(Network marketing) During Shaky Tmes, Be Careful What You Cut
No commentsBy Robert Schumacher
When a small business cuts back advertising, it is like tossing kerosene on a fire (in this case, faltering sales). If promotion is considered a soft expense many small businesses reduce the size or frequency of their advertising.
Big mistake.
Small businesses should resist cutting back on anything their customers will notice or that will drive them away or fail to bring them in or back.
The No Cut Back List should include:
*Maintain portions at the same price;
*Resist reducing the quality of your products and services;
*Make sure your staff is knowledgeable and caring and
*Provide hassle free returns and adjustments.
Add advertising to your No Cut Back List.
The deeper-pocketed big boxes can and do cut back by indiscriminately reducing payroll, closing under-performing locations, slashing prices, and generally ing consumers off . . . all of which spell opportunity for the more tightly-niched small businesses.
When the economic light starts blinking RED, the savvy small business owners can make some hay (increase marketing share)by helping customers and prospects understand how their business can do a better job than their competitor down the street.
Word of mouth by itself simply will not cut it in tough times. Effective advertising will.
Four dollar gasoline and two dollar loaves of bread are taking a larger bite out the wallets of all of us . . . but people do and will continue to buy what they want or need . . . especially from businesses that back up their advertising with over-the-top service and quality products and services.
Many consumers have cut back on discretionary items but they are still spending.
In a shaky economy, buyers become more picky about where they shop and more selective about allocating their dollars. Small businesses have to work harder to get their cash.
Curtail and cut out the shotgun ads aimed at no one in particular! When the Ad Circular Monsters (big boxes) are hawking price and closing check out registers at the same time, small business guerillas can move in and build their own customer base. They can if they continue to advertise but not when they pull back or out.
Guerilla marketers often maximize the effects of their print and broadcast ads by reproducing their advertised offerings on quick printed hand-outs (flyers) and on jumbo copies of their ads strategically placed inside their stores and in their windows . . . thereby adding impact and legs to advertised promotions.
Well run small businesses do not furlough good help. Instead they get every member of their team re- focused. Be honest and frank. If sales are down, say so. Cut loose non-performing employees. Redeploy more people to the front lines–sales and marketing. Identify and eliminate busy work. Get out of the office and on the street or the sales floor.
Like advertising, resist cutting employee perks. As tempting as it may be, eliminating free coffee and bagels or holiday parties can make employees feel undervalued and potentially lead to losing them. Small extras tend to be taken personally. Retaining perks maintains employee confidence in your company and may even inspire them to go the extra mile.
Take good care of your loyal clients along with your keeper employees. It costs less to retain a valuable existing customer than to find a new one. On the other hand, fire customers that cost you money. Figure out why customers come into your business in the first place as well as what will keep them coming back.
When the going gets tough, be smart enough to ask for help from others. There is remarkable strength in new and different ideas. Ask your customers–How can we better serve your needs? What additional needs could we serve? While you are at it, ask your employees the same questions.
Stop being busy being busy. Get strategic. Slow down. Think about your own situation and ignore gloom and doom headlines. Break up those lofty longer range game plans into 90-day action plans. See to it that every one of your team members share accountability for implementing the plan at hand. Make it a big deal when the team meets a stated goal.
Buy your outside vendors a cup of coffee to discuss ways that might benefit both of your businesses and cut costs at the same time. Printers, suppliers, media, etc. Brainstorm ideas that will keep your businesses percolating even when coffee is $10 a pound and rising.
When tough times hit, the primary goal of small business owners should be to not only survive but to position themselves to thrive. Cut expenses and reallocate your dollars by daring to invest more in marketing and advertising. Going this route is good business for small business.
Bob Schumacher books and articles give entrepreneurs a clear coffee-shop English perspective on how to steer their business or profession into the top 20% who achieve 80% of the business and profits. Visit http://www.20do80.com for a complete directory of his articles and books.
Marketing Techniques For Your Success In Business
How To Sell Your Internet Business For A Profit
By Chris Simpson
If you are in a situation where you want to sell your business, whether this is something that you want to do immediately or simply at some time in the future, you’ll find that there are several things that you can do to increase the value of your business to the point where other people will be all about buying it. If you find that you are in situation where the sale of your business is on your mind, take a look at some of the steps below to get you started.
1. Make a solid client list
If you are a business with a number of different clients that you will be leaving, you’ll find that one thing that you can do is to make a client list that you can sell somewhere else. You’ll find that many similar businesses, several of whom where once your rivals, are quite interested in purchasing your clients in an aboveboard manner. You’ll find that doing this can make sure that your clients are not left in the lurch when you do depart.
2. Keyword optimization
When you are in a situation where you are looking to sell the website as well as everything else, make sure that it is a very attractive website. You’ll find that if your website is easy to find that it will be much more attractive. Take the time to make sure that you know who is coming to your website and why, and you might have a good idea of who might be interested when it comes to figuring out what you can sell your website for!
3. Good name recognition
It is easier to have good name recognition than you think. You’ll find that if you can simply take the time to make sure that your website and your products are fairly well known in your industry that there will be plenty of people who are looking for a way to capitalize on that. Take the time to make sure that you are in a good place in terms of your industry. If the name is recognizable, you’ll find that there are plenty of reasons to move forward in this direction.
At the end of the day, simply remember to make sure that you keep looking. Take the time to explore every possible venue of sale, and remember that everything must go! Get started with some steps to make your business worthwhile, and remember that you want to make sure that you are moving forward quickly in order to do so.
Chris Simpson is dedicated to helping people find honest and legitimate work at home jobs and home based business opportunities. Find a legitimate work at home opportunity and start working from home today at: http://www.HomeNetPro.com
Is The Best Rated Home Business Necessarily The Best For You?
By Ben Needles
It seems like there are so many best rated home business opportunities around. Each says that it can make you money. But, even with the countless millionaires produced, would that so called best rated home business even make you $20k, $50k or even $100k?
We see the glossy brochures, the big charts showing potential incomes, we hear the testimonials from people going from rags to riches with a certain best rated home business, but is this really how it can be for you? Lets cut the hype, and look at the truth of the matter.
Lets look at those so called best rated home business opportunities and consider for a moment the position. Consider a best rated home business is one which has many recommendations, this means that it must be working for some people. But, this does not necessarily mean it works for everyone. Because we know many will fail. But why do they fail in the first place, even though this opportunity has been rated as the best rated home business?
There will only ever be 3 stories that come out from those home business opportunities, whether they are rated the best or even the worst rated home business opportunities. This is the one who joins and soon leave, claiming it is a scam; those who watch, and instead have too much fear about it being a scam; and those who make it, and make it in a big way.
The reason people fail in the best rated home business opportunities is that they either dived in for the big money or they joined because they thought it would be easy. Either way it generally is for the money aspect. However, this is not all of the people, and it is worth looking at both of these people - the successes and the failures.
We can learn a lot by looking at and considering why some fail and some succeed, and succeed in a big way. Usually the ones who fail have not thought about the amount of work that will be required to make lots of money. Instead they join because of the low cost, and when problems crop up, they leave. It is difficult to go through those initial hurdles, and it is easier to go back to a day job.
The successes however are an interesting bunch. They dont generally have lots of money when they join a best rated home business. Instead they have determination, and also they know it will take time and effort. What they do is go about the business in a different way. The approach is usually to serve, and be of value.
They constantly learn, and gradually jump over the hurdles. They have invested a lot of time into the best rated home business and as a result the opportunity really becomes an opportunity and makes them a lot of money.
About the Author (text)
Find the best rated home business opportunities by visiting http://www.successu.co.uk or http://www.businesstobusinessportal.info
(Marketing strategies) From Small Business To Big Business: Subway
No commentsBy Cash Miller
The world is full of sandwich shops. Seemingly they are on every corner and within every strip mall. But there are a few that have managed to stand out from the crowd. They have in fact become so successful that they are known all around the world. Subway is just such a chain. In fact as far as franchises are concerned they are now the third largest in the world. Trailing only Yum! Brands and McDonald’s in total number of stores being operated. For those people looking to buy a franchise this one certainly has some things going for it.
So how did it all start? Well it all started with a thousand dollar loan from family friend Peter Buck to a 17 year old kid. Fred De Luca was the kid in question. At the time he was trying to raise money for college and thought that starting a small business might be a good way of doing it. He had aspirations of becoming a doctor at the time which is what Peter Buck Ph D. was. Hence the official corporate name of Doctor’s Associates Inc. which has absolutely nothing to do with any medical organization anywhere.
As soon as the doors were opened the business was started pouring in. Originally they had named the business Pete’s Submarines but over the radio it came out sounding like Pizza Submarines. So they soon changed the name to Pete’s Subway and eventually just Subway. Regardless of the name they definitely had a hit on their hands. From that first location they have grown to over 29,000 locations as of 2008. And they operate in 86 different countries all over the world. Truly they have become a global force in the fast food industry.
Subway is also responsible for one of the best known advertising campaigns in recent memory. Using Jared Fogle the college student that lost a whopping 245 pounds while eating Subway sandwiches and exercising. Their timing could not have been much better as America was in the midst of a health conscious craze. Still today Subway uses Jared to promote their products.
Each year Entrepreneur Magazine puts out its list of the top 500 franchise opportunities in business. And Subway despite some past problems here and there consistently ranks at the top of the list. In fact for 2008 they were ranked number two along with being ranked the third fastest growing franchise and the number one global franchise going.
What started with a humble beginning has blossomed into a global powerhouse that shows no signs of slowing down. Even the simplest of businesses can still do things better than their competition. So never think that just because your business idea is not new or seemingly innovative enough that you still can’t do it better than the next guy. In business you look to gain an edge over the competition and produce better results than they do. If you do then even the simplest of business models can achieve great success.
Cash Miller is an experienced entrepreneur and speaker who has spent over a decade as a small business owner. His years of experience in small business cover a variety of topics. If you are looking for more small business help please check out http://www.smallbusinessdelivered.com
Marketing Techniques For Your Success In Business
(Marketing consultant) Who can apply for an SBA Business Loan?
No commentsBy Irish Taylor
There is no doubt that small businesses play a big role in the growth and development of a nations economy. The government is well aware of this fact. And with this in mind, the government has put up the Small Business Administration or the SBA to support small businesses in the United States. This agency was founded in 1953 in accordance with the Small Business Act.
It is important to understand however, that the SBA does not directly provide financial loans or business loans. The SBA was designed to assist smaller businesses whose loan applications were declined by banks or private lenders. If youve tried applying for a business loan before and your application was rejected, you can contact the SBA for help. In turn, the SBA will be the one to assist you in finding the right lender who would be willing to grant you the loan you need.
There are 5 business loan programs available through the SBA. These are the Loan Guarantee Program for start-up and growing businesses; the 504 Fixed Asset Financing Program for business construction projects and land purchases; the MicroLoan Program which amounts up to $35,000; the Economic Development Program which provides free counseling and low-cost training; and the 8(a)-Business Development Program for those who are considered as socially and economically disadvantaged small business owners.
SBA Loan Restrictions
The approval of your loan depends on four basic elements- the type of your business, the size of your business, the purpose of your loan, and special circumstances.
To be approved, the applicant must be the owner or must have made a reasonable investment in the business. It should be a small business, meaning it should be independently owned and dominant in size. The business loan must be use for purchasing business equipment, stocks, real estate, for renovation, or as a working capital. Special Circumstances applies to business franchises, clubs, farms, fishing boats, schools, etc. The SBA has set special rules and regulations if a business falls to qualify under this category.
An SBA loan cannot be used to pay off existing debts or delinquent taxes. In some cases however, a business can be approved if it can present that refinancing would be beneficial for the company and that these debts were not a result of uncontrolled spending or financial mismanagement.
Who else are not qualified for an SBA loan? Certain business types are disqualified and these are businesses with questionable foundation or illegal activities. Examples are gambling businesses, pyramid schemes, lending activities, real estate investments, and the like. Non-profit and religious organizations are also not acceptable.
In summary, remember that:
* in order to be considered for an SBA loan, you must first have been turned down or rejected by a commercial business loan lender;
* the SBA does not directly provide business loans but coordinates with lenders and financial institutions on behalf of small businesses;
to get approved, a business must be able to pass the SBA requirements and guidelines for small business.
Irish Taylor is a bussiness loan consultant with SBA Loans for Startup Business
and has been providing consumers and business owners with startup business financing since 1992. For years she has helped people with credit and loan problems especially pertaining to business start up, SBA Loans
and Unsecured Loans
. Copyright 2008
Google Adsense: Where to Place Ad blockss on Your Web Pages
By Rahim Abu Fattah
This is one of the best parts of the whole Google Adsense experience. No one else gets to make this decision except you. Its your page. You get to decide how many ( up to 3 ads per page), what colors and shapes you will use and on what part of the page the ad will be placed. Should you place your ads at the top or bottom? In the middle of the text? To the left or right?
The most important decision should be based on the needs of the visitors to your site? What are they looking for? Are they there to read or merely to browse. If they are there to read an entire article, say, you might try placing your ads at the bottom of the page so they will have something to do next. Some publishers swear by placing the ads at the top left of the page because they think customers look there first.
The fun thing is experimenting with all the possibilities. Try different ad locations and different colors for a week and note the differences in your reports. When you hit on something successful, youll see the difference.
Profile of Bloggerparty.com For Those Who May Want To Use it For Google Ads
Blogger Party is another blog hosting website where you can make money with Google Adsense. You create an account and use the publisher id you got when you created your Google Adsense account. If you have not done that yet, that is the first step to making money with your blogs.
At bloggerparty.com, targeted Google Adsense ads will be displayed on your blog pages. Fifty percent of that time, the ads will have your Google Adsense publishers ID and the other fifty percent of the time they will have Blogger Partys Adsense ID or split between them and the person who referred you. Thats right, referrals get 25% of the ad time, which comes out of Blogger Partys share and not the original bloggers or the referrals.
Blogger Party promises party points any time you write something or comment on someone elses blog. They dont do anything as yet, but later you will be able to trade them in for prizes according to Blogger Partys admin.
You’ll find more info on Adsense at http://mytinshed.x10hosting.com/wordpress/ and our BRAND NEW Viral Advertising System http://hotinfo.000webhost.info/affiliate_links/HyperAdvertiserGold.html
The key to business success is the professional translation
By Clint Jhonson
Finding the appropriate translation service and using it is to be regarded as the key element when it comes to having a successful business abroad. For instance, a professional swedish translation can make the difference when dealing with your Swedish clients and associates. Even the private customers are likely to benefit from this opportunity.
But for the businesses with various overseas interests, the professional translation can lead to important deals. You have to be perfectly aware that using a professional translator will save your time and money. On the contrary, by using a very poor translation service, you can affect your business in a negative manner. Such poor services can have devastating and even long-lasting effects on your private business or private financial interests.
Therefore, you have to be aware that finding and using the good translation service is to be regarded as an imperative matter. For instance, there are plenty of agencies that can provide you with a swedish translation; such agencies have enough experience in order to deliver polished and accurate copies of the business documents in no time. Actually, the accuracy of these professional agencies is to be regarded as a sort of genuine hallmark that will guarantee your business success when it comes to dealing with foreign customers and associates. The accuracy promised results from the combination of experience, dedication and use of project management software. Delivering such promises means you have found the right company to work with.
Therefore, it is highly important for you to search for the appropriate agency that can come along with the necessary translation solutions for your business documents. It is important to choose the company that can come along with skilled and trained professionals because this professional team is likely to make the difference for your future business translations. By using a professional agency, you may rest assured that you are going to be provided with a translator who will suit your business projects in no time and without wasting your money or efforts.
By hiring a translator who works in his own native language, you can rest assured that you are going to be provided with a sort of in/depth knowledge when it comes to learning more about the local culture. For instance, if you are interested in providing your company with professional swedish translation, you will have to find an agency that can come along with the necessary skilled resources in order to take proper care of your business documents.
By using a professional swedish translation, you will achieve a, effective, polished and accurate copy of all your original documents. The core message will thus be conveyed because a professional team will work together in order to achieve a professional final translation. So, if you are interested in hiring a professional agency, you can start by browsing the internet in order to get a closer look at all the available translation companies that can amaze you with their quality services.
You may also pay attention to the recommendations coming from previous customers in order to make your mind. You should not rush into choosing the first agency you find when browsing the internet. On the contrary, you should take your time and make the wisest decision ever because your own business is at stake. When taking a decision, you will also have to consider the money involved. Is the company reputed? Are their prices the best? Do they offer the most attractive rates for Nordic languages, meaning Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian or Danish? Answer all these questions and then you can be certain you have found the right company to take care of your translation needs!
The business translation is extremely important especially when you are dealing with overseas customers. For instance, if you have Swedish associates or customers, you should provide yourself with a professional swedish translation in order for the core message to be conveyed.
Marketing Techniques For Your Success In Business
(Marketing) Microsoft Partner Information
No commentsBy Robert Melkonyan
What can technology do for your business? Is a question many business owners often ask themselves but since they are not IT professionals they might not have a clear idea about what IT solutions are available and how can those solutions can help them increase their revenue and profitability margin of their operation.
The previous paragraph is not meant to depict the average business owner as someone who knows very little about technology, the fact is that most business owners have a clear sense about technology and how it can benefit their bottom line which in most cases is to satisfy their clients, customers and generate constantly increasing revenues.
Corporations such as Microsoft know the basic needs of businesses which utilize their platform as a way to automate certain tasks and increase efficiency but the fact of the matter is that this Corporation can offer a lot more to small, medium and even large businesses or corporations through a partnership program that provides different tiers based upon your level of success; this means that the partnership can be adjusted and customized according to your project.
The purpose of the Microsoft partnership is to help businesses operate in a more efficient way by using customized tools and applications developed by certified professionals who have the knowledge to implement solutions in order to get more clients, drive more sales and increase your company’s revenue.
The range of solutions offered through the Microsoft partnership program include (and are not limited to):
– Building alliances and discovering opportunities throughout the network of partners
– Increasing profitability and performance through cost-effective solutions
– The ability to capitalize on the demand for new products and technologies
– Generate more sales and leads by taking advantage of the Microsoft marketing network
As you can see there is an affordable entry point for businesses that want to take advantage of Microsoft technologies and solutions in order to become more efficient and increase their revenue, this translates into more capital that can be used for expansion and increased dividends for shareholders.
To learn more about the Microsoft partnership program and gain expert knowledge from a qualified Microsoft Certified Solution Provider visit our website at http://www.xellentsolutions.com
5 Mistakes People Make on MySpace and How to Avoid Them
By Topher Michael Young
MySpace is a notorious social networking site bringing bands, film, businesses, and ordinary people seeking friends together. MySpace has, in just a few short years, revolutionized the way businesses and celebrities interact with the general public. This does not mean, however, that mistakes are not made. I have listed the top 5 common mistakes that many people who use MySpace make that could potentially cost your friends and even business.
1) Using MySpace as Your Website
This is probably one of the worst mistakes that people make when building their MySpace profiles. MySpace is a social network meant to interact with potential clients and customers as well as fans, not to be the primary method of sales, etc. Having an officially registered URL online brings credibility and solidifies to your customers that you are indeed, a real business.
2) Embedding lots of media
Nothing says I have no clue what I am doing on MySpace like a page full of Video clips, animated GIF files and multiple bits of streaming audio. Even with a personal page, this is annoying. Not only that, but the page becomes extremely hard to load. Unless you are running a YouTube site, which shouldnt be utilized through MySpace anyways, the need for a television network on your page is pretty slim.
4) Too much is not always good
The profile generators are nice, but keeping all the flashy backgrounds and such to a minimum is key. Tiling the background so your entire page looks like spinning dollar signs, while having green text makes seeing and reading your information not only difficult, but annoying. Remember, moderation is key.
5) Its a Novel
Unless you are an author submitting entire books on your page, which would be pretty pointless to say the least. Keep your general information to a minimum. No one wants to read a novel about you. If they did, you should be selling biographies.
2) Using MySpace as your email
MySpace comes equipped with a personal messaging system however, as a business you should be communicating via email as much as possible. The messaging system should be kept for close friends and maybe even enemies.
MySpace can be a valuable tool to utilize as a business entrepreneur or simply for personal use. If you are a business owner, band or film looking to connect with your fans and clientele, MySpace is making this easier as well as very easy to make mistakes with. Use it well.
Topher Young is a self taught artist and MySpace addict. His website http://www.tophermichaelyoung.com features an online gallery of his current works, including links to his newest project YourSpace, a Custom MySpace design company specializing in custom layout and profile designs. You can view the MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/yourspace_designs.
I highly recommend visiting here for more info about network
Marketing Techniques For Your Success In Business
Guru Tactics And What They Really Mean
By Kevin Sinclair
If you’re in the internet marketing field, “guru” is a word you probably hear a lot of. In fact, you are probably well aware of who these gurus are. While most of them are very personable and nice, there are some who are quite the opposite. Even the nicest among them will employ the following tactics. You can have a clearer picture of what these gurus can really offer you once you are aware of them.
You’ve certainly seen something along the lines of: “You can work only 2-3 hours a day…” in a sales letter or on a website. Of course, the truth is if you begin your internet marketing career by only working a few hours a day, you are going to be disappointed with your income, to say the least. If this is going to be a hobby rather than a career, then 2 to 3 hours of work a day is perfectly fine. However, if you want this to be your career, than you are going to have to work far more than this, at least as you start out.
What gurus are showing you is the end product of the hard work which goes into internet marketing - they already have gotten to the point where they have other people handling the day to day tasks so that they can work only 2-3 hours a day. When they were just beginning though, you bet they worked hard to get their business off the ground.
This is one of the guru tactics you have to watch out for. They’ll tell you all about where they are now, but hardly anything about how they got to that point.
A guru will almost always leave out important parts of the picture. While any guru will tell you to write articles to build back links to your site - so you write articles and submit them, or perhaps use PLR articles. You check your traffic after a week - only 40 views! Another few days go by and you are up to 70. You decide to quit using PLR articles, thinking that original content will work better for you. You wait another week and look at the traffic; it’s down. So what are you doing wrong? Wasn’t article marketing supposed to be the best way to build your business? You’ve looked at the articles the gurus write - they’re not very good in many cases, yet they are getting thousands of views.
The gurus never told you the most important thing about article marketing. Which is…
The article that you write must be properly salted with keywords, especially long tail keywords. This is how you get lots of traffic. Have you ever heard a guru say that in one of their courses? Probably not.
This is the final guru tactic - half truths. They will tell you things like “I earned $67,000 in my first month of internet marketing”. Is this true? Maybe; but that’s not all there is to it. The full picture is they made $67,000 in a month, but spent 6,000 in expenses of all sorts. While spending $6,000 to make $67,000 is a great return on investment, most of us don’t have $6,000 to spend in a single month when beginning.
The courses offered by most of these gurus include a lot of hidden costs which their promotional materials won’t tell you about. Unless you’ve got a lot of money to begin with, you probably won’t be able to spend the amount you’ll need to while waiting for your revenue stream to grow.
These are all tactics which gurus will employ in the effort to get your business. Armed with the knowledge of the truth behind these claims, you can make a better decision about how to respond.
Discover Kevin Sinclair’s system for making profits regardless of whether anyone joins your network marketing business.
Really Simple Syndication is a Really Simple Internet Marketing Tool (internet marketing)
No commentsBy Terry Leslie
We keep hearing about these RSS feeds, which means Really Simple Syndication, but so few people really understand their importance as an internet marketing tool or how they play such a significant role in conjunctions with other internet marketing tools. No matter how many internet marketing tools that you are currently using, there are always better ones, faster ones, and more effective ones that come onto the scene. And while you can live without even really understanding some of them, RSS has made the list of vital internet marketing tools among the top rated internet marketers on the information superhighway. Perhaps you should be looking into using them as well.
The basic function of an RSS feed is saving information. It can be easily used on any website for saving updates. If someone enters a website and changes their address for future reference, most often it is an RSS feed that captures that information and maintains it for further reference. Additionally, any time you are seeking updated information, an RSS feed will deliver it to you without any wait time, unlike mailing lists and e-mail updates, these feeds allow for instant communication once they are established. A very simple concept can turn into a pretty significant internet marketing tool for those with just a small amount of savvy and wherewithal.
Any website can make use of these feeds, although the most popular of the potential uses is still linked feeds in campaigns involving e-mail and blogging, or through personal indexing sites. Really simple syndication is very easily linked to the necessary (and free to download) aggregator to help in the reading process. All of this specialized technology allows you to communicate and maintain instant updates that plug into everything to help your business grow and allow you to keep yourself in the top of loop. This access to instant information may seem inconsequential, however for those with hefty competition, timing can prove to be everything.
Aggregators are fabulous tools for maintaining your feeds and accepting only the information that is vital to you and your needs. In fact, you can maintain information indefinitely or you can opt out of a feed at any time. Since most websites have an obvious link for all feed, establishing the connection is just as easy as dropping a connection when you move onto other things. This is so much simpler than trying to unsubscribe from a stubborn e-mail list. RSS feeds eliminate the need for e-mail lists and frustrating opt in and opt out plans.
The aggregator provides you with a multitude of services all in one neat little package. In fact, you can view a message once and then opt to have all previously viewed information hidden unless you call it back up, all of your similar RSS feeds can be combined into one view page and of course, special options are becoming more and more popular as the feeds grow in demand.
An aggregator can also help simplify the issue of choosing your format. The aggregator is sort of like an interpreter, something that can read through the wide variety of possible factors and report to you the information you are seeking. This is also true in reverse when you are sending out the information and using it as an internet marketing tool. This also eliminates the endless hours of attempting to determine for yourself which format is suitable and why. The aggregator can simply provide you with interpretations that make format selection a much simpler process.
RSS feeds seem like they are very handy for users, but of course you’re probably wondering what benefit does the RSS feed bring to you as a simple internet marketing tool. In a word; visibility. Traffic doesn’t flow to your site just because you put a site out there. All websites need a certain level of visibility in order to remain competitive. As an internet marketing tool, an RSS feed provides you with a higher level of visibility, and in fact, can help by pass the struggle for a top slot on a Google search page. Users on the other end can be delivered your information without having to bother with a Google search or even explore the great big internet to find you. Rather, it’s like delivering your information right to them without dealing with spam and without having to wait to be asked. They connected to you somewhere, so you aren’t inflicting unwanted information upon them. As an internet marketing tool, this can be invaluable and incredibly simple. Even if you don’t completely understand RSS feeds, getting your feet wet with one can help you learn the process and understand how it can be a highly effective internet marketing tool.
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Marketing Techniques For Your Success In Business
Welcome to ‘My World’ (marketing strategies)
No commentsBy Drew020
My World’ is eBay’s attempt to jump on the MySpace bandwagon. Notice any resemblance? MySpace. MyWorld. You can’t blame eBay for doing this, but they’re about 2 or 3 years late in Internet terms, which in the real business world probably equates to more like 5 years. Things happens very fast on the Internet.
This is one of the problems with companies that are so large. They get bogged down with their own bureaucracy. Compare eBay to a small, fast moving company like dig, fark, or friendster - when these companies make decisions that take a couple of days to implement, eBay goes through at least 3 months of planning to accomplish something similar.
It’s a disease that most large companies have. No one wants to put their butt on the line to accomplish something different, instead there’s a loooooong chain of command, protocols to be followed, and even once it gets approved the huge teams of programmers simply put the proposal in their queue’, to be acted on at their convenience, when they’ve ironed out the latest set of bugs.
The Opportunity
Looking at the positive, My World’ does offer an opportunity for the smart eBayer to promote their business (rather than themselves, which stupidly the majority of eBayers still do my dog’s called spot’ etc etc, you know the drill).
Each registered user has their own my world’ which consists of 6 modules: Favorites, Blog, Listings, Bio, Store, and Reviews & Guides. Favorites’ shows a list of your most recent searches, sellers and stores. Use this carefully because at any given time, your most recent searches will be available for all to see. Of course, you can turn the feature off if you like, but it makes sense to use it. My advice is to use an account for searching that’s separate from your selling account. That way, you can save
searches on your main account that will stay on there permanently, does that make sense? Obviously those searches will be for your own products, as an additional way of promoting them.
The blog module is fairly self explanatory. Set your blog entries to show long excerpts’ to maximize your keyword opportunities for SEO.
The listings module is also self explanatory, it displays your choice of current listings. Again, use the widest number available, or you might also want to feature a specific item, but be sure to update it.
The advice about keywords applies equally to your Bio. Ignore the predefined sections and fill them with keyword rich content.
If you have a store, it makes sense to promote it, and it’s super easy to do that in this module.
Finally, the reviews and guides module allows you to display up to 5 of each type, so use them all, and uncheck the boxes marked display the titles only’ for obvious reasons.
My World’ is free, so it makes sense to spend ten minutes to set it up and occasionally monitor it.
http://andrewlock.com/
http://myauctionacademy.com/
http://sendmyfreegift.com/
W.I.I.F.M.
By Drew020
In case you were wondering, WIIFM stands for what’s in it for me’ and that’s the subject of the column this month.
To some readers the theory of what we’re about to discuss will be obvious to you, but I challenge you to examine your eBay listings to make sure you’re implementing what you already know you should be doing! For others of you, this’ll be a new lesson.
I happened to be driving along the other day behind another car that had an ad in its rear window. The ad read something like this:
Guitar Lessons
Become:
Intermediate in 5 months
Advanced in 11 months
GUARANTEED!
Call 123-456-7890
The ad stuck had something that the vast majority of ads don’t have: the what’s in it for me’ factor. In other words a compelling benefit.
I’ll explain further: Again, with this example of guitar lessons, most ads offering guitar lessons read something like this:
Guitar Lessons
NGI qualified instructor
Call 123-456-7890
The qualified instructor’ line elicits a so what’ response by the reader because it’s not a benefit. People don’t buy a product or service based on it’s features; they buy the BENEFIT that the product or service will bring them.
To illustrate: would you rather buy a stunning, black cocktail dress’ or a stunning black cocktail dress that will make you feel like a princess, turning everyone’s heads the next time you walk into a Broadway theater.’
Would you rather buy the latest 3 chip digital camcorder’ or the camcorder that automatically edits your shaky footage so well that your friends might actually accuse you of having gone to film school with Steven Spielberg.’
We choose a coffee maker based on how good a cup of coffee it brews. We buy an outfit based on how it looks to others. We buy a fiction book because it relaxes us or transports us to another place. No one buys a coffee maker just because it has six buttons instead of two, or an outfit just because it is their size, or a book just to perform the function of reading.
We always buy products because of the benefit they’ll bring us, so you MUST emphasize the benefits of everything you sell on eBay.
Most people do not even consider this basic element of human psychology when they create a listing.
Tell customers what the end result will be, and the benefit(s) they’ll obtain.
The key to doing this effectively is to try and get inside the mind of the potential buyer. If you were them, what end result would you want from buying this item?
Even with the most mundane products or services, it is never just a case of buying an item for the sake of it, there’s always some kind of pain’ behind the purchase, an issue that needs to be resolved. Lock that point in your brain, it’s vitally important to selling successfully on eBay.
Even someone looking for something as simple as a spare part for a printer is looking for an end result, a bigger benefit for example, that their printer will work again! So reassure them that that will be the case when they install the part. Emphasize the benefit, in this case a very important solution.
Of course, features of an item or service are still important to note in any listing, but they are always less important than benefits. Many times you can translate features into benefits by using the helpful linking phrase this means that’, or which means to you that’.
Try it.
You will see the difference in a greater number of bids, higher final prices, and an increasing number of loyal customers, because you managed to get inside their head and remind them of the BENEFITS, the what’s in it for me’. They’ll feel like you really understand them!
So always remember WIIFM’. If you honestly evaluate every new listing and it elicits the response so what?’ then you need to go back and give more attention to the benefits.
Features tell, benefits sell.
http://andrewlock.com/
http://myauctionacademy.com/
http://sendmyfreegift.com/
A Tale of Two Taxis
By Drew020
Actually I cheated. It’s a tale of lots of taxis, but that didn’t look nearly as good as a headline so I took the liberty of artistic license, forgive me. But you’ll really like this story, I promise.
So here’s what happened. A few days ago I was at eBay Live’, the annual event for eBay sellers, which was held this year in Boston.
On the first day of the event, a Thursday, apparently no one had notified the taxi companies that there would be 8,764 people exiting the conference center simultaneously at 9pm after the keynote speech, and that most of them would need a taxi back to their ridiculously overpriced hotels (that’s another story I paid $350 a night and considered myself lucky to get that rate!).
So imagine the scene, literally thousands of people standing in line for taxis that were nowhere to be seen - just an occasional passing blip on the horizon, far away. Taxis were as rare as a Nintendo Wii in a retail store.
As you know, I think differently to most people, and I avoid the lemmings mentality at all costs. There was no way I was going to stand in line for hours waiting for a taxi that may or may not eventually appear.
What did I do? I’ll tell you exactly what I did. I went around the corner of the convention center to the Westin Hotel and discovered a line of taxis with drivers that apparently had been sitting there for several hours, desperately hoping that someone, anyone, would require their service.
Yes, I know - how ironic is that?
In I jumped, and immediately asked the driver to take us past the front of the convention center building to allow me to wave at the ever increasing line of people waiting for a taxi.
I’m not a mean person, I just couldn’t help myself.
Actually, I wanted to see if many others would think to do what I had done. Guess? Nope. I counted just three people who strayed from the official’ taxi line. And that’s where the lesson lies in this story. The situation I encountered is a perfect analogy to describe how eBay is being used today.
You’ve probably heard me say before that some 95% of sellers follow the crowd and blindly stick together, all sharing the same antiquated, ineffective and costly methods for using eBay. They’re standing in line for a taxi that might never come, and somehow they’ve convinced themselves that that’s the best option. Come to think of it, they probably believe it’s the ONLY option.
By contrast, there’s a much easier way, a fast track to profits, and that’s the taxi round the corner, just waiting to whiz you to your destination if you’ll only seek it out. That’s the key, right there: to benefit from it, you have to step outside your comfort zone, be willing to reject the familiarity and apparent safety of being with the crowd, and be unconventional, a renegade.
http://andrewlock.com/
http://myauctionacademy.com/
http://sendmyfreegift.com/
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