28 Essential Sites to Help You Invest in Yourself and Your Online Business

28 Essential Sites to Help You Invest in Yourself and Your Online Business
I'll admit it -- I'm an information junkie. I love to
learn new things, so it's a good thing that I'm in small
business marketing where new ideas and new trends emerge
every day. Continuing to enhance your own
professional/personal development, or investing in
yourself, is a primary responsibility that owners of small
service businesses often forget to do when they've got lots
of business. Taking the time to read just one more article
or go to just one more teleseminar or professional
conference when you've got your plate full with clients is
probably not on your top 10 list of preferred activities.
However, remember that your clients are looking to you for
cutting-edge information to best help them with their
problems. Without this continued learning, you may find
yourself quickly left behind.

Here are some resources that I read regularly and highly
recommend to keep me in the loop to better serve my clients
and enhance my own business:

Technology:

--PC World, PCWorld.com (I subscribe to the print version
of this magazine)

--Steve Bass's Home Office newsletter (email newsletter)
from PC World, http://www.pcworld.com/newsletters/index.html

--Lynette Chandler's Tech Based Marketing Blog,
http://techbasedmarketing.com/blog/

--Sandra De Freitas' Tech Coach for Coaches (email
newsletter), TechCoachforCoaches.com

Marketing:

--Joan Stewart's Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week (email
newsletter and blog), PublicityHound.com

--Straight-Shooter Marketing by Alexandria Brown (email
newsletter), EzineQueen.com

--Marcia Yudkin's Marketing Minute (email newsletter),
Yudkin.com

--Robert Middleton's More Clients (email newsletter),
ActionPlanMarketing.com

--John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing (email newsletter and
blog), DuctTapeMarketing.com

--Ralph Wilson's Web Marketing Today (email newsletter),
WilsonWeb.com

--Cathy Stucker's Bright Ideas (email newsletter),
IdeaLady.com

--David Frey's Marketing Best Practices (video newsletter),
MarketingBestPractices.com

--Fabienne Fredrickson's Client Attraction (email
newsletter), ClientAttraction.com

--The Blog Squad's Savvy eBiz Tips (email newsletter and
blog), BlogSquad.biz

--Kendall Summerhawk's Weekly Marketing Wisdom (email
newsletter), KendallSummerhawk.com

Personal Development/Inspiration:

--Barbara Winter's Joyfully Jobless News and Winning Ways
(email and print newsletters), BarbaraWinter.com

--Valerie Young's Changing Course (email
newsletter),ChangingCourse.com

--Cheryl Richardson's Life Makeover (email newsletter),
CherylRichardson.com

--Notes from the Universe (daily emails),
http://www.tut.com/nftu.htm

--Rebecca Hanson's Museletter (email newsletter and blog),
LawofAttractionTrainingCenter.com

Writing/Self-Publishing:

--Dan Poynter's Publishing Poynters (email newsletter),
ParaPub.com

--Penny Sansevieri's Book Marketing Expert Newsletter
(email newsletter), AMarketingExpert.com

--John Kremer's Book Marketing Tip of the Week (email
newsletter), BookMarket.com

--Gail Richard's Author Smart (email newsletter),
AuthorSmart.com

Speaking:

--Speaker Net News (email newsletter), SpeakerNetNews.com

Getting Organized/Feng Shui:

--Vicky White's Design Your Life (email newsletter),
LifeDesignStrategies.com

--Beth Schneider's Process Prodigy (email newsletter),
ProcessProdigy.com

General Business Management:

--Joan Friedlander's Business Your Way (email newsletter),
LifeWorkPartners.com

This list is just the tip of the iceberg for me. New
sources come to light every day. Set aside at least 3
hours per week for your own self-education. Your clients
will thank you and your business will grow!

----------------------------------------------------
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals
learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their
expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To
claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .

Promoting Your Website or Online Business with Competitions

Promoting Your Website or Online Business with Competitions
A lot of business owners use competitions as a type or
reward for their current customers, but competitions can
also be very effective in bringing in new business,
especially online.

There are two main benefits to running a competition. You
will almost certainly get an influx of people visiting your
site, looking around and joining the competition. Which can
create good awareness of your site in visitors minds so
that next time they are in need for the product or service
you offer they may think of you and return.

The second benefit is that you can start to build yourself
an opt-in list. Many sites running competitions actually
require entries to sign up for their ezines or newsletters
which they can always unsubscribe from later if they wish.
And some sites just have it as an option, put an additional
check box at the end of the entry form and ask people if
they want to sign up to receive your newsletter.

A successful competition campaign can easily build you a
list of a 500 to 1000 people or more depending on how you
market the competition. Most countries have local websites
that list competitions for their countries, which you can
often place ads on for free or for a very small advertising
fee.

Some people don't like the idea of spending money on
marketing the fact that you are giving away something for
free, but the reality is that by doing so you can
exponentially expand your market reach, and get a lot more
eyes on your site.

Not sure what to give away? Well the best tip is to make
sure that its not something that you sell. For example if
you sell TVs on your website, and you run a competition
giving away a free TV, then some people might put off
buying from you in the hope that they may win one instead.
So its usually better to give away something that
compliments your products or just something that you know
your target audience would appreciate.

iPods and MP3 players have become a hot prize over the past
few years, but many other things can work just as well.
Shopping sprees', DVDs, CDs etc and of course cash or gift
cards are always a good choice.

So what are you waiting for? Launch a competition on your
site today, make it a yearly promotion or even monthly if
it works for you. Remember to always operate inside the
laws that your competition will be running in, which you
will need to look into for yourself. Good Luck...

----------------------------------------------------
For the latest Australian Competitions please visit
http://www.inittowinit.com.au

How Do You Find The Right Home Based Business Idea?

How Do You Find The Right Home Based Business Idea?
Do you want to make money online with your own home
business? There are many people that do and many more that
are actually making it happen for them. You can very easily
make money online with the right home based business idea.

Many people have no idea what the right business for them
is. Here are some things that you need to do to find the
right opportunity for you to make money at home.

The first thing that you want to do is to take some time to
make a list. You need to figure out what your skills are
and what you want to do. For example, do you want to sell
golfing products because this is a hobby of yours? Can you
write articles or other things that most people have a hard
time with?

These types of things will give you some idea of a
direction to go in to find the right opportunity for you to
make money online. People will pay to have a problem
solved. That is why they go on the Internet searching for
information.

Solving a problem can come in the form of a way of a
product, a program, providing a service, offering a report,
and so on. These are the type of things that people ask
questions on. When you can understand the questions, and
can provide answers, you will discover the right home based
business idea for you.

The next thing you need to do is to write down what you
expect from a business. This will help you find a home
business opportunity that has everything you want. Don't
expect too much because you will be disappointed if you do.
There are businesses that you can start with that will give
you most of the things that you need but some of the things
you will have to find yourself.

You can make a list of everything that you want in a
business and everything that you do not want. As you look
at home based business ideas you can create a piece of
paper and on one side write down all the positives and on
the other side jot down the negatives. Just draw a line
down the middle of a sheet of paper and start writing
everything that you see.

There are so many ways to make money online it can become
overwhelming trying to decide what you should do. The best
home based business idea is one that allows you to make
money and have fun at the same time. If you can combine
those two you have an excellent chance of being successful.

----------------------------------------------------
Rich Ramalho and Patrick Sheffler invite you to visit their
offical Top Abunza Team website. Discover how you can make
$797 or more paid out daily and start online in 3 easy
steps. To learn more and get started today please click
here now: ===> http://www.teamabunza.com

Start a Transcription Business

Start a Transcription Business
For many people with typing skills who want to work from
home, starting a transcription business sounds like an
ideal solution. They believe the advertisements that shout
quick training and easy work but unfortunately, more often
than not, do not take the time to do the research about the
transcription field and so, end up paying out hard-earned
money for training that is of little value. Some things to
consider when looking at a transcription business as a
career move include the cost of the initial investment, the
training needed, the market for the type of transcription
in area and the going rate for such work.

Cost

Depending on the scope and location of your transcription
business, you will almost certainly need some or all of the
following equipment: voice recording equipment, computer,
foot controls, printer, microphones, and telephone
recording devices. You will also require standard office
equipment, as you are likely to be sitting for long periods
of time. If you are doing specialized transcription work
such as medical transcription, you'll require dictionaries
and reference materials should you need to look up terms
and spelling of words used by others.

Training

Although transcription can be done by working from MP3 or
other audio files and typing a phrase or sentence at a
time, learning to operate more specialized equipment makes
the job much easier and faster. A foot pedal for example to
start and stop the audio file and headphones for the
benefit of others within earshot is helpful. Beyond the
physical equipment though, training is often touted in
order to learn medical terms. The field of medical
transcription has long been a popular one in print.

Market

Transcription is more widespread thanks to the internet.
Many of the freelance sites buy and sell transcription
services for specific jobs or for long term relationships.
Teleconferences are often transcribed in order to become
materials for further books, articles and training courses.
Testimony or interviews can be transcribed for a matter of
a written record. Medical transcriptionists often prepare
a written record of doctor's notes, medication reports and
other information by the medical community.

Because the materials can be sent via audio files and
transmitted to the buyer via internet or email methods,
this type of service business lends itself very well to a
home-based business.

Revenue

Transcriptionists are typically paid either by the audio
hour or by the page. Often, the freelance
transcriptionists will bid jobs ranging from $10 per audio
hour (in rare instances) to $30 per audio hour or even
higher when an understanding of medical or legal
terminology is a requirement for the job. Another factor to
keep in mind is that transcription firms based in India or
the Philippines are becoming much more common and these
firms typically work for much less money.

----------------------------------------------------
For more internet business resources please visit
http://www.mommyempire.com/ an online work at home resource
guide for moms.

Where Can You Find A Make Money At Home Online Job?

Where Can You Find A Make Money At Home Online Job?
Do you want to find a make money at home online job but you
have no idea where to start looking? There are many people
that have this problem. You can find many different types
of online jobs that you can do but you want to be careful
about which one you do.

There are scams online just like there is everywhere else
in the world. So you need to choose carefully.

Here are some ways that you can use to find a make money at
home online job.

The best place to start is to go to any of the online
classified ad sites such as Craigslist. You will find many
online jobs that you can do here. You want to find one that
you already have the skills for.

You can try something new but if you do not have skills for
that particular job then you will have a very hard time
getting hired for that job. You are going to have to be
able to provide skills to get paid to work at home for
someone.

Another way that you can use to find a make money at home
online job is to go to any of the major search engines and
type in that phrase and other similar phrases. This will
bring up a lot of results that you will have to search
through.

You want to make sure you look at as many of the jobs that
you find as you can. This will take you some time but you
definitely can find the online jobs you want if you just
look.

A third way is to go to Tjobs.com and get a membership. It
will cost you $15 a year, but is worth it if you want
access to work at home jobs. They offer a broad range of
telecommuting jobs that match employees and employers.

Some of these are on a commission basis and others pay
hourly and even offer benefits. They offer a very active
data base with categories such as sales, freelance, website
design, customer service, and many more.

These are the easiest ways to find a make money at home
online job. There are other ways you can use if you don't
like these three ideas.

You just need to make sure that you choose a job that you
have skills for and that you would enjoy doing. This will
make it much easier for you to make money with the online
jobs that you do.

----------------------------------------------------
Tracey Merrells-Fort is the owner of her own money making
website. She helps ordinary people start and run their own
home business on the internet. If you really want to make
money get the latest home business information at her
website and blog here: ===>
http://www.moneymarketingsuccess.com/

What Should A Free Make Money Online Program Provide You So You Can Start Your Home Business?

What Should A Free Make Money Online Program Provide You So You Can Start Your Home Business?
There are many ways that you can make money from home. What
if you are looking for a free make money online program to
start your business with? Is there such a thing online that
you can start with?

Believe it or not there is. The best free make money online
programs are affiliate programs. There are many affiliate
programs that you can choose to start with. However, there
are some things that you need to make sure are provided for
you to start your business.

Here are the things that you should be provided with when
you start your business with a free make money online
program.

One: Unless you have your own website you will want to make
sure that the affiliate program that you join will give you
a free website. This will give you the chance to start
promoting the program right away.

This will be known as a replicated website so you will not
be able to make any changes to it. That is o.k. because a
really good affiliate website contains professional
copyright material to help you convert more sales.

Two: They need to provide you with marketing tools and
help. They should give you banners, text ads, emails and
many other tools to help you make money with their program.
They also need to be able to help you or point you to
someone who can help you if you get stuck and do not know
what to do next.

The best affiliate programs have employees who serve as
affiliate reps. Their job is to take care of you and help
you sell more. They make more money themself so the really
good ones are very helpful.

Three: The commission that the affiliate program offers you
needs to be high enough that you can make some good money
from home. There is no reason spending your time should not
pay you well. Be sure and find good programs that pay high
commissions and you will earn excellent money.

These are the most important things that any affiliate
program needs to provide you with. So you want to take time
to find the right free make money online program for you.

Otherwise, you may find yourself struggling to have any
success at all. Don't rush into anything until you know it
is right for you. Then understand that just because it is
free to get into affiliate marketing it will still take a
lot of hard work on your part.

----------------------------------------------------
Herb Davies invites you to visit his work at home
opportunities website to see the Top Pick for 2008. His
website is dedicated to researching home business ideas and
opportunities that can help you start a new home business
or grow the one you already have. Please click here now to
learn more: ===> http://honest-home.com

The Landscape Is Changing For the Affilliate Marketer

The Landscape Is Changing For the Affilliate Marketer
Many consider affiliate marketing as one of the best ways
to earn a living. So much so that now affiliate marketing
is attracting many more people to this type of business.
But what can you do to make yourself stand out from the
rest of the affiliate marketers?

One very important fact that everyone considering starting
an online home business must come to grips with is that
your competitors, and even you, are promoting the exact
same program, in the exact same way. You have to do
something that makes you different! You have to do
something that makes you stand out above all the others!

Now here are 4 simple things to give you an edge.

1. Set up your own website. It is absolutely necessary for
you to have your own website when considering affiliate
marketing as your professional career. Potential customers
primarily go to websites in order to search and purchase
items they are looking for. It is much easier to remember
than a long affiliate name and account number that you may
be using and you can just point your visitors to the
affiliate page in your website after you have done some
pre-selling.

2. Have your own ad. A lot of times affiliate companies
have two or three versions of their advertisements, which
are then splayed out on the internet by some multiple of a
thousand! Using the same ad as everyone else could cause
people pass your ad copy by. Prospective customers may
just skip it all together because they've seen it a
thousand times already. They didn't buy before, why your
ad now? So...make your ad at least look different.

3. Have some products of your own which are only available
through your website as a package deal. This will make your
offer unique. Once you have your website going, it is
important to have some products or services that your
customers can't find at other affiliate sites. So...now
your ad has added value.

4. Don't try to market everything you see. With services
such as click bank, it is easy to become sidetracked and
try to market everything in the click bank marketplace.
That is not a good idea. It is better to focus on one
market and market products that are in demand. Find a niche
and market that, you'll do much better.

Affiliate marketing is definitely here to stay and it can
become a great way to earn extra income. However, contrary
to popular belief, it won't happen overnight. Like
everything else in life, you're going to have to put a lot
of hard work into it.

The price point of the affiliate program you choose is
another factor that I'll save for another article. In fact,
the price point of your affiliate program will mean the
difference between making "extra money" and getting
"wealthy."

Good luck to you in your new venture.

----------------------------------------------------
Achieve real success online with a top team of very
motivated mentors visit http://BigTicketPuncher.com
Dan is the founder and former owner of AIM Fundraising.
AIM is one of the first fundraising companies to utilize
the internet. In fact, the internet was the driving factor
in AIM's growth from a $280k per year company in 1997 to
doing over $5 million in sales today. If you are looking
for a great opportunity and looking to have a personal,
live and accessible mentor in your internet marketing
business, visit Dan's http://BigTicketPuncher.com website.

How To Choose The Right Network Marketing MLM Opportunity For You

How To Choose The Right Network Marketing MLM Opportunity For You
Do you want to start your own business from home with a
business opportunity online? There are many people that
want to work from home because of the changing times.

One good way to do this is to find a network marketing MLM
opportunity. Find out how to find these opportunities so
you can start your search today.

There are many people that are looking for a business
opportunity that will help them make some money from home.
People everywhere are starting to look into working from
home because of the ways the times are changing so much.

You can find a business opportunity that will work best for
you if you just take the time to look. One good place to
start is to look at a network marketing MLM opportunity.

There are many people who have been successful with their
own home business started with the network marketing MLM
opportunity that they chose. So how do you find the best
opportunity for you?

There are a couple of different ways that you can search
for the network marketing MLM opportunity that will be
right for you.

Here are a few of the ways.

One: Go to any major search engine and start your search.
All you need to do is to put in, network marketing MLM
opportunity and you will get a lot of results that you can
start looking at. Take your time and look through as many
of them as you can before you choose.

Two: Go to forums and see what business opportunity other
people are having success with. You can look for forums
that have to do with home business, work at home, network
marketing and any others along those lines.

Forums are a very passive way to look around and be an
internet spy. Look in the signature files of people who are
posting online and go check out what they are doing. You
can come up with some excellent ideas.

It is really pretty easy to find all kinds of opportunities
that you can choose from. However, the hard part is trying
to find the network marketing MLM opportunity that will be
the best fit with you.

You can find it though using the above methods if you are
willing to look for it and do some research. You will be
very glad you took the time when you are able to quit your
job because you are making a full time income from home.

----------------------------------------------------
Louis-Charles Martel invites you to visit his home business
ideas and mlm website today. If you are considering
starting a home based business please be careful because
there are many scams out there. The information and
opportunities listed on his site have passed an intensive
screening process and have proven themselves to be
legitimate and effective. Please click here now to learn
more:===>
http://www.moneymlmclub.com

How Can You Make Money Working From Home

How Can You Make Money Working From Home
Do you want to work from home and make a full time income
doing it so you can quit your day job? Many people but are
not sure what to do. There are many ways that you can use
to start to make money working from home.

You just have to do a little research about the different
ways and then find the one that will work best for you. It
is very possible to make money working from home when you
have taken the time to find the right opportunity for you.

You may need a few ideas! Here are some ideas you can use
so you can start to work from home.

One: You can sell any type of products that you want to on
eBay. This is an easy and very inexpensive way for you to
start to make money working from home. Many people choose
to work from home doing this because it is so easy to do.

We are not talking about selling junk from your garage or
attic either. With opportunities such as droppshipping you
can make a fortune right in the comfort of your own home.

Two: You can find a free affiliate program to sign up with
and then start promoting. This is a very easy way to get
started and you will be able to work from home within a
couple of minutes after you first sign up with them.

Affiliate marketing is big business so you can find
products to sell that will earn you a nice income and do it
with things you have an interest in.

Three: You can make your own product. There are many people
that choose to do this but it is the hardest one of all.
The reason it is, is because you have to have the knowledge
and possibly even the money to get your first product
started.

An easy way to create your own products is to write reports
and ebooks and sell them online. Selling information
products provides a great service to your readers and can
be profitable because of the low production costs.

These are only three of so many ways that you can choose to
start to make money working from home. You just have to
make sure that you take the time to look at as many ways to
work from home as you can before you decide what to do.

Do not rush into anything unless you know it is right for
you.

----------------------------------------------------
Paul Jesse invites you to visit his make money from home
online website today. His Work At Home Directory was
created for people who want to make money online, make
money at home, or simply start a home based business. To
learn more internet marketing tips please click here now:
===> http://www.sheamarketing.com

Affiliate Internet Marketing Tips You Need To Know

Affiliate Internet Marketing Tips You Need To Know
Affiliate marketing is becoming more popular all the time.
There are many people that are starting their own business
using affiliate internet marketing. Anyone can be
successful with affiliate marketing if you work hard enough.

However, before you start anything there are some affiliate
internet marketing tips that you need to be aware of. These
affiliate internet marketing tips will help you to choose
the program that is right for you.

Here are the affiliate internet marketing tips you need to
know.

One: You need to know how to use affiliate marketing tools.
This will determine whether you will be successful or not.
So educate yourself on all of the different tools that you
will need such as webpage banners, web hosting and many
others. The more you educate yourself on online business
tools the better chance of success you have.

Other affiliate marketing tools can include graphics, solo
ads, email messages, blog articles, tell a friend and more.
But as we have said the tools do you no good unless you use
them correctly.

Two: You need to educate yourself on finding affiliate
marketing programs that will be reliable and will help you
make some good money. Most of the programs are free to
start with and they will offer you anywhere from 20% to 60%
commission rate. So take time to learn how to find the
right program for you.

You want to sell products in a niche where people are
already spending money. Looking at what is happening on the
internet at places like Google Trends can certainly help.

You also will have to educate yourself on how to market
these products. This is what separates the people who are
successful from those who are not. You will never sell
anything if no one can find you on the internet.

Selling products to people who are already spending money
and marketing to them is the key. This will take some
skills and you will have to develop those over a period of
time.

By following these two very important affiliate internet
marketing tips you will be more successful than others who
ignore these tips. You do not have to follow these tips but
you will find yourself struggling to succeed if you don't.

There are many successful people online but they did not
get successful because of luck. They started where you need
to start and they worked hard. You can to if you want
success bad enough.

----------------------------------------------------
William Hutchinson invites you to visit his affiliate
internet marketing business website for the top affiliate
marketing programs on the internet today. If you need help
starting your own business at home or help to grow your
current business please visit his website here now:===>
http://www.hutchesaffiliatemarketing.com

How to Get Glowing Testimonials That Work Wonders for Generating More Sales

How to Get Glowing Testimonials That Work Wonders for Generating More Sales
When compelling sales copy isn't enough to close the deal,
use testimonials! Customers can be skeptical of corporate
chatter telling them how great their product is and why
they absolutely must buy it now.

They often think a merchant cares more about making a sale
than about providing a good shopping experience.

How can they be so sure that the product or the service
they pay for will meet their expectations?

This is where testimonials come in. As a merchant, you need
your customers to feel confident when doing business with
you. The presence of effective testimonials will inspire
trust and almost immediately boost your sales.

Here's Why Testimonials Work

· Testimonials Stand Out
· Testimonials Foster Trust
· Testimonials Eliminate Customer Fears

Smart Ways to Collect Testimonials

How do you get customers to give you great testimonials?
Here are some creative ideas that make collecting
testimonials easy and efficient.

1. Give complimentary samples to customers in exchange for
feedback.

Any feedback you receive, whether positive or negative, is
valuable. Naturally, you want it to be positive so that you
can use it for your marketing purposes, but even negative
feedback will help you to improve your product.

A powerful testimonial is surely worth the cost of a sample
of your product.

2. Seek feedback from customers who purchased your product
or service.

We do this automatically by placing every customer in an
autoresponder series designed for this purpose. They first
receive an email with information about their order and
then a few weeks later (after the product has arrived) they
receive another email asking them for feedback.

About half the emails we get as feedback include quotes or
comments that we can use as testimonials.

3. Request permission to reprint positive comments found
online, such as in discussion forums, blogs, or ezine
product reviews.

Automating the Gathering Process and Advanced Tactics

Automation will save you countless hours and allow you to
gather testimonials without having to lift a finger.

This is a killer tactic we have used to generate hundreds
of testimonials for our product. It worked so well it
created a backlog of over 800 testimonials we have yet to
add to our site.

Here's How it Works.

One of the easiest ways we have found to gather
testimonials is to add an email requesting feedback to our
autoresponder series.

New customers as well as those who have just tried a free
sample of our product receive this email.

Remember - don't shy away from asking for testimonials from
non-customers who have only tried your free sample.
Seriously. Ask them what they think of the sample.

Add these testimonials to your sample or demo page and
you'll find they can significantly boost signups.

We offer support if there was, and we'd appreciate feedback.

Note: we don't blatantly ask for a testimonial. We request
"feedback."

By doing so, we not only get testimonials from happy users,
but also receive valuable negative feedback that allows us
to improve the program.

This technique gets a very high response rate - around 5%
of customers receiving the email will respond with feedback
or testimonials.

A copy of the email we use is shown below. Feel free to use
this as a template for your own purposes.

Sample Email

Hi {Customer Name},

We hope you enjoyed the {Product Name} you purchased from
us last month.

As promised, here's the survey we said we were going to
send you. We'd like to hear your thoughts on the course.

Could you kindly answer the questions below?

Your feedback is truly invaluable not only to us, but to
many other people who are devoted to lifelong learning.

We'd love to hear your opinions on the following:

1. What did you feel was the main benefit you gained from
the home study course?
2. What part of the course did you enjoy most and why?
3. What part did you enjoy least and why?
4. Have you had any interesting coincidences or events
happen in your life since you started applying Silva
techniques?
5. Would you be able to provide us with a quote or story
that we can share with other readers about your experiences
with the program? (We can keep your identity confidential
at your request.)

Please send your reply to: info@yourname.com

Thanks for your commitment to lifelong learning and for
sharing your feedback with us.

We truly appreciate it!

Sincerely,

----------------------------------------------------
Bjorn Brands is a successfull enterprenuer who transitioned
from having his own building company to a great online
business. Check out his site and see for yourself how he
can help you do the same at http://www.moneyacces.com

Free Or Low Cost Advertising For Your Internet Business

Free Or Low Cost Advertising For Your Internet Business
Do you want to begin advertising online, but are unsure of
the direction to go. This article will give you some
helpful tips to utilize free or low cost advertising.

For anyone marketing on the internet, finding free or low
cost advertising has become essential to promoting their
business online. The internet offers endless possibilities
to entrepreneurs looking to market online.

Unlike other forms of media such as television, radio,
newspaper, and print, internet advertising offers great
alternatives to high budget advertising. Advertising is
the lifeblood of any business, online or offline. Little or
no advertising equates to little or no sales. The number
one problem that most small business owners face is having
a limited budget for advertising.

There are hundreds of ways for your web site to be seen
online, but here are just a few options for free or low
cost advertising.

Search Engine Optimization

Free search engine optimization (Yahoo, Google, etc.) gives
your web site the traffic you're looking for. These are
called organic listings and are the unpaid results that are
displayed on the left side of your computer screen when you
search for a particular topic. In Google, the top 2-3
results are often paid for, as well as the links on the
right side of the screen. These ads are paid for through
pay-per-click (ppc) advertising. While ppc is a very
effective method to advertise, it is probably advisable to
build up your advertising budget before starting a ppc
campaign.

Get Your Link Out There

Include your web address in your email signature. You would
be surprised at how many people will click on that link
when receiving am email from you. It is a simple idea, but
can create a lot of extra interest and traffic to your site.

Forums

Join forums that pertain to your business. This is a great
way to mingle with other entrepreneurs online and spark
some interest to what you have to offer.

Article Marketing

Article marketing is one of the best methods of free or low
cost advertising. The reason why it is so effective is
because good content that is appreciated by readers will
increase the likelihood that they will click on your link
at the bottom of your article to see what you have to
offer. There are some article directories that charge a
small fee for placing your ad with them, while others let
you advertise for free. You can also join an article
submission service where you pay a small monthly fee, but
they submit your article to several different article
directories. This is a great way to get your articles out
there a lot quicker.

Free or low cost internet advertising is a great way to
make yourself known to the millions of prospective
consumers online. Increased traffic leads to increased
profits.

----------------------------------------------------
If you are looking to Make Money Online, visit
http://www.BigTicketWealth.org .
Author: Brian McCoy is a successful 6 figure earner in
internet marketing and a success coach who specializes in
helping others become full time internet marketers.

What Are Some Ways That You Can Make Money Fast Online

What Are Some Ways That You Can Make Money Fast Online
There are many people who are looking for ways that they
can make money fast online. There are more ways than you
think there are. You need to take some time to decide which
one you want to use to make money fast online.

Making money online can be easy if you know how to do it
but it can also be hard. It all depends on the way that you
are using to start making money online. Some ways are
harder than others.

Here are some of the easiest and more popular ways for you
to make money fast online.

Two: Start your business with affiliate programs. This is
an easy way to start making money online, plus it is free
to start. Again, you will need to educate yourself on
affiliate marketing so you can find success.

One: Come up with your own product. You can do something
such as an eBook or software. However, it will take you
some time to get the product ready. Once it is ready then
it is very possible for you to make money fast online with
it.

Three: Selling products on eBay is the easiest way to
start. It is also the best way for you to start making
money online fast. It doesn't matter what product you want
to sell.

The key to making money this way is to learn about how to
sell successfully on eBay. It is not hard but there is a
little bit of education that is required if you want to be
successful with it.

Four: Start your own home business and sell high ticket
items. Even better is sell products and recruit people to
sell products to. Then you can make money two ways.

Big ticket items are just as easy to sell as low priced
items are and you make a lot more money doing it. Plus if
you can recruit quality people to your team you can earn
more money on their sales then you do on your own.

No matter what way you choose to use to make money fast
online, you will have to educate yourself on the method you
choose. This is important if you want to start making money
online because if you don't know what you are doing then
you will have a very hard time being successful.

So find the way you will use to make money and then get the
education you need so you can have a successful home
business.

----------------------------------------------------
Mark Molina invites you to visit his reverse funnel system
website to learn how you can start and run your own
successful home business today. If making big money by
plugging into the right team for success appeals you must
check this out right now. Please click here now to learn
how you can make money fast online: ===>
http://reversefunnelmadness.com/

Make Money Selling Big Ticket Items

Make Money Selling Big Ticket Items
In this article, I want to take a look at how to make money
selling big ticket items. Because I am not an expert in
this field I have spent some time now researching various
programs and products trying to determine what I want to
sell.

In the past five years I spent most of my Internet
marketing career promoting affiliate products. I have made
my money as an affiliate for pay per click programs, pay
per lead programs, and various pay per sale programs.

I have also done well selling private label right products,
network marketing, and starting an article writing company.
So I guess that does leave big ticket items as one thing I
should try right!

Here is what I am finding with big ticket items.

It really is possible to make $1000 per sale went up. Many
of the big ticket programs use a pass up compensation plan.
Let me explain what that means.

When you join a program you have to buy the product you are
going to sell. You also have to give away your first one or
two sales to your sponsor. That is how they make their
money.

So for example if a program cost $1300 to join, and pays a
$1000 commission, the person who makes the sale to you
earns $1000 on the product sale as well as $1000 on your
first product sale and maybe your second one too.

There are many variations of this. Some offer affiliate
programs where you can earn income on the sales from people
who buy the product from you. This can be in the form of a
long-term residual income which is always a good thing.

My opinion on this now is that if you are going to make
money selling a big ticket item, you should plan on the
majority of your income coming from your personal sales.
From that standpoint it really is irrelevant if the person
buying the product from you ever makes a sale or not.

So with a pass up program it is to your benefit to help
them make a couple sales because you earn money from those.
But I personally have found that you can spend a lot of
time working with someone who will never ever be successful
on the Internet.

That may be a negative thing to say, but the reality of it
is this is true. So you want to join a program where you
really are paid an excellent commission on your own sales.
I have seen programs allow you to earn literally thousands
of dollars as you sell some of the various products that
these companies offer.

The other thing I want to stress is finding the right
product to sell. If you are going to earn a big commissions
selling a product you really are going to have to find a
product that excites you, and is easy for you to talk about.

Here is an example.

I have come across an excellent big ticket travel program.
People who do well in this type of program are people who
enjoy travel. They can become a product of the product and
in essence sell their own personal experiences, which is
always a plus in any type of sales.

A person who does not like to travel would have problems
selling this type of a program. I have seen programs that
offer Internet marketing training and self-help training.
People who are able to take this program and apply it to
their own business do well selling it because they become a
product of the product.

So, that is my two takeaways from this article.

To make money selling big ticket items online find a
product that excites you, and that you can sell from
personal experience. Join a program that will pay you an
excellent commission for making your own sales.

Plan on relying on your own efforts as your main source of
income. If they have an affiliate program that you can earn
commissions on all the better, but this should not be your
primary criteria for any program you join. If you enjoy
direct selling you can make a fortune selling big ticket
items.

----------------------------------------------------
Jeff Schuman invites to visit his make money online website
where he offers you a blueprint for success titled "20 Ways
To Make $100 Per Day Online". To see how he uses JV With
Jeff and Hands Off Article Marketing to help you build your
business, please click here now: ===>
http://www.Team-Schuman.com

How I Handle Customer Service In 10 Minutes Per Day

How I Handle Customer Service In 10 Minutes Per Day
While attending a recent seminar in Las Vegas, I found
myself in a room with horrible Internet connectivity. As
someone who actively monitors and manages hundreds of
websites, this used to really panic me. Yet, I calmly sat
through many of the seminar presentations, knowing that all
of my customer service concerns were being handled very
promptly.

Let me explain my set-up, and you'll understand why
customer service is so easy for me now.

I should begin though by pointing out that, as your online
business starts to grow, keeping up with the customer
service issues is often the most challenging part of
running your business.

Just keeping up with all of the emails can be nearly
impossible!

Like many online marketers, I decided to outsource customer
service, but also maintain positive control. I maintain my
own helpdesk (customer service center) where a few
assistants take care of 95% of issues within minutes of
them arising.

I route a major percentage of communications through my
helpdesk because that puts everything all in one place. I
have a threaded record of many exchanges, stored in a
secure database, so I can always go back and look up the
details later.

I am a bit of a "control freak" so I haven't put the life
of my business totally into the hands of strangers. I have
a few customer support assistants that I know fairly well.
I know that they are trustworthy, understand my business,
and have good judgement.

I use a help desk software, called Three Pillars Help Desk,
but there are other comparable support desk packages. At
under $100, this is an amazingly feature-rich piece of
software though.

The typical customer service interaction is as follows:

1) A customer has a question, lost a download, needs a
software install, wants to joint venture with me, can't get
a file to open properly, etc.... they visit my help desk
and fill out a help ticket.

I DON'T require them to register. They just fill out the
ticket, and they are entered into the system, receiving an
email confirmation. Actually, before they submit the
ticket, they are encouraged to peruse the "frequently asked
questions" (FAQ) built right into the help desk. Often, the
answer to their concern is right there and they don't even
need to file a help ticket.

2) As soon as a help ticket is filed, admin assistants
assigned to that "category" of ticket, receive a desktop
notification that a new ticket has been filed. They get an
audible chime, as well as a desktop icon that tells them
how many tickets are awaiting responses.

I have my help desk set up so that I get these same,
notifications. I have it set to check every 15 minutes, so
I can see if any tickets go unanswered for too long.
Usually, my tech support is fairly fast though.

3) Admin assistants log into the admin control panel, using
their unique admin log-ins, and respond to the tickets in
categories assigned to them. They don't see, and can't
respond to tickets in categories not assigned to them.

One of the categories at my helpdesk is "Personal For
Willie." Naturally, I only want those tickets visible to
me. Three Pillars Help Desk Software allows that option.
Tickets regarding JV's are also only visible to me, but I
could have an assistant assigned to sift through JV
proposals, and have all of those tickets ONLY visible to
that admin. Many of my contemporaries do have assistants
assigned to screen JV proposals... some using the very same
helpdesk setup that I just described.

4) Many of the help tickets that we get can be responded to
with a "one-touch response." The admin just selects the
answer from a drop-down selection of pre-composed answers,
clicks "send," and in a matter of SECONDS that ticket is
taken care of. The precomposed answers are assigned to (and
only visible for) specific categories, and the categories
are assigned to specific admins.

Perhaps a customer unfamiliar with PDF's or .zip files
failed to download and save one properly, or perhaps they
don't know how to open the file. Perhaps a customer had a
harddrive crash, and needs a replacement copy of an ebook.
If my tech support is provided with proof of purchase,
they are authorized to replace these files. My admins are
empowered to make these types of decisions, that I really
shouldn't need to get bogged down with. 5) As soon as
the ticket is responded to, the customer gets the response
via email, and the desktop notifier, when it next updates,
shows that that ticket has been taken care of.

I mentioned earlier that I route most communications
through my help desk. This includes requests for joint
ventures, requests for me to broker joint ventures, request
for me to review a product, etc. Details on how I do all
of these things are also included in the FAQ, so potential
JV partners can see if their product is a likely match
before they even file a help ticket.

Email is so unreliable these days. There is nothing more
disconcerting than having a customer upset with you over
not responding to an email that you never even received.
You don't have that problem with the help desk. The
correspondence is stored right in the database, and only
visible to appropriate parties. You can retrieve records by
name, email address, and a number of other database
variables at any time... even for closed tickets. So, you
have a real treasure of data at your fingertip.

The FAQ file shows how many views a given question has.
That can show you potential problems, or indicate that you
need to cover a product feature more thoroughly on your
sales letter. Just paying attention to something like that
could easily double your sales of a given product. The
fact is that most prospect, who have a question, won't
bother asking. So you need to really pay attention to those
who do, and assume that many more had the same question ;-)

Anyway, I've just shared with you how I handle customer
service for the hundreds of websites that I actively manage
in mere minutes per day. I haven't actually tracked how
much time my admin assistants spend responding to tickets.
They haven't asked for raises in a long time, so I assume
that it's not very much.

If you want to spend more of your time working on growing
your business, rather than putting out customer service
"fires," then I highly recommend that you set up your own
help desk. My helpdesk of choice is Three Pillars:
http://ThreePillarsHelpDesk.com

but there are others. You
can get as fancy as you want to with a help desk with them
ranging from free to several thousand dollars in price.
Three Pillars Help Desk was designed specifically for
Internet marketers which is why it was a natural choice for
me.

----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker,
author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet
marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of
Mexico, Willie can be found sharing his 11 1/2 years of
online marketing experience with members of The Internet
Marketing Inner Circle.
Join them at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com

25 Little Known Facts about Article Syndication - How to Get the Best Results from Your Articles

25 Little Known Facts about Article Syndication - How to Get the Best Results from Your Articles
We all hear how important articles are - especially when
used as a tool to help boost search engine rankings. We
often read many articles a day about our industry or about
something we are trying to learn. However, when it comes
time to write articles to promote our own business - we are
stumped.

Let's break down articles and look at everything you need
to know about why they work, how to properly write and
syndicate articles and all the other fun details.

Why Articles?

1. It is an opportunity to share information and establish
yourself as an expert

2. It creates an opportunity for new traffic to come to
your site (when your article gets distributed to various
sites on the internet, people can read your article and
click on a link within the article to get to your site.)

3. It creates one-way links into your site. Every time one
of your articles is posted, each link in your article
counts as a one-way link to your site.

4. When you write an article and post it on your site, you
are creating new relevant text for your site visitors and
for the search engines (which can result in a boost in
rankings).

How Does Article Syndication Work?

--Write an article (keep reading for more specifics on how
to format your article)

--Find a company that will handle your article syndication
for you, OR locate sources you can syndicate your article
to on your own.

--Post your article on your site and wait about a week to
make sure the spiders index your site (making sure you get
credit for the unique content as your own).

--Create accounts at the Article Sources you identified and
submit your article.

--Pay close attention to their guidelines - do they allow
HTML, do they require that your article not be published
anywhere else, do they require your article be on your
site, do they allow multiple submissions in a month? Etc,
etc. It helps to keep a file with all the relevant details
about the source so that all future submissions go smoothly.

--Notify all your clients, friends and family about the
article and send them to it. In some sources you get
credit (which means more exposure for your article) if it
is popular and read often or searched for.

Article Guidelines:

1. You want links from the article to different pages on
your site - however not all sources allow hyperlinks in the
content (they only allow a link within your bio) so make
sure your article still makes sense even if it is a version
that doesn't have the links active.

2. Because the search engines look at the text within the
"hot" or clickable part of the link - it is really good to
use a keyword in that area. As an extra bonus, if you can
change the keyword within the link on your article at
different sources you get more of a benefit. In other
words, take the time to create different versions of your
article. Vary the text used as the anchor text in the
links, and vary the pages that you link to within your site
in the various versions. This will give Google what they
are looking for - varying anchor text and links going to
many pages on your site, not just one. This is one of the
most important, and overlooked steps out there. This alone
can increase the value you get from article syndication.

3. Link to relevant pages on your site, not just your
homepage. It helps the reader get more information and it
helps you with the search engines (they don't like to see
all the links going to one page only). Eventually you have
articles out there going to all of your site pages. Just
remember, when you link to a page you need to tie it into
the content of an article. Ex: If you are talking about
dog collars, don't link to a page about bird cages.

4. Wait one week after you post it on your site before you
syndicate it.

5. Always write a short, compelling bio with a link to your
most important site page.

6. Include a "Reprint Rights" statement at the bottom of
your article, allowing people to use and republish the
article as long as they don't alter it and they include a
link to you.

7. Prepare a short, medium and long summary for your
article. Many sources will ask for a summary in various
lengths and you want to have it ready and have it be
compelling so that if people read the summary they want to
read the article and ultimately go to your site.

8. Don't forget in addition to submitting to article
websites, you can also submit to newsletters that are
relevant in your industry.

9. Write the article in plain terms, don't use too much
jargon.

10. Make sure your article is informational and don't be
too salesy or self-promotional or people will be turned off
and some sources may reject the article. Links to your
site within the article and Author Bio is all you need to
guide traffic to your site.

11. Don't use a lot of formatting, keep the layout simple.
For sources that don't allow HTML you will end up losing
the formatting anyway.

12. Check out your sources to be sure, but typically you
want to aim for 600 - 800 words.

13. Write a very compelling headline. Tip: Take a look at
Cosmo and other magazines out there; they have the best
headlines on the cover. Try playing with headlines like
that.

14. Make sure your article provides value and answers a
question or solves a problem for your reader.

15. Don't use long blocks of text, people like shorter
paragraphs and bullet point lists.

16. Date each article with the date it was written (when
posting it on your site, so that people will know if they
are reading current information or not.

17. Update your SiteMap when you add articles to your site.

18. Link to your article from your Blog. Don't post the
article on your Blog and on your site - that is duplicating
content and can be considered spam.

19. Create an Article Syndication Plan so that you have a
clear plan to consistently release quality articles out to
the public. Often people go crazy getting a couple
articles out there, but then never do it again. Constant
syndication, at a natural rate will get you the most
benefit.

20. Consider the "keyword weight" of your article; aim for
a good keyword density (about 3 - 4% density) using 1 - 2
keywords per article. Don't stuff the article with
keywords, creating something that is not an easy flowing
read for your audience.

21. Look for a unique viewpoint or angle when writing your
article. Rehashing the same old topics, sharing the same
old opinions won't get you as much mileage out of the
article.

22. Have fun with it. Let your personality shine through
in your writing. Articles should not be stiff and stilted.
Let your readers connect with you through your writing.

23. Consider breaking longer articles into a 2 or 3 part
series. This will vary how the engines see the content out
there, and it creates suspense and anticipation as readers
wait to see what the next article in the series will say.

24. Stay on top of the latest talk, news and buzz in your
industry and be prepared to quickly pump out a great
article to take advantage of some hot buzz or breaking news
in your industry.

25. Most importantly, pay attention to detail. Articles
are a great way to drive traffic and boost search engine
rankings, but there are many details that you must pay
attention to in order to get maximum benefit from your
article syndication campaign.

----------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner
of http://www.EcomBuffet.com . Since 1998, her expertise
in online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
has helped clients increase revenue and achieve their
business goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on
Search Engine Optimization and has been published in many
SEO and marketing publications. Jennifer can be reached at
Jennifer@ecombuffet.com