Stress and an occasional sense of overwhelm is a normal by-product of a successful business. Yes, we are lucky to have all the opportunities that the business world presents to us. And yes, at times, it is impossible to make wise use of our time and resources. So, the result is inevitably: Stress!
We differentiate between primary, situational, short-lived stress and long-term, accumulated levels of stress. The purpose of this article is then to help you instantly with the first type of stress. To give you tools you already possess but we all don’t utilize enough. In addition, my High-Impact Business Coaching Formula allows you to grow thriving businesses while creating rich, balanced lives and with that eliminate the second type of long-standing, highly damaging stress.
Yet, this is not an overnight process as any transformation takes time, effort and commitment. So then, this article is about allowing you to find instant relief. To find ways to bust your sense of “too-much-to-do” immediately, within seconds.
I am going to start you off with a somewhat strange statement: “Believe it and you’ll see it”. This seemingly bizarre concept is now part of a highly success stress-reduction program at the Stanford University School of Medicine. For further education I recommend “Stress Free For Good” – 10 scientifically proven life skills for health and happiness” by Dr. Fred Luskin and Dr. Kenneth Pelletier. One interesting fact about the mind is that the brain has absolutely no actual connection to reality. It relies on chemical signals from other organs to decide what's happening out in the real world. The fact that the brain is ignorant of reality is precisely what makes it so susceptible to suggestion. Harvard's Professor Jonathan B. Cohen showed that imagining performing an activity, and even just seeing someone perform it, fires the same neurotransmitters and the same pathways as actually performing the activity!
In sports, visualization has been considered an essential tool for decades. In a 1984 survey of the 235 Canadian Olympic athletes preparing for the Games, 99 percent of them were using imagery. "There's no one who doesn't use imagery," says Rebecca Smith, a clinical research assistant in sports psychology at the U.S. Olympic Training center in Colorado. No professional athlete has ever won first place by visualizing coming in last and yet we do this so often in our business world.
Since the principle is called: “Seeing the good in others”, what comes to mind for you? The saying is old but listen to it again: “Seeing the good in others”, is about seeing it in your mind’s eye, isn’t it? How often do we prefer to blame others for our stress? How often do we love talking behind somebody’s back more than finding the good in others? So, then how does that affect our leadership abilities? Since this concept of “Seeing the good in others” coincides with chapter five in my book: The Art of Succeeding by Design” which deals with leadership, it should come as no surprise that our ability to see the good in others is a highly effective trait as the leader of your small business.
Why? Well, think about it. If we could regularly let go of our judgmental tendencies and make a 100% commitment to taking responsibility for our lives (which means NO blaming, ever), combined with an ability to see the best qualities in our team members, what would that allow us to do? Yes, you would see different results. Why, because as our attitude changes, our thoughts change, our body language changes. Those working for you will feel safe and when feeling safe, there is no limit to creativity and productivity. Do you notice the disabling effects of stress on YOUR performance? It is not any different for your staff. They also get stressed and even more stressed when feeling criticized and judged. It impedes their ability to work in their highest performance zone, for you.
I guess, you are figuring out what I am proposing here. Yes, a win-win situation! Seeing the good in others allows your stress level to go down since you consistently trust that things will get done and that everybody does their best, your positive actions based on this great attitude influences your brain, and as a crucial consequence your employees or support staff can keep working in a stress-free environment giving their best in turn.
Secret number 1:
Practice your compassion. Put yourself in their shoes just for a second. Do you really know what’s going on their lives? Do you know if they are deadly scared of losing their job? Do you know if they feel empowered and equipped to do their job right? What do you know about their battle scares of life?
This does not mean being permissive and lowering your standard of performance. No, quite the opposite. By you setting the stage for an environment where fear and stress is not the driving force, you invest your time very wisely. Having a staff that lives with stress and fear is a waste of your money. Nothing gets accomplished, no new ideas come up, no responsibility is taken when fear and stress is present. If you want to create a team that is loyal, productive, innovative and equipped to take your business to success in a climate where an A+ team will be harder and harder to find, your efforts to practice compassion is essential for sustainable business success.
Ok, with that out of the way, I want to give you another 10-second secret:
It’s smiling. Yes, you heard me right, smiling. So smile right now, hold it for 10 seconds. Really smile, laugh! Do you feel better? I do. If it makes you feel better, how do you think the recipient of this smile feels? How do you feel when you encounter someone who just for the fun, throws you a smile? Yes, I thought so… pretty good.
Ok, practicing compassion and smiling more often, more randomly, more just for the fun of it, is then good for business, good for employee retention and good for your stress-management. The funny part is that you already knew all this, right? We do and still, at times, we forget. Why? Because we are stressed. Yes, that’s why.
One of my clients reported that she has attracted a much “nicer” clientele since her attitude changed and another client reported that “seeing the good in people” has significantly lowered his anxiety.
Remember, as far back as Napoleon Hill, the famous author of “Think and Grow Rich” said: “Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true.”
Like they say: War is not the way to peace, peace is. Don’t let your thoughts take you to a war zone driven by fear and doubt. Let your attitude guide you to thoughts that make you feel connected and you will reduce your stress level and make others feel safe and cared for. There is no possible negative outcome and lots of potent positive outcomes.
Do we need scientific proof for that? No, just give it a try tonight in the check-out line at the store or smile to someone at a red light, especially when you feel tired, burned out, foggy in your head. I can promise you that even a quick smile back will help your attitude at home with your family or your friends. Don’t waste a minute, practice all of the above or maybe just one but do it and do it often. Stress-busting is guaranteed.
Simple Stress-Busting Secrets to Creating a First Class Support Team In Any Business
Managing Stress While Creating A Home Business
Starting, developing and expanding an internet home business can be one of the most exciting adventures that we embrace. This journey could change our lives. Unfortunately, there is a disadvantage when we are creating a work from home enterprise.
There will be new concepts learned and applied. There will be attempts and failures. There will be disappointments and frustrations. A work at home business can bring success to our lives but it will also bring stress. We can control the pressure that will come. These tips can help us to manage the strain of creating an internet venture. The road to making money online is littered with obstacles but preparing for these challenges can make the journey easier.
1) Get Adequate Rest
The temptation to work long hours when we are developing a home business will be very strong. The concept of finding success through a diligent effort is true but we must balance the work with adequate rest. Most doctors say that 6-8 hours sleep per night is the norm. Purpose to get this much slumber. A revitalized body and a refreshed mind will help us face the challenges of the following day.
2) Develop An Exercise Regimen
Exercise can be the best activity for reducing stress while we are creating a home business. Walking, running, bike riding, swimming, etc. are great ways to ease the tension that develops during the day. Not only will the body benefit from this activity but it will offer our mind the break that it needs. When creating an online venture, we will be tempted to focus more on work and less on exercise. Create a specific time each day that is devoted to physical activity. Make it a habit and our productivity will increase.
3) Improve Our Diet
When developing a home based business, the temptation to grab a handful of chips and slam a diet Pepsi for lunch are enormous. We convince ourselves there is not enough time to eat a good breakfast or a nutritious lunch. Food and drink have a profound effect on how we feel. Making sure that we eat balanced meals throughout the day will improve concentration. The success of our internet venture relies on the ability to learn and apply new concepts. Improving diet enhances our focus. And don’t overdose on caffeine.
4) Find Time To Relax
Stress brings fatigue but relaxation delivers renewal. We must find the time to unwind from the pressures of creating a home based business. A day with the family, a day with friends, reading, listening to music, watching a movie are good outlets. We can combine exercise with relaxation if our time is limited. The goal is to find a place away from the strain of developing an internet venture where we can discover rejuvenation. Purpose to relax. It will improve our perspective.
5) Manage Our Workload
One of the main instigators of stress is the feeling that the success of our work from home venture is being hampered by effort. We push harder to learn and apply new ideas but the pressure becomes overwhelming. The best solution is to manage our workload. Develop a daily routine that addresses the responsibilities we need to fulfill each day. Be realistic with our schedule. It requires time to make money on the internet because it is a step by step, day by day process. Set attainable goals for each day, week and month.
6) Create A Positive Perspective
Do not dwell on the factors that are producing stress. The opportunity to create, develop and expand a home business is new and different. In most cases, it is very difficult. Develop a perspective that gives us the freedom to enjoy the learning process. On bad days, focus on what brings enjoyment and relaxation to our lives. Realize that success is closer today than yesterday. Apply what we have learned from other stressful situations. Know that the time is coming when stress will be gone and success will arrive.
The first steps toward the creation of a home based business bring more stress than success. When we find ourselves in this position, consider reevaluating the journey to making money online. The strain of starting an online enterprise can be managed if we have the proper tools. These ideas can help us deal with the pressure of developing our internet success.
“The difficulties and struggles of today are but the price we must pay for the accomplishments and victories of tomorrow.”
Creating Your Businesses' Sense Of Style
The look of your business-and a great design concept-can make a powerful impact on customers and help generate revenue. That's the word from Susie Mendíve, a graphic designer who has spent years helping brands-from nonprofit organizations to large beauty companies- create their own unique image.
Mendíve believes it is important to create an image that is consistent throughout-from Web site to letterhead to the storefront window. The image should clearly communicate what it is your company does.
Here are her five tips to step up your business style:
• Observe, observe, observe. Consider your favorite clothing designers, boutique hotels you love and your must-have magazines. Each of these can provide clues to how they created their business style through hangtags, labels, menus, drink napkins, font choices, color schemes and Web sites.
• Get organized. Every small business has a similar list of tools, including a logo or specialized version of their company name, letterhead, stationery, business cards and a Web site that shows current and potential customers that it is in business. Take time to think about your customers and what they need from you and your business.
• Go digital and save money. Forrester Research recently found that 42 percent of small businesses are marketing or advertising their business online. A Web site and e-mail address are musts.
• Find the right partners. It can save time and money to have an outside expert help with the process. For example, a company such as Network Solutions can help you create a Web site, design a logo and even drive traffic to your business. You can even design your Web site yourself with their Do-It-Myself easy-to-use Web templates, or have one of their Web designers create a site for you.
• Style equals advertising. Make sure your style is consistent across all elements of your business. This conveys a sense of attention to detail and helps build consumer confidence. It's also important to use that style wherever you can-a branded envelope may be seen by more than just the recipient of your invoice.
Creating Value In Business
The notion of quantifying the costs for customers in order to illustrate how much money they are currently wasting or will be wasting if they do not do business with you is a key element in the process of getting a customer to buy from you. This sounds obvious but can be overlooked by many people attempting to trade with a customer.
This process allows someone not only to demonstrate how much money can be saved but also alleviates their concerns about spending money on one’s particular product or service.
Various areas may be addressed during this part of the process however it is not always easy to uncover where a customer’s money is being spent.
Getting customers to realise the value of one’s solution has to begin with asking the right questions; in order to do this one needs to identify the customer’s typical costs and then decide whether or not they could be reduced or eliminated through the use of one’s product or service.
A good example of this would be health care where outsourcing has become a hot topic, as well as with businesspeople and politicians.
There is a natural compulsion to use lower-wage workers abroad who have the same skills as those at home, although this brings with it the unexpected.
The pros of this are that savings will be made in direct costs and staff may be able to be eliminated from the payroll.
The cons are, depending on the industry, that the internet may go down, there will be a lack of rapport between the patient and doctor, there is a lack of accountability, and there would be no confidentiality.
Another good example of this is the construction industry.
Selling bricks is not all that exciting, but it is possible to quantify costs. For example, take someone who sells bricks to homeowners building new houses and construction companies creating new neighbourhoods.
It is very difficult to convince either of these parties to use bricks because they are more expensive than other building materials.
However, presenting the argument in a different way changes the picture:
Bricks hold heat better than other materials so in the long run costs will be saved on heating bills
As opposed to rendering, which needs to be replaced after years of wear and tear, bricks last a lifetime
Studies have shown that, everything being equal, a brick house will sell for fifteen per cent more than a house with rendering
For construction companies, bricks are easier to work with and easier to store than other materials.
In summary using this cost justification system, it is possible to translate the features of a product into considerable benefits and thus largely override the raw, up-front cost of the product; value can be imparted to a customer other than front line savings. However, it must be remembered that coming from the outside it is always easier to see and understand the concept and after all, it is their money that is being spent.
Creating Unique Business Alliances: Six Insights To Help Transform Your Company’s Value
Recent news concerning IT industry strategic alliances increasingly trumpet the word “unique” as in ‘unique alliance’ or ‘unique partnership’. Usually these unique arrangements bring together a marketer (either a system integrator or a service provider) with a solid footprint in a niche market and a technology developer or manufacturer with an innovative or proprietary capability.
This type of alliance transfers to the marketer a unique technological edge. The marketer's objective in many such cases is to keep competitors at bay, grow market share or create enough performance value to justify a higher price. For the developer partner, aligning with the marketer provides a significantly extended market reach that simply translates into the sale of an increased number of units as well as a branding leap into greater market visibility.
This deal constitutes an excellent exchange of value for both partners. But as business alliances are not forever, the true assessment of the deal's value must be evaluated over time. In its early days Microsoft supplied DOS in a partnership with IBM's original desktop PC. In time Microsoft’s OS took over the PC market supplying all manufacturers. IBM was forced to back up out of the PC driveway, but it learned the power of partnering brilliantly transforming its business model into the world’s most prolific and successful IT services partnership network builder.
Acquiring a Unique Value Proposition
Of the many reasons for initiating a strategic alliance, the most highly-sought after type is one that creates a “unique value proposition” (UVP) — the three golden words so enticing to venture investors throughout the world.
How do you get UVP if you don't produce it?
A strategic alliance can transform nearly any traditional sales and distribution enterprise into a uniquely positioned provider -- all you need are customers! Have your considered this? Transform your company instantly into an unstoppable juggernaut simply by formulating a strategic alliance with one or more suppliers who may add a unique piece to your package, program or end-to-end offerings. Suddenly, your company acquires a UVP. More orders, greater equity value...before you know it, investors come sniffing around.
What are they looking for?
They want to know what you'll do for your next act.
Sure. That first alliance you just made was a successful move. It got attention. And it’s working. But, don't get too busy with that. Save some time for developing additional alliance ideas. You need to look at your company’s future in terms of a total, long-term strategic alliances plan.
Six key questions to formulating a long-term alliance road map
Use these six Partner M questions to develop your own alliance road map:
- What are my core competencies?
- What are my customer assets?
- How bad are the performance gaps as experienced by my customer/user?
- What are the innovative upgrades desired by my customer/user?
- How well are my competitors performing in areas where we are weak?
- Where do we perform better than our competitors?
Now answer this:
Can you locate and negotiate a deal with potential suppliers who can deliver to you
a unique product or service that:
(a) your company cannot duplicate more profitably with its core competence;
(b) will be highly valued by your customers;
(c) will fix a problem or enable you to offer customers an optional upgrade;
(d) will strengthen an area where you had been weak; or,
(e) will help insure that you can continue to outperform our competitors?
If your answer is yes to any one or more of these options, then you have the basis for a strategy that would result in higher order volume, as well as a path to added value and increased brand equity.
How do you validate that assumption?
Project the pros and cons of executing your alliance plan
Calculate a scenario assuming the amount of revenue you could generate and profits you would achieve after you’ve found one such partner and have successfully negotiated an alliance.
Be sure you have identified and adjusted your projection for any possible downside and cost of implementing the partnership. Next, forecast where you’ll be in three years without this alliance or a comparable strategy.
In addition you should assess the impact of your alliance on the competition with a sober determination of how they may react. Here is where the value of establishing a 'unique alliance' becomes so important. Paradoxically, your alliance's UVP shelf life must be viewed as both temporary and continuous. Any one alliance you enter is temporary. Your strategy must be continuous.
How temporary is your alliance? If any of your competitors can match your partnership with another and duplicate the contribution of your unique ally in fairly short order, your UVP will not last long. You may need to move faster to extend the your UVP shelf life and begin to plan your next UVP partnership. Within this scenario you would need to move faster on the alliance front or find yourself having to play deep catch up if your competitor takes the initiative before you do.
Design an ongoing alliance strategy
To develop a continuous UVP plan extend your alliance road map by duplicating your forecast calculations to include all potential alliances you foresee into the future. How far can you go using this strategy? If possible, don’t stop until you're able to imagine this process reaching a global scale or an exit strategy. Finally, your alliance plan must weigh alliance costs and risks against the benefits/costs/risks of alternative strategies.
Whether your enterprise takes the role of a marketer or a supplier, you should consider formulating a phased-in partnership plan containing a list of target partner prospects, financial validations, a timeline and undertake a marketing initiative aimed at shaping a receptive and synergistic relationship with partner executives and operational teams. Executing the plan is your next challenge. Don't hesitate to seek help in developing your plan and making it happen.
Creating A Home Business By Maintaining An E-commerce Site
The easiest and straight forward home based Internet business is that of maintaining an E-Commerce site. Depending on the products and services you wish to sell or promote, you can have quite a lucrative business without having to do anything more then promoting your site. You don't need inventory, and you don't have to ship any of the products as this will be the responsibility of the wholesaler. It is so easy that someone who has never run a business will quickly learn how to operate one of these sites and it require only a small start up capital to begin. This open up alot of opportunities for every body who care to improve their life.
In the majority of cases, you contract with a company that already has an E-Commerce site, and they provide you with a "mirror" site of theirs with your code and URL. You are responsible for promoting the site, but you will not be handling the shipping or maintaining of inventory. Normally they will also provide training and teach you how to promote your site. For someone who has a busy lifestyle, this is a perfect business. You don't have to sit at your computer waiting for someone to buy something because it will be automated for you, including the installation of credit card links. The only thing you will have to do is promote your site so that you will have a steady flow of visitors in order to ensure constant traffic and sales. You will receive a commission from those who purchase products from your site. Of course, this is not the only type of E-Commerce site.
You may choose to set up your own website under your own domain name to post links and banners from companies with whom you have agreed to be an affiliate.
Currently there are many companies willing to set up the website for you for free if you join their program and pay for the domain hosting fee. When you sell a product or recruit a member for the affiliated companies through your website you will earn a commission and sometime a residual income as long as the member you recruited remain a member of that particular company. Another revenue is to allow other companies to advertise in your website such as Coogle Adsense, Amazon and many others. In exchange for posting their advertisement or banners on your site, they will pay you for every click or click that create a sale depending on the agreement you have with the company. Of course, these are not as profitable as direct sale through your website, unless you can generate a great deal of traffic as some companies only pay perhaps a few cents per click or sale. However, if you have the time to promote your site, you may generate enough traffic to make it worth wile.
Promotion is the key issue with an E-Commerce site whether it is a mirror site or your own website. The amount of money you make is directly related to how much time you spend promoting your site and how visible your site is. How much you make depends on the scope of your site and your target audience, so it is not something you can predict ahead of time, you have to do the work first and reap the benefits later. The important thing is you have to commit yourself to try, nothing venture nothing gain.
Creating Your Vision for Your Business, Career, and Life
Many people go through their daily lives feeling overwhelmed. There are so many things to do and there never seems to be enough time or energy to do them all. Is this how you feel about your business, career, or life?
Have you promised yourself that this month you are going to make some serious changes but you just aren't sure what those changes need to be?
Think about laying out a vision, but make it a big vision. One that encompasses your passion in life and the gifts you have come to share. No matter what the focus of your business or career you have a lot to offer. You are unique and only you can contribute your strengths in your special way. Whether it’s staying at home and raising a family, making the best widget there is, the CEO of a company, a manager in IT Life is not a dress rehearsal so create your vision of what you really want and then take inspired action steps to attract it to you.
Don’t think of creating a little vision for your life, it’s time to stop thinking small. You will also need to let go of the excuse that you don’t have enough time. When that comes to mind think of this quote from Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. "Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."
These are the same steps I take with my clients to help them make the changes in focus and habit that bring them meaningful results. First you must be willing to take action.
Without changing your focus and habits you will never be able to change the results.
Without taking action you will never move forward and reach the results you want. Coaching is about getting results; listening to what the client really wants and working together, setting out the measurable steps to be taken that result in action and success.
You are responsible for the momentum; it will be up to you to take the actions on your own unless you choose to have the support, encouragement, guidance, and accountability that a coach provides.
Without the forward momentum and inspired actions it's just a good thought. In order for your business to be successful, to be happy and fulfilled in your career, or prosperous and content in your life you need to have one common thread. Vision.
The process of creation starts with a thought, a great idea, a passionate want, or a dream of something magnificent to achieve. These are the intangible sparks that ignite our drive to move forward and turn the intangible into our reality.
Begin by brainstorming on paper, yes you must write it down to bring clarity, to make it real.
The first brainstorming session should be free flowing, don't edit your thoughts or ideas. If you are working on your personal vision and your work vision to define what you want and how you want to spend your time, start with the personal vision.
This will give you absolute clarity about what is important to you, what you want, what are the things in your life you are passionate about and that make you feel fulfilled.
Then from there you can create the vision of your ideal business or career and take action to bring want you really want into your life.
Focus on what you really want, be very specific. Don't just say you want lots of money, a nice home and no stress. Create a picture in your mind of exactly what you want down to the color of the carpet and the list of clients, and then using words draw that picture until your vision is clear.
For example:
I want a profitable and fulfilling holistic health practice.
I want to see clients in three different specialties plus passive income revenue streams.
A full successful practice will have 30-40 clients.
I will work five days a week between noon and six devoting the rest of the day to self-care, gardening, exercising, and spending time with family and friends.
I will make 100,000 a year and take 5 weeks vacation throughout the year.
I love to learn so I will spend 3 weeks a year in educational workshops and training programs to advance my career and myself.
I have several tape sets, workbooks, & learning products that fit into my personal and vision statement providing my clients excellent value and tools that help them to get on track with their lives.
These products are very rewarding to me because I can make money without having to be there. Making a contribution and improving people's lives is very important to me so this is always something I carry out in my business practices and my community involvement.
I have redesigned my home to be bright and airy and laid out the gardens for ease of care, and to provide color and fragrance from my flowers and tastes and aromas from my organic vegetables. I avoid stress by focusing on the positive and focusing my energy on the things that are really important to me and just let the rest go.
You create what you put your energy on. If you concentrate on all the things you don't want on all the things you don't have enough of that is what you will create more of. Start creating what you do want.
Start with your vision; clearly lay out your life, career, and business vision and then take the steps to make it your reality. One of the steps might include hiring a coach to make it happen faster for you.
Creating A Home Business From A Part-Time Hobby
If you have a hobby that you think could be turned into a full-time business venture, you should consider making the transition. Working from home doing something you enjoy is one of the greatest feelings you can have. Because we all need to earn a living, finding a job that we can be passionate about in addition to earning a steady income is a dream for most. But if you research your idea, create a business plan, and work within your means, this dream can come true.
When most people think about starting their own business, they usually come up with a million reasons why the business would fail. They may not even have an idea about what they want to sell or provide. If you already have an idea, you are ahead of most people. The next step is research to determine if there is a market for your product and if you will be able to sell it quickly and easily. Most research can be conducted at home on your computer. While you may need to visit the library, retail stores, and other outlets, you can rely on your computer to give you a lot of useful information.
Finding a market for your product may be difficult depending on what it is. But you may also find many avenues including opening your own store, selling your product at trade shows, flea markets, or online, or you may find others who are looking for products like yours and who may want to go into business with you. There are many possibilities. If you are interested in selling your product online, you can create a website or sell your product on online auction sites. The Internet has created many opportunities for those who want to sell a product, but who don’t want to pay for retail space each month.
Creating a business plan is essential especially when you have a certain budget or you aren’t sure how successful your business will be. A business plan is one or two pages that include your budget, your accomplishments, and any other considerations you may need to make before creating and selling your product. You can change this plan at any time if it becomes impractical or if you exceed expectations.
Since most people have to create a budget when starting their own businesses, being realistic about the cost of materials, shipping, and advertising and marketing is important. If you don’t estimate enough, then you may fall short, so be sure to create a budget that fits your needs. As your business grows, you can adjust your budget and start generating a profit. This is when your will see the results of all your hard work.
Creating An On-Line Business
Do you dream of making tons of money on-line? I know I do. After all, there are successful people out there doing just that! And I plan to be one of them. Do you?
Let me ask you something. Do you think accomplishing this will be an easy task? If it was, EVERYONE would be doing it. But the bottom line is this: If you were TRAINED to do it the right way, you could be on your way to Financial Freedom.
Financial Freedom can mean different things to different people. My motto is "IT'S ALL ABOUT THE NEXT VACATION". My goal is to be able to travel when and where I want. And quite honestly, working 9-5/40 hours a week for somebody else does not always give me that luxury. Soon that will not be an obstacle ~ Soon I will be on my way to Financial Freedom!
Step-by-Step training is essential if you want to succeed. It is critical! And once you've learned the secrets, learned which tools to use, learned how to promote your on-line business, learned how to generate many streams of income, learned how to help others do the same, you are well on your way to becoming successful. You are well on YOUR way to FINANCIAL FREEDOM.
It can be confusing, overwhelming and downright frustrating! But if you take it one step at a time, learn from every lesson, practice exactly what is being taught, suddenly you realize you CAN do it, and you WILL see phenomenall results! No doubt about it.
Begin your training today. Learn from one of the top internet guru's in the field. In 30 days, you'll be amazed at what you have accomplished. Let this be the stepping stone to the life you've always dreamed of. To the life you deserve!
Join me at http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-13656 or http://www.ourhomebusinessonline.com.
See you on the sandy shores of Hawaii!
Creating Customer Loyalty For Your Business
Creating Customer Loyalty for Your Business
Strategize and Plan For Loyalty!
These four factors will greatly affect your ability to build a loyal customer base:
1. Products that are highly differentiated from those of the competition.
2. Higher-end products where price is not the primary buying factor.
3. Products with a high service component.
4. Multiple products for the same customer.
1. Market To Your Own Customers
Giving a lot of thought to your marketing programs aimed at current customers is one aspect of building customer loyalty.
When you buy a new car, many dealers will within minutes try to sell you an extended warranty, an alarm system, and maybe rust proofing. It's often a very easy sale and costs the dealer almost nothing to make. Are there additional products or services you can sell your customers? Three years ago my house was painted, and it's now due for another coat. Why hasn't the painter called or at least sent a card? It would be a lot less expensive than getting new customers through his newspaper ad, and since I was happy with his work I won't get four competing bids this time. Keep all the information you can on your customers and don't hesitate to ask for the next sale.
2. Use Complaints To Build Business!
When customers aren't happy with your business they usually won't complain to you - instead, they'll probably complain to just about everyone else they know - and take their business to your competition next time. That's why an increasing number of businesses are making follow-up calls or mailing satisfaction questionnaires after the sale is made. They find that if they promptly follow up and resolve a customer's complaint, the customer might be even more likely to do business than the average customer who didn't have a complaint.
3. Reach Out To Your Customers!
Contact with current customers is a good way to build their loyalty.
The more the customer sees someone from your firm, the more likely you'll get the next order. Send Holiday cards, see them at trade shows, stop by to make sure everything's okay. Send a simple email newsletter to your customers-tell them about the great things that are happening at your firm and include some useful information for them. Send them copies of any media clippings about your firm. Invite them to free seminars or exclusive events. The more they know about you, the more they see you as someone out to help them, the more they know about your accomplishments-the more loyal a customer they will be.
Recommended Tool: Loyal Email
The Loyal Email solution enables businesses of any size to communicate directly with customers via permission-based email campaigns which helps companies save time and money while increasing sales and customer loyalty.
This solution is geared towards companies whom want to harness the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of email communications but do not want the hassles of managing their own program in-house. Loyal Email is a 100% managed service which doesn't require any additional investment in hardware, software or personnel. They take care of everything so you don’t have to. Get your own custom designed email marketing and customer loyalty program at http://www.loyalemail.com
Wishing you great business success,
Chris Swemba
Kinetica
Creating A Great Domain Name For Your Business
You know how it is: you get a great business name idea and jump online to register a domain for it... only to find there is not just one name like yours, there are several names — or name derivatives — like yours, too.
Don’t fret. “Get creative,” says About.com’s entrepreneurial writer, Scott Allen. Another tip Allen suggests: Employ a thesaurus, too. Beware, though. Choose your name wisely. Chrysler learned that millions costly mistake when they unveiled their new Chevrolet Nova in the late 1970s—and no on in Mexico would buy the car—because “Nova” in Spanish means “no go.” Worse, still: Henry Ford, Jr. named the mid 1950s car with the vertical grill flop after his kid — Edsel.
With your new business, don’t get an Edsel or NoVa for it, as some websites that specialize in creating available domain names can craft this for you. The domain name search engine at www.makewords.com and other internet websites that brainstorm domain names can ensure ways to a great name for your site:
1. Play with names. Take the first few letters of a combination of names from your family members, street signs or consult a baby name book—like St from Steve, Or from Orson and Nel from Nellie. There, you’ve got STORONEL Or, something to that effect.
2. Research. What’s the Latin meaning of the name? How is it said in Greek? What’s the proper spelling in Hebrew? Remember, what may mean one definition in this country may take on a totally different — and sometimes insulting — meaning completely in another country or even said in another dialect.
3. And speaking of definitions... Hone in what your product is, does and stands out from the rest of the pack, and chose that one glowing, pivotal product gimmick as the domain name. Then you can register (and worry about) the company name, later. Think of Scott Golden’s rule of thumb: the Purple Cow Theory. Think about it: most cows are either brown, black or white, so if you saw a purple one in a field of all that brown, black or white cattle, you’d notice it, right? Cows are known not for milk alone.
4. Start reading everything. Bus signs, street signs, phone books, the table of elements, surnames.
5. Go Au Natural. Um, no, not naked, but back to nature. Orson Creek. Grey Seas Limited. Whatever works.
6. Get feedback — even if it’s on a name you hate. And this includes your own. Okay, so your own name’s hideous but you figured, what the heck, why not profit from it? Run it by your immediate family, anyway and see what they think, all the same. And, by the same token...
7. If you’re going to use their names — ASK! ‘Nuff said on that. And even if they still say no on the name use—regardless of the double-digit percentages they get from the royalties—move on.
8. Register your ideas and trademarks — if any — with the U.S. Copyright Office. You may also want to look into your state’s registered offices for any name trademarks, copyrights or patents your idea may or may not be fringing upon. Also, register with your state as names that you will be doing business as, or known as a DBA, so that the IRS and other financial institutions can keep track with, for and yes, on you. For instance: If you have a Freddie-Eddie, a kid’s only night-light as your product, you may register the website name as your name spelled backwards—like NEVELE for ELEVEN or NEVAEH for HEAVEN—the do business in your given name, SBA whatever you have it spelled as, and register Fred-Ed.com, or something like that.
9. Register a Domain Name. Consider registering .net and .info as domain names, too besides .com. Oh, sure, it’s not as glamorous as is a .com name—but it’s not as crowded and jockeying for web traffic space and branding recognition, either. And, if you’re looking to maximize your search engine places, .net and .info may be the way to go, since not many name brands have those tags to go by, either.
10. Get an EIN with the IRS. That’s an Employee Identification Number registered with the Internal Revenue Service. If you’re gun-shy in using your Social Security Number, they can assign an EIN to you. This way, you can use this for any and all business transactions you’ll be making with your new business.
11. Play with Colors, Shapes and Numbers. So, you’re still determined to get a .com with your name in it? That’s okay. More and more websites today have alphanumeric combinations to their domain names. Like the song by the Brothers Johnson called “Strawberry Letter #22”, some websites have letters and numbers working for them, too. As for a logo, like with a domain name, if you’re going to go on the international scale, make sure that logo is a universally accepted sign. Choose a light, bright color for your logo. A square with a smiley face may work if that smiley face is a rosy pink in most countries. If that “Have a Nice Day!” smiley face is square and yellow, though, you may have to take issue with those who own that kid called Squarepants.
How To Creating a Web Based Business, Part 1 of 5
People are turning to the Internet in droves looking to create an Online Web Business. It's easy to see why when you think of the overall concept of working from anywhere and having your business online.
Why would anyone want to own an online business? Two things quickly come to mind. Time and money. You can earn a substantial income, whilst your time requirements decrease on a weekly or monthly basis. Once you get your web site up and running you simply need to tweak it on a weekly basis, thus the time required decreases as time goes by.
Today I'm going to talk about what I call vehicle selection. The vehicle in my example is the web site creation, marketing and maintenance. This is the foundation of your business and I would suggest choosing a very good one.
You can choose either to pay someone else to develop, and maintain your site or learn how to do so yourself. I was amazed to find out that with literally no experience I was able to find a company that would give me the step-by-step guidance necessary to both create, maintain a website and offer continuous support. The cost for this is in my opinion is unbelievably low.
The first thing you need to do is research, then you will need to choose whether you are going to develop your website or pay someone else to do it for you. If you want to keep the cost of your site overall to a minimum then keep reading this article. If you choose the latter than you can move on to Part (2) two of my (5) step process to creating an online business.
Now then, you are probably thinking that you don't have any idea of where to start. You are probably quite sure that you do not have the skill sets necessary to do this on your own. If that is what you are thinking, join the crowd, because I was quite sure I could not do this on my own. Having hindsight comes in handy in this instance, because I can tell you now that the decisions I made early on saved me a ton of money, but more importantly gave me an understanding of my online business that I would not have had by paying someone else to do it for me. I have total control, yet I have the support necessary when needed to continue my growth.
Okay, now lets go to the next step. What did I look for when researching my vehicle? Here ya go:
* A time Proven System.
* A template web site that could easily be modified.
* Strong 24 hour support
* Minimal cost
* Step-by-step guidance on how to create, modify and maintain my site.
* Total control in the end of my Online Web Based Business.
In my opinion this is the foundation of your business and that is why doing the necessary, up front research, is so important. If you have read any of my other articles you will quickly realize that I always mention how important
research is to your success. I would suggest that you either do the research yourself or use a web site like mine, but not necessarily mine to locate your vehicle. Not doing the research utilizing one of these methods, in my opinion, will cost you time and money.
Please feel free to read more of my articles by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.
Creating A Professional Home Based Business
A professional home based business is one that provides excellent customer service, quality products and services, and is easy to find online. Through a carefully executed marketing campaign, you will be able to find groups that have a need for your services. In order to become a professional home based business, you need to create a website that is easy to navigate, offers plenty of information, and one that can be found online. You should plan to update your website each month offering new products and services, adding interesting articles related to your business, or changing the look of the website in order to attract more people.
Once you've proven yourself to those who purchase items from your website, you will build a reputation and others will want to try your products as well. Work-of-mouth advertising is still very important when running a successful business. This is why providing quality customer service is important. Be prepared to answer email questions and complaints each day so people are not kept waiting for answers. You should notify customers on your mailing list of new products and services at least twice a year. If possible, create a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter that includes information your customers want to know. This can include industry news, recent product changes, and other information.
Investing in the right software for your home office is another way to build a professional home based business. Depending on what you plan on selling, you may need to track orders after shipping them, collect email addresses and other information from clients, and maintain accurate financial records. Most software can be purchased in computer stores or online. Make sure you have enough memory on your computer before installing multiple programs. Computer file maintenance should be done monthly in order to retain valuable information and maintain accurate records at all times.
Once you've created a home office, you can begin focusing on building a business. If you are still unsure about which online business venture to pursue, you should conduct research, read books and other materials, and consider your own skills and passions as they may lead to business ideas. Creating a list of possible business ideas will help you decide which ones will be the easiest to market. Depending on the products and services you wish to sell, there may only be select groups willing to purchase them. This could limit the amount you earn.
A successful home business is one that is carefully researched before becoming a reality. If you don't take the time to research and find markets for your products, then you may be disappointed with the results. Choose a product that appeals to different groups and your profits will increase. Many people run successful home based businesses from their homes and enjoy the freedom working from home can bring. If you are looking for a way to spend more time with your family, pursuing other goals, or you want to be your own boss, then starting a home based business may be for you.
Creating Blissness From Your Business: Living In Rhythm With Your Heart And Soul
The word blissness came to me as a result of a challenge issued to me by my creativity coach. She was praising me on the progress I’d made in my fledgling business. I actually shuddered when she said the word "business," as it conjured up images of women in austere dark suits clutching heavy briefcases, sitting in endless boring meetings and never having time to do what they really wanted to do.
My coach suggested that if I didn’t like the word business, to think of a different word to call it. I accepted the challenge. A few weeks later, the word "blissness" blossomed in my mind and I gleefully chose it for my own. I know that teaching SoulCollage® workshops and building my website, KaleidoSoul, is a business, but I choose to call it my "blissness" because it is giving me something that I never had before: an opportunity to share my passion for SoulCollage® with the world in a way that creates money and spreads joy at the same time.
SoulCollage® is a personal growth tool (created by Seena Frost) that is a mystical, magical blend of self-discovery and the fun of collage. Each participant creates his/her own deck of collaged cards using magazine images that speak to the subconscious mind. A SoulCollage® deck has four suits that represent our personality parts, persons who have influenced our lives, animal energies that assist us as allies, and archetypes who resonate with and inform our life’s direction and purpose. Inner surprises abound as we interpret our cards and do soul readings with our decks.
I knew immediately on making my first SoulCollage® card that I wanted to create a business revolving around it, but I had no idea what this would involve. However, I was so passionate about SoulCollage® that I dove right in. I had no business plan, and my only goal was to share the wonders of SoulCollage® with as many people as possible.
The key to creating a blissness as opposed to a business springs directly from one’s passion (heart) and intuition (soul). There’s no way to create work that sings to you unless you are living that work from your own heart and soul. And in order to allow the flow of universal abundance, you need to be in touch with your own inner wisdom (intuition).
I began by avidly continuing work on my own SoulCollage® deck. The deeper I went with the process, the more excited I became about sharing it with others. I set up a few local workshops in eastern Massachusetts, and began teaching.
It soon became clear to me that I needed a website, so I did a lot of research and found SiteSell’s Site Build It (SBI), which not only has helped me build KaleidoSoul.com, but is helping me to market it as well. Getting KaleidoSoul up and running was a crash course in web design, internet marketing, keywords selection, and the basics of HTML, but I thrilled to the challenge.
After that, each step I’ve taken has come from following my intuition. This has been a real lesson for me in being open, aware, and listening at all times. As I have continued on this path, I have found myself led to take the next step, and the next…
I trust my inner hunches and follow where they lead. In this fashion I have created a monthly ezine called Soul Songs, found other websites interested in helping me promote KaleidoSoul, developed an active community of SoulCollagers on the Yahoo Groups board, written e-courses about SoulCollage, and am now getting ready for our first KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits Members-Only Tele-Class as well as our first annual SoulCollage® Weekend Retreat this August.
There are plenty of things about this blissness that are tedious, of course- photocopying flyers for my workshops, writing press releases and website updates, to name a few. Yet when I remind myself that this is all a part of my blissness, I am reminded of why I began it in the first place- to live in rhythm with my heart and soul. And then the monotonous tasks carry me forward to the next creative step.
I wish you blissness in the daily rhythms of YOUR life and work.
Creating a Business Strategy
On a scale of one to ten, having a good business strategy rates about a fifteen!
No matter what kind of business you have -- whether you sell products or a service, as the saying goes, "if you fail to plan, then you're really planning to fail."
Creating a strategy can mean the difference between you working 60 to 80 hours a week all year long -- and then breaking even, or worse, losing money.
On the other hand, many successful entrepreneurs who have a strategy work fewer hours and make piles of money -- and they usually attribute their success to having a strategic plan and following it.
So what is strategic business management? Very simply, it's the process of defining the goals and objectives for your business, creating an action plan so you can reach them and then following the plan.
How do you create a strategic plan for you business?
1. First, know what your vision for your company is. If there were no barriers, nothing stopping you from taking your company as far as you could -- what would that look like?
2. Next, what are your company's core operating values? What are its guiding principles? In other words, why are you in business and how do you do business?
3. Now create a 3 to 5 year plan. Your long-term plan is based on the broad objectives that will help you get from where you are now, to where you want to be.
4. Develop a plan for this year. These are the specific objectives you plan to accomplish this year that will lead you closer to your long-term goals. Remember to be "SMART" when setting your annual goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-oriented). Include a list of the barriers that are stopping you from getting where you want to go. Figure out what resources you've already got, and what resources you need to get you past those barriers. And then create an action plan that clearly lays out how you will achieve your goals. Involve key employees with this part of the planning process.
5. Create a set of milestones or benchmarks. This is very important, so that you can measure your progress.
6. Share the plan with your employees, and anyone else who will be involved in the process. Your annual strategy is the roadmap that will make sure everyone ends up at the same destination -- but to be effective, everyone needs the same map!
7. Put the plan into action. Now that you have the roadmap, it's time to begin the journey.
8. Check your progress. Just like any trip, you need to check the map every now and then; to be sure you're still on the right road. If something isn't working, the sooner you figure it out and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner you'll be back on track.
9. Follow the same cycle next year. (Dream, Plan, Act, Check).
Creating a business strategy and following it will ensure that you enjoy the journey as much as getting to your final destination.
How To Creating a Web Based Business, Part 2 of 5
You are more than likely coming here as a follow up to my Part 1 of 5 article on creating an online business.
Today I'm going to talk about affiliate selections. When I say affiliate selections, I am assuming you are wanting to offer a product or service for other companies, on your site. You will need to identify those companies.
I would suggest have a good variety of choices for your customers. You will need to make a different landing page for each group so that when a customer comes to your site; they will be taken to the product or service they are looking for.
Remember the goal is to set your web site up so that you are a middleman offering products and services to the visitors who frequent your site. You won't have to get involved in the process. Once they click a link they will be taken directly to the companies web site. The companies will then pay you a small referral fee for each sale or lead. Think about how many millions of people you have access to through the Internet. Amazing isn't it?
Last article we talked about finding a proven system, whereby you are given a template web site that can be easily modified to accommodate your products and services. You probably have already thought of some of the affiliate companies that you would like to offer your visitors. Here are a few of the criteria I would suggest looking for when identifying the companies you wish to deal with:
* Identify companies that you feel, after researching, that have viable products or service that your visitors well need and want. You can have the best product in the world, but if no one wants it you're not going to make any money.
* Check for any history or feedback from existing customers using forums etc.
* Identify companies that have a money back guarantee and actually honor that guarantee when asked. Move them to the top of the list. Protect your customers as much as possible. They will be loyal and return to your site when they need something else. Encourage feedback on the companies you offer.
* Check the respective companies payout record to affiliates.
* How long have they been in business?
* Ensure that the company offers step-by-step guidance for the product or service they provide.
* What type of customer support will your visitors have?
These are just a few of the many criteria that need to be looked at. When reading forums, remember not every article has to be positive. Sometimes it's simply not a good fit for that particular person. Often times good companies get a bad reputation on forums simply because the person realized they were going to have to do some work. Nothing is free. Look at how many positive posts there are to negative posts. I can assure you the largest of companies have some unhappy customers that have posted negative things on forums. Look at the big picture.
on the other side there are many scams out there that need to be avoided if possible. This can be done in part through your research. You will either need to use a website like mine, but not necessarily mine, or be prepared to do a lot of research yourself.
Once you have identified the companies you want to offer your visitors you will then need to add either them to your site with your appropriate affiliate link so you will get credit for the sales. This will take a little time, but be patient because you are building the foundation of your business. It does no good to have an incorrectly typed link that pays you nothing. Check to ensure that your affiliate links are tracking properly.
In my last article I mentioned that you can choose to pay someone else to develop, and maintain your site or learn how to do so yourself. I think it's important for you, if possible, to be able to modify and maintain your site.
Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many others by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.
How To Creating a Web Based Business, Advanced Series III
You are most likely coming here as a follow up to my advanced series articles on creating an online business. Today we are going to cover some additional advanced tips to enhance your web site.
Now that you have your ads running nicely, you will need to monitor traffic that visits your site. A few important factors to keep in mind are as follows:
* How long does a visitor stay on your site?
* What percentages of your visitors browse your site?
* What conversions are you getting from each landing page?
* Unique visitors versus repeat visitors
I want to repeat the cycle that is very important to understand. You want your keywords to bring visitors to the specific landing page that highlights what they are looking for. Put your self in their shoes. Imagine what you would be looking for if you typed a particular keyword in a search engine such as Google and give it to them. If they want to look around after that wonderful, but our goal is to get them to what they want quickly. No one wants to have to look around to find what they want. If we see and ad, we want to get information pertaining to what was in the ad when we click on it.
I would suggest monitoring your keywords on a regular basis ensuring that the traffic being brought to your site is relevant. You may need to use some negative keywords to minimize (PPC) Paid Per Click advertising cost. For example if you have a keyword called work at home, you could get traffic from someone typing in assembly work at home. You can simply put assembly in as a negative keyword and that would prevent them from being directed to your site and you being charged for the click. You can easily see the fine-tuning process that needs to continue on a regular basis.
On a regular basis you will need to fine-tune the following areas:
* Keywords, adding, removing and using negative keywords
* (PPC) Paid Per Click, monitor and keep bids to a minimum
* Conversion rate on campaign ads
* Move best converting programs to hot spots
* Ensure you have a newsletter so you can keep track of your visitors
Over the years I have found many online tools that make this process easier. In the beginning I spent a lot of time doing this on a regular basis, but either way it was time well spent.
I hope you have enjoyed my article series on this topic. There is so much valuable information that is to be learned. I learn daily when working with my site, however having owned business before I can tell you it's worth it. My time spent working has decreased, money increased and I enjoy life much more. I wish you the best. Just remember it will take time and effort to build a successful online business.
Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many others by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.
How To Creating a Web Based Business, Advanced Series I
You are most likely coming here as a follow up to my Part 5 of 5 articles on creating an online business. I hope you found part (1) one through part (5) informative and helpful. Today we are going to cover some advanced tips that can help you build a more efficient and profitable web site.
I have gone step-by-step through the process that I used to build my online business. Obviously, I cannot cover every small detail, but you can email me at any time should you have any questions. I will be happy to help you if I can. Especially if you follow the same steps as I have taken. I am very familiar with this particular process.
Now that your site is published and up and running, what do you do next?
This is very important! You must monitor it real time to ensure your site is converting as high as possible. You will have some products and services that will convert better than others. After a decent sampling time, perhaps a couple of hundred click throughs, I would consider putting the highest converters in the hot spots on your site. You may not understand what a click through is. Lets back up a bit. To understand your site, you will need to know when someone comes to your site, how long they stay, what pages they visit and where they exit. You can find many free counters that will give you that type of data. In addition each program normally offers some tracking information as to how many clicks and sales you have gotten. You are going to need a couple hundred clicks on each link to get a fair comparison. Many people are getting about a (1) one percent conversions rate on most programs. I have some that have converted as high as (25) twenty five percent. I'll bet you can pick which ones are in my hot spots.
After receiving a couple hundred clicks on your links, you can then adjust your site as required. Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself on a regular basis and helpful hints on how to correct:
* How many clicks are you getting from your advertising? If people are clicking on your ads in droves, but are not staying long, not visiting your other pages nor clicking on any affiliate links then you probably do not have a good match up between your keywords and landing pages.
* How many people are staying around longer then 5 seconds on after coming to your site? If less then 2% are staying less then 5 seconds your either have poor traffic, probably free ads, or a poor keyword to landing page match up. I would suggest only using (PPC) Paid Per Click advertising until you get your website fine tuned a bit. Free ads often bring people clicking just because they are curious and not because they are looking for anything.
* How many of your keywords are bring you good traffic. Many times what you are looking for are long tail phrases, which are more often two to three word phrases not just one. Typically the one-word keywords get a lot of clicks, but no results. Your goal is to be as specific as possible i.e., getting yourself the best possible customers as possible.
Okay, enough for today, I can see that we are going to have to break this up into (3) three parts to get it all covered.
See you in Advanced part two.
Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many others by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.
How To Creating a Web Based Business, Advanced Series II
You are most likely coming here as a follow up to my articles on creating an online business. Today we are going to cover some advanced tips on comparing ads so that can help you get a better conversion rate.
Lets assume for sake of argument that your site is created, published and you are running (PPC) ads. I recommend running these all the time, but especially in the beginning to get your site converting well. In fact when I signed up with my host they gave me advertising credits, which really helped out.
This is very important! If you are running ads and you are not getting clicks then it means your ads are not standing out in the crowd. Believe me there are plenty of people on the Internet and you should be getting clicks. You want think about the products and services you are offering on your site when writing your ads. What type of ads would interest you if you were looking for these items.?
As I mentioned before specific keywords bring up both your ads and others. You want your ads to spike their interest enough they will want to take a look.
Okay, when writing your ads I want you to write two ads for each campaign. What does this mean? It means for each ad type you are going to be running two similar ads with the same keywords. On most search engines like Yahoo you can create an ad campaign, which then has your ads in it. You simply create your first ad inside the campaign, add your keywords and your finished with ad number 1. Now, I want you to go back into the ad campaign and create another a slightly different ad. It will automatically use the same keywords. In Yahoo, you will need to then go back to the campaign level, click on the ads and then click on optimize ads button. Please select no and submit. What will happen then is each of your two ads will run, each showing (50) fifty percent of the time. After some time has passed you will be able to tell by the conversion rate, which one is performing best. Simply modify the worst one with some new text and check it again after receiving more hits. You are always improving on your ads therefore your conversion rates only get better. You will need to let them run so that you get at least 50 - 100 clicks before changing.
After getting someone to click on your ad, you want to take him or her to the specific landing page that offers exactly what he or she are looking for. Always remember the steps we talked about from beginning to end. It's very important to tie them all together nicely. A potential customer wants to click on an ad they think will take care of their needs and go to exactly the product or service they the ad referred to.
Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many other articles this topic by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.
Okay, enough for today. See you in Advanced part III.
How To Creating a Web Based Business - Part 4 of 5
You are most likely coming here as a follow up to my Part 3 of 5 articles on creating an online business. I hope you found part (1) one through part (3) informative.
Today I am going to cover web page layout and design. It's important to always be working toward your long-term goal of having a presentable, fast loading web page. Studies have shown that people who will open your site will mostly see what I call hot zones. To understand the hot zone lets draw an imaginary line on your web page from the top left hand corner over to the right and then half way down the page on the left side much like a triangle. There is also a hot spot from left to right along the very bottom of the page. Most of your visitors are going to see these areas only.
These advanced techniques are things that I learned only after a year of web site design so it should give you a head start on your business. You may be thinking okay why have the rest of the page if visitors are only going to look at the hot spots? Well a large percentage will look there and that will be where you want most of your best converting offers, but others will spend time looking through your whole site. The goal is to increase the time they stay on your site, which increases chances for a conversion into a sale.
The placement of offers on your site will be somewhat dynamic in that you can monitor and move around the opportunities that you find converting well. If you see one program located at the bottom of your page converting at 20% versus another at 1% that is located at a hot spots. Change them! It's that simple give the top converting programs the most exposure. You will more than likely be given a web site template, especially if you have followed what I did through out this (5) part series. If you did than you are on the right track to keeping your site looking organized and presentable. This means making sure things are lined up properly, spelling is correct and use friendly colors.
In the next example I'm going to use my web site as a reference so that you get an idea of what I'm talking about. You can then incorporate your products and services in the same manner. The point is you need to keep similar programs on the same web page. For example you will find by going to my site that I have a Work at Home, Online Paid Surveys, Moms Jobs, Top10, Home Based Business and a news letter page. Why do I do that? Well if someone is looking for a home based business they don't want to have to sift through work at home or survey programs to find out what they are looking for. The more they have to look the lower your chances of converting them into a customer will be. They as I would, under the same circumstances, will get frustrated and move on. If on the other hand someone is looking for Online Paid Surveys and you send them to a landing page that has all of your survey opportunities nicely organized on one page then they will be more likely to either take action then or book mark your site so they can come back later. We have all found sites that we really liked the way they were designed and book marked them for later use.
Okay in summary, you will put your best programs in the hot spots. The rest of the programs will be nicely organized throughout your site and you will have multiple landing pages. Make sense? I hope so, because if you will do it the right way up front you will save yourself more time and make more money. Well I think we have covered enough for this part.
See you in Part (5) five.
Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many others by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.