom to focus on the more important things in life, while your online business brings in revenue every week.  It isn’t a pipe dream – this can become a reality.  However, there are three key aspects to your online business that you need to focus on in order to get there: Content, Attracting Visitors, and Capturing Visitor Details.

Is your site worth visiting?

 To offer visitors a site that they want to visit often, it must be compelling enough so that they will want to stay and read what you have to say.  Website visitors rarely take proactive action to provide their details or purchase a product.  When you capture a visitor, it is up to you to give them powerful and compelling reasons why they should stay, and why they should take any action while they are at your website. 

The majority of web users don’t use the internet to purchase products online.  They use it to research products or to gather information about topics that interest them.  Your prospective customers are going to follow this same exact pattern.  Even if your website is a 100% retail endeavor with a sole purpose of offering items for sale – your site should also be an important source of high-quality information.

This content should include press releases, articles, product reviews, tips, or any other interesting and intriguing content that you are knowledgeable about and can offer people useful and important advice and information about.  Offer your advice as though you are offering advice as a good friend who simply wants to help them make a good choice that is in their best interest.  Purchasing anything can be a scary and uncomfortable process – so it’s up to you to make them feel comfortable with you, and confident that you have expertise and knowledge that is valuable to them. 

If you Build It, They Will Come.

It’s a neat Hollywood line – but in the world of internet marketing, it just isn’t true.  You need a powerful campaign to bring visitors to your website.  And you also need accurate statistics to keep track of the visitors who do visit.  Your web hosting account should have a multitude of statistical software or logs that will provide some insight as to how many visitors you’ve had, the pages that they’ve visited, and the time they spend on each page. 

Also learn about Pay per Click advertising, which is a form of advertising that offers you a way to test and measure your marketing – since you only pay when visitors click on your link.  You can learn more about Pay per Click from Google Adwords.  Check your current Google ranking using the Google Toolbar’s Page Rank gauge, which will give you some idea of where your webpage ranks. 

To increase your ranking, you need to increase your “importance” by creating incoming-only links.   A good place to learn who is linking to you is at www.alltheweb.com.  A way to generate more incoming-only links is to register your site on the online directories, or even better – post classified ads or write forum entries that link to your website.  This will tremendously improve your search engine optimization.  Banner advertising is another option – but you’ll need to try various headlines and offers in Pay per Click to learn what generates the best response.

Capture Visitor Details

Once visitors come to your website, you need to capture their email address details if you can so that you can build your network of potential customers in a non-intrusive way.  The way to do this is to offer valuable information in the form of reviews and reports that visitors will enjoy reading.  Newsletters should be used, but should only be one piece of the offering.  Since they are so popular now, they shouldn’t be your only source of information for visitors.  They are still a great way to maintain contact with visitors.  Using the opt-in approach allows visitors to tell you that they are interested in your information and want to learn more. 

Also make sure that it is easy for visitors to buy from you.  If the process of purchasing is confusing and difficult, potential customers will quickly give up.  Review your shopping cart or your order form and make sure that there aren’t any bugs or problems in the process that will cause potential buyers to give up and go elsewhere.  Use systems in the ordering process that present similar products to the one that your visitor is buying or has bought in order to increase sales…such as “Other customers who bought this product also purchased…”  This is a great way to tip customers to what products are popular and valuable to others.

Making sure that your website has quality content (not only highly optimized content), will insure that even if you’ve managed to draw visitors to your website, that they will want to stay there.  Attracting visitors is only one small aspect to online business.  Even more important is keeping visitors there when they arrive – and the only way to do this is through publishing constantly  updated valuable content that visitors enjoy reading, and at every opportunity you should be collecting your user’s details so that you can keep in touch with prospective customers.

 Following these important steps will insure that your online business will grow exponentially in a very short period of time.

Easy Profits Using PPC In Your Affiliate Marketing Business

March 30th, 2008 | By Simon In Affiliate Marketing, Pay Per Click | No Comments »

PPC is one of the four basic types of search engines.  PPC is also one of the most cost-effective methods of targeted internet advertising.  According to Forbes magazine, PPC (Pay Per Click), accounts for 2 billion dollars a year and is expected to increase to around 8 billion dollars by the end of 2008.

Let’s take a quick look at how PPC Search Engines work.

These engines create listings and then rate them based on a bid amount that the website owner is willing to pay for each click from that search engine.  Advertisers bid against each other to receive higher ranking for a specific keyword or phrase.

The highest bidder for a certain keyword or phrase will then have the site ranked as number 1 in the PPC Search Engines followed by the second and third highest bidder, up to the last number with a bid placed on the same keyword or phrase.  Your ads will then appear prominently on the results pages based on the dollar amount bid that you agreed to pay per click.

How do you make money by using PPC in your affiliate marketing business?

Most affiliate programs only pay when a sale is made or a lead is delivered after a visitor has clicked through your site.  Your earnings will not always be the same, because they will be dependent on the website content and the traffic market.

The reason you should incorporate PPC into your affiliate marketing program is because profits are easier to earn than in any other kind of affiliate program not using PPC.  The value of this method is that you will be making income based on the clickthroughs of your visitors on the advertiser’s site.  Unlike other programs, however, you are not paid per sale.

With PPC search engines incorporated into your affiliate program, you will be able to profit from visitors who are uninterested in your particular products or services, but might be interested in the products or services of your advertisers.  These customers may leave your site and never return, but at least you will generate some form of profit from their visit.

You will not only receive commisions from those who are searching the web and finding advertiser’s products and services, but you will likely be able to build your site’s recognition as a valuable websearch resource.  Visitors who have found what they were looking for from your site are likely to return and review what you are offering more closely.  They may also return for future searches – and every visit counts.

This kind of affiliate program is also an easy way for you to generate some additional revenue.  For example, when a visitor on your site does a search in the PPC Search Engine and clicks on the advertiser listings, the advertiser’s account will be deducted because of that click.  In this situation, you will be compensated 30% to 80% of the advertiser’s bid amount.

PPC is not only a great source to generate easy profit; it can also help you promote your own site.  Most of the programs allow commissions receive to be spent on advertising instantly and with no minimum earning requirement.  This is one of the more effective ways to exchange your raw visitors for targeted surfers who will lean more toward purchasing your products and services.

What will happen when you integrate PPC into your affiliate program?

PPC usually has ready-to-use affiliate tools that can be easily integrated into your website.  The most common tools are search boxes, banners, text links, and some 404-error pages.  Most search engines utilize custom solutions and can provide you with a white-label affiliate program.  This enables you, using only a few lines of code, to integrate a remotely-hosted co-branded search engine into your website.

The key benefits?  Not only more money generated from your sales, but also additional revenue from the clickthroughs.  Plus lifetime commissions once you have referred any friends to the engine.

Think about it – whare can you get all of these benefits while already generating the existing income you receive from your website?  Having some of the more useful tools at your disposal for your affiliate program is very valuable.  These are tools that will only make you more than your site is already earning today – you can’t lose.

  

Protect Your Business from Phishing

March 29th, 2008 | By Simon In Protect Your Business | 1 Comment »

It happens to the best of us.  You’ve just finished conducting your business for the day through Paypal.  As you check your email one last time before shutting down for the night, you notice a new email from Paypal stating that as part of one of their standard system upgrades, they are asking all users to log in and verify their personal data.  Without thinking (after all – you’re exhausted after a very long day), you click the link and try to log into Paypal.  The login fails.  After a few seconds, it dawns on you – you’ve just been phished.

Phishing (pronounced as “fishing”) is defined as the act of sending an email to a recipient under the guise of coming from an established, legitimate business.  The intent of the phisher is to scam the email recipient into surrendering private details, and to ultimately steal your identity and/or your money.

Phishing can be quite damaging for individuals, but even more so for businesses who are depending on profit for the daily necessities of running the business.  And to make matters worse, it isn’t as easy to recognize a phishing email as you might think.  At first glance, the email looks like it comes from a legitimate company.  The “From” field of the e-mail may have the .com in the sender’s address.  The clickable link even appears to take you to the company’s website.  In fact, it is a fake look-alike website built to replicate the legitimate one.

Many of these scammers are professional criminals.  They have spent a great deal of time and energy creating emails and websites that look authentic.  Users need to carefully review all emails that request personal information.  When reviewing your email, remember that the “From” field can easily be changed by the sender.  While it may appear that it is coming from a .com that you do legitimate business with, this is part of the deception.  The phisher will even copy logos or images from the official websites to use in their emails.  Finally, they also try to include a clickable link that the recipient can conveniently click on to update their personal information.

An excellent way to check the legitimacy of the link is to point at the link with your mouse – but don’t click.  If you look at the bottom left-hand side of your screen, the actual website address you will be directed to will show up for you to view.  This is a very quick and easy way to know if you are being directed to a legitimate site or not.  However – look at the link carefully.  Sometimes phishers will make their fraudulent website’s link name even appear very similar to the legitimate website’s link name – so look at the link very carefully.

Better yet – follow the golden rule.  Never click on links within the text of an e-mail, and simply delete the email immediately.   If you believe that it might have been a legitimate notice, simply open a browser and go to the website of the company that sent you the email.  Log into your account and check for yourself.  This is the only way to be absolutely certain that you are logging into the actual website – and not a fraudulent site created by a criminal who is intent on obtaining your private information.

5 Ways to Improve Your Adsense Earnings

March 28th, 2008 | By Simon In Google Adsense | No Comments »

If webmasters want to produce profit from their websites, a great way to do it is through Adsense.  There are many webmasters struggling hard to earn decent money every day from their websites.  What makes these webmasters very different from others is that they think outside of the box.

Those who have been there and have learned the hard lessons have very useful tips to help those who would venture into this field.  Some of these tips have boosted earnings significantly in the past, and are sure to continue doing so.

Here are 5 proven ways how to best improve your Adsense earnings.

1. Concentrate on one format of Adsense Ad.  The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336×280).  This format tends to result in higher CTR (click-through rates).  Why choose this format out of the many you can use?  Because the ads will look like normal web links, and people are typically used to clicking on them.  They may or may not realize they are clicking on your Adsense, but as long as there are clicks, you will profit.

2. Create a custom palette for your ads.  Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site.  If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background.  The idea is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web page.  This will result in far more clicks from people visiting your site.

3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site, and put them at the top.  Anything you can do to make the ads more prominent will benefit you – don’t hide them!  Put them in a place where people will see them quickly.  You’ll be amazed how the different Adsense locations significantly change your earnings.

4. Maintain links to relevant websites.  If you think some sites are better than others, put your ads there.  Always work to maintain and manage your links.  If there are already a lot of Adsense on that site, put yours on top all of them.  This way visitors will see your ads first when browsing to that site.

5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (server-side include).  Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not.  How do you do it?  Simply save your Adsense code in a text file, and upload it to the root directory of your web server.  Then, using SSI, call up the code on other pages.  This tip is a tremendous time saver, especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

All of these tips have worked well for webmasters who want to generate hundreds, and even thousands of dollars from their websites.  It’s important to understand, however, that ads are displayed because they fit the interest of the people viewing them.  So, focusing on a specific topic should be the primary goal, because then displays will specifically target a topic that people viewing the website are already interested in.

Also note that there are many other folks out there who use Adsense under the same topic as you are.  So it is best to think of making an excellent ad that will be different and unique, compared to the ones that are already out there.  Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you – so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will click on.

Tips offered by webmasters who have boosted their earnings are only guidelines that they are willing to share with others.  If they’ve worked wonders for some, then it’s very likely that they’ll work wonders for you too.  Try them with your won ads, and see if the results work for you too.

If others have done it and succeeded, then you can too!

3 Quick and Easy Ways to Build a Profitable Opt In List

March 27th, 2008 | By Simon In List Building | No Comments »

You finally realized that you need a great opt-in list.  You’ve read countless articles and have sought out expert advice.  You’ve read all kinds of success stories by people who’ve created a small fortune with opt-in lists, so you’ve finally decided to have one of your own.  Then it happens – you think you know everything there is to know about opt-in lists and you’ve followed all of the advice to the letter, yet you still weren’t able to make a profit.

Even worse, maybe you’re losing money.  You hired excellent writers to help you create content, or you’ve invested in software or a mailing list.  And even though you’ve built a huge list – only a very small percentage ever actually buys anything, so you’re not making any profit.  You’ve reviewed your statistics and sales figures over the last few months, and things just don’t add up.

What Went Wrong?

Why have others succeeded where you have failed?  The most common mistake is simple – you dove in head first.  You chose a topic that you believed would be very popular and would earn you profit, but it turns out this isn’t the case.  Just because folks have signed up for an opt-in list doesn’t mean they are going to buy from you.

Here, I will offer a few important tips for those who have already started an opt-in list that is simply failing miserably.  You can rejuvenate your failed venture.  Here are three quick and easy ways to rebuild a profitable opt-in list.

1) Get your customers to trust you, and your product.

Provide expert advice and recommendations that are valuable for people.  If people trust you, your opt-in list will consist of folks who know you and believe that what you have to say (and sell) is quite valuable.  You can build a base from people all over the internet, such as forum users.   Ask friends.  And of course – always have a link on your website that provides an easy opt-in option for visitors to your site.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need.

Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have thoroughly researched, you can carry it on well and succeed.  Invest your time, effort, and money in learning what niche out there is extremely popular.  Research it, learn about it, and learn what products within that popular niche that people are seeking. 

While it’s true that it is best to sell something that you have an interest in, not everyone may share the same interests as you do, or your current interests might not be something that is popular or profitable.  Be flexible.  Find what’s popular, and twist it to make it interesting to you.  Research well, and you’ll see profits start to roll in.   Offer promotional material to your list that readers can use and will want to share.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users.

The best way to learn what works and what doesn’t, is to become friends with someone who is currently running a successful opt-in list.  These are people who have the experience and background – and experience is always the best teacher.  While there are a number of articles throughout the internet on these subjects, there is nothing quite as valuable as getting to know someone who is successful, and learning from them.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to share with you what works and what doesn’t, because they’ve gone through it.  While different circumstances demand different approaches, a general battle plan can still be very helpful.  There are so many pitfalls, these are the people who will have the experience to tell you which ones to avoid.

Building a profitable opt-in list certainly doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes a great deal of preparation and effort.  Opt-in lists are built from scratch – gathering loyal readers who will learn to respect and trust what you offer.  Maintain the quality of this list carefully – keep it organized and manageable.  If you need help – hire someone.  It’s that critical to keep your subscribers happy and satisfied.  If you do, they will be willing to buy from you again and again - and your profits will skyrocket.

Personal Success Should be Well Rounded

March 25th, 2008 | By Simon In Self Development | No Comments »

Our desire to succeed financially in life is a deeply ingrained human instinct.  We all want to be successful, rich, wealthy, and recognized as experts within our fields.  However, it’s important to keep in mind that true success in our personal development path comes from a well-rounded approach.

Financial success is important – it’s one of the top priorities we strive for, because many other forms of success stem from our initial financial goals that we meet.  However, an unbalanced approach that focuses on only financial success is doomed to failure.  There are other priorities that should always be considered equally alongside financial success. 

Health

If you find yourself sitting in front of a computer during all waking hours of the day so that you can develop your online business website, or conduct your various marketing plans – you might find that your life becomes unbalanced.  You will become unhealthy, overweight, more tired and irritated. 

It is important to your overall long-term success that you schedule in a block of time every single day to get some fitness into your life.  It can be an hour walk, or a hike in the park.  It can even be incorporated into your business needs.  If you need to send out correspondence every day, and the post office is within a couple of miles – pack the correspondence in a backpack and walk to the post office.  Or schedule a block of one hour, every single morning, to head over to the gym and use the treadmill or weight-lift for a full hour. 

Sticking to a regular fitness schedule, incorporated into your daily busy schedule, will pay off tremendously in the long run.  You will feel more energy, more motivated, and more passionate about the rest of your day…and your resulting business success will be astounding because of it.

Family

The last thing anyone should do is to sacrifice family time and family connections in preference for business.  We are all developing our business plan and working toward financial freedom for the good of our current families, or the family we may have in the future.  However, we should never fail to invest time today in spending time with those around us who provide us with support and encouragement.  If you dedicate enough of your time to keep in touch with those around you who make you feel important and needed – the resulting encouragement and motivation that they will, in turn, provide will be a driving force that will keep you moving forward into the monumental success that you’ll realize down the road.

Goodwill

Some people say that they will give to charity when they are rich.  However – giving to charity, or helping those who are less fortunate, isn’t something to be done only when we can afford it.  The fact that we are able to live a fairly comfortable life, under a roof and in a dry bed; the fact that we are able to properly feed ourselves and survive; is more than enough that’s required for us to help those who are less fortunate. 

We were not all born with the same family support systems, or income levels, or intelligence – and there are huge portions of every population in the world that have simply been handed a poor lot in life.  It is our responsibility as a member of the human race that we work collaboratively and as a community for the better good of mankind.

It doesn’t take a lot.  Sometimes just a few dollars dedicated to one small family in a third-world country might motivate a child in that family to work toward a better education.  You could be the driving force that changes the life of a child who might otherwise have gone down the same path of generations before her.  Sure – when we are wealthy – it would be far easier to help the less fortunate around us.  However, how much more generous and amazing would it be when people see you, as a highly successful business person, having already helped so many less fortunate succeed – even before you, yourself were ever so successful.

American author, Jack London, once wrote:

“A bone to the dog is not charity.  Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”

In many ways, this kind of charity will be a powerful driving force for your ultimate personal success.

Mental Health

Most importantly – in the process of developing your success, it’s important to exercise the mind.  Focusing on only one task, or one goal, is unhealthy.  It can deprive you of your natural human desire for a variety of information and ideas.  Keep an open mind, and read about topics that you never knew anything about.  Allow yourself time to dream and think creatively about abstract ideas – read novels about lands far away, or take a beginner’s art class that will help you to express your thoughts and emotions in more ways than you ever imagined.

You may think that successful men and women throughout history got there through hard work and sacrifice.  This is only partially true.  Men and women who have succeeded throughout history did so by succeeding in not only one aspect of their lives – but in a well-rounded all-encompassing success that came from a true balance within all parts of their lives.

This important balance is what gives birth to ultimate personal success.

Surefire Ways to Increase Traffic

March 24th, 2008 | By Simon In Traffic Generation | No Comments »

As anyone who has ever attempted to start an internet-based business knows, drawing traffic is absolutely crucial to your success.   Any article you find, or any book you might read about being a successful internet entrepreneur will discuss the importance of generating traffic to your site.

While the task of drawing strangers to your website, and then getting them interested in your product or service, might feel overwhelming and almost impossible – it isn’t really, if you are creative, clever, and do it intelligently.  Most importantly – start taking these steps today, not tomorrow, to immediately begin drawing traffic to your website.

 These seven tips offer surefire ways to start increasing your traffic dramatically, right now.

1) Invest in good search engine advertising.

Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide fantastic advertising schemes that are very popular, and assure great traffic.  Keep in mind that while this will most certainly increase your traffic, it could be fairly expensive.  For many, spending money to increase traffic isn’t an option.  However – when you compare the cost of the advertising to the volume of traffic it generates, and your eventual payoff – the costs are easily offset by the benefits. 

This method of advertising is a tried and true approach to drawing potential customers to your website.  If you’ve taken the appropriate steps in creating your website to capture the interest of your visitors, your increased audience will immediately convert into increased sales and revenue.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites.

When you exchange links with other sites that contain content related to the product or service you are selling, both of you benefit from efforts to increase traffic.  When either site offers a link to the other, both websites are helping to share traffic that either site generates.  This approach is even more valuable than most because it is a collaborative effort to generate traffic – and both of you reap the rewards.  The more links you trade – the more traffic you can expect.  It’s that simple.

3) Use viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any associated costs, or very low cost.  This is a somewhat clever approach to marketing because you essentially attach your company’s name, product, or link to certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, or very interesting article.  This approach captures the interest of a large audience, because once one person receives the media and finds it very funny or interesting, they forward it to all of their friends.  Many of us receive such emails all of the time from friends who receive jokes and find them so funny that they pass them on.  If you incorporate your website or product either inside the media, or attached to part of the text somehow – your website gets forwarded to hundreds, and even thousands of people.  Viral marketing is a new kind of marketing that has been shown to be very effective. 

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your site’s content.

Search engines look for certain keywords that will be shown in their results page.  In doing so, having the right keyword or keyword phrase is an important requirement in ranking high in search engine results.  Again, you can write your own content, or you can hire a good writer to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site.

This is an important aspect of the internet.  Many people who are starting an online business think that if they pack their page with keywords or keyword phrases, that they will draw traffic and immediately produce revenue.  This isn’t always the case.  Drawing traffic is only one small aspect to turning traffic into revenue.

You need quality content.  If people click on a link to visit your site, the only thing that will keep them there is quality content.  This quality content can also be in the form  of articles submitted to websites that are based on the same subject that your site deals with.  For example, if you sell computer parts, then write press releases and submit articles to websites about computers and computer parts.  Always attach a description of your website and a link at the end of the article.  If the article is written well enough so that people are impressed, they will be more likely to click the link – because through the article you’ve proven your expertise.

6) Join forums and form online communities.

A very large portion of internet users spend time talking to other people around the world on forums that cover all topics imaginable.  There are forums for childcare, mountain-biking, camping, and UFO’s.  Just about every subject has a plethora of forums and online communities of thousands of people who are interested in these topics.  These are the people who are your prime customer base. 

Join these forums, and write posts that prove to people that you are an expert in your field.  Some forums don’t allow advertising your own site on their forum, however if you have an excellent article on your own website that is relevant to the topic at hand – they allow you to quote from outside websites.  So write a post related to the topic being discussed, and quote from your own website.  People will click the link to see the entire article – and you’ve just drawn an audience from a potential customer base that is already interested in the product or service that you sell.

7) Offer Newsletters!

As I described previously on this blog – if people know what subject you are an expert in, and your existence is spread around through word-of-mouth, you will soon find yourself with loyal traffic that can multiply into additional traffic through referrals.  If you are providing your current customer base with a quality newsletter consisting of several articles every week that cover topics that your customer base finds fascinating and interesting – they will be motivated to refer their friends and family to your website.

Following the seven simple steps above – you will be able to quickly multiply the stagnant or non-existent traffic of your website, into a level of traffic that even the largest websites would be envious of.  It’s all about content, and getting the word out there that you exist, and that you are a valuable source of information.  Do this – and you will see impressive success for your internet business.

Protect Your Business – Avoid a Virus!

March 23rd, 2008 | By Simon In Protect Your Business | No Comments »

When you are running an online business – security is critical.  You will be running a multitude of accounts including web hosting, image hosting, financial accounts, project accounts, and more.  You may be traveling on the road with a laptop quite often, finding yourself plugging into public networks across the world.  Because of this, your computer and everything that’s on it – including sensitive financial and other business data – will be vulnerable to outside access if you don’t properly protect yourself.  The second issue of concern is data loss.  If you don’t protect your data, then when a crisis happens you will be in a world of hurt.  Your child might dump orange juice on your keyboard, or a power surge or equipment failure might wipe out your entire hard drive.  Remember – in business, data is not only critical, it can mean the difference between gaining customers or losing them.  Easy access to your data, and safe storage of that data, will ensure that your business will never need to suffer through the catastrophy of data loss.

Information Security

Make sure that you have the latest and greatest virus software installed on your computer - and your subscription is valid.  Virus software is worthless unless you have the latest updates…because the virus threats that are out there change on a daily basis.  Professional hackers are out there constantly trolling the internet for unsecured computers to access financial information, install spyware or keyloggers, or somehow otherwise access your data.  Software such as Norton Internet Security will block any traffic that your computer has not requested.  McAfee and other Virus software providers have similar products that work just as well.

Install it, and pay the small fee that will offer you an entire year of free updates and solid protection from the threats that exist out there on the open internet.  Also, regularly run programs like SpyBot and AdAware that search for and clean your computer of spyware, adware, and malware.  These are all versions of virus-like software that have some malicious intent, such as monitoring your internet usage, logging your keyboard use, or something else.  It isn’t likely that you have any terrible software like that – most of the software out there like this only look for marketing information to determine ad displays when you visit a site.  However – there are some malicious applications and it’s much better to play it safe and protect your critical computer system and business data.

Protect your Data

Finally – constantly ensure that you have a backed up copy of all of your business data.  Correspondence, financial data, schedules, project work, and other files related to your business, when lost, can critically impact the success or failure of your business.  Protect it! 

 First - take a weekly full backup of all of your data files to a thumbdrive, or burn it to a rewriteable CD.  Personally I like thumbdrives, because it is extremely convenient – and depending which computer I’m on, I simply “sync” the data on the thumbdrive to a mirror directory on the computer I’m at.  In other words, when I’m on my desktop, I recopy all thumbdrive files to my desktop computer.  When I’m finished my work on that computer, I copy all of the files back to my thumbdrive.  Later, when I get on my laptop, I copy all thumdrive files to my laptop, do my work, then copy all of the files back to the thumbdrive.

 This way - there actually three backups.  So if either the thumbdrive, laptop, or desktop fails because of a virus or hardware problem, then I still have two copies of all of my data.  This is a redundant system that provides two levels of protection.

An additional form of protection is to use software like Acronis True Image, or Norton Ghost.  All of these software packages will take a “ghost” image of your computer for a full backup.  This means that not only are your data files stored away – but your entire computer’s image is backed up to cd.  This ”image” includes everything – your desktop, user settings, installed software, registry settings.   So if your computer ever crashes after a lightning strike and you lose your hard drive – you can simply buy a new hard drive, install your backed-up ghost image back onto it, and it’s like your computer never died.  Everything is still there - including every last shortcut you placed on your desktop, and every little piece of software you ever installed on your computer.

Information Security is a critical piece of protecting your online business from real crisis.  Take the time and invest the necessary resources to insure that all of your important data is secure and well protected.  There will come a time when you are very happy, and relieved, that you did. 

How to Build a List of Eager Subscribers

March 22nd, 2008 | By Simon In List Building | 2 Comments »

Every successful online business offers stellar customer service.  This generates satisfaction for their customers.  Such customer satisfaction is what makes customers return and buy again in the future.  In fact, they will even recommend you to others, generating more business for you and your site.  Customer satisfaction is absolutely critical to building your business.

As more traffic is driven to your site through word-of-mouth, you can then entice those customers to subscribe to your mailing or opt-in list.  This is a list of website visitors who have agreed to be sent promotional materials such as newsletters and catalogs that will keep them updated about your site or your niche.  These materials are typically sent by e-mail to members of the list every so often, usually monthly.

Using email as your method for marketing and advertising, you eliminate cost.  Since email is free and if you write your own advertisements and material, you can save a fortune.  Additionally, because customers have opted-in to receive your emails, they are much more likely to open and read your emails, and not simply deleting them as they do other spam.

This means, that you have an opportunity to remind subscribers about your existing products, new produces, and services that you offer – as well as any promotions or special deals that you are offering each month.  Using this marketing method, you also have the opportunity to gather new customers as your existing customers forward your email newsletter to friends and family.

It is also important to remember that a subscriber may unsubscribe if and when they feel that they are not receiving the kind of communication from you that they wanted or expected.  This means that you have to make absolutely certain that subscribers are satisfied with your opt-in marketing.  Your newsletters should keep them excited about receiving your next newsletter or your next catalog.  Here are some tips that can help you building a list of eager subscribers.

Building Your Opt-In List

Make your material interesting, informative, and fun.  Use some creativity and good writing skills, but avoid being too wordy.  Stick to what your product or service is about.  For example, if you are selling bike parts, put pictures and articles of what the newest or latest technology is in the bike parts world. 

Conduct research on what people are looking for – learn what the hottest products are within your niche.  This way, you will remain one step ahead of your readership, and they will count on you for information about the direction of the field or niche.  You will build a reputation as an industry expert.  They will be eager to receive what you are sending them because they have learned that you always have fresh and brand new things to share with them.

Write good articles!  This is critical.  Articles must be well written, informational, and also light at the same time.  They should have data, but shouldn’t be too technical.  If subscribers actually enjoy reading your articles, they will visit your site by clicking the links in your newsletter to read more.  You can provide articles that connect to many people.  Write articles that are diverse!  Use humor, information, news, and more.

If you are not an excellent writer, you can still succeed using this kind of marketing.  There are many professional and experienced article writers that will do the job for you for reasonable rates.  They know what they are doing, they are experienced writers, and they can provide the kind of valuable and interesting content that you need for your newsletters.  The money that you invest into your articles will result in additional opt-in sign ups.  The potential profit from these new members will more than pay for your investment. 

There are some excellent websites where writers offer their services include www.constant-content.com, www.helium.com, or www.invisible-inc-writers.com.  Some sites offer an existing inventory of articles you can purchase.  Others allow you to submit your requirements for articles, and writers will compete – and you choose the best-written article to purchase.  And other sites allow you to submit your request directly, and the team of writers will deliver a custom article directly to you via email.  Choose the option that suits your needs – and invest!  It will pay off in the long run.

Offer E-Books 

Create and send E-books to your customers on subjects related to your business.  Use your own knowledge or expertise in the field to help others who share your interests.  Offer this ebook for free!  You can write about anything information that will be helpful to your subscribers.  Such an e-book would become a valuable reference for a number of people.

Share the ebook with everyone.  Anyone who uses the ebooks will find the links that you’ve provided, and this will lead people to your site.  Again, if you need to, you can hire writers to write the ebook for you.  The investment is small considering the marketing that such E-books end up providing you.

Use E-Coupons

Include e-coupons in your newsletters that offer your subscribers special discounts.  Make sure to put a control number in the e-coupon so that they can only be used once.  When people realize that your newsletters offer valuable discounts, they will be even more eager to receive your newsletters.

 And finally – use newsletters in moderation.  A monthly newsletter is a perfect interval.  A daily newsletter would become intrusive and annoying.  It is important not to flood your mailing list, but also providing timely information that subscribers feel they want and need.  Finding that balance is important.  An e-marketing campaign, as described here, is a cost-effective and powerful technique to drive a large and constant flow of customers to your online business.

Fulfilling Your Potential – Part 2

March 22nd, 2008 | By Simon In Self Development | No Comments »

There is one thing that success and failure have in common – they both come from courage. Courage to take the first step; courage to take the path less traveled; courage to do things differently than other people do.

Theodore Roosevelt once said:

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

Those who succeed in everything – business, marriage, and life in general – are not invincible to failure. They are simply courageous enough to walk against the crowd. They are self-confident enough to choose not what others want them to do, but to choose what makes them feel passionate and motivated. And they simply do not fear failure.The silver bullet to fulfilling your potential is in first understanding what you want, what you are passionate about, and what the word “success” means to you.

What you want

For different people, this can be different things. It might be money, or it might be fame. It might simply be a cleaner environment or…while we’re reaching for the sky – even world peace. There are no limits when it comes to defining what it is we want for our lives. This is where dreaming comes in – and who ever said there should be limits on dreams?

“I have learned that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau

What you are Passionate About

The most important ingredient to success is passion. A love of what you do. If you don’t have an interest in technology, then opening a computer business is not really going to drive you. However, if you have had a life-long love of pets, or a passion for writing, or an affinity for food – then your passion should direct your efforts. Once you are working for those things that you feel strongly about – you will feel driven, every single morning, to get out of bed and start accomplishing things.Dreams are based on passion, passion creates drive – and drive leads to overwhelming success.

What Success means to you

These will be your specific goals. You should be asking yourself – when I am successful, what will I be, where will I be, and what will I have? For some people, success means living in a home without a mortgage, or living without debt, or having a few million dollars. For others, success is measured differently – it might be to be recognized as a leader in their field, or to publish a novel.

Dream, Organize, Execute

Once you know what you want and what makes you feel driven – the final steps are to put together a plan to get there. Outline the steps you will take, every year and even every month, to reach that ultimate goal. Be honest and realistic, but don’t limit your dreams. Aim high.And finally, once your goals are set, and you have determined what you need to do to reach your full potential – then comes the fun part.

Every day, you will wake up and feel driven by those dreams, and by the love you have for what you do. And you will feel motivated to do the work that it takes to reach each individual goal, because you know, at the end of the road, the success and fulfillment that awaits you.