We’ve all heard the normal KISS principle (Keep It Simple Scholar).  When we talk about sales copy, it is important to keep it simple.   It is also important to keep it short.

Let’s briefly take a different view of sales copy.  Perhaps you take the view that sales copy is meant to talk people into purchasing your product/service.  For a moment, let’s take a different view that it is actually there to talk people OUT of purchasing your product/service.  In many ways, this latter view is more accurate.

Think about the prospect as she reads your ad copy.

They read a sentence and like what it says.  They feel good; they feel hope that this will be the answer to one of their problems.  They read another sentence.  It affirms the first and they feel more excited.  They are ready to buy, but there is more ad copy.  They read on.  The third sentence doesn’t really apply to their specific problem.  Perhaps they start to lose a bit of that excitement.  Then the fourth sentence completely alienates them.  They aren’t part of THAT group of people (perhaps you were selling a fitness product and the fourth sentence was related to weight-loss).  They turn the page or click the BACK button or close the browser.  You’ve lost them.

If your ad copy stopped after the first two lines, you would have made the sale.  Start reading your ad copy in this way.  Normally, each sentence is viewed as the sentence that potentially “sells” them.  In reality, usually your prospect is reading each sentence looking for a reason NOT to buy.  Start editing your ad copy to eliminate all of those potential reasons.  In general, strive to make your ad copy as short as possible.

Not a believer yet?  Let me give you some real-life examples that lead me to this conclusion.  In the early days, I would test click-thru rates using a variety of sales copy.  I would try a paragraph against another paragraph.  This is where I fist noticed that shorter is better.  The shorter paragraphs almost always outperformed the longer paragraphs.  This is true for both the click-thru rate and the overall amount of revenue generated over a period of time.

I finally tested this conclusion all the way to it’s logical extreme…  Yep, a single word outperforms two words almost every time.  I now use this concept to build traffic for others.  I draw in the largest potential group of customers by using a single word.  I then show them a full paragraph describing my customer’s exact product/service to narrow that group down to the perfectly targeted visitors to send along to my customer.  The others are given other choices so that I can make some other use of them.

Need more proof?  Try it yourself.  Create a link on your site that says something like: “For the least expensive high quality widgets, click here”.   Obviously, change the “widgets” to something you want to actually sell.  Also make sure you use some method to track click-thru rates and sales.  Expose that link to a test group of visitors and record your results.  Now repeat with the following progressively shorter phrases:

Least Expensive/high quality widgets

Least Expensive Widgets

Cheap Widgets

Widgets

In almost all cases, you will find that your click-thru rate will increase as the phrase becomes shorter.  In most cases, you’ll also notice that the total revenue will increase as well.  Your revenue per click will level off at some point.  This is the point of most efficiency.

Try the same exercise with your one-page sales letter.  Start off with 10 paragraphs and slowly start to eliminate the least useful paragraphs.  You should notice the same effect.  Eventually, your revenue per visitor will level off and tell you that the remaining paragraphs all say essential things to sell your product.  Then you can start trimming out sentences… finally, individual phrases and words.

The goal is to tell your prospects enough about your product/service that they are ready to buy and NOTHING MORE.  Anything more than these essentials is just going to convince them that your product/service isn’t right for them.

Of course, you must be sure to tell them the essentials so that they make an informed decision.  This isn’t a call to be dishonest by leaving out essential information.  It is actually a call to be more honest by leaving out extraneous information that would confuse and drive away potential customers.

About the Author:
Learn more about Diego Norte at http://www.DiegoNorte.com

1) Be cautious of third party lists and send your e-mails to a permission-based list. You can work to build your own permission-based list by encouraging your target audience to sign up for your e-mail communications at every opportunity. Don’t assume you have permission, please ask for it!

2) Reach your subscribers more often and on time, but not too frequently. By setting your newsletter to go out regularly once a week, you can build a close-knit relationship with your readers. The more you talk with them, the more they trust you, the more likely they are to buy what you recommend. It is important to send your newsletter periodically, and on time. However, if your newsletter is sent too frequently (e.g. more than 3 times a week), then it will feel like an advertisement or an imposition rather than a service or a gift.

3) Develop a content formula and consistent layout that works for you and your readers. Some typical ingredients for newsletters include tips, case studies, success stories, industry news and trends, short surveys and etc. The layout of newsletters should be simple, consistent and unique.

4) Write to an audience of one. Try writing as though you were writing to one really person, a model who seems your ideal customer in your mind. What do they do for a living? What magazines do they read? What music do they listen to? Whenever you write an email marketing note, you write it to that person. And when you write from a heart place with the heartfelt intent of helping and connecting with another individual, your whole list will probably feel that intimacy.

5) Provide a tip, recommend a product. Give value first with tips and how-to information that will really help your readers. Then at the end of your communication, you can say, “by the way, I found a product that will help you do that… find out more about it here…”

6) Know the real problems your customers are experiencing and offer tips and solutions to those problems. It’s all about relevancy. If you have a list of work at home mothers, they possibly don’t want to know about tips to clean your bedroom fast. However, if you have a tip or product or service to help them with time management, that seems a good fit.

7) If your list is too broad, you should consider breaking it up into smaller lists by topic. For example, instead of having one big list, you should have several of lists based on the areas of interest and expertise. This allows you to address the specific concerns of each individual and be right on target with your tips and offers.

Author:
Diego Norte, http://www.DiegoNorte.com

But when it comes right down to it, why you should you pay someone to work for them?

Think about traditional jobs you have applied for or worked.  Did you ever have to pay to be considered for those jobs? Of course not! If that was the case, companies would have a hard time finding employees.

Anytime your asked to pay to apply for a job or begin working, this should be a red flag that the “job” advertised is actually a SCAM.

Also, what information about the job do you have?  Many times, the scams don’t tell you much about the job itself.  If there is a job description at all, it is often very vague.  Why do you suppose that is?  A lack of information about the job or the company is another red flag for a scam.

What about contact information?  What ways do you have to get in touch with the potential employer?  None? Just an email address? If there is not an actual person to contact, be weary.  If you are provided with a person’s name and title in the company, an address, email address, and telephone number, then it is probably a reliable opportunity.  Go ahead and call the number, talk to the person.  Grill them about the opportunity.  If it is a real opportunity, they should be happy to talk to you and give you any information about the company.  If they are hesitant or dance around your questions, ask yourself, What are they hiding?

If you then want some more assurance that the opportunity you are researching or applying for is legitimate, one of my favorite ways is to do a search on the opportunity.  Go to your favorite search engine (I usually do the same search in a few different engines) and do a few searches.  Search the company’s name that you have a applied for.  Then, search the company’s name + scam.

This will often yield results of lots of different blogs. If you get few results, this may tell you that there aren’t many hits for people describing this opportunity as a scam.  Maybe it really is legit. Read through some of the blogs though.  Does the author of the blog seem to be selling the same opportunity?  Again, a red flag should go up.  Or are they simply trying to inform you about the company?

After you’ve done that, check with the Better Business Bureau.  Check the rating of the company, and then read the explanation of the rating.  Or, if the company is not registered with the BBB, again, red flag.

Once you’ve done all this, you should have a pretty good feel for the company and if it is one that you want to work for.  The decision is ultimately yours, of course.

Lastly, you do want to be sure that you are just looking at work at home jobs.  There are also plenty of home based business opportunities out there.

Business opportunities often do require an investment, whether to start a traditional or a home-based business.  For these, it is important to check out what is included in the investment.  When invest money if you’re not sure exactly what it is you’re investing in?

You can still use the same methods I talked about earlier to research the business, just keep in mind that a running a business is very different from working for someone else.

If you do choose to make the investment, best of luck!  If you don’t, keep looking, and you will find a legitimate opportunity.

About the Author
Diego Norte
http://www.DiegoNorte.com

Consider these steps to help you along the way:

1. Explain what you do.

Think about any sales position youve worked or any youve heard about.  What is the salesmans goal?  To tell a customer what the product is and why they need to buy it now.  Finding work online functions on the same principle: what do you do for the company and why do they need you now?  As simple as this sounds, this is the most important part in getting the job you want.  Think about it: why did you purchase the last major item in your life?  What helped you make the decision for your specific product against another?  Sell yourself first by selling what you do.

2. Show the company your unique traits.

Okay, so the addendum to the above point is that in selling yourself you have to be yourself.  These companies are looking for individuals that fill the requirements of the job but also add to the ideals of the company.  Unless your job is filling out endless surveys, your contributions, in person or online, contribute to the image of the company.  So, in the midst of explaining how you’ll do the job the best, use your personality to demonstrate that youre an employee that will add to the company in a positive manner.

3. Look for the right job.

Make sure that the job for which you are applying is a job you see yourself doing and, for the most part, enjoying.  If you don’t like data entry, dont apply for a data entry job.  If you like a job in ghostwriting, apply.  Its that simple: apply for a position that excites you and wont be a dread Monday morning.

4. Watch your back.

While many job positions are legitimate, many individuals have found success in the internet industry by taking advantage of unsuspecting job applicants.  When applying for a job, make note of the following points:

a) Do your research - make sure the company established.  Typically, this means that there is a website, physical address, business references, etc.  If you cant find any information, request some.  If they dont provide any, it may be best to move on to another offer.

b) Protect your money - be very wary of any company that offers you a  “great position ” after you finish their $20 training program.  Think of your last job interview - did they ask you to start work on Monday after you purchased the $40 training book?  No.  So why would an online company require this?  If a company wants to hire you, theyll make sure you have to best training - for free.

c) Seek out other employees/ex-employees - one of the best ways to find out about a company is to find someone who works or did work for the company.  Do they enjoy work?  Did they feel like their work was valued?  What are the strengths/weaknesses of the company?  Why did they take the job?  Why did they leave the company?  All these questions will give you answers that will help you determine if this company is the best fit for you.

About the Author
Diego Norte
http://www.DiegoNorte.com

Remember you can\’t build a successful home business if you never even try and you certainly aren\’t going to get far if you can\’t get up from your failures. You are in control of your own destiny. You have the freedom to choose success, failure, or just keep cruising through life on your safe wagon never going up or down.

Below I have given you three idiot proof home business success tips. They are the basis for creating any long-term profitable business. If you follow and stick with them, you won\’t fail.

Idiot Proof Tip #1 - Promote high converting products with large profit margins.

It\’s very hard to make a living if you are only selling products that make you a few dollars profit per sale. If you want to build a profitable home business you should be promoting products that make you at least $25.00 profit per sale. Remember, that this is what you need to make in profit so you must factor in your expenses and make at least that much extra per sale.

Idiot Proof Tip #2 - Take the time to create high converting marketing material.

You can have the best home business in the world but if your sales material does not bring in any visitors and then convert them into paying customers, you will not make money. Marketing is the life of your home business so this is very important!

Your advertisements, salesletters, promotional emails, affiliate marketing material, articles, etc… All need to work for you and bring in results. If you are not good at writing good sales copy then hire someone to do it for you or take the time to learn how to do it yourself.

Idiot Proof Tip #3 - Automate your home business as much as possible.

If you want to actually have any time to enjoy yourself then you will need to automate your home business as much as possible. Not to mention the fact that this will help tremendously in increasing your profits and free up time for other business tasks that actually help you to make money.

Autoresponders, outsourcing, and PLR are three great ways to save you a ton of time and increase your income potential. By automating your business and using pre-existing resources available, you can concentrate on the part of your home business you really enjoy… Making Money!

Follow these three home business tips like your life depends on it and you will have a successful home business. But before you can even begin to follow these tips you first have to take action and get starting on making your dreams come true. Stop sitting there waiting for the right time because that time is now!

About The Author
Diego Norte
http://www.DiegoNorte.com

Ever hear of affiliate programs? These are forms of online advertising that rewards others for sending a product developertraffic which result in sales or leads. The product developer pays the affiliate to place a link on their site or promote the site in other ways and this generates traffic for the advertiser. To put it another way, it’s paying commissions to people who generate sales. It’s that easy - yeah right!

Affiliate marketing has its ups and downs. It could be draining if you are not armed with updated information and the technical how-tos. But this article’s sole objective is to reach out to you and not to badmouth affiliate marketing.

Here a a few reasons why most online business gurus are crazy about affiliate marketing as the ideal way to advertise online.

1. Low cost upfront

Many are scared to go on a home based business because of the capital required. In affiliate marketing, you don’t have to spend much to start raking in moolah.

2. No need to maintain inventory

Another reason people don’t want to start a business is horror of product management. In affiliate marketing, all inventory and accounting is handled by the merchant. Which means fewer hassles for the affiliate.

3. Leverage provides unlimited income possibilites

When you have a regular job, your income is based on you showing up to work on the days your supposed to. With affiliate marketing, your affiliates can send you traffic without you having to do any work after you have created the ad copy and links. Though not all internet marketers earnings are limitless, it is still possible for the advertiser or internet marketer to be highly successful.

4. Go worldwide

With affiliate marketing, you get to deal with a worldwide marketplace. All you have to do is develop a specialty product, then prepare the necessary links, sales pages and tools for your affiliates to send traffic to you from anywhere.

5. Small risk

The very main reason for Internet marketer’s enthusiasm with affiliate marketing is its having a low risk factor. Especially for those with low budget set aside for advertising, affiliate marketing is just the way to do it.

6. No closing time

In addition, your affiliates will be sending you traffic every single second of every single day while targeting a global market! What could be better than an army of people constantly sending you traffic?

But all of these will be put to waste if you don’t have the right niche product and all the other important tools to make it big in affiliate marketing, i.e., well positioned product, good sales copy and automatic product fulfillment process. So better work on this first before ever considering those benefits.

About the Author:
Steven Lohrenz

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From the Google Keyword Tool, you will see the millions of searches done to a certain keyword. When these keywords are typed on search boxes of search engines, indexed websites containing articles with those keywords will be displayed. And this is what leads traffic to websites with keyword-rich articles. Content is king online and written articles are still the best way to provide indexable content.

Content is king. Content is king. You can’t say it enough. Content is the reason why writing articles is one of the best and most used techniques in internet marketing today. Web surfers can’t get enough information about what they are interested in, whatever that may be. Providing timely, useful information to surfers is a guaranteed way to herd targeted, interested traffic to your website or blog.

Why is this so? Here are the benefits that writing articles can give your Internet business.

1. No cost but your time.

Too good to be true? Not. Okay, you have to pay for your Internet Service Provider. That’s it. All you need is your thoughts, your computer, and your hands. If you have those, nothing will stop you from typing words that will make you complete that article for your website. On which aspect of that process did you really shell out any cent? Maybe later when your electric bills come.

2. Your website will be noticed in a short period of time.

Sending your articles to article directories that receive a lot of traffic will guarantee that in no time your site will be crawled by spiders. You have to remember to include your byline or resource box so the spiders know where to find you!

3. Obtain back links automatically.

After you submit your articles to article directories, hopefully other sites will make use of your articles too. With the enforceable copyright terms of your articles, the backlinks to your website will still remain intact and those links will help direct even more traffic to your website.

4. Improve your reputation.

As an internet marketer, if you boldly display your products and services on your site, you will not have a very high conversion rate. Traffic resulting in a sale is a conversion. To get your conversion rate up you have to show that you are knowledgeable in your chosen field. There’s no better way than by writing informative, useful articles to establish yourself as an expert.

Just make your creative juices flow and jot down or key in those ideas quickly to jumpstart your article writing momentum. With those benefits listed above, a writer’s block is the last problem you want to surmount.

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The truth is most people fail in this business. The steps to failure are easy. That is the bad news. The good news is that in knowing how to fail will give you direction and guidance in knowing then, what you must do to succeed.

Failure in 7 easy steps:

1. No experience. Internet marketing is a profession and just as any other profession, it is learned through experience and education. Think about your medical Doctor, the election who wired your home, the professor at the local university, all of these are professionals who have been educated in their vocation. Successful marketing on the internet is learned through observation, classes or by a mentor who has a proven system.

2. No testing or research. Is there a screaming demand for your product or service?
Successful marketers are continually testing through multiple articles and ads to see if there is a hungry crowd looking for your product. Will your product or service market best through direct advertising or through articles in ezines or by videos on youtube? Have you tested various methods to find the starving crowd?

3. Lack of funds to start a home-based business. Do you have the funds and resources available to see you through to success? A sure fire way to failure is to cut off your primary source of income and leave your job without adequate reserve of funds available to you.

4. No System. Marketing on the internet requires following and using a proven marketing system. Successful marketers use a formula, a system that is tried and proven to achieve success. Without a proven system, failure is certain.

5. No Leadership or personal coach. Just as Michael Phelps had a coach that guided him to win 8 gold medals, Success in marketing requires a personal mentor who is committed to your success. This is very important, not just for you, but as you help those who will follow in your footsteps. You must have a coach/mentor who has walked the path before you. Those following you will ask, ‘how do I succeed?”

6. No detailed plan of action leads to failure. You must be held accountable to your coach and follow a specific daily plan of action. Imagine this. You have the funds and now want to have someone build you dream home. You hire a builder. You have the dream home pictured in your mind. However, without detailed drawings, plans, the builder cannot produce what is in your mind. Your business will succeed when you follow a daily action plan.

7. Not learning the skills along the way. Attending seminars and workshops of successful people and learning the skills of marketing is critical to your success. Can you write an article that will be published and read? Can you produce a video that thousands will watch on youtube? Can you write a creative ad that will draw a swarm of people to your website to purchase your product or service?

Failure is not an option. You will not fail when you find a Mentor who seriously has your best interest at heart. A mentor who will provide coaching and resources without selling you items which will benefit him/her financially. A good mentor will teach you the skills you need for success in an online business.

Walter Seward offers a FREE copy of the legendary Networking recruiting & training ebook where he regularly analyzes & comments on MLM lead generation.

Do you look at your office or home and feel totally overwhelmed by the clutter, piles, and stuff? Do you wonder where to start? Do you want to run out in terror?!

I know what it’s like to feel like your home or office is totally out of control instead of you being in control. I know that this feeling causes stress and anxiety. And, can make you a not very nice person to live or work with!

There’s hope. I work with overwhelmed people every day and help them get focused, organized, and productive in their home and office. But, you need a plan.

Step 1: Get Ready

Take out your calendar and pick the date you are going to go through your entire home or office. This will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Have a clean sheet for each room and write the name of the room down on top of each page.

Step 2: Identify the Areas to Organize

Begin at the front door and imagine a big clock imposed on the floor. Choose where you want 12:00 and start there. Now, look around the room clockwise writing down any area that you’re tolerating or that bothers you. Before you leave each room put a * by the area that bothers you the most in each room. Go through each room in the home or office.

Step 3: Prioritize

Take a clean sheet of paper and title it “Priority Form”. Now, transfer each priority from all the room sheets onto this paper. Look at each area and decide which one you want to tackle first. You may want to pick an easy area to have a quick success story or you may want to pick a large task to get the worst out of the way right away.

Step 4: Choose a Date

Set a date to organize this area and put it in your calendar.

Step 5: Get Ready to Take Action

Look at the task that you’ve chosen to do first and decide what supplies that you’ll need. If needed, break this task down into smaller tasks and number in what order you’ll do them. Write down a reward that you’re going to give yourself when you’re done. Make it a GREAT reward!

Step 6: Do It!

The day is here and you’re ready to get started. Put on some fun music, some comfortable clothes and start organizing the area. Use my S.T.A.R.T. ™ method to get organized:

Sort

Throw

Appoint a Home

Restrict to a Container

Take back control

Take everything out of the area that you want to organize and START. Sort though and decide what belongs there and what doesn’t. Put the items that don’t belong there in a box and bring that away later. You need to stay focused on the area that you are working on. As you’re sorting you’ll also be throwing away items and/or putting in a box for donation or a garage sale. After you’ve sorted through everything whatever is left belongs in that area. You’ve just appointed a home for those items. Now, restrict them to container if possible. Use baskets in a closet, drawer divider bins in a drawer, etc. to get ‘like’ items together into a container. Step back and look at what you’ve done! You’ve just taken control back of that area of your life and it feels great!

Step 7: Reward, Relax, and Repeat

Well done! Acknowledge yourself and enjoy what you’ve just accomplished and cross this task off your Priority Form. Be sure and enjoy your reward and when ready – tackle the next task!

It’s amazing what happens when you start to get organized in your life. You’re going to feel better about yourself, have increased self confidence, and get so much more done each day. You’ll love getting organized – I guarantee it!

About the Author:

Elizabeth Hagen is a dynamic and inspiring productivity expert and speaker who has motivated thousands to take action and get organized. She is President of ElizabethHagen.com and works with overwhelmed people to help them get focused, organized, and more productive. She helps clients by working on site or virtually! Her newest book and manual “Organize with Confidence” will change your life! Subscribe to Elizabeth’s free ezine “Extraordinary Results” at http://www.ElizabethHagen.com and receive “31 Tips to Simplify Your Life” as her gift to you.

Starting a business is very much like running a race: Preparation and practice are key success factors. The following 10 tips, framed in the context of getting physically prepared for a race, might help you overcome the hurdles that entrepreneurs are sure to encounter on the road to startup.

1. “Pump” up your attitude. Think positive. Think of the optimistic outcomes and find a way to stay focused on your goal of starting a business. Put negative thoughts and self-doubt about your abilities and your potential aside, and surround yourself with energetic and supportive people. Even without realizing it, you may be dampening your own enthusiasm, procrastinating and eventually sabotaging your own efforts because of your self-doubts. Stop second-guessing yourself and, at all costs, stay away from negative people who are just waiting for you to trip and fall and watch your start-up fail.

2. “Rejuvenate” your affiliations. Your goal is to connect with people who want to support you and are willing to help you in the lean times. Affiliate with others who are in similar stages of startup and are also trying to build their own businesses. Find new alliances by joining professional and civic organizations and seeking out successful people you want to model. Locate organizations in your own community where other entrepreneurs get together and support each other–your local chamber is a great place to start. These affiliations can not only lead to advice and networking connections, but are a great source of potential clients.

3. “Firm” up your future. Assess and mitigate the risks. Risks can only become surprises if you avoid honest self-evaluation up front. Keep in mind that risks can’t be mitigated if they’re not acknowledged therefore do all the legwork required to shore up your plans ahead of time. As you create your plans, consider both your short-term and long-term goals. Think about business growth and all the ramifications of your need for cash or talent to help you grow. Contact an expert at your local Small Business Development Center (http:www.sba.gov/sbdc) to review your plans with you. Have someone help you with your pro-forma financials to make sure your cash flow will remain adequate to execute your dream.

4. “Flex” your creative muscles. Think creatively about how you’ll get your products in front of people. Think about imaginative ways you can tip the scales in your favor. Start a “Creativity Cluster” of others who are looking for new and innovative ideas to bring products to market or get their ideas out into the marketplace. Get inspired by reading about creative and innovative companies and how they’ve succeeded, and learn about the practices that differentiate them from others. Keep thinking about new ways to do things that will keep your organization efficient.

5. “Supplement” your credentials. Work with advisors and small-business centers to add to your knowledge and skill set. You might have an excellent idea and may be really skilled in one or two areas but, like all of us, have some blind spots. Although entrepreneurs are known to multitask really well, they’ll readily admit there are pieces of the business they hate. Investigate your local community colleges to see if they offer entrepreneurship classes for business owners. Local organizations also sometimes schedule classes and workshops designed to help you supplement your credentials in the areas of marketing, budgeting, funding, technology, operations and financial management. If you’re not reading business journals or articles like http://www.fastcompany.com, http://www.entrepreneur.com or http://www.wsj.com, you’re also missing opportunities to increase your knowledge. Also think about forming a small business advisory group of experts in those areas where their knowledge can supplement your own.

6. “Buff and polish” your ideas. Like most of us, you’ve probably scribbled an idea down and then lost the paper you might have written it on, only to hear later about some other business owner executing “your” idea. A great way to refine your great ideas and really flesh them out is to write them down in a place where you can find them at any given moment. There’s no time like the present to start your “startup journal.” This can either be in the form of a good old spiral-bound notebook or something more sophisticated. There are any number of tools on the market that will help you keep track of important notes and milestones as you move forward and develop your ideas. These ideas can eventually be rolled up into your business plan, which will become the roadmap for your business.

7. “Reshape” your perspective. As you begin writing down your thoughts and ideas, don’t give up just because you find you need to make changes. This is normal! As a future successful entrepreneur, you can’t afford to become functionally fixed on any one way of doing things. Factors influencing your decisions, including the environment, new technology, your budget or your time, are always shifting, and you might find you’ll have to tweak your ideas to make them work. It may be that you’d been looking at one market segment and now realize that for whatever reason, you might want to focus on a new target market. This does not mean giving up–it means reshaping your perspective.

8. “Align” your dreams with reality. Discovering and clarifying what you really want to do as an entrepreneur is key to your future success. If you don’t know what you love to do, then your dreams should remain just that–dreams. Successful people do what they love. Dreaming about owning your own business but not exploring who you are and what you love to do won’t help you move closer to the reality of successful entrepreneurship. Let’s say your dream is to start an organizing business. But then you find out that there are several competitors in your region. This doesn’t mean you should abandon the idea–it means you need to think creatively about your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate your business from the competition.

9. “Chart” your performance. Keeping track of your individual successes and milestones is fundamental to your overall success. So set goals for yourself and your business, and chart your progress. Revisit your plans to make sure you’re on target. If you’re not, evaluate why and make corrections to get back on track. Many business owners forget the importance of setting measurable goals against which to benchmark progress and modifying those goals based on real-life performance.

10. “Map” the future. The results of several recent studies show that people who write down their goals are much more likely to achieve them and that people who visualize success have a better chance of actually being successful. The success of your business depends on preparation, practice and planning. Create a vision for what your company should look like, and create a map to get there. The great thing about the map is that although it doesn’t guarantee where you’ll end up, it gives you the courage to start the journey.

Article written by Marcia Robinson

Marcia Robinson is the COO for Reel Logix, Inc. a Beverly Hills, California company that makes easy-to-use, affordable scheduling calendar software. The company’s two flagship products are The Reel Production Calendar, a production calendar used in film production, and The Calendar Planner, now used for scheduling, event planning and project management in multiple industries.

What could be missing? Maybe it is that other, less talked about, business start-up check list - the one that speaks to the actual success behaviors necessary to run and grow your new business. Skills or traits such as judgment, confidence, agility, and creativity are some of the critical intangibles that are hard to measure, next to impossible to farm out but critical for start-up business success. For most of us it’s relatively easy to look at the numbers and know if cash flow is good or bad or to look at a marketing plan and say if it worked or not. On the other hand, however, it might be hard for many of us to own up to having limited knowledge or weakness especially if we are fearful that admission might force us to shelve our dreams of business ownership. The fact is, we can significantly enhance our chances of new business success if we take the time to inventory our skill set and put strategies in place to enhance those skills we can and seek help and support where we struggle.

For most of us, much of this self discovery will take place once your start-up is in motion. In other words, we will learn on the job. Our hope, of course, is that it will happen early enough to avoid serious consequences. However, with a little bit of introspection and honest evaluation of our preferences or behaviors, we can actually examine our own tendencies and put corrective actions in place early.

The following simple assessment, albeit non-scientific, is one way to take inventory of our abilities in some of the required non-business-technical areas. It is based on the well accepted principle which has been used successfully in the job interview for years - that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior.

Create a spreadsheet with five columns and label them as follows:
Column 1 - Skill or Trait – List the following 20 traits that are generally regarded as new business start-up skills. Feel free to add others you know to be important.

i. Agility
ii. Confidence
iii. Courage
iv. Creativity
v. Decisiveness
vi. Self discipline
vii. Good judgment
viii. Flexibility
ix. Hard Worker
x. Leadership
xi. Multitask effectively
xii. Networking ability
xiii. Objectivity
xiv. Openness to new ideas
xv. Political Savvy
xvi. Resilience
xvii. Self-starter
xviii. Interpersonal skills
xix. Risk tolerance
xx. Visionary

Column 2 – Rating: On a scale of 1-10, rate yourself on each of these entrepreneurial traits – with “1″ meaning you have concerns about your strengths and “10″ meaning you have confidence your skills are strong in this area.

Column 3 – Example: Identify the best example in your past that demonstrates your strength with regard to the entrepreneurial trait or skill in question.

Column 4 - Strategy – Define a plan of action to address your shortcomings in any entrepreneurial trait where your self score is less than a 6 – especially if you consider it important to your start-up business.

Column 5 - Sensitivity – To help focus and prioritize your efforts, rank the entrepreneurial skills and traits based on their relative significance to your business. For example if you sell widgets via the internet, interpersonal business skills, which are always important, might be less significant than agility to keep up with internet marketing trends. On the other hand if you run an in home day care, agility within very stringent government regulations might be a little harder and so you might choose to focus on your networking abilities to keep and gain new customers.

Column 3 is quite possibly the most important. It forces us as entrepreneurs to not just say how good we are, but to actually identify specific examples to demonstrate how we have acted in the past. If you have scored yourself with a high rating (6 or higher) and cannot identify great examples in your past to support that ranking - you might need to rethink your self rated scores.

Once you have completed the exercise yourself, ask someone whose opinion you value or potential business partners to complete a similar chart with their observations about you and each other. Comparing the results should give you a good idea of skills you have mastered and those which are potential weak areas you might need to address to improve you or your team’s chance of success. Brainstorm potential solutions and be open to the fact that it might come in many forms. One entrepreneur might choose to join business clusters to share ideas another could decide to create a board of advisors. No one path will fit everyone or every business model.

Facing our fears head on will significantly improve our chances of business start-up success. The last thing we want as our businesses begin to grow is to find out that our skills bank is close to running on empty and doing this personal inventory is long overdue and. Begin taking stock of your entrepreneurial skills today!

Article written by Marcia Robinson

Marcia Robinson is the COO for Reel Logix, Inc. a Beverly Hills, California company that makes easy-to-use, affordable scheduling calendar software. The company’s two flagship products are The Reel Production Calendar, a production calendar used in film production, and The Calendar Planner, now used for scheduling, event planning and project management in multiple industries.

I don’t know about you - but my story could be this.

I get up early, 5 am before most of the world gets turned on. Before God turns the lights on, outside! I have plans, I have a project scheduled to do before the world wakens.

Coffee is perking, I turn my computer on, the project to work on is on my desk, which is also giving a yawn and waking up to the smell of coffee.

Distraction.

My computer tells me there is an important email from a colleague. Read it now. I do. He has given me a link to another website I really need to review - now. I do.

Distraction.

It is now 9 am, time for another cup of coffee. And to make my wife her breakfast cup of tea. She loves her cup of tea while doing the bathroom getting ready for the day stuff a wife does.

Distraction.

It is now 9:45 am - must finish up the project that my colleague directed me to before he calls me about 11 am to review.

My personal to do project is patiently sitting on my desk taking another stretch and smiling knowing that sooner or much later I will get to her.

Distraction.

An hour with my colleague on his project well that was not the plan for today. However, it was important.

Distraction.

Noon and I always eat lunch right at 12 noon. Never a minute late either.

This day is going by quickly and really so far all I have accomplished were the Distractions.

Distraction

Afternoon, Oh, the ballgame is getting started. This is a very important game this season. I know I have a priority project sitting on my desk ….. but…….

A Distraction is always a distraction.

My success is following a system and being focused on “this one thing I do”.

Life quickly passes by – with Distractions unless I make certain that PRIORITIES supersedes the Distractions.

Successful Christians do not measure success by the amount of wealth or physical possessions that they acquire but by the depth of their relationship with Christ and the understanding of God’s Wisdom, The Holy Bible.

Regardless of how you measure success, it all starts in your mind…your subconscious mind, to be exact. While most people are familiar with the concept of the subconscious mind, few truly understand how to use its power to create the success (and happiness) that they desire. Remember that we are told in Philippians 2:5 (NKJV), “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” and in Romans 8:6 (NKJV), “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” All of use function on a physical level and our conscious mind. We also have the advantage of the influences on a spiritual level in our subconscious minds. What some call the subconscious, a successful Christian knows to be a powerful functioning spiritual mind influenced by ‘the mind that was in Christ’ or the Holy Spirit of God who gives us the power to succeed and offers us eternal happiness.

To take advantage of this incredibly powerful presence, you must first ready your subconscious mind for the success you are seeking. Without a clear, consistent “picture” of the results you seek, your subconscious mind can actually sabotage even your best efforts. Where do we get this consistent “picture”. We are able to form that picture through constant and diligent study of the Wisdom of God, His Holy Written Word.

Any time there is confusion, your subconscious will strive to help you achieve your goals. That’s why the more concise your goal and your mental image of its results, the better the chances you’ll achieve it. By focusing on the diligent study of God’s Word and a concise concept of what you want to achieve, you’re helping your subconscious mind with the help of the Holy Spirit of God to manifest that result in your physical reality.

It’s very important to monitor what you tell your subconscious verbally and silently. Most people are surprised to find when they actually start to “listen” to the words they use on a daily basis that they are issuing counterproductive “requests” to their subconscious.

Make sure to use positive descriptions when speaking aloud or to yourself silently about your goals. Instead of saying “I won’t be tempted anymore”, phrase your request in a positive way: “I am strong through the strength that Christ gives me.” Our words hold the power of life or death.

Also, it’s important to use a present tense, not a future tense like “I will be strong” as your subconscious takes everything literally. If your request is in the future, you will subconsciously think that nothing needs to change now. You, physically and spiritually, live in the present. “I am strong because I have the strength that Christ gives me.”

Be careful not to use negative words accidentally: such as “I’m not going to be poor anymore.” Your subconscious mind doesn’t understand words like “not”, “doesn’t” or “won’t”. It will automatically delete those words from your request which will almost always create the opposite meaning and results of your goal!

There are many techniques you can use to create clear pictures of your completed goal. Most find that imagining a movie in their mind of what it will be like when you achieve your goal to replay in your thoughts to be very effective. For example, if you’re trying to wipe out your credit card debt, imagine yourself receiving statements from your credit card companies with a $0 balance on the payment section.

Remember, what you focus on expands. You must focus on Christ. “Seek first the kingdom of Heaven and then everything else will be added to you.” If you constantly see yourself overweight, or in debt, that’s what your subconscious mind will continue to create for you in your reality. Study and concentrate on the promises that God has made to you. It’s very simple and takes very little time to mentally produce a “movie” that gives your subconscious a clear idea of what results you expect. With consistent attention and effort toward what you DO expect, you’ll be amazed at the results you can create with your mind!

About the Author:
Pastor Bobby Keating, Founder of the Christian Success Institute http://christian-success-institute.org

The second word that we need to consider is ‘organize’. This idea or concept seems to escape most would-be business owners. It is possibly the most crucial step in building a business and is the concept that is given the least consideration. Organizing is not planning. Planning is mapping out the business by listing everything that you will need to accomplish the goal that you have set in creating a business. Organizing is placing each thing that you have in your business plan or map (your path to success) into a logical, workable and prioritized list of tasks that need to be accomplished in order to reach your goal. Without organization you will spend time working on something that may be low on the priority list and often this can be detrimental to reaching your final goal.

The third word that we need to look at closely is ‘venture.’ Again, relying on the dictionary, ‘venture’ means “An undertaking that is dangerous, daring, or of uncertain outcome.” There are no ’sure’ things. Often people think that they have the perfect plan for the perfect business. This is great but very rare. We are all inundated with email and advertisements, especially on the Internet, which tell us how easy a particular business is. Most promise great success with little to no work or risk. We are promised that we can make untold and vast amounts of money while sitting on our coaches. NOT! As the Internet gets more and more sophisticated, the offers for ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes get bolder and bolder. You must realize and plan for uncertain outcome.

The fourth word that needs attention is ‘assume.’ This often is taking in a negative manner. When we assume something is true without studying all aspects of it, we make grave mistakes. In the context of the dictionary definition of entrepreneur, assume means to accept. We need to be able and willing to accept the consequences of our actions. This means that ‘if’ the venture is a failure we look at our actions and not look for a scapegoat or someone else to blame. Do not assume responsibility until you have thoroughly research and investigated every aspect of the business that holds your interest.

The fifth word is the zinger. ‘Risk’ means “a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune;” Realize that in every effort where there is great reward, there is also risk or the possibility of loss. When we consider investing our time, money and other resources in a business, we need to consider the risk involved - the possibility of lose.

This all boils down to diligence. King Solomon, the wealthiest and wisest man to ever live, has given us several keys to success in his Book of Proverbs. His primary key for becoming a successful person is diligence. Diligence is conscientiousness in paying proper attention to a task; giving the degree of care required in a given situation. If you were to study the lives of the most famous and wealthy people who have passed through this world, you’ll see that all of them have applied Solomon’s Proverbial Keys to Success in their lives and business.

The greatest advice that can be given an aspiring entrepreneur is read and reread Solomon’s Proverbs. If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Become a diligent student and apply what you have learned. “Entrepreneur’ is not a title to be assumed without diligence in every area of life. If you have aspirations of becoming a successful entrepreneur, study Solomon’s principles for success and press on.

Article by Robert Keating

We can define the essence of marketing as understanding your customers’ needs and wants and then developing a plan that addresses those needs. Anyone who owns a business has a desire to ‘grow’ his business. The most effective way to grow or expand a business is to focus on ‘organic growth.’

What do I mean by ‘organic growth?’ We need to realize that a business is a living organism. As a living organism, it must be nurtured. We can let it fend for itself or we can determine what it needs and what we need to do to make it thrive.

We should look at two basic components of marketing to get a better idea of what we need to create a successful business. The first component is developing a ‘marketing plan.’ The second component is the ‘ongoing promotion.’ One mistake that many business owners make is to create a product or service and immediately jump into an advertising campaign. When we define these two basic components, you’ll understand why this mistake can be a disappointing and costly one.

Developing a marketing plan is essential to the well being of your business. We need to first do a little research and analysis. Don’t slap yourself on the forehead in exasperation. This is not as difficult as the name implies. It may take a little time but is well worth every minute.

Let’s begin by looking at a simplified version of ‘marketing analysis.’ We can apply one of Solomon’s Keys to Success here.

Proverbs 1:5 (NASB) “A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,” Wise counsel can be found in many forms. We should also remember, for those of us who think we know best, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” Proverbs 12:15 (NASB)

Marketing analysis involves:

1.) Discovering the groups of potential customers (or markets) that exist,

2.) Determining which groups of customers that you prefer to serve (target markets),

3.) Determining what their needs are,

4.) Deciding which products or services you might develop to meet their needs,

5.) Determining how the customers might prefer to use the products and services,

6.) Learning what your competitors are doing,

7.) Determining the pricing you should use and

8.) Deciding how you should distribute products and services to your target markets.

Various methods of market research are used to find out information about markets, target markets and their needs, competitors, etc. A little Internet research will reveal many sources of specific information. Just remember to target your searches.

After having developed your marketing plan, it’s time to look at ‘ongoing promotions’, which can include advertising, public relations, sales and customer service to name a few. These terms can easily become confusing: advertising, marketing, promotion, public relations and publicity, and sales. These terms are often used interchangeably. However, they refer to different — but similar activities.

Let’s look at a list of quick definition of each term.

1.) Advertising — Advertising is presenting a product (or service) to potential and current customers. Advertising should be focused on one particular product or service. This demonstrates that an advertising plan for one product might be very different from that for another product. Advertising is typically done with signs, brochures, commercials, direct mailings or e-mail messages, personal contact, website banners, etc.

2.) Promotion — Promotion keeps the product in the minds of the customer (product recognition). The ongoing activities of advertising, sales and public relations are often considered aspects of promotions.

3.) Public relations — Public relations includes ongoing activities to ensure the company has a strong and positive public image.

4.) Publicity — Publicity is being mentioned in the media. This is always the review of someone else but can include news releases.

These are only a few terms that are good to learn. The health and well being of a business, your business, is truly determined by the amount of diligent study and the application of the principles that you learn through study. To best know your product or service or customers or competitors, you must develop a sincere determination to be as diligent as possible.

Remember these few examples of Solomon’s Proverbs to help you develop a growing and successful business.

Proverbs 10:4 (NASB) “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”

Proverbs 12:24 (NASB) “The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced labor.”

Proverbs 13:4 (NASB) “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.”

About the Author:
Pastor Bobby Keating, Founder of the Christian Success Institute http://christian-success-institute.org

The Christian Success Institute helps develop Successful Christian through an in depth Success Training Bible Study, an intense study of King Solomon’s Principles for Successful Living, and Courses by Our Successful Christian Coaches.

Plus, there are a lot of people on the internet who are not html savy. By providing code to copy and paste, you make sure their links will be valid. Broken links don’t count, but all valid links do. And if you only get a few more links by having this page on your site, then it’s worth the effort.

A ‘Link To Us’ page should include a variety of icons, banners, thumbnail images and especially text links. Give directions to the lowest common denominator, so don’t be afraid of saying “right-click to save images locally and the upload to your web server”. Put the text links in a textarea input tag so the resulting page displays the HTML you want them to copy and not the link. This also makes it easy for people to copy and paste.

Then all you need to do is put a prominent link saying ‘Link To Us’ or ‘How To Link To Us’ on your site. This then suggests to your readers that they link to you and that you make it easy for them to do so! The power of suggestion along with easy usability will make it even more likely that you will garner some more quality links for your seo efforts.

About the Author:
Visit my blog and learn the art & science of converting your personal computer into an automated personal cash register -Steven Lohrenz. Here is the URL: Internet Business Automation

There’s a quote: “A failure to plan is a plan to fail”. I’ve found it to hold true. When things are done ad hoc or willy-nilly, they almost always end up in the wrong place. A marketing plan can give your online business focus and resolve to accomplish the important things while leaving out the unimportant. If you don’t have a marketing plan, it’s very likely you’re struggling to make money and make your business a success. In this article, I’m going to cover the basics of putting together a marketing plan that will work for you.

The first step is compiling a list of all the tasks you need to accomplish for your marketing efforts. Online this means things like: blog commenting, social networking sites, forum commenting, using StumbleUpon, article submissions, etc. You should be able to come up with a list of 15-20 ways to market your business online fairly quickly. Google “Online Marketing”, if you have any trouble. You must ensure each one is a task with definable objectives. Also make sure they are broken down into their component pieces. An example of a non-task is “Front Page Of Digg” - accomplishing this objective involves a whole slew of other things, writing engaging articles, getting Digged, networking with
other Diggers, etc. Put these tasks all in a spreadsheet.

Now you’ll rank each task. Rank each one on a scale from 1-5 on how important and effective each one is to your marketing goals. People who are focusing on promoting a site via social networking will
obviously have different ranks for tasks than a person who is focusing on blogging. Ensure you have a fair distribution of each number. A list of all ones or fives isn’t going to help you plan where to focus
your time and effort in the forthcoming month.

Now make a plan for the next month. For simplicity, just assume a five day week for the next four weeks. From the list above, sort it so the fives are on top. I suggest putting the fives into the middle of the week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursdays. Mark these tasks down for every week. Now the fours and threes can go out to the edges of the week, most likely every other week. And the twos and ones will get some time at most once a month. When you’re done you should see you’ll be spending the most time on the tasks rated 5 and the least on the tasks ranked one.

Now that we have a bright new shiny plan, act on it. It’s not going to do very much good if it’s sitting around gathering dust! Each day look at your plan and do the tasks on it and what is on it until it is
done. Do not check emails, answer support calls or other tasks. You need to get your marketing done as quickly and efficiently as possible. No distractions.

Once you’ve gone through one month of your plan, take a few hours and determine which tasks moved you closer to your goals and which ones did not. Did you get more traffic, sales or leads from some tasks and none from others. Switch around the rankings for each of the tasks and based on those rankings come up with another plan. Other things may factor into your plan, can’t seem to get up the willpower to write blog posts on Monday’s, but the will is there on Tuesdays? Switch it around then! Keep refining your plan until it’s working the best for you. Then start outsourcing the tasks making you the most money.

Making a marketing plan isn’t very difficult if you take it step by step. And having a plan is very often the difference between success and failure. So start planning for your success today!

About the Author:
Learn how to start and build your own successful & highly profitable Internet Business in 45 days… 100% Free! I’m Steven Lohrenz and I know from personal experience. Earn Money Online

I remember the days before cheerleading uniforms and karate tournaments consumed a large portion of my expendable income - you know the days when you could afford to purchase your wardrobe and makeup from department stores like Macy’s, Dillard’s, or Foley’s. It was at that time that I became Dillard’s Department Store’s number one fan! I was a firm believer that there was no better mascara than Estee Lauder’s More than Mascara, which I faithfully purchased from Dillard’s every few months, and that you could not find a more fashionable, classy, and high quality suit anywhere other than Dillard’s. So, when Dillard’s was included in an upcoming career fair in Tulsa, I was certain a career with Dillard’s was in my near future. I was teaching Business English and Professional Development courses at a small business college, and because I was working evenings, decided a change of pace was just what I needed.

The day of the fair arrived, and I donned my smart, navy suit (purchased from Dillard’s of course), updated my resume, and drove to the career fair. Smart move I thought since Dillard’s associates all wore navy! Once there, I landed an interview with the hiring manager and proceeded to explain to her that I was a Dillard’s fan through and through and accordingly believed a career with Dillard’s was my calling in life. You would have thought I was describing my favorite charity or NFL team by the way I talked! Even though I had absolutely no retail sales experience - or any sales experience for that matter - she hired me on the spot, embarking my short career with Dillard’s. That career was short lived because everyone, regardless of education or experience, begins on the floor, and standing for eight + hours a day was not for me.

What I did take from that experience, however, is that your enthusiasm for the product you represent is the most important feature you can bring to your sales career. Enthusiasm is a magnet, and like a magnet, attracts like forces. What is more, enthusiasm is contagious and breeds additional enthusiasm. Mary Kay Ash, creator of Mary Kay Cosmetics said it this way, “A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.” After all, the best way to get someone excited about the product you offer is to be excited about it yourself. And we all know it’s impossible to ‘fake excitement’ for a product we don’t believe in. When we know without a doubt that we are offering a superior product or service that our prospect could truly benefit from, it becomes much easier to share that enthusiasm and excitement.

Remember what I said earlier about enthusiasm, about it being contagious. Exhibiting enthusiasm about our product is the best way to generate customers who are also enthusiastic about our product. One must believe in the benefits of the product in order to successfully sell the product. I liken it to fundraising. As the former director of a non profit organization, I can’t imagine trying to persuade someone to support a cause that I myself did not believe in. If you don’t believe in your product (or cause), it shows. Would you want to purchase a product from a salesperson who didn’t believe in its value? No one else would either.

By now you might be thinking, “Okay, I can agree with that. But how can I generate that kind of enthusiasm about my product?” Or, if you’re new to direct sales, you might wonder, “How can I find a product that I can truly believe in?” To start with, if you’re already marketing a product that you’re not excited about, it’s possible that you’re marketing the wrong product. Or, it’s also possible that you’re not seeing your product from the right angle. Ask yourself what you’re passionate about, what is truly important to you, and then come up with a way you can relate that to your product. Perhaps you sell makeup or women‘s accessories, but you’re really devoted to building self esteem. We all know that as women, when we look good, we feel good about ourselves. Of course, feeling good about ourselves builds self esteem, and wearing makeup and choosing the right accessories greatly increases the probability that we’ll like the way we look. See the way it works? You’ve got to find a relationship between your passion and your product. Once you make that connection, the process becomes much simpler.

If you’re new to direct sales or are just in the market for a new product, the obvious question to ask yourself is, you guessed it, “What am I passionate about? What do I truly believe in? What do I enjoy doing or helping others do?” Then do your research. Find products that have a direct relationship to your passion. Is good health and fitness a soapbox of your’s? Then find products that improve health. There are numerous companies out there in this category. TriVita, Herbalife, and NutriSystem are just a few of the many great companies offering this type of product. Do you just love to cook? Then try companies like Pampered Chef, Tupperware, or Tastefully Simple. Do you have young children? Are you enthusiastic about quality items for them? Then be sure to research companies such as NestFamily, Discovery Toys, or My Precious Kids. Find companies that match your passion, and yes, there are companies out there that compliment just about any passion you might have. Then compare the company’s value and mission statements, the compensation plans, the training and tools provided, etc., and choose the one that best suits your needs.

My husband and I chose Pre-Paid Legal because we recently spent a small fortune on a legal issue. I remember a casual remark I made to my husband one day: “What would someone who didn’t have the money or at least a way to come up with the money do in our situation?” It wasn’t until our situation was almost over (and paid for!) that we came across an answer. Because of our recent experience, we were sold! In a nutshell, our life experiences, interests, and talents combined with the expectations we have for a home based business should greatly determine which opportunity we choose.

If you’re unsure where to begin your search, try using a search engine such as yahoo, and use key words that include your passion (i.e. home décor) and the words direct sales companies. You can also visit many of the great work at home websites for a comprehensive listing of companies. Again, you can use a search engine and type in the words ‘work at home website’ to find these sites.

You want a product you can view as the key to your customer’s success or the answer to his problem. Believing in your product is the key to developing enthusiasm about your product. And we all know enthusiasm is contagious. Sprinkle it about like grass seed, water it, and then watch your sales grow!

About the Author:
Teresa Carnes lives in Oklahoma and is a work at home wife and mother to two beautiful children. She is an associate for Pre-Paid Legal and Identity Theft Solutions, a company which provides individuals with affordable access to legal protection. To receive additional information about Pre-Paid Legal’s legal service plans or their full or part time business opportunity, you may visit her website or you may contact Teresa by email.

There’s a quote: “A failure to plan is a plan to fail”. I’ve found it to hold true. When things are done ad hoc or willy-nilly, they almost always end up in the wrong place. A marketing plan can give your online business focus and resolve to accomplish the important things while leaving out the unimportant. If you don’t have a marketing plan, it’s very likely you’re struggling to make money and make your business a success. In this article, I’m going to cover the basics of putting together a marketing plan that will work for you.

The first step is compiling a list of all the tasks you need to accomplish for your marketing efforts. Online this means things like: blog commenting, social networking sites, forum commenting, using StumbleUpon, article submissions, etc. You should be able to come up with a list of 15-20 ways to market your business online fairly quickly. Google “Online Marketing”, if you have any trouble. You must ensure each one is a task with definable objectives. Also make sure they are broken down into their component pieces. An example of a non-task is “Front Page Of Digg” - accomplishing this objective involves a whole slew of other things, writing engaging articles, getting Digged, networking with
other Diggers, etc. Put these tasks all in a spreadsheet.

Now you’ll rank each task. Rank each one on a scale from 1-5 on how important and effective each one is to your marketing goals. People who are focusing on promoting a site via social networking will
obviously have different ranks for tasks than a person who is focusing on blogging. Ensure you have a fair distribution of each number. A list of all ones or fives isn’t going to help you plan where to focus
your time and effort in the forthcoming month.

Now make a plan for the next month. For simplicity, just assume a five day week for the next four weeks. From the list above, sort it so the fives are on top. I suggest putting the fives into the middle of the week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursdays. Mark these tasks down for every week. Now the fours and threes can go out to the edges of the week, most likely every other week. And the twos and ones will get some time at most once a month. When you’re done you should see you’ll be spending the most time on the tasks rated 5 and the least on the tasks ranked one.

Now that we have a bright new shiny plan, act on it. It’s not going to do very much good if it’s sitting around gathering dust! Each day look at your plan and do the tasks on it and what is on it until it is
done. Do not check emails, answer support calls or other tasks. You need to get your marketing done as quickly and efficiently as possible. No distractions.

Once you’ve gone through one month of your plan, take a few hours and determine which tasks moved you closer to your goals and which ones did not. Did you get more traffic, sales or leads from some tasks and none from others. Switch around the rankings for each of the tasks and based on those rankings come up with another plan. Other things may factor into your plan, can’t seem to get up the willpower to write blog posts on Monday’s, but the will is there on Tuesdays? Switch it around then! Keep refining your plan until it’s working the best for you. Then start outsourcing the tasks making you the most money.

Making a marketing plan isn’t very difficult if you take it step by step. And having a plan is very often the difference between success and failure. So start planning for your success today!

About the Author:
Learn how to start and build your own successful & highly profitable Internet Business in 45 days… 100% Free! I’m Steven Lohrenz and I know from personal experience. Earn Money Online

Brainstorming is a session of time where you record every idea you have for a particular subject, topic, product, article, etc.

Brainstorming sessions can be on anything. Want to figure out what to write about for your blog? Brainstorm it! I’m going to give you a few rules to having an effective brainstorming session.

1. Define the problem in broad terms - Do not build in assumptions or artificial constraints into the question(s) you are asking. Make the question broad enough to allow the generation of many ideas.
Instead of “How do I pick up an egg to move it to X?” ask - “How can an egg move to location X?”. The former inserts the assumption of picking up - the latter allows for the ideas: allow it hatch and allow the chick to walk to the final position. The question will determine the creativity and uniqueness of the ideas produced during the brainstorming session.

2. There are no limitations on ideas - Throw the laws of physics out the window, open up your business to your personal life. This is not the stage for evaluation. Do not let the phrase - “Come On, Let’s Be Serious” be said during a brainstorming session. Serious is for later. Crazy and idea generation is for now. Crazy ideas will spark tangents that may produce the ideal answer for you and your team, if you nip those ideas in the bud at the beginning you may never reach the ideal solution.

3. Use time instead of count for ideas. Set your self 20-30 minutes for a brainstorming session instead of 100 ideas. The interesting ideas only come when there’s little pressure and you’ve gone through the ordinary ones. Time instead of a count will give you time to break through to those ideas without creating the stress of producing x number of ideas. The time will eventually run out, but you could be stuck for hours trying to get 100 or 500 ideas down. Come back to the problem in another session later if you need to generate more ideas.

4. Record every idea. Every idea needs to be written or typed up so the ideas can be evaluated later or the session restarted. Nothing is evaluated at this stage, so keep everything. If there are some ideas not being recorded, you’re evaluating them. Stop! You will need some tool that can capture the ideas quickly. Once you get your team on a roll, you don’t want them slowed down by the tools you use.

If you follow these 4 simple guidelines for brainstorming, you should have no problem coming up with a wealth of ideas for whatever problems you are facing in your business.

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Learn how to start and build your own successful & highly profitable Internet Business in 45 days… 100% Free! I’m Steven Lohrenz and I know from personal experience. Earn Money Online

The most effective way to generate links and traffic to your website is by submitting articles
to ezine or newsletter owners. Most internet marketers fail to show great results when article marketing because they fail to follow a few simple rules to make their articles stand out from the clutter.

The starting point of any good article is the headline. You should spend a good portion of your time
on the headline itself. Make sure it grabs a passer’s attention and it isn’t something someone can say ho-hum to. It should make the user want to know more about what you are writing about. If you can’t get the person to start reading your article, it doesn’t really matter what is written in the article itself. Again, spend some time on the headline, it’s worth it.

Next, your article needs to informative and well written. The user should want to read the entire article. Put a unique slant on your topic. Throw a bit of your personality into your article. You aren’t
writing for a computer, you want humans to actually read it and finish it! Then check it for spelling and grammar errors. If it seems it’s written by a 2nd grader, nobody is going to trust what you say!

Now, you’ll want to send out unique versions to each publisher. The duplicate content penalty isn’t a myth. The real name should be the omitted results penalty, but under any name it hurts your chances of creating back links that count and driving traffic. Create 3 different versions of your article and get a software tool to combine them into a unique coherent whole.

Finally send out your articles to as many publishers as possible. There are dozens of software packages and services available to submit your article, though only a handful while send out unique content automatically. You can find some though, including free ones. Once you have the software, spend at least a hour a week building up your list of websites, newsletters and other publishers. Don’t stop until you have at least a list of 5,000.

Once you do these things you will find the search engines love you more, traffic will flow to you and you’ll have more back links. All these things for just a few extra minutes at your computer and a
little elbow grease. Hardly a cost at all. Stand out from the clutter by taking action today.

About the Author:
Steven Lohrenz has been marketing online for several years now. His most powerful traffic generator is article marketing. He offers a free tool to do unique article marketing. You can get it here:
href=”http://www.uniquearticlemarketing.com”>Unique Article Submission Software

When I started practicing Aikido 2 years ago, every time I stepped onto the mat, I felt like a club footed monkey after a lobotomy. I was bad. Very bad. Nothing went right. I didn’t know how to roll, fall, attack, turn, or simply keep my balance. My Kote Gaeshi looked more like Kote Wussie and Ikkyo was more Sicko.

Hardly anything done in Aikido is what a normal person would choose as a first option. It takes a lot of practice to overcome the basic instincts of avoiding punches and kicks, instead stepping into them. Do you know how much confidence it takes to realize just when your attackers think they have you where they want
you, they just gave you a great opportunity to introduce them to the Earth… very suddenly.

In an online business, it’s much the same. You’re going to start out doing everything badly. The first product will not be perfect. It will contain typos and squeaks and whines. You’ll say to much in some places and too little in others. The conversion rate on your first sales page will probably be less than 1%. You’ll list features instead of benefits. When you start blogging, the posts will be short and me tooish or too long and cumbersome. Your articles won’t contain the pizzaz needed to bring traffic. Traffic and sales will be slow for a long time.

But it’s important you do them AND you release them. What you’re looking for at this time is feedback. It’s similar to the time I was performing a technique (poorly) and my partner thought I should have been doing it better. So she (all 5′ 90lbs of her) countered and introduced me to the mat, sharply.

In an online business: Did the sales page convert? Where is the traffic coming from? How can I get more? Am I getting a lot of returns? What could I have done better?

Each time did I survive and learn my lesson? Yes. Have I had similar lessons since then? Of course, both in Aikido and in my online business. Improvement is the key. Focus on getting better, not how terrible you are today.

Here’s 3 reasons why being bad at something is good:

1. For the ideas. Everything you have problems doing is a potential product/blog post/article - once you find an answer. Don’t understand what FTP is? There’s a blog post. Did you find a nifty combo of techniques for bringing traffic to your site? There’s an e-book. Can’t find a plugin to display a collapsible list of pages in WordPress - develop the software to do it. My suggestion: If you’re having problems with something - WRITE IT DOWN! Put it in a text document specifically for product ideas or write it in your personal journal. I
personally keep a list of product ideas in a Writeboard in Basecamp.

2. You get better at it by doing. Everyone was once a beginner. Leonardo Da Vinci probably once drew in stick figures but he went on to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But, you don’t get better at something by reading about it, you only get better by doing. My suggestion: Consider everything between now and when you consider yourself a master to be nothing more than practice. If it’s just practice, then there’s no pressure, right? Now get out there and practice.

3. It’s fun. Maybe it’s just me, but I find learning to be fun. You can’t learn about things you’ve already mastered, so most of the things you need/want to learn about you’re going to do badly! And everyone is bad at something. My suggestion: Children find everything fascinating. Adopt an a child like attitude towards your tasks. Enjoying the learning process is probably why children learn so fast and innately. Make the discovery process fun.

So get out there and be horrible at something. If you keep at it, in a couple of months/years, you’ll actually be good at it. That’s how the masters got to be masters.

About the Author:
“Automate traffic and link building to your blog with Steven Lohrenz’s blog carnival submission service. I use it on my blog and it’s fantastic!” - Steven Lohrenz, Blog Traffic And Links