Showing posts with label Making. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Making. Show all posts

Is Your Home Business Making You Rich?

Every business owner wants to make his or her business successful. Many times we expect to make more money than working for a boss. The fact is that it is far from easy to make a living with your own business.

With the rising of the internet the obstacles of going into business have lowered. It is easier to start and it doesn¡¯t take too much investment to make it work. In the ¡°normal¡± business environment, where more investments and risks need to be taken, it is more likely that a starter will consider his future business more carefully. And rightfully so. He or she has a lot to lose. Most probably this entrepreneur will need to quit his job to work full-time on his or her business without any guarantee on success and income. Starting an e-business doesn¡¯t need those huge risks. A lot of part-time e-based business owners can make an excellent living. That is all great, but because it is relatively easy to start your own business the process of thinking your business through is not enhanced.

And that is the disadvantage of an internet-based home business. Because it doesn¡¯t take so much effort compared to other businesses, the business owner might think the rest is also easy. But let¡¯s face it, to make a living with a business that has so many competitors it is far from easy to stand out and make it work. Many business owners start to wonder after a few months what they do wrong. No sales and no income. But this can be overcome.

Forget the fact that you, without any specific experience in the home business, were able to set up a nice website where you sell your products and services. Start to think about why people would need to join you and buy your products. Think what you need to do just to make one sale. Think what resources, time and money, it will cost you to make it work. To summarize, think of your business. Even better, put your thoughts on paper and make a business plan with your goals, assumptions, forecasts and action plans. This will not guarantee your success, but will for sure let you think about how you can reach whatever you want to reach with your home business.

In the end, your home business is as much of a business as that of any other company!

Making Business Easier With Autoresponders






In the online world of business, an autoresponder can do a lot for your company. Also referred to as mailbots, email and on demand, and automatic email, these tools can help you put your business on autopilot and spend more time doing other things. Autoresponders are great to have, as they are designed to automatically respond to any email they receive with an instant response http://www.BestDocSite.org





Over the years, autoresponders have increased quite a bit in popularity. They are best known for their automatic email responses, which will save you a lot of time. By using one of these programs, you won’t have to spend countless hours answering emails again. You can feel free to do other things and always know that your customers have access to the information they need anytime they want it.





To set your business on autopilot, all you need to do is get your copy ready and load it into your autoresponder. Once a potential buyer or current customer sends your autoresponder address a message, the information he or she is seeking will automatically be delivered to them. Autoresponders are very quick – delivering information via email in a matter of seconds.





Autoresponders can also help you send out free courses, articles and information, reports, information regarding your products and services, price lists, welcome and thank you letters, confirm orders, and tell others about your advertising rates. You can preset information such as this into your autoresponder, so it will automatically send the information out whenever someone requests it.





Unlike mass email messages, autoresponders can be set up to your specifications. You can send personalized messages with them as well, which will make your client feel as if the email was made specifically for him. Autoresponders will also follow up with emails as well, to ensure that you get a sale. The better autoresponders out there will notify you each and every time someone has requested your information, so you know when you have potential customers.





You can also update your autoresponder messages anytime you wish. From time to time as you get new products or information to send to your clients, you can update your log. When running a business, it’s very important that you keep your customers up to date. This way, your customers will know that you have new products available and ready for purchase. If you have a good relationship with them, they will be anticipating your new offers.





If you run a business over the Internet, an autoresponder can make life a lot easier. You can let your autoresponder handle a majority of the tasks, including technical support and sending out information about your company and your products. These days, autoresponders are the best tools for online business – as they give you plenty of free time for other things.


Is Your Home Business Making Money?






There are millions of people doing their Home Business through the web. Thousands are joining us every day and the end of it is not yet in sight. With so many people entering the Home Business arena you wonder if they are all going to prosper? It is almost imaginable that everybody can make a living out of it. Sure, the web attracts more and more customers, but does this happen in the pace necessary to nourish all those Home Businesses?





This article does not give an answer to this question. Why? Because it is not known. There is no record who is running a successful Home Business and who is not. But one can imagine the fierce competition that is out there. This is however not the worst thing a Home Business owner faces. Competition is a healthy phenomenon. The real worry for the Home Business owners is that they are all part of one, or a few, of the many ¡°mother companies¡±, offering their products, plans, MLM schemes to the public. They all get the same advice from all those who already have success. They all change their tactics the moment some smart entrepreneur has found yet another way to increase traffic. In fact, everybody is doing the same thing even though some do more than others and some will invest more US$ to buy their way in. In the end, we all fish in the same pond and hunt for the same clients. Does it sound strange to you that many people do not succeed in making their Home Business successful?





To be fair, the author of this article is not any different from all those other Home Business owners. This article is partly written to add content to his website in order to increase traffic and hopefully sales. However, with ever more people joining the internet, all of us need to start thinking for ourselves. What a lot of people experiencing is that they start their Home Business as a total layman and need information and training to learn the ropes of the business. In other words, we are taken by the hand and we do not like to let go.





So what should we do? Still, learn everything you find important about the Home Business. But even more important, you need to start thinking for yourself. Be aware that your training is training and not the gospel you should follow indefinitely. Probably most of the successful Home Business owners are strong in creating a market. They know where to find their customers by not doing what everybody already does. And foremost, they understand their business, customers and surroundings.





I wish you all good and creative hunting!


Legitimate Home Based Business Opportunity: The Five W's To Making Your Choice






If you recall back in your elementary English class, your teacher told you about the five W's: who, what, when, where, and why. These same words can be helpful in assisting you in finding which area of a legitimate home based business opportunity you wish to pursue and what is required to begin your home based business. Following these simple tips provided here can make the home based business journey much smoother and less difficult.





Why





The first thing is knowing why you want to pursue a legitimate home based business opportunity. Is it all about the money? Do you want to make more money and direct your income towards yourself with plans of quitting your job? Perhaps you're interested in creating free time in order to be closer to your family and friends. Have you suffered a disability or some type of acute illness that you're unable to go back and forth to work? These questions can guide you towards a deeper understanding of what is your driving force in this career preference. You simply don't jump across a gorge for the sake of jumping. Often it's because you need to get to the other side. Realizing why you are looking for a legitimate home based business opportunity creates focus.





Where





This area of questioning may sound silly as you are looking for a legitimate HOME BASED business opportunity, but do you plan to travel to clients/customers for any area of your business. Are you planning to set up a certain radius to meet or serve clients/customers in? Or are your plans to reach a worldwide audience? Taking the avenue of the internet certainly helps you to do so. This is ever so vital in setting up and running your legitimate home based business opportunity.





Who





In your legitimate home based business opportunity, who are your products/services for? Children, men, women, families, and businesses are all possible target audiences. Make sure you ask who in order to research on your audience in your location. Is there a large base of your target audience in a remote, general or worldwide location? If your legitimate home based business opportunity utilizes the web then your target audience actually is all of the above. This is key in marketing and sales.





Which





Which area of a legitimate home based business opportunity interests you the most? Do you enjoy creating a product by hand or is it the actual marketing and sales of the product? Some areas of business are enjoyable and that's where you'll blossom. Then some create struggle. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you to get ready for the good and bad of running your legitimate home based business opportunity.





What





What type of legitimate home based business opportunity do you want to be apart of? Do you want to be in wholesale? Do you want to be apart of e-commerce? Would you like to offer services such as tutoring or sewing? Affiliate marketing has really grown into a great way to get involved with a legitimate home based business opportunity. Narrow your choices and find what you truly want to do within your home based business.





These five areas are simple, but make a huge impact on your legitimate home based business opportunity set up. The answers guide you to make the most appropriate business choices that will end in satisfaction as well as success. If you start selling car parts online and you hate even changing your own oil how satisfied will you be doing this everyday? When you make a change to a legitimate home based business opportunity you must ensure that you know your why, know your goal, and know what you enjoy. That will make your choice to run a legitimate home based business opportunity worthwhile and long lasting.


Top Money Making Business Reviews






After many years of experience within the internet market industry, we at Independent Business Reviews want to provide good quality, honest reviews of the top money making programs currently available online that deliver exactly what they promise.

We have spent several months researching and testing the best money making opportunities, to finally arrive at just 3 programs, that in our opinion, we consider offer by far the quickest and easiest route to begin making money online. Below is a list of the 3 reviewed sites that will guarantee your online success –


No 1 Top Product - Ultimate Wealth Package

The Ultimate Wealth Package offers a little bit of something for everyone and stands alone in its simplicity and refreshingly honest approach.

The e-book begins with an overview of highly profitable internet strategies and tips in plain and simple language with no filler. It talks you through how to create and monetize affiliate sites immediately, money making pay per click strategies, simple SEO techniques, selling your own profitable info product and selling on eBay using wholesale suppliers.

Also included in the package is 108 bonus items, which include many that you will not find anywhere else, and a free website built for you that would normally cost $400. If you can inject a small amount of effort and follow clear instructions you cannot fail to make money.


No 2 - The Rich Jerk

The Rich Jerk is exactly that, very rich and obnoxious but a well respected affiliate marketer and a close contender for our top product.

The Rich Jerk’s eBook is a clever, well written, and very informative book detailing internet marketing strategies that really work. It covers everything from creating successful affiliate websites, search engine optimization, unique search engine strategies, selling info products and buying wholesale and selling on eBay.
Also included is a chapter highlighting a list of programs, books and tools recommended by The Rich Jerk many of which can be beneficial in optimising your profits.
The eBook is not a get rich quick program, neither is it a scam. Thousands of people are making a susbstantial income from following the strategies outlined. This is a great product and well worth the purchase price.


No 3 - Forex Enterprise

A fairly new marketing course set up by its creator Nick Parks with ideas that can create an opportunity to start earning multiple streams of income from a variety of sources.

The program details amongst other things how anyone can create a guaranteed stream of income using Google AdWords and Clickbank, how to buy cheap targeted traffic with great effect and, if on a tight budget an alternative to pay per click advertising.

Included in the package is a website with free web hosting where you could sell over 1000 products. This is well worth the purchase price with the potential to set up a virtual online superstore.

The Forex Enterprise program offers, like the others, a 100% money back guarantee which you have up to 3 months to try out to see if it works. Another great product that can really deliver.


Summary

The key to making money online is knowing how and where to start. Without the right starting point you will waste a great deal of precious time and money. In our opinion, with a little thought and application, all 3 products discussed in our review will guarantee your online success.

For more detailed info click on following -
http://www.independentbusinessreviews.com


Find Out More On Blogging For Business As A Means Of Making Money!






The more time people spend online, the more ways they find to make it profitable. Almost any business that is even moderately successful, or wants to be successful, has its own website. Websites allow business owners and professionals to have a space to direct potential customers to for information about their business. Increasing popular is the blogging business. The blogging business allows business owners and professionals to write about their particular field and develop a regular circulation of people who want to learn more from them.





The blogging business includes a large variety of fields. Technology is an especially popular field in the blogging business, but politics, the arts, and sports are becoming increasingly popular as well. Many corporations are also entering the blogging world. It enables them to keep their customers informed as to what is going on in their industry. Not only does it keep clients informed but it allows corporations and businesses to develop real customer relationships.





As clients read the blogs of their favorite business or corporation, they develop a level of trust because the corporation in question is sharing important information with them. In past times, corporations shared as little as possible with their clients, not believing that it was something they needed or wanted to know. They are finding out now that people do want to know what is going on they want details and information and are showing it by the comments left in the blogs.





The blogging business is becoming increasingly popular as a means of making money. Bloggers all over are creating content that is of interest to various groups. They allow advertisers to post ads on their blog space and make a profit when the ads are viewed or when the ads are clicked on. Google is one of the biggest advertising providers but new advertising companies are coming up everyday allowing advertisers a means of getting publicity and bloggers a means of making money by writing about topics that they are interested in anyway.





Blogs may be a way for a business to increase attention to their place or it may be a way for people who enjoy writing about a specific topic to make a little money on the side. The blogging business is growing and wider and wider varieties of individuals and businesses are find ways to incorporate it into their fields. The blogging business it helping other businesses to grow as it become as business it its own right.


Home Business: Wreath Making






So you enjoy making wreaths and have decided to go into business for yourself. Congratulations, that sounds like a positive idea and hopefully will be a profitable one. First, however, you will want to make your business plans so that your start up won’t also be your shut down. You will want first of all to make sure of your work space. Do you have an area that can be dedicated specifically to wreath making? Making wreaths in front of the TV is one thing when it’s a hobby/craft project but are you, and other family members, going to be willing for this space to be dedicated full time to wreath making? If not, do you have another place in your home that can be used as your place of business, perhaps a little used guest room or a part of the basement could be dedicated to this.

Once you have your work area secured, what about a storage area for finished wreaths and for materials? There may be times when you will want to temporarily store some of your wreaths until an order is completed. For some wreaths, this will call for a cold or cool area where they can be properly maintained. Also, buying materials in bulk at bargain rates is a bonus, but you’ll need to be able to store the materials properly.

Designing and printing up a brochure and some business cards is a good idea also. Not all potential customers will be able to talk with you immediately, but having a business card and brochure to leave will give them the opportunity to check over your product a little more closely on their own.

You will also need a name for your business. You will need something to put on those brochures and business cards.

A product display unit is nice also. Making a photo album of your wreaths will enable you to show potential customers something of your work without trying to carry a lot of it around with you.

You might want to talk with the bank also and find out about setting up a business checking account. Many wholesalers insist that customers must use business checks in order to prove that they are a legitimate business.

You will need a bookkeeping system also so that you can keep track of how much you are taking in and paying out. Also, when tax time comes, and it will, this will be a big asset to you and may just help you in making sure that you are remembering everything. Also, you may be able to deduct a certain percentage of your household expenses as business expenses if your business is being run from your home. This also includes gas and wear and tear on your vehicle.

Lastly, you will need a sales book and pen. Go out and get orders, don’t take more than you can fill, and don’t forget to enjoy yourself. Congratulations on your new business.


Bulk Buying Of Bead And Jewelry Making Supplies Increase Your Profit For A Home Based Business






All you need to start up your own jewelry business are beads and jewelry making supplies. Making your new jewelry business a home based business makes it even more economical. Your bead and jewelry making supplies are very inexpensive, since you already have your hands, and there is no overhead when working out of your home.





Bulk Buying





Your bead and jewelry making supplies can and should be bought wholesale and also in bulk. It is much cheaper for the new business owner to buy their beads and jewelry making supplies in bulk. The bead and jewelry making suppliers give deep discounts when the consumers buy in bulk quantities. It would be wise to select one type of jewelry to make at first. Again, it is cost effective, because your inventory will be limited to a specific type of bead or jewelry component. And being a new jewelry business owner, this gives you the opportunity to practice on the specific item until you perfect it.





Choosing Beads





When choosing your bead and jewelry making supplier, remember to research the company before making a decision. It is always wise to ask a fellow jewelry business owner who they would recommend. If the supplier gets good reviews from fellow artisans, then you generally can depend on that supplier.





It’s also a good idea to decide on one style of bead to use before you pick a supplier. Maybe you should buy from a supplier who specializes in the one specific bead you are interested in. There are hundreds of locations for bead and jewelry making supplies all over the world. A good rule of thumb is that if you are choosing, for instance a Bali pearl, you should buy from a supplier in Bali. But then again, Austrian Swarovski crystals can be purchased in the U.S. for a very fair price. But normally if you are seeking a bead from a specific region in the world, the cost of a middleman is taken out if you buy direct.





There are hundreds of internet sites where you can find bead and jewelry making supplies. The number of bead suppliers alone run in the hundreds. If you are looking for the average wooden, ceramic, plastic or glass bead, the internet can become your best friend. All of the bead and jewelry making suppliers have competitive pricing. But be sure and research the quality of the bead before you make your final selection. If you follow all of the above and you already know how to make jewelry, your home based jewelry business will be simple to start. Good Luck!


Business Conference Calling: Making Professional Meetings Easier






With businesses being so fast paced nowadays, it can be difficult for people to meet for a conference. A wonderful solution for this has been business conference calling. This is a calling tool that allows numerous people to talk simultaneously over the phone. This is a great way to let people who are traveling stay in touch with everything back at the office and to take part in conferences from far away. Company leaders love this method of speaking to all their employees at the same time, because of all the important time that it saves.





The Different Types of Business Conference Calling





The basic business conference calling is a means for getting a group of individuals together to discuss something without them having to physically meet. This is very helpful for companies that need to meet very often, but the meetings seem to interfere with getting work done quickly.





Advanced business conference calling is a calling system that involves the use of web cameras and the internet. This allows each person to be auditory and visually present at the meeting even thought they aren’t physically present.





Assisted business conference calling is the third main type of conference calling. This is where you have a meeting organizer who will open the meeting, introduce speakers at the meeting, and then close the meeting. This is someone that the business hires in order to oversee professional meetings.





Advantages of Business Conference Calling





Typically meetings require people to spend money to travel to the meeting and the travel time cuts into a business day. Also, if conference room availability is hard to come by, the meeting can be even more difficult to schedule at a time when everyone can attend. The great thing about business conference calling is that it is cost-effective and saves a great deal of time. No travel is necessary, which puts time and money back into the business. Then on top of that, no large room is required to have everyone a part of the meeting. Instead you can remain at your office chair and be a part of the meeting.





There are a number of other advantages to business conference calling, but one of the favorites is the use of technology. Since most companies have switched from using overheads to using programs on the computer, like power point, in order to give presentations. All the speakers need to do is email the power point out to the people attending the conference. With so much ease, every business will soon be making the switch to business conference calling.


4 Steps To Making Your Home Business A True Automated System




You hear it al the time if you have been involved or are involved in the home business or internet business industry:

“You need a system to succeed.”

I like to take this a step further. You not only need a “system”, but in order to get the most out of your home business opportunity, you need to have an Automated System. To take that even one step further, your Automated System must hit your prospects from EVERY angle in order to achieve the highest levels of prosperity.

Here are four techniques that if used on all of your prospects WILL increase your earnings with ANY home or internet business opportunity.

Step 1: Create a “capture” or “squeeze” page.

Even if you have no idea what this is, you have almost certainly seen a capture page and even been “captured by one. A capture page is simply a page that is set up to give some brief information about a product or service, but then requires the prospect to enter their info to get the full details. It is often a teaser or hyped up page to get the prospect to want to know more. The most effective capture pages touch on the prospects personal or financial needs compelling them to find out more by filling in their information. Once they do, you own their information for life and can continue to follow up with them or contact them about other offers of services you have no, or develop in the future. Capture pages are a MUST to start building your list that you will be able to promote any product or service. A great program that allows even the most novice person to create capture pages in minutes is Lead Page Generator.

Special note: NEVER LOSE YOUR LIST OF CAPTURED NAMES, ADDRESSES, EMAILS, ETC.

Those that are highly successful in any home business or internet opportunity have a list of thousands that they have built over the years. Any time they have a new product, service or opportunity to promote they send it out to their list first. This gives you a big head start and if your products, services and opportunities have been successful in the past, your list will follow you everywhere.

This all leads into the second technique to creating a totally automated system, email auto responders.

Step 2: Follow up with prospects via email

This is the easiest and most recognizable form of follow up. When creating a capture page, all you have to do is tie the information form into an auto responder. This can be done very easily using services such as aweber. Now, when a prospect fills in their information, you not only get to keep their information for your list, but now you can follow up with them daily, weekly, monthly without having to lift a finger. Of course, you have to write your email follow up messages ahead of time, but once you have them completed, you are following up with your prospects over and over while doing no additional work.

While email is a nice tool to make your system automated, it is far too often the ONLY tool people use. This is a huge mistake. Fact is, that email follow up and marketing is becoming far less effective due to spam laws and people filtering their email accounts.

In order to reach as many people as possible, you need to come at them from different angles.

Step 3: Follow up with a voice broadcasting system

Voice broadcasting gives you yet another method of following up with prospects. It is an awesome tool and as of late has been sort of the “new email.” Because email is getting caught by filters and spam control features, it is necessary to try and reach prospects using other methods. Outside of email, voice broadcasting is the easiest and least expensive means of following up. In addition, voice broadcasting can keep your system totally automated. You can record a simple message or series of messages, collect the prospects phone number on your capture page and then simply set up your voice broadcasting software to call them once, weekly, monthly or whatever you choose. There are lots of services to use out there. Goldcalling, voiceshot, probuilderplus, and protus are just a few.

Step 4: Postcard follow up

Direct mail is by far the most forgotten means of follow up, but often the most effective. Postcards are a terrific way to make sure that your prospects hear form you. By simply collecting their mailing info on your capture page, you have set yourself up to use an incredible tool that will definitely help increase your sales and income.

There are a couple of services that allow you to set up a direct mail campaign to work just like an email auto responder. The best service in my opinion is PostCardAutoresponder.com. You can input a prospects mailing address and set up a campaign that will send them a postcard once, twice, weekly, monthly, or whatever you choose. Just set it up once and forget it. You can contact a prospect for an entire year on autopilot . You can even create custom postcards for any business , service or opportunity.

If you use that simple 4 step plan to create an automated system for your business, you will definitely increase sales and income. Plus, you will not only have an automated system that works for you while you are doing the things you enjoy, but it will be one that contacts prospects from every angle so they are sure to get your message early and often. Remember, it is not always enough just to have a system. You need to have an automated system that you can plug each prospect into that will run itself while you focus on building your business.


How To Start Your Own Scrapbook Making Business






The Scrapbook industry is one of the biggest industries in the country. According to studies, the scrapbook industry earns about $3Billion each year and this figure keeps on growing. For creative people scrapbooking can be a very lucrative home based business that is done from the comfort of your own home. If you are creative and you know how to make use of whatever materials that you have available, this business will not require a large amount of captial to get started. With just your creativity and a few supplies you can ready create good scrapbooks.





Learning the art of scrapbook making:





Starting out a home-based scrapbook making business is fairly easy if you are naturally creative and artistic. Make sure to learn everything you can about scrapbooking, before you start your business. First, learn all the different techniques of scrap book making that you can. Enroll in any classes you can find in your community that will teach you many unique scrap book making ideas. Read as many books and magazines you can find. Practice what you learn and then put into the mix along with your own creative ideas. Remember, scrapbooking is an art so be creative and the more unique your scrap books are the more clients you will ultimately end up having.





Getting supplies:





If you want to engage in the scrapbook making business, you must know where to get good materials. Locate a good supplier of paper and trinkets in your community and make sure that you have plenty of good supplys all the time. If you are planning to do a lot of scrapbooks, better buy your materials in bulk and get some kind of discount. If time is a issue you can shop online for your supplies. There are plenty of web sites to search though and find the supplies you will be needing. Just make sure you are buying your supplies from a reputable online store, so you don't end up with poor quality supplies or worst.





Marketing your product:





The best way to market your product is to create samples and present them to your friends and family. You can start by asking close family members and friends if they want to have their keepsakes custom made. You may also display your designs during family gatherings and special occasions so that people will have some ideas of what you can do. If your designs are really good, a lot of people will be calling you about their scrapbooks sooner than you can imagine.


5 Tips On Making Your Business Card A Powerful Marketing Tool




When used effectively business cards can be a great marketing tool. In this article we will discuss 5 of the most effective ways that you can use your business cards everyday.

1. Be Creative.

Be creative in the design of your business cards. Business cards do not just need to be bits of paper with your contact details on them. Be creative and give your business cards a use and purpose. Make them a powerful marketing tool in the promotion of your business.

Your aim is to make your business card something that the receiver will want to keep and make use of. This is the difference between a well thought out and designed business card and a piece of paper with your contact details on it that will probably be thrown into the trash.

Give the recipient of your business cards a special offer. For example if you are a school/training centre you may offer 'first lesson for free with this card' or if you run a shop maybe you will offer '10% of any purchase over $50'.

Whatever your business, there is a creative way to give your business card real value to the receiver. If you can think and implement these new creative ways before your business does, you will have an instant advantage in that area of business, and should definitely see a rise in business if you have promoted you cards correctly.

2. The 1 minute rule

The 1 minute rule basically says, if you talk to a person for longer than 1 minute they should already have one of your business cards in their hand.

This means in conversations you need to find a way to talk about what you do, and be in the position to be able to offer one of your business cards to the person you are talking to in the first minute of conversation. This can be likened to a conversation you may have with someone at the bus stop or on the elevator. The conversation will end in a very short time and you only have a very short time to get your message across, or in this case get your business card to the recipient.

The 1 minute rule is basically just practice to get your business card out there as much as you can. Many people go through all the trouble of ordering business cards just to let them sit in a corner of their office. To use business cards effectively you must be giving them out at every opportunity that you have.

3. Make them keepers

Once you have given your business card to someone what is going to keep it from being thrown in the trash or forgotten about. Unless you are selling necessities it is probably fair to say that most likely they do not need the product/services you are offering at the present moment. Hopefully though in the future will come a time when they are looking for that product/service and that is when your business card still needs to be in the hands of the person.

Why does someone want your business card? If you cannot answer that easily, maybe it is time to think about a new business card design.

Does your business card have valuable information on it? By valuable I mean a map, discount, calendar, measurements, charts or anything relevant to your industry? If it doesn't, you may want to think about adding a value feature to your business card.

4. Leave them everywhere you go

During a number of trips around a number of businesses in my local area I have noticed piles of business cards on the counters of various businesses. For example a recent trip to my accountant I noticed they had a few piles of business cards on the counter for mortgage lenders, home loans, etc.
This can be likened very much to link swapping that goes on with webmasters looking for business referrals from similar businesses.

Every place that you frequent, you should ask if they mind you leaving a stack of you business card there for their customers. You could try this at your doctors office, your dentist, accountant, lawyer, beauty saloon or hairdresser.

For similar businesses (e.g. accountant > lawyer or money lender) maybe you can arrange to have a stack of their business cards displayed at your business when they offer your business cards at theirs. This can be a very effective way to use you business cards and can have great returns.

5. Ask for an opinion

'Do you mind if I ask you a quick question? I'm looking for opinions on my new business card'. After asking the question and bringing the topic up hand them a business card. Make sure that they keep it, even if they try to hand it back to you tell them that you have thousands printed already.

Thank the person for their time, and if they ever need the product or service that you are offer that your contact information is on the business card. Even if that person may not directly contact your business, there is always a chance that they may pass your card or business name onto another party.

Even in the worse case they may go home and tell their friend how a nut just came and talked at the bus stop and handed them a business card for his lawn mowing service. That friend may say, 'I've been looking for a good lawn mower'. 'Here's the business card I got'. And there is a situation where you may still even get business out of handing your business card to a stranger and even a disinterested stranger.

By following just one of the above five ideas each day, you can turn your business card into a great marketing tool, and see an almost instant increases in business.


Are You Making The Most Of Your Home Business?






The Internet is home of the business opportunity ad. While some are not legit, others do have the potential of netting you a pretty penny. Once you have found such an opportunity, it is important that you make the



most of it – but to do so wisely, you will need to observe a few tips and tricks that will not only help you to earn money, but also protect you from losing any of your hard earned cash in the process.





When you are starting out in pursuit of your business opportunity, you will need to juggle your full time job and your extracurricular pursuit. While it might be tempting to throw caution to the wind, quit your job and



pursue the opportunity full time, it is extremely unwise to do so. You will still have bills, and if you have a family, it is unfair to expect them to suddenly make do without the little extras they have come to appreciate.



Instead, go ahead and work your regular job while expanding on your business opportunity. This will prevent you from having to give up after a few unsuccessful months with maxed out credit cards.





Building a business takes time, and if you involve friends and family, you will probably be able to do so a lot faster. Of course, this should not mean that you try to peddle your nutritional supplements that are part of



the business you are building at every family reunion. Instead, you might be able to involve some family members in the business end itself. Do you need help with taxes? Maybe an aunt is good at doing them! Do



you have questions about licenses and insurance? If you have a stay at home dad who is willing to do some work in exchange for a bit of money, these headaches could be taken away from you. In short, rare is the



entrepreneur who makes money all by her or himself from the basement, yet plentiful is the entrepreneur who – with the help of friends and family – succeeded!





Your business opportunity requires exposure, yet there is more to advertising than paying for a three by five ad in the local rag. Instead, attend trade shows, hand out flyers, print up business cards (not the free



ones that carry another company’s logo on the back) and network with other entrepreneurs. Do not stay home when you are trying to build a business, but instead go to where the business world is located and get out



the word! This ensures that you will truly make the most of your business opportunity without having to spend money you may not yet have earned on costly advertisements that may not be as effective as you had


7 Considerations When Making A Business Sales Letter






When making a business sales letter, the primary goal is, obviously, to make a sale. However, focusing on this bottom line is ultimately what causes a lot of business sales letters to fail, simply because customers feel that the letter is all about trying to seperate them from their hard earned money. The best business letters are made by people who believe in their products and know that it is actually to their customer's benefit to use it over other competing products. Building on this basic rule, there are 7 factors to consider when making a business letter that will let your customers know that, while you ARE out to make a profit, it will be based on THEIR satisfaction with your product.





Target Market Type - consider the demographics of your intended market. Know how they think, how they talk, what they need, how much of a budget they generally have, and what benefits they can find in using your product. This knowledge makes it easier to tailor a sales approach that they can relate to. Using fancy words or "business jargon" when your target market is mostly composed of people who haven't studied economics, for example, will only serve to overwhelm and confuse them.





Product Details - know your product intimately. This does not mean that you have to blab about the endless hours of research that went into making your product superior to others, or the incredibly high tech materials and construction methods that went into making it. Intimate product knowledge from a consumer point of view boils down to one thing: What can your product do for the buyer?





Product After Sales Support - if your product provider has after-sale support options, be sure to include those as some of the advantages of buying what you have to offer. Customer service lines, extended warranties, and even home service options are things that show the customers that you will still be there for them even AFTER you've made a sale. This also imparts a measure of faith in the product that it won't simply break down a few months or even weeks after purchase.





Selling Approach - the most effective selling approach is to remain customer oriented. By focusing on your buyer's needs, you increase the likelihood that they will prefer to buy what you have to offer over the competition. However, you also have to consider HOW your target market thinks and communicates; some demopgraphics prefer elaborate statements, others value a sense of humor, still others prefer terse and straight to the point presentations. Know how your customers generally communicate and make your style suit them.





Layouting - a good visual presentation is one of the keys to any good document. Layouting is essential in any letter because it makes the document catch the eye at first glance and makes readers willing to see what you've got. Beyond the looks, however, layouting also involves the order and manner in which you present your information. A graphically stunning letter that has poor layouting when it comes to presenting information will still fail. Be precise and orderly in your presentation of facts.





Timed Response Incentives - this is a fairly classic method of getting a quick response from a customer. The most common places you'll see this will be on shopping channels, with announcers saying something like "order within the next 30 minutes and get a 10% discount". Timed response incentives in business letters should be similar BUT should offer greater leeway for customer response to special promotional discounts. The failure of shopping channel program's approach is that customers feel pressured to buy NOW, which makes them think that all the company wants is their money, period. Promos on sales letters should have a much more relaxed time table, like "We're having a 10% sale all of next week, from 12:00am X date to 12:00pm Y date. Feel free to drop by and look our products over."





What Should They Do Next? - Lastly, customers HATE being left in a lurch if they wind up liking what a product has to offer but get little or no information on how to actually go about buying the product. Always include extensive contact info on the letter that lets them know the fastest and easiest ways to get in touch with you when they want to ask questions or buy something. If you have several contact numbers, try splitting them off into several types as well and include these in the letter, like a "product inquiry" number, another for making personal purchases, another for bulk purchases and/or potential retailers, etc.


Alternative Lifestyle Business Opportunities - Making Your Choice






Have you ever wished you could work at home and still bring in money? Believe it or not there are ways to do just that. A lot of people are starting to work at home for their income. Working from home is considered an “alternative lifestyle business” because it’s not usually the same as a normal 9-5 job.





One of the first ways to do this is through web design work. Most web designers work from home and they can be paid very well to design and maintain a site. They also get to choose their own hours.





Another freelance job is through writing. Freelance writers write e-books, articles, and sometimes submit their work to magazines. Good writers can earn up to $.05 cents a word for basic writing jobs. This job isn’t for everyone; however, because of the amount of stress it can cause writing.





Another good job is through research. If you take the time to research how to do something then you can write an e-book on it and sell the e-book. A lot of companies and individuals will buy these books because of the time it saves them to get the information together.





Another good business is through selling herbal supplements. With a lot of these programs you can even have people under you whose sales will also earn you a commission. You will also get money for every sale you do and sometimes for recruiting new people.





If you decide to check with the herbal supplement business you should first research the product. Always make sure these types of businesses are not scams before you sign up.





Finally, another good business is selling and buying stocks. Playing the stock market may not seem like alternative lifestyle but if done right it can make people very wealthy while working at home. All you need is money to start with and being able to make wise investments.