What better way to start the new year than with more traffic to your web site. Web traffic is a critical part of your internet business and it is imperative that you design it to bring you the most amount of traffic possible.
Designing your site for traffic includes offering good content, easy navigation and a logical flow. Additionally you must also build your site to draw traffic from the search engines because if you can obtain high search engine ranking, you can enjoy free traffic.
It's important to note, however that good ranking won't do you much good without a well designed site and a well designed site can't bring you visitors if no one knows it's there. Both high ranking and good design need to work together.
How do we pull all this together? Let's take a look.
A word about Design
A huge mistake I see many website owners make is that they get caught up in making their site cute. They love the little animations, buttons and dramatic backgrounds. What they fail to consider is that these things are worthless if you
don't offer good content, easy navigation and a logical flow.
First of all don't try to be everything to everyone. Design your site around a theme, preferably a niche theme. Don't confuse your readers with links all over the page. Design a logical flow.
Lead your viewers to where you would like them to go. Leave plenty of white space and keep your pages organized. Clearly state at the top of your pages what you are about and what you would like your viewers to do.
Secondly, I don't recommend pop-ups. I find that the majority of internet users find them annoying. The demand for pop-up blockers is a good indication that viewers don't want to see them.
Thirdly, offer good content. Provide information on your site that will help viewers solve a problem. Offer information that they might not get elsewhere. Write reviews regarding your products. Write newsletters and articles and most importantly offer something of value for free. Give your viewers a reason to come back. It will also build trust in you.
Traffic builders
Good search engine ranking can bring lots of visitors to your site. It often takes a few months to rank well but the payoff is lots of qualified traffic. While it's not practical to depend solely on search engines for traffic it can complement your other advertising campaigns nicely. Aiming for high search engine placement is always a plus. Keep these in mind when developing your site for the search engines:
-Domain names
Choose a domain name that has your site keywords in it. For example, if you're a site about pet care, try to include the words "pet care" or words related to pet care in your domain name if you can.
-Keywords
Keywords require research and there are several tools to help you out in this area. Here are my favorites:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
I suggest focusing on only one keyword or keyword phrase per page of your website. This may not seem like a lot but if your site has 20 pages you can focus on 20 keywords. Each page should be considered a landing page for your site.
If you have proper navigation on your pages it will easily allow viewers to see everything you have to offer.
Include your keyword or keyword phrase at the top of your page as well as in at least one header phrase. Also work the keywords into the body of your text as often as you can without sounding redundant.
Your keywords should be in the Title tag as well as in your page description tag. Many search engines no longer look at the keyword tags but I recommend using them and including the plural forms as well.
- Alt Tags
Search engines don't index images, therefore any text on your site that is presented in image format won't get indexed. To solve this problem, you can enter the image description in the ALT tag. To be sure that the search engines recognize all the content on your site, fill in your ALT tags with
your keywords. This will boost your keyword frequency and help your site achieve better ranking.
- Linking
Search engines will rate your site by who is linking to your site, so it's important to establish quality, related links. This can be accomplished in a few ways. One way is to establish reciprocal links with other like sites. When exchanging links be sure to include your keywords in your site title.
Review the page you are exchanging links with. Be sure it is a site that you find easy to navigate and informative. I also recommend that the site's index page have a Google PR rating of at least one. This ensures that the site is not being penalized by Google. If it is a penalized site then you could be penalized as well for linking to it.
Include a 'tell a friend' and 'bookmark' script on your site. This gives viewers an easy way to bookmark you and most of all return to your site.
- Include a Site Map
Site Maps let visitors know what information you have, how it's organized, where it is located with respect to other information, and how to get to that information with the least amount of clicks possible.
Site maps also provide spider food for search engine robots. This can increase your chances of becoming indexed because a site map allows the search engines to easily visit every page of your site.
A site map works best if you include a link to your site map in the navigation of every page on your site.
Finally, don't let your site become stale. I have found that my search engine rankings improve when I periodically add new pages to my site and keep the content new and fresh. Follow these tips and 2005 may be your year for traffic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry.
She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses
find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and
increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth at: mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at: http://www.pro-marketing-online.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article from www.entireweb.com/
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
New Year’s Resolution (Working Hard)
2010 is coming and we will be under a new management. New management equal new work ethi.
1. Never walk without a document in your hands
People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the canteen. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.
2. Use computers to look busy
Any time you use a computer, it looks like "work" to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, chat and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. These aren't exactly the societal benefits that the proponents of the computer revolution would like to talk about but they're not bad either. When you get caught by your boss – and you *will* get caught — your best defense is to claim you're teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training expenses.
3. Messy desk
Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like we're not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your desk, bury the document you'll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.
4. Voice Mail
Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don't call you just because they want to give you something for nothing – they call because they want YOU to do work for THEM. That's no way to live. Screen all your calls through voice mail. If somebody leaves a voice mail message for you and it sounds like impending work, respond during lunch hour when you know they're not there – it looks like you're hardworking and conscientious even though you're being a devious weasel.
5. Looking Impatient and Annoyed
Always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.
6. Leave the office late
Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read but have no time until late before leaving. Make sure you walk past the boss' room on your way out. Send important emails at unearthly hours (e.g. 9:35pm, 7:05am, etc.) and during public holidays.
7. Creative Sighing for Effect
Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are under extreme pressure.
8. Stacking Strategy
It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc. (thick computer manuals are the best).
9. Build Vocabulary
Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products. Use the phrases freely when in conversation with bosses. Remember: They don't have to understand what you say, but you will sound impressive.
10. Have 2 Jackets
If you work in a big open plan office, always leave a spare jacket draped over the back of your seat. This gives the impression that you are still on the premises. The second jacket should be worn while swanning around elsewhere.
1. Never walk without a document in your hands
People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the canteen. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.
2. Use computers to look busy
Any time you use a computer, it looks like "work" to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, chat and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. These aren't exactly the societal benefits that the proponents of the computer revolution would like to talk about but they're not bad either. When you get caught by your boss – and you *will* get caught — your best defense is to claim you're teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training expenses.
3. Messy desk
Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like we're not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your desk, bury the document you'll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.
4. Voice Mail
Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don't call you just because they want to give you something for nothing – they call because they want YOU to do work for THEM. That's no way to live. Screen all your calls through voice mail. If somebody leaves a voice mail message for you and it sounds like impending work, respond during lunch hour when you know they're not there – it looks like you're hardworking and conscientious even though you're being a devious weasel.
5. Looking Impatient and Annoyed
Always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.
6. Leave the office late
Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read but have no time until late before leaving. Make sure you walk past the boss' room on your way out. Send important emails at unearthly hours (e.g. 9:35pm, 7:05am, etc.) and during public holidays.
7. Creative Sighing for Effect
Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are under extreme pressure.
8. Stacking Strategy
It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc. (thick computer manuals are the best).
9. Build Vocabulary
Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products. Use the phrases freely when in conversation with bosses. Remember: They don't have to understand what you say, but you will sound impressive.
10. Have 2 Jackets
If you work in a big open plan office, always leave a spare jacket draped over the back of your seat. This gives the impression that you are still on the premises. The second jacket should be worn while swanning around elsewhere.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Give Your Website A Chance
I often wonder how serious people are when it comes to their websites. I thought that most everyone knew that the phrase "Build it and they will come" no longer applies on the internet but I'm not sure how many people really believe it.
I look at sites everyday as part of my sales strategy and I can't tell you how many of them violate the obvious elements of good website design and submission.
What even amazes me more is that they can't figure out why they don't get sales or visitors. Do yourself a favor and attempt to apply the following tactics to your site. They won't cost you a thing except a little time and effort to apply them.
About Page
Always include an about page on your site.
Don't be afraid to tell your story and let people know who you are and how you arrived where you are.
Opening yourself up and letting people know who you are adds an element of trust. It exposes your personality, capabilities and knowledge. All factors that let your readers know you are genuine.
Include all your contact information
Let your visitors know that you are available.
Encourage questions, email and phone calls. Include your name, address and phone number.
If you can, it's also helpful to place a photo on your site. Familiarity is key and it can add one more link in the ladder of trust.
Headlines
Create compelling headlines. Peak the interest of your readers. This is your chance to grab their attention and incite them to read on.
Don't be flashy or obnoxious. Simply tell it like it is. Capture their attention with descriptive, informative words. Get your readers involved in your information. Ask questions. Make them think.
You might be surprised to learn that just one compelling headline can bring instant sales almost overnight.
Create your meta tags
This is the first place I look when people tell me they aren't getting visitors. I often see sites that have no title or description tag or the tags don't follow the suggested guidelines for proper setup.
Here's an example of how the tags might look for a site that sells hummingbird feeders:
Hummingbird Feeders: Shop For Hummingbird Feeders Online
You will need to do this for each page of your site. Each page needs to have it's own set of tags. I also recommend focusing on one keyword per page, two at the very most. Too many keywords can confuse what your page is about.
Always make sure that your keywords are scattered throughout your text as well, however don't sacrifice
good content for nonsense. Your text should be easy to read and should not sound redundant. Make your pages at least 250 words.
Testimonials
Solicit feedback from buyers you've had. Ask them to write a small testimonial that you can place on your site. This goes a long way to help convince your visitor that your products and services are sound.
Linking
Reciprocal linking is a common and effective tactic for obtaining search engine status and page rank but it's also the most time consuming. It requires making contacts, following up with contacts and updating your website.
While reciprocal linking is an excellent way of establishing page rank it's not the only way. Page rank can also be established by submitting your site to directories, writing articles and setting up blogs.
Don't underestimate the power of website links. Take the extra few hours a day and get your site noticed.
Review the page you are exchanging links with. Be sure it is a site that you find easy to navigate and informative. I also recommend that the site's index page have a Google PR rating of at least one. This ensures that the site is not being penalized by Google. If it is a penalized site then you could be penalized as well for linking to it.
Include a 'tell a friend' and 'bookmark' script on your site. This gives viewers an easy way to bookmark you and most of all return to your site.
Include a Site Map
Site Maps let visitors know what information you have, how it's organized, where it is located with respect to other information, and how to get to that information with the least amount of clicks possible.
Site maps also provide spider food for search engine robots. This can increase your chances of becoming indexed because a site map allows the search engines to easily visit every page of your site.
A site map works best if you include a link to your site map in the navigation of every page on your site.
Finally, don't let your site become stale. I have found that my search engine rankings improve when I periodically add new pages to my site and keep the content new and fresh. Follow these tips and 2005 may be your year for traffic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry.
She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses
find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and
increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth at: mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at: http://www.pro-marketing-online.com
Article from www.entireweb.com
I look at sites everyday as part of my sales strategy and I can't tell you how many of them violate the obvious elements of good website design and submission.
What even amazes me more is that they can't figure out why they don't get sales or visitors. Do yourself a favor and attempt to apply the following tactics to your site. They won't cost you a thing except a little time and effort to apply them.
About Page
Always include an about page on your site.
Don't be afraid to tell your story and let people know who you are and how you arrived where you are.
Opening yourself up and letting people know who you are adds an element of trust. It exposes your personality, capabilities and knowledge. All factors that let your readers know you are genuine.
Include all your contact information
Let your visitors know that you are available.
Encourage questions, email and phone calls. Include your name, address and phone number.
If you can, it's also helpful to place a photo on your site. Familiarity is key and it can add one more link in the ladder of trust.
Headlines
Create compelling headlines. Peak the interest of your readers. This is your chance to grab their attention and incite them to read on.
Don't be flashy or obnoxious. Simply tell it like it is. Capture their attention with descriptive, informative words. Get your readers involved in your information. Ask questions. Make them think.
You might be surprised to learn that just one compelling headline can bring instant sales almost overnight.
Create your meta tags
This is the first place I look when people tell me they aren't getting visitors. I often see sites that have no title or description tag or the tags don't follow the suggested guidelines for proper setup.
Here's an example of how the tags might look for a site that sells hummingbird feeders:
You will need to do this for each page of your site. Each page needs to have it's own set of tags. I also recommend focusing on one keyword per page, two at the very most. Too many keywords can confuse what your page is about.
Always make sure that your keywords are scattered throughout your text as well, however don't sacrifice
good content for nonsense. Your text should be easy to read and should not sound redundant. Make your pages at least 250 words.
Testimonials
Solicit feedback from buyers you've had. Ask them to write a small testimonial that you can place on your site. This goes a long way to help convince your visitor that your products and services are sound.
Linking
Reciprocal linking is a common and effective tactic for obtaining search engine status and page rank but it's also the most time consuming. It requires making contacts, following up with contacts and updating your website.
While reciprocal linking is an excellent way of establishing page rank it's not the only way. Page rank can also be established by submitting your site to directories, writing articles and setting up blogs.
Don't underestimate the power of website links. Take the extra few hours a day and get your site noticed.
Review the page you are exchanging links with. Be sure it is a site that you find easy to navigate and informative. I also recommend that the site's index page have a Google PR rating of at least one. This ensures that the site is not being penalized by Google. If it is a penalized site then you could be penalized as well for linking to it.
Include a 'tell a friend' and 'bookmark' script on your site. This gives viewers an easy way to bookmark you and most of all return to your site.
Include a Site Map
Site Maps let visitors know what information you have, how it's organized, where it is located with respect to other information, and how to get to that information with the least amount of clicks possible.
Site maps also provide spider food for search engine robots. This can increase your chances of becoming indexed because a site map allows the search engines to easily visit every page of your site.
A site map works best if you include a link to your site map in the navigation of every page on your site.
Finally, don't let your site become stale. I have found that my search engine rankings improve when I periodically add new pages to my site and keep the content new and fresh. Follow these tips and 2005 may be your year for traffic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry.
She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses
find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and
increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth at: mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at: http://www.pro-marketing-online.com
Article from www.entireweb.com
Monday, December 28, 2009
Preventing Image Bandwidth Theft With .htaccess
by Christopher Heng, thesitewizard.com
Judging from thesitewizard.com's web statistics, my article "How to Protect Your Images from Bandwidth Theft (PHP Script)" appears to be exceedingly popular. And no wonder too: I read complaints about websites stealing another site's images and making the victim pay for their bandwidth almost every other day. This article provides another solution to the problem of bandwidth theft, one that does not require the webmaster to modify any existing web pages nor install any scripts.
System Requirements
The solution outlined in this article requires your site to be hosted on a machine using the Apache web server and that your web host allows you to override the server's configuration using a .htaccess file. For the more technically inclined, it uses the facilities provided in the mod_setenvif Apache module.
If this is not the case for your website, you cannot use the suggestions given here. You might wish to check out my PHP solution, How to Protect Your Images from Bandwidth Thieves, instead. The article may be found at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/protectimages.shtml
(To find out if your web server fulfills the requirements stated here, try checking up the documentation on your web host's website - the information is usually available on their list of web hosting packages, price lists or on their order form. Alternatively, contact their technical support and find out from them.)
Steps to Take
Protecting your images using a .htaccess file is trivial.
Put all the images you wish to protect from being stolen (bandwidth-wise) in a separate directory.
Create an ASCII text file named .htaccess and save it in that directory. Note that the name starts with a fullstop (or period) and is entirely in small letters (ie, lowercase). Cut and paste (unless you're using IE 6 in which case you just have to type it yourself) the following lines into that file:
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://www.your-domain-name-here.com/" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://www.your-domain-name-here.com$" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://your-domain-name-here.com/" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://your-domain-name-here.com$" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^$" locally_linked=1
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from env=locally_linked
Change "your-domain-name-here.com" to your real domain name. If your site can be accessed using other domain names (eg "www.your-domain-name-here.net"), be sure to add an additional SetEnvIfNoCase line for each of those domain names (with the URLs appropriately changed to the URLs of your domains. On the other hand, if your site can only be accessed using one domain, for example, using only "www.your-domain-name-here.com", then delete the line with "http://your-domain-name-here.com". The cut and paste code above caters to the usual case where most sites can be accessed with or without the "www" prefix.
Do not correct my spelling in the code snippet given above. "Referer" (with only one "r" in the middle of the word) is the word that needs to go into the .htaccess file - do not change it to "Referrer".
That's all there is to it. The above file should protect all images that have ".gif", ".png", ".jpg" and ".jpeg" extensions.
Remember to use an ASCII text editor (also known as "text editor" or "plain text editor") to create the .htaccess file. Do not use Microsoft Word or Wordpad. Notepad (found on all Windows systems) is fine.
Explanation: .htaccess to Block Unauthorized Image Usage
Whenever a browser sends your web server a request for an image, it usually also sends the URL of the page that linked to that image. The above .htaccess file causes the server to check this URL ("Referer" in the above snippet) and if it is one of the authorized URLs that you specify, it will set an internal flag called "locally_linked". This internal flag is technically called an "environmental variable". If the URL sent is not in this list of authorised URLs, the flag (or environment variable) is not set. Note that we also set the "locally_linked" variable if the browser does not send any URL at all: this occurs when the visitor accesses your site using a browser or a proxy that suppresses the referring URL.
The web server then checks if the file requested has an extension in the list given above (gif, png, jpg and jpeg). If so, and the "locally_linked" variable is set, it will send the image. Otherwise it an error will be sent.
What Happens When A Bandwidth Thief Links to Your Image
After you create the .htaccess file, if some other site tries to link to your image from their site, they will find that the image will not display on their site. On the other hand, your images should generally load fine on pages on your site.
Potential Problems
Like the PHP solution, this method relies on the HTTP_REFERER variable (the variable that contains information about the referring page) being properly sent by the visitor's browser. A number of modern browsers as well as some of the anonymous surfing proxies and firewalls allow the user to change this header. These browsers or proxies will thus either transmit HTTP_REFERER headers that have some user-specified value or not bother to transmit them at all. There are also buggy browsers around that unpredictably transmit the wrong HTTP_REFERER header on occasion.
When this occurs your visitor will either not view the image even when he is on your site (which means that your own page will have broken link images), or he may be able to view your images even when it is displayed on the copyright infringing thief's site.
Hopefully the percentage of people who encounter this is small, but you have to be aware that these situations do occur.
Copyright Infringement Issues And Alternative Solutions
Besides the issue of paying for some other websites' traffic when a bandwidth thief links to the images on your website, there is also the issue of copyright infringement. When someone links to your proprietary images in order to decorate their pages, that person has actually infringed on your copyright.
In addition to using the .htaccess file to protect your images, you may also want to send the offending webmaster an email and/or a letter explaining that he/she is violating your copyright and asking him/her to stop the infringing practice. Sometimes that simple message would more than suffice.
If that does not work, you can always inform his/her web host of the copyright infringement. Reputable hosts are often very careful about hosting sites which infringe copyright. You will have to furnish proof, of course. If that does not work, you can try complaining to the upstream bandwidth provider. And finally, of course, you can get a lawyer.
I mention the above because sometimes, in the search for a solution to protect their bandwidth, people forget that they have rights that they can legally enforce through other means as well. I suppose this problem of overlooking alternative solutions applies particularly to the more technically savvy people, who tend to look for a software solution to everything even when there might be a simpler approach!
Copyright 2001-2003 by Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.
Get more free tips and articles like this, on web design, promotion, revenue and scripting, from http://www.thesitewizard.com/ or subscribe to the FREE newsletter by sending an email to subscribe@thesitewizard.com.
This article can be found at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/bandwidththeft.shtml
Related Pages
How to Set Up a Custom 404 File Not Found Page on Your Website
How
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How to Create Image Rollovers on Your Site (JavaScript)
What is favicon.ico?
Tips on Choosing a Good Domain Name for your Website
Which Web Host Would You Recommend? (FAQ)
Accepting Credit Cards on Your Website (without a Merchant
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Free HTML / CSS Editors, Free Web Editors
Â
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Glossary of Frequently Used Webmaster Terms
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The Changing Face of Email Newsletter Publishing: Tips for
Newsletter Publishers
Judging from thesitewizard.com's web statistics, my article "How to Protect Your Images from Bandwidth Theft (PHP Script)" appears to be exceedingly popular. And no wonder too: I read complaints about websites stealing another site's images and making the victim pay for their bandwidth almost every other day. This article provides another solution to the problem of bandwidth theft, one that does not require the webmaster to modify any existing web pages nor install any scripts.
System Requirements
The solution outlined in this article requires your site to be hosted on a machine using the Apache web server and that your web host allows you to override the server's configuration using a .htaccess file. For the more technically inclined, it uses the facilities provided in the mod_setenvif Apache module.
If this is not the case for your website, you cannot use the suggestions given here. You might wish to check out my PHP solution, How to Protect Your Images from Bandwidth Thieves, instead. The article may be found at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/protectimages.shtml
(To find out if your web server fulfills the requirements stated here, try checking up the documentation on your web host's website - the information is usually available on their list of web hosting packages, price lists or on their order form. Alternatively, contact their technical support and find out from them.)
Steps to Take
Protecting your images using a .htaccess file is trivial.
Put all the images you wish to protect from being stolen (bandwidth-wise) in a separate directory.
Create an ASCII text file named .htaccess and save it in that directory. Note that the name starts with a fullstop (or period) and is entirely in small letters (ie, lowercase). Cut and paste (unless you're using IE 6 in which case you just have to type it yourself) the following lines into that file:
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://www.your-domain-name-here.com/" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://www.your-domain-name-here.com$" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://your-domain-name-here.com/" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^http://your-domain-name-here.com$" locally_linked=1
SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^$" locally_linked=1
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from env=locally_linked
Change "your-domain-name-here.com" to your real domain name. If your site can be accessed using other domain names (eg "www.your-domain-name-here.net"), be sure to add an additional SetEnvIfNoCase line for each of those domain names (with the URLs appropriately changed to the URLs of your domains. On the other hand, if your site can only be accessed using one domain, for example, using only "www.your-domain-name-here.com", then delete the line with "http://your-domain-name-here.com". The cut and paste code above caters to the usual case where most sites can be accessed with or without the "www" prefix.
Do not correct my spelling in the code snippet given above. "Referer" (with only one "r" in the middle of the word) is the word that needs to go into the .htaccess file - do not change it to "Referrer".
That's all there is to it. The above file should protect all images that have ".gif", ".png", ".jpg" and ".jpeg" extensions.
Remember to use an ASCII text editor (also known as "text editor" or "plain text editor") to create the .htaccess file. Do not use Microsoft Word or Wordpad. Notepad (found on all Windows systems) is fine.
Explanation: .htaccess to Block Unauthorized Image Usage
Whenever a browser sends your web server a request for an image, it usually also sends the URL of the page that linked to that image. The above .htaccess file causes the server to check this URL ("Referer" in the above snippet) and if it is one of the authorized URLs that you specify, it will set an internal flag called "locally_linked". This internal flag is technically called an "environmental variable". If the URL sent is not in this list of authorised URLs, the flag (or environment variable) is not set. Note that we also set the "locally_linked" variable if the browser does not send any URL at all: this occurs when the visitor accesses your site using a browser or a proxy that suppresses the referring URL.
The web server then checks if the file requested has an extension in the list given above (gif, png, jpg and jpeg). If so, and the "locally_linked" variable is set, it will send the image. Otherwise it an error will be sent.
What Happens When A Bandwidth Thief Links to Your Image
After you create the .htaccess file, if some other site tries to link to your image from their site, they will find that the image will not display on their site. On the other hand, your images should generally load fine on pages on your site.
Potential Problems
Like the PHP solution, this method relies on the HTTP_REFERER variable (the variable that contains information about the referring page) being properly sent by the visitor's browser. A number of modern browsers as well as some of the anonymous surfing proxies and firewalls allow the user to change this header. These browsers or proxies will thus either transmit HTTP_REFERER headers that have some user-specified value or not bother to transmit them at all. There are also buggy browsers around that unpredictably transmit the wrong HTTP_REFERER header on occasion.
When this occurs your visitor will either not view the image even when he is on your site (which means that your own page will have broken link images), or he may be able to view your images even when it is displayed on the copyright infringing thief's site.
Hopefully the percentage of people who encounter this is small, but you have to be aware that these situations do occur.
Copyright Infringement Issues And Alternative Solutions
Besides the issue of paying for some other websites' traffic when a bandwidth thief links to the images on your website, there is also the issue of copyright infringement. When someone links to your proprietary images in order to decorate their pages, that person has actually infringed on your copyright.
In addition to using the .htaccess file to protect your images, you may also want to send the offending webmaster an email and/or a letter explaining that he/she is violating your copyright and asking him/her to stop the infringing practice. Sometimes that simple message would more than suffice.
If that does not work, you can always inform his/her web host of the copyright infringement. Reputable hosts are often very careful about hosting sites which infringe copyright. You will have to furnish proof, of course. If that does not work, you can try complaining to the upstream bandwidth provider. And finally, of course, you can get a lawyer.
I mention the above because sometimes, in the search for a solution to protect their bandwidth, people forget that they have rights that they can legally enforce through other means as well. I suppose this problem of overlooking alternative solutions applies particularly to the more technically savvy people, who tend to look for a software solution to everything even when there might be a simpler approach!
Copyright 2001-2003 by Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.
Get more free tips and articles like this, on web design, promotion, revenue and scripting, from http://www.thesitewizard.com/ or subscribe to the FREE newsletter by sending an email to subscribe@thesitewizard.com.
This article can be found at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/bandwidththeft.shtml
Related Pages
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Sunday, December 27, 2009
Selecting and Evaluating Key phrases
Selecting and Evaluating Key phrases for Search Engine Marketing
By Scott Buresh
Many businesses recognize that search engines can bring volumes of highly targeted prospects to their website, typically at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing.
Unfortunately, these same companies often overlook the most important part of their search engine marketing campaigns, which is keyphrase selection and evaluation. Keyphrases (those phrases that potential customers are using to find products or services on search engines) are the building block of any search engine marketing strategy. It is essential that they are chosen carefully, or else the remainder of the campaign, no matter how effective the implementation, will
likely be in vain. What follows is a three-step process that goes over the process of compiling, selecting, and evaluating the ongoing performance of keyphrases for search engines.
1. Compiling a keyphrase list:
Usually, companies are sure that they already know their ideal keyphrases. Often, they are wrong. This is typically because it is very hard to separate oneself from a business and look at it from the perspective of a potential customer (rather than an insider). Compiling a keyphrase list should not be, despite common practice, a strictly internal process. Rather, it is best to ask everyone outside of your company for their input, especially your customers. People are often very surprised at the keyphrase suggestions they get- and sometimes dismayed to realize that an average customer doesn't speak the same language that they do. Only after you have put together a list of likely phrases from external sources do you add your own. As a last step, try to add variations, plurals, and erivatives of the phrases on your list.
2. Evaluating keyphrases:
Once you have compiled a master keyphrase list, it is time to evaluate each phrase to hone your list down to those most likely to bring you the highest amount of quality traffic. Although many individuals will base their assessment of keyphrase value based only on popularity figures, there are really three vitally important aspects of each phrase to consider.
Popularity
By far the easiest of the three to judge is popularity, since it is not subjective. Software like WordTracker gives popularity figures of search phrases based upon actual search engine activity (it also gives additional keyphrase suggestions and variations). Such software allows you to assign a concrete popularity number to each phrase to use when comparing them. Obviously, the higher the number, the more traffic that can be expected (assuming you are able to obtain good search engine positions). However, this number alone is not good enough reason to pursue any particular keyphrase, although too often keyphrase analysis stops here.
Specificity
This is more abstract than the sheer popularity number, but equally important. For example, let's assume that you were able to obtain great rankings for the keyphrase "insurance companies" (a daunting prospect). Let's also assume that you only deal with auto insurance. Although "insurance companies" might have a much higher popularity figure than "auto insurance companies", the first keyphrase would also be comprised of people looking for life insurance, health insurance, and home insurance. It is very likely that someone searching for a particular type of insurance will refine their search after seeing the disparate results returned from the phrase "insurance companies". In the second, longer keyphrase, you can be reasonably sure that a much higher percentage of visitors will be looking for what you offer- and the addition of the word "auto" will make it much easier to attain higher rankings, since the longer term will be less competitive.
Motivation of User
This factor, even more abstract than specificity, calls for an attempt to understand the motivation of a search engine user by simply analyzing his or her search phrase. Assume, for example, that you were a real estate agent in Atlanta. Two of the keyphrases you are evaluating are "Atlanta real estate listings" and "Atlanta real estate agents". Both phrases have very similar popularity numbers. They are also each fairly specific, and your services are very relevant to each. So which phrase is better? If you look into the likely motivation of the user, you will probably conclude that the second is superior. While both phrases target people looking for real estate in Atlanta, you can infer from the second phrase that the searcher has moved beyond the point where they are browsing local homes or checking out prices in their neighborhood- they are looking for an agent, which implies that they are ready to act. Often, subtle distinctions between terms can make a large difference on the quality of the traffic they attract.
3. Evaluating Keyphrase Performance:
Until recently, judging the performance of individual keyphrases was a dicey proposition. Although it is possible to tell from your log traffic analysis how many visitors are getting to your site from each keyphrase (valuable information, but unfortunately not enough to do much with), it was very hard to decipher which phrases were bringing you the most quality traffic. Recently, however, some sophisticated but affordable tools have been developed that allow you to judge the performance of each individual keyphrase based upon visitor behavior. This new software makes it possible to periodically analyze which keyphrases are bringing your site the most valuable visitors- those who buy your products, fill out your contact form, download your demo, etc. This type of data, rather than the sheer number of visitors from each search phrase alone, is invaluable when you are refining your search engine marketing campaigns, since you can discard and replace non-performing keyphrases and put increased effort toward the phrases that are delivering visitors that become customers. This kind of ongoing analysis is the final piece of the keyphrase puzzle, and allows you to continually target the most important phrases for your industry, even if they change over time.
Conclusion:
Keyphrase compilation, evaluation, and performance are all vitally important to any search engine marketing campaign. While high rankings in search engines are an admirable goal, high rankings for poor keyphrases will consistently deliver poor results. Integration of this keyphrase process into your overall search engine marketing strategy can dramatically improve your website performance (and thus your bottom line).
About the author:
Scott Buresh is Co-founder and Principal of Medium BlueInternet Marketing http://www.mediumblue.com . For monthly tips on how to get the most out of your internet presence, sign up for our Internet Marketing Newsletter http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters
By Scott Buresh
Many businesses recognize that search engines can bring volumes of highly targeted prospects to their website, typically at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing.
Unfortunately, these same companies often overlook the most important part of their search engine marketing campaigns, which is keyphrase selection and evaluation. Keyphrases (those phrases that potential customers are using to find products or services on search engines) are the building block of any search engine marketing strategy. It is essential that they are chosen carefully, or else the remainder of the campaign, no matter how effective the implementation, will
likely be in vain. What follows is a three-step process that goes over the process of compiling, selecting, and evaluating the ongoing performance of keyphrases for search engines.
1. Compiling a keyphrase list:
Usually, companies are sure that they already know their ideal keyphrases. Often, they are wrong. This is typically because it is very hard to separate oneself from a business and look at it from the perspective of a potential customer (rather than an insider). Compiling a keyphrase list should not be, despite common practice, a strictly internal process. Rather, it is best to ask everyone outside of your company for their input, especially your customers. People are often very surprised at the keyphrase suggestions they get- and sometimes dismayed to realize that an average customer doesn't speak the same language that they do. Only after you have put together a list of likely phrases from external sources do you add your own. As a last step, try to add variations, plurals, and erivatives of the phrases on your list.
2. Evaluating keyphrases:
Once you have compiled a master keyphrase list, it is time to evaluate each phrase to hone your list down to those most likely to bring you the highest amount of quality traffic. Although many individuals will base their assessment of keyphrase value based only on popularity figures, there are really three vitally important aspects of each phrase to consider.
Popularity
By far the easiest of the three to judge is popularity, since it is not subjective. Software like WordTracker gives popularity figures of search phrases based upon actual search engine activity (it also gives additional keyphrase suggestions and variations). Such software allows you to assign a concrete popularity number to each phrase to use when comparing them. Obviously, the higher the number, the more traffic that can be expected (assuming you are able to obtain good search engine positions). However, this number alone is not good enough reason to pursue any particular keyphrase, although too often keyphrase analysis stops here.
Specificity
This is more abstract than the sheer popularity number, but equally important. For example, let's assume that you were able to obtain great rankings for the keyphrase "insurance companies" (a daunting prospect). Let's also assume that you only deal with auto insurance. Although "insurance companies" might have a much higher popularity figure than "auto insurance companies", the first keyphrase would also be comprised of people looking for life insurance, health insurance, and home insurance. It is very likely that someone searching for a particular type of insurance will refine their search after seeing the disparate results returned from the phrase "insurance companies". In the second, longer keyphrase, you can be reasonably sure that a much higher percentage of visitors will be looking for what you offer- and the addition of the word "auto" will make it much easier to attain higher rankings, since the longer term will be less competitive.
Motivation of User
This factor, even more abstract than specificity, calls for an attempt to understand the motivation of a search engine user by simply analyzing his or her search phrase. Assume, for example, that you were a real estate agent in Atlanta. Two of the keyphrases you are evaluating are "Atlanta real estate listings" and "Atlanta real estate agents". Both phrases have very similar popularity numbers. They are also each fairly specific, and your services are very relevant to each. So which phrase is better? If you look into the likely motivation of the user, you will probably conclude that the second is superior. While both phrases target people looking for real estate in Atlanta, you can infer from the second phrase that the searcher has moved beyond the point where they are browsing local homes or checking out prices in their neighborhood- they are looking for an agent, which implies that they are ready to act. Often, subtle distinctions between terms can make a large difference on the quality of the traffic they attract.
3. Evaluating Keyphrase Performance:
Until recently, judging the performance of individual keyphrases was a dicey proposition. Although it is possible to tell from your log traffic analysis how many visitors are getting to your site from each keyphrase (valuable information, but unfortunately not enough to do much with), it was very hard to decipher which phrases were bringing you the most quality traffic. Recently, however, some sophisticated but affordable tools have been developed that allow you to judge the performance of each individual keyphrase based upon visitor behavior. This new software makes it possible to periodically analyze which keyphrases are bringing your site the most valuable visitors- those who buy your products, fill out your contact form, download your demo, etc. This type of data, rather than the sheer number of visitors from each search phrase alone, is invaluable when you are refining your search engine marketing campaigns, since you can discard and replace non-performing keyphrases and put increased effort toward the phrases that are delivering visitors that become customers. This kind of ongoing analysis is the final piece of the keyphrase puzzle, and allows you to continually target the most important phrases for your industry, even if they change over time.
Conclusion:
Keyphrase compilation, evaluation, and performance are all vitally important to any search engine marketing campaign. While high rankings in search engines are an admirable goal, high rankings for poor keyphrases will consistently deliver poor results. Integration of this keyphrase process into your overall search engine marketing strategy can dramatically improve your website performance (and thus your bottom line).
About the author:
Scott Buresh is Co-founder and Principal of Medium BlueInternet Marketing http://www.mediumblue.com . For monthly tips on how to get the most out of your internet presence, sign up for our Internet Marketing Newsletter http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Let your visitors recommend your site
by David Gikandi
http://www.positionweaver.com
Did you know that 64% of us would buy something if it were recommended to us by a friend? Let us place that number in perspective. If you were to create a banner ad campaign, only about 2 to 3% of the people who see your add would respond to it. If you were to advertise in a newsletter or magazine, or send bulk mail, the response would be around 1 to 2%, typically. But if you asked all your current clients to recommend your site to their friends, 64% of their friends would respond! And best of all, this is usually free marketing.
What are you doing about this statistic? Most sites do nothing about it. Other sites add a link somewhere that says something like "recommend this site to a friend". The former is a marketing crime, the latter is not enough. Internet users are busy and impatient. If they see a link somewhere on your site that asks them to recommend your site to a friend, they most likely will not click on it because they are in a hurry (and are lazy, too, sometimes). But they do definitely want to recommend your site. So what do you do? You should somewhat force them to recommend your site, but make it very easy to do so and pleasant. And you should remind them at least once, in their face, on every visit to your site. That will take a little JavaScript.
What we are going to do is this: we want our visitors to our web site to come into our site as usual, use the site uninterrupted as usual. If at any time they decide to leave the site from any page, a new browser window will launch on the side and thank them for their visit, wish them a nice day and invite them to come again. That is all in two or three short sentences. Then comes the killer. Below those kind words, you should have a simple way for them to tell their friends about your site! It should be absolutely simple, and fun for them, and they will do it for sure. You have two choices:
You can use a form that simply asks them for their friends' email addresses and any personal note they wish to include. Then take that information and insert it into a template that holds an invitation letter you have written out and sends that letter plus the personal note to all the email addresses entered. To accomplish this I recommend that you use the AlienForm CGI script, which is free at http://cgi.tj/scripts/alienform/. I personally prefer this method because it is easier and faster for the user.
You can use Recommend-It's service at http://www.recommend-it.com/, which is also free and sometimes runs competitions whereby your users stand a chance of winning something if they recommend their friends (which increases the recommendations). This method is easier for you but a little harder for the user because they have to click on a button, go to Recommend-It's site, fill out a form, and then they are done. The more steps they have to go through the more likely they may abort the whole thing and not recommend new friends next time.
You can install one of the many Perl programs available specifically created for these recommendation - there are over 30 listed at the Perl Archive.
This is a very powerful formula because whenever your visitor is done visiting your site, they are automatically given an absolutely easy way through which they can recommend your site to their friends. And it is in their face so it has their undivided attention.
Now we need to build this capability into our web pages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 1
Build a fast loading web page that thanks your visitor for their visit, wishes them a nice day, and invites them to come again. That is all in two or three short sentences, not a whole paragraph. Below that, have your recommendation form or button from Recommend-It. That's it. Save it somewhere in your site. Let us say the URL to this page is http://www.yourcompany.com/thankyou.htm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 2
On every page on your site, add this in the head of your pages (somewhere between the and tags):
This JavaScript script will open the new window that has your thankyou.htm page. Make sure you change the URL above to point to your recommendation page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 3
On every page on your site, add this in the tag:
onUnload="exitcnsl()"
Your body tag will look something like this: or if it has other properties such as a background color. This tells the browser to execute the JavaScript in the head section if the user goes to another page or closes the browser.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 4
On every page on your site, add this to every link that you have on those pages that goes to another page within your site:
onclick="exit=false"
This is how it will look like on a link:
To go to our samples page click here at this time.
This tells the browser that if the user clicks on that link, the JavaScript should not be executed. This makes the whole process dormant until the point where your visitor is leaving your site. When the user is leaving your site, they will either shut down their browser, type in a new URL into the browser, click on a link in your site going out of your site, or use their 'Back' button to take them to a site they were in before coming to yours. All these actions will not set the 'exit' value to 'false' and so the JavaScript will be executed. Remember, this is added only to links that go to pages within your site so that those links set the 'exit' value to 'false'.
That's it!
http://www.positionweaver.com
Did you know that 64% of us would buy something if it were recommended to us by a friend? Let us place that number in perspective. If you were to create a banner ad campaign, only about 2 to 3% of the people who see your add would respond to it. If you were to advertise in a newsletter or magazine, or send bulk mail, the response would be around 1 to 2%, typically. But if you asked all your current clients to recommend your site to their friends, 64% of their friends would respond! And best of all, this is usually free marketing.
What are you doing about this statistic? Most sites do nothing about it. Other sites add a link somewhere that says something like "recommend this site to a friend". The former is a marketing crime, the latter is not enough. Internet users are busy and impatient. If they see a link somewhere on your site that asks them to recommend your site to a friend, they most likely will not click on it because they are in a hurry (and are lazy, too, sometimes). But they do definitely want to recommend your site. So what do you do? You should somewhat force them to recommend your site, but make it very easy to do so and pleasant. And you should remind them at least once, in their face, on every visit to your site. That will take a little JavaScript.
What we are going to do is this: we want our visitors to our web site to come into our site as usual, use the site uninterrupted as usual. If at any time they decide to leave the site from any page, a new browser window will launch on the side and thank them for their visit, wish them a nice day and invite them to come again. That is all in two or three short sentences. Then comes the killer. Below those kind words, you should have a simple way for them to tell their friends about your site! It should be absolutely simple, and fun for them, and they will do it for sure. You have two choices:
You can use a form that simply asks them for their friends' email addresses and any personal note they wish to include. Then take that information and insert it into a template that holds an invitation letter you have written out and sends that letter plus the personal note to all the email addresses entered. To accomplish this I recommend that you use the AlienForm CGI script, which is free at http://cgi.tj/scripts/alienform/. I personally prefer this method because it is easier and faster for the user.
You can use Recommend-It's service at http://www.recommend-it.com/, which is also free and sometimes runs competitions whereby your users stand a chance of winning something if they recommend their friends (which increases the recommendations). This method is easier for you but a little harder for the user because they have to click on a button, go to Recommend-It's site, fill out a form, and then they are done. The more steps they have to go through the more likely they may abort the whole thing and not recommend new friends next time.
You can install one of the many Perl programs available specifically created for these recommendation - there are over 30 listed at the Perl Archive.
This is a very powerful formula because whenever your visitor is done visiting your site, they are automatically given an absolutely easy way through which they can recommend your site to their friends. And it is in their face so it has their undivided attention.
Now we need to build this capability into our web pages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 1
Build a fast loading web page that thanks your visitor for their visit, wishes them a nice day, and invites them to come again. That is all in two or three short sentences, not a whole paragraph. Below that, have your recommendation form or button from Recommend-It. That's it. Save it somewhere in your site. Let us say the URL to this page is http://www.yourcompany.com/thankyou.htm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 2
On every page on your site, add this in the head of your pages (somewhere between the and tags):
This JavaScript script will open the new window that has your thankyou.htm page. Make sure you change the URL above to point to your recommendation page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 3
On every page on your site, add this in the tag:
onUnload="exitcnsl()"
Your body tag will look something like this: or if it has other properties such as a background color. This tells the browser to execute the JavaScript in the head section if the user goes to another page or closes the browser.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 4
On every page on your site, add this to every link that you have on those pages that goes to another page within your site:
onclick="exit=false"
This is how it will look like on a link:
To go to our samples page click here at this time.
This tells the browser that if the user clicks on that link, the JavaScript should not be executed. This makes the whole process dormant until the point where your visitor is leaving your site. When the user is leaving your site, they will either shut down their browser, type in a new URL into the browser, click on a link in your site going out of your site, or use their 'Back' button to take them to a site they were in before coming to yours. All these actions will not set the 'exit' value to 'false' and so the JavaScript will be executed. Remember, this is added only to links that go to pages within your site so that those links set the 'exit' value to 'false'.
That's it!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Promoting My Domains To The Cyber World
After I have done with my setting up of my websites and blogs, I would list them in the search engines to get organic traffic. But before that I did a check to find out whether my domains had been listed by using a tool here.
Here are some of the websites I submitted my websites/blogs to:
Google, MSN, Yahoo, Submit Corner, Add Pro, Free Web Submission, Scrub The Web, Submit Plus, Submit Express, Lycos, Cari, Entire Web and DMOZ.
I also did pinging my websites/blogs to ping.sg, technorati, pinglog.com, autopinger and pingoat.
Some reading tips:
http://www.google.ca/
http://www.search.com/
Here are some of the websites I submitted my websites/blogs to:
Google, MSN, Yahoo, Submit Corner, Add Pro, Free Web Submission, Scrub The Web, Submit Plus, Submit Express, Lycos, Cari, Entire Web and DMOZ.
I also did pinging my websites/blogs to ping.sg, technorati, pinglog.com, autopinger and pingoat.
Some reading tips:
http://www.google.ca/
http://www.search.com/
Thursday, December 24, 2009
3 Business Tips From A Game
Did some reading on this blog and I find that his tips from the sushi game are very good.
Here are the 3 tips:
You need to memorize your business recipes!
What is your business recipes? If you are going to service your customers and provide them with your proprietory products, you cannot afford to refer to you product manual in front of you potential customers. Product information must be at your finger tips!
You need to know your business demand, and be able to predict it!
In the fast moving world of business, it is already too late to prepare your order when the demand comes. While the demand for a particular type of sushi is pretty random in the game, real life demands follow patterns, they follow trends… and if you want to be able to capitalize on the trend you need to prepare in advance.
If you can't serve all your customers, choose the ones that will give you the most profit!
It sounds simple and logical enough, but how many actually practise it? Out of “simplicity†and the perception of “quick and easy moneyâ€, many of us want to get done with our “califonia roll†clients work before we start work on the “combo†customers. As a result, we end up running late serving our most important customers.
Read the full post here.
Here are the 3 tips:
What is your business recipes? If you are going to service your customers and provide them with your proprietory products, you cannot afford to refer to you product manual in front of you potential customers. Product information must be at your finger tips!
In the fast moving world of business, it is already too late to prepare your order when the demand comes. While the demand for a particular type of sushi is pretty random in the game, real life demands follow patterns, they follow trends… and if you want to be able to capitalize on the trend you need to prepare in advance.
It sounds simple and logical enough, but how many actually practise it? Out of “simplicity†and the perception of “quick and easy moneyâ€, many of us want to get done with our “califonia roll†clients work before we start work on the “combo†customers. As a result, we end up running late serving our most important customers.
Read the full post here.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Affiliate Programs Turn Website Visitors Into Potential Dollar Bills?
Affiliate programs are common and used in almost all Industries of the world. The concept is very simple to grasp. You direct potential customers to their websites which can be your visitors and earn a commission for every sale. They also pays you for referring new webmasters and associates.
Currently I joined these affiliate programs : WebHostingBuzz.com-aff, ResellersPanel.com, NetFirms.com, HostGator.com, BlueHost.com, Globat.com, DreamHost.com and CirtexHosting.
Currently I joined these affiliate programs : WebHostingBuzz.com-aff, ResellersPanel.com, NetFirms.com, HostGator.com, BlueHost.com, Globat.com, DreamHost.com and CirtexHosting.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
25 Top Shared Web Hostings
Shared Web Hosting is the most preferred type of hosting for more than 90% of the web users. The price of Shared web hosting is negligible compared to renting a dedicated Server i.e. an entire Server used to manage only your website(s).
Shared Hosting is nothing but an organized way of hosting many websites on a single server which utilize server resources based on their limits to ensure peaceful hosting therby splitting the cost of buying a dedicated Server. Many providers do offer UNLIMITED hosting but this does not necessarily mean the "best of what you can get". Limits are imposed mainly for One Reason, To Prevent.
Web Hosting demands features and support required for your UNIQUE website. Unmetered / Unlimited features provided in web hosting no doubt, make the life easier while choosing a package for web hosting, but in the long run due to lack of limits, it allows a big room for existing users to cause abuse knowingly or unknowingly.
Speed-01
Disk Space: 100 MB
Bandwidth: Unmetered
MySQL Databases: Unlimited
Addon Domains: 5
Parked Domains: 1
Subdomains: Unlimited
Servers Location: Singapore
Control Panel: Direct Admin
Price: SGD$3.00/month or SGD$36.00/year
Find out more here.
Logic Plan
Disk Space: 1 GB
Bandwidth: 10 GB
MySQL Databases: Zero (upgradeable)
Addon Domains: 1
Parked Domains: 1
Subdomains: 5
Servers Location: California (USA)
Control Panel: CPanel
Price: USD$0.99/month or USD$0.83*12/year
Find out more here.
Basic Hosting
Disk Space: 5 GB
Bandwidth: 250 GB
MySQL Databases: 15
Addon Domains: 0
Parked Domains: 1
Subdomains: 15
Servers Location:
Control Panel: CPanel
Price: USD$2.91/month or USD$39.95/year
Find out more here.
Other Big Servers:
Server 4 @ USD$4.25, Server 5 @ USD$3.99, Server 6 @ USD$9.95, Server 7 @ USD$4.95, Server 8 @ USD$6.95, Server 9 @ USD$4.44, Server 10 @ USD$0.23/day, Server 11 @ USD$5.95, Server 12 @ USD$7.96, Server 13 @ USD$7.95, Server 14 @ USD$9, Server 15 @ USD$9.95, Server 16 @ USD$3.95.
Other Small Servers:
Server 17 @ USD$2.95, Server 18 @ USD$2.99, Server 19 @ USD$1.
Other Free Servers:
Server 20, Server 21
New Added Servers:
Server 22 @ USD$20.68/year, Server 23 @ USD$1.99, Server 24 @ USD$7.30/year, Server 25 @ USD$5.97,
Good links about web hosting:
Reseller vs. Shared Hosting
Shared or Dedicated - Which Should You Choose?
GoDaddy Sucks
HostGator Tips
Scams
Shared Hosting is nothing but an organized way of hosting many websites on a single server which utilize server resources based on their limits to ensure peaceful hosting therby splitting the cost of buying a dedicated Server. Many providers do offer UNLIMITED hosting but this does not necessarily mean the "best of what you can get". Limits are imposed mainly for One Reason, To Prevent.
Web Hosting demands features and support required for your UNIQUE website. Unmetered / Unlimited features provided in web hosting no doubt, make the life easier while choosing a package for web hosting, but in the long run due to lack of limits, it allows a big room for existing users to cause abuse knowingly or unknowingly.
Speed-01
Disk Space: 100 MB
Bandwidth: Unmetered
MySQL Databases: Unlimited
Addon Domains: 5
Parked Domains: 1
Subdomains: Unlimited
Servers Location: Singapore
Control Panel: Direct Admin
Price: SGD$3.00/month or SGD$36.00/year
Find out more here.
Logic Plan
Disk Space: 1 GB
Bandwidth: 10 GB
MySQL Databases: Zero (upgradeable)
Addon Domains: 1
Parked Domains: 1
Subdomains: 5
Servers Location: California (USA)
Control Panel: CPanel
Price: USD$0.99/month or USD$0.83*12/year
Find out more here.
Basic Hosting
Disk Space: 5 GB
Bandwidth: 250 GB
MySQL Databases: 15
Addon Domains: 0
Parked Domains: 1
Subdomains: 15
Servers Location:
Control Panel: CPanel
Price: USD$2.91/month or USD$39.95/year
Find out more here.
Other Big Servers:
Server 4 @ USD$4.25, Server 5 @ USD$3.99, Server 6 @ USD$9.95, Server 7 @ USD$4.95, Server 8 @ USD$6.95, Server 9 @ USD$4.44, Server 10 @ USD$0.23/day, Server 11 @ USD$5.95, Server 12 @ USD$7.96, Server 13 @ USD$7.95, Server 14 @ USD$9, Server 15 @ USD$9.95, Server 16 @ USD$3.95.
Other Small Servers:
Server 17 @ USD$2.95, Server 18 @ USD$2.99, Server 19 @ USD$1.
Other Free Servers:
Server 20, Server 21
New Added Servers:
Server 22 @ USD$20.68/year, Server 23 @ USD$1.99, Server 24 @ USD$7.30/year, Server 25 @ USD$5.97,
Good links about web hosting:
Reseller vs. Shared Hosting
Shared or Dedicated - Which Should You Choose?
GoDaddy Sucks
HostGator Tips
Scams
Monday, December 21, 2009
Kick Starting Your Business Tips
There are a few things you NEED to or SHOULD have when you start your business. Here are 5 essentials:
For more reading click here.
- Business Cards
- Website
- Preliminary Prices or Rates Established
- Beginning Workflow Set
- A Network of Family and Friends
For more reading click here.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
What Sells On The Internet?
For anyone contemplating starting an online business the question of the day is what to sell online. You not only need to know what to sell on the internet but you need to know what sells well.
There are many specific answers when it comes to this question but probably the best answer is people buy products online that they don't need to smell, touch or examine. They want products that they are fairly familiar with or products that don't carry an element of surprise upon receiving them. In other words, they have a pretty good idea of what it is they are getting.
For example, Amazon.com does very well because there's no more mystery to buying a book online than if they were in the book store purchasing the book. You can't feel or touch a book online but the internet might even be better because it offers reviews and ratings that you may not get in a bookstore. Also, shipping is generally fast and easy.
This concept also holds true for music, videos and CD's.
They all sell very well online.
Travel sells well online. Using the internet is easier than making a trip to the travel store and again, you know exactly what you are getting. The internet also makes it easy to comparison shop for the best ticket prices. Offering comparison shopping is a key factor to a successful business
online and the internet has been a huge success in this area.
People often go to the internet to buy what is familiar. Electronics are hot categories for consumers but some don't do as well online because buyers like to feel them, turn them on for clarity and test all the features of the product. Unless someone has seen a particular item in person, tested
it out and knows exactly the style and model it is that they want, they're not as likely to go shopping online and buy it over the internet.
Items that are hard to find sell well online. If you offer a unique product that can't be found in stores people are more likely to purchase online. This is especially true for the more rural areas of the country where it's harder to find certain products.
Here people will turn to the internet to find what they need.
For all other products there is virtually very little that does not sell online nowadays. Of course some things sell better than others. For example, it makes sense that common products that you can buy at the local store don't sell well online, but if you can identify unique products and focus those products to their target markets you may have a winner.
Anyone can experience healthy sales for any product sold online by following some of the guidelines that make sales a success.
Ease of shopping.
You have to make it easy for the online shopper.
Your site has to be set up so that the shopping experience and checkout aren't frustrating. If you've ever bought anything over the internet
think about what it is you liked or didn't like about the experience. Certainly don't offer what you didn't like and make what you did like even
better.
Clear information and quality pictures or photos.
Always provide as much information about your products as possible and always post a clear picture or photo. If the photo isn't of good quality
then your viewer won't consider you a quality site.
Get them as close to touching, feeling and smelling the product as possible.
Fast or free delivery.
Provide shipping information to your viewers somewhere on your site. Don't force them to place the order to find out how much shipping is. Be upfront about the costs.
If you offer free shipping, post that as an advantage on your front page. Recent reports show that free delivery is the third most important factor in attracting repeat customers. The first two were online security and price.
Always include an 'About' page.
Your about page should have your business name, address and a phone number. What sometimes tips the scales in your favor is the ability for people to find out who you are and where your are. They need to feel they are dealing with someone honest and genuine. They want to
know that they can contact you if necessary.
Provide security shopping.
Use secure servers for ordering and post your security measures plainly.
Offer competitive pricing.
Do your research and offer pricing that will appeal to your buyers. If your price is higher than your competitors explain why and
what features or quality measures justify your prices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry.
She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth at:mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at: http://www.pro-marketing-online.com
Entireweb Newsletter
There are many specific answers when it comes to this question but probably the best answer is people buy products online that they don't need to smell, touch or examine. They want products that they are fairly familiar with or products that don't carry an element of surprise upon receiving them. In other words, they have a pretty good idea of what it is they are getting.
For example, Amazon.com does very well because there's no more mystery to buying a book online than if they were in the book store purchasing the book. You can't feel or touch a book online but the internet might even be better because it offers reviews and ratings that you may not get in a bookstore. Also, shipping is generally fast and easy.
This concept also holds true for music, videos and CD's.
They all sell very well online.
Travel sells well online. Using the internet is easier than making a trip to the travel store and again, you know exactly what you are getting. The internet also makes it easy to comparison shop for the best ticket prices. Offering comparison shopping is a key factor to a successful business
online and the internet has been a huge success in this area.
People often go to the internet to buy what is familiar. Electronics are hot categories for consumers but some don't do as well online because buyers like to feel them, turn them on for clarity and test all the features of the product. Unless someone has seen a particular item in person, tested
it out and knows exactly the style and model it is that they want, they're not as likely to go shopping online and buy it over the internet.
Items that are hard to find sell well online. If you offer a unique product that can't be found in stores people are more likely to purchase online. This is especially true for the more rural areas of the country where it's harder to find certain products.
Here people will turn to the internet to find what they need.
For all other products there is virtually very little that does not sell online nowadays. Of course some things sell better than others. For example, it makes sense that common products that you can buy at the local store don't sell well online, but if you can identify unique products and focus those products to their target markets you may have a winner.
Anyone can experience healthy sales for any product sold online by following some of the guidelines that make sales a success.
Ease of shopping.
You have to make it easy for the online shopper.
Your site has to be set up so that the shopping experience and checkout aren't frustrating. If you've ever bought anything over the internet
think about what it is you liked or didn't like about the experience. Certainly don't offer what you didn't like and make what you did like even
better.
Clear information and quality pictures or photos.
Always provide as much information about your products as possible and always post a clear picture or photo. If the photo isn't of good quality
then your viewer won't consider you a quality site.
Get them as close to touching, feeling and smelling the product as possible.
Fast or free delivery.
Provide shipping information to your viewers somewhere on your site. Don't force them to place the order to find out how much shipping is. Be upfront about the costs.
If you offer free shipping, post that as an advantage on your front page. Recent reports show that free delivery is the third most important factor in attracting repeat customers. The first two were online security and price.
Always include an 'About' page.
Your about page should have your business name, address and a phone number. What sometimes tips the scales in your favor is the ability for people to find out who you are and where your are. They need to feel they are dealing with someone honest and genuine. They want to
know that they can contact you if necessary.
Provide security shopping.
Use secure servers for ordering and post your security measures plainly.
Offer competitive pricing.
Do your research and offer pricing that will appeal to your buyers. If your price is higher than your competitors explain why and
what features or quality measures justify your prices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry.
She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth at:mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at: http://www.pro-marketing-online.com
Entireweb Newsletter
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Interviews with home-business gurus Simon Stepsys
Simon Stepsys
Age: 35
Highest Education: High School
Year Started Business: "I started working for myself at 18, but this was working away from home. I started my home business in 1997."
Type Of Business: Home publishing, mlm, and Internet marketing
Market: Anyone who is dissatisfied with their way of life; anyone who is looking to get out of the rat race; someone who is positive, has a bright outlook in life, and is determined
Number Of Employees: "I have a part-time bookkeeper and use a professional accountant. They're not cheap but worth every penny."
Best Month (Gross Revenues): "My best month in my home business was in February 2003 when I made $38,077.67. My income is about to explode!"
Hours Worked Per Week During Start Up: "Every spare hour I could find, although it didn't feel like work! It was fun!"
Hours Worked Per Week Now: Around 40 --"I work when I want to instead of having to."
Favorite Business Magazines: "SFI Magazine was my favourite read; I love reading about successful people who work from home and achieved thier dreams! I also read Making Money Magazine, and E and M Magazine.
Favorite Business Books Or Authors: Recruit Your Way to Millions, by Fred Stege --"A new book but a MUST read for anyone who wants to know how to do what the title says!"; The Trick to Money Is Having Some!, by Stuart Wilde; and Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill --"I still read this today. I am a big reader of all Internet marketing and MLM training books. I also read anything by the great Jim Rohn."
Relaxes By: Spending time with family and playing with son Max --"I also like days out regularly with my family and I love to ride motorcycles. I also like to listen to music, watch good movies, take saunas and steam room and aromatherapy room treatment at my local gym. These are great ways to relax, recharge and energize."
Keeps In Shape By: Keeping fit --"I am a great believer that a fit and healthy body equate to a fit and healthy mind. I love running, and I go to my local gym at least three to four times each week. Your health is the most important part of life. Look after it!"
Favorite Part Of The Job: "The best part of my job is seeing success in others. I also love my one-minute commute to work; from my bed to my home office is sheer bliss."
Least Favorite Part Of The Job: "I hate administration tasks, complainers, moaners and groaners, negative people, and arguing. Most of all, I dislike excuses."
Companies He Admires: Microsoft and, especially, Amway --"What they achieved is incredible. When Amway started, it must have been very difficult. They paved the way for the rest of the network marketing companies --well done to Dexter Yager! I also admire SFI for their totally automated home business system."
Favorite Quotes: Do or do not. There is NO try --Yoda ("Empire Strikes Back," Lucasfilm Ltd.) Losers always have an excuse; winners always have an idea. Losers fix the blame; winners fix the situation. Losers make promises; winners keep commitments. Losers let it happen; winners make it happen. Losers say, "Why don't they do something?" Winners say, "Here's something I can do." --Unknown "Today I shall behave as though this is the one by which I shall be remembered." --Dr. A. Twersk
The Person Who Most Influenced His Life: "My dad Val. He was very wise and simply amazing; he had great understanding and great communication skills. With that came his great leadership. Sadly, he passed away five years ago, but he still lives with me in my memory everyday."
Heroes: "Derek Ross. He taught me all about networking, and, most importantly, he gave me belief in myself. He passed away recently, but he was truly a great inspiring leader, motivator, and trainer."
Special Accomplishments: Member of Six-Figure Income's Presidents Club; number three in SFI's Top 100 Sellers list in June 2003 and a top re-seller; achieved the top position of senior marketing director with UK MLM Telecoms Company, turning over more than $1 million a year; achieved presidential member status of MLM Home Shopping Club in less than one year; president member in leads company Traffic Oasis; also a top seller in many affiliate programs and top producer in traffic-generation programs No More Hits and Free Net Leads.
Months Before Achieving A Profit: "I made a profit in my first month."
Books/Tapes/Reports He Authored: "I have many training e-mails I send out to my team on a regular basis. If you would like to receive my FREE 52 follow-up training course about how to start a home based business and profit from the Internet, please send a blank e-mail to: mailto:freeinfo4u@hotresponders.com.
Contact Simon At: + 44 (0) 1270 611371 (United Kingdom) or simon@amzing2ndincome.com
GETTING STARTED
They say it takes money to make money. Should I try to get a small-business loan for my startup capital or just try to get by with my own limited finances?
SS: I know of many people who started without a loan, me included. Having startup money is certainly a huge advantage, but it's not everything. Having the motivation and desire is far more important.
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
Approximately what percentage of your sales originate from Internet marketing?
SS: Approx 90%. I also advertise my Websites offline.
What other kinds of marketing do you use?
SS: I advertise with drop cards and even on the back of my two new cars.
MONEY & INVESTMENTS
What are the advantages of earning a lot of money. What are some disadvantages?
SS: There are a lot of advantages --the main one being freedom of choice. You can choose what to do when you want to do it. Lifestyle is everything --the time and freedom factor, nice cars, frequent holidays, etc. A disadvantage is complacency. Don't ever get complacent!!
NETWORK MARKETING
What do you lead with --your company's products or the business opportunity?
SS: The business opportunity, unless it's with a service-based MLM, such as a telecom. In that case, I would lead with the service first, then the opportunity.
Best tips for surviving rejection?
SS: Don't take it personally. Each "NO" is a step closer to a "YES." The leaders in this business have had more nos than yeses. You have to expect it. Train your downline about this, and they will stick with you when the going gets tough.
POWERFUL IDEAS
What was the motivating factor that drove you to start your own business?
SS: The lifestyle. It wasn't all about money; it was about doing what I wanted to do. First, I worked as much as I needed to make a living. Then I created the plan to make it happen.
What motivates you now to continue building your business?
SS: I love helping people become successful; I get real satisfaction in that.
Age: 35
Highest Education: High School
Year Started Business: "I started working for myself at 18, but this was working away from home. I started my home business in 1997."
Type Of Business: Home publishing, mlm, and Internet marketing
Market: Anyone who is dissatisfied with their way of life; anyone who is looking to get out of the rat race; someone who is positive, has a bright outlook in life, and is determined
Number Of Employees: "I have a part-time bookkeeper and use a professional accountant. They're not cheap but worth every penny."
Best Month (Gross Revenues): "My best month in my home business was in February 2003 when I made $38,077.67. My income is about to explode!"
Hours Worked Per Week During Start Up: "Every spare hour I could find, although it didn't feel like work! It was fun!"
Hours Worked Per Week Now: Around 40 --"I work when I want to instead of having to."
Favorite Business Magazines: "SFI Magazine was my favourite read; I love reading about successful people who work from home and achieved thier dreams! I also read Making Money Magazine, and E and M Magazine.
Favorite Business Books Or Authors: Recruit Your Way to Millions, by Fred Stege --"A new book but a MUST read for anyone who wants to know how to do what the title says!"; The Trick to Money Is Having Some!, by Stuart Wilde; and Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill --"I still read this today. I am a big reader of all Internet marketing and MLM training books. I also read anything by the great Jim Rohn."
Relaxes By: Spending time with family and playing with son Max --"I also like days out regularly with my family and I love to ride motorcycles. I also like to listen to music, watch good movies, take saunas and steam room and aromatherapy room treatment at my local gym. These are great ways to relax, recharge and energize."
Keeps In Shape By: Keeping fit --"I am a great believer that a fit and healthy body equate to a fit and healthy mind. I love running, and I go to my local gym at least three to four times each week. Your health is the most important part of life. Look after it!"
Favorite Part Of The Job: "The best part of my job is seeing success in others. I also love my one-minute commute to work; from my bed to my home office is sheer bliss."
Least Favorite Part Of The Job: "I hate administration tasks, complainers, moaners and groaners, negative people, and arguing. Most of all, I dislike excuses."
Companies He Admires: Microsoft and, especially, Amway --"What they achieved is incredible. When Amway started, it must have been very difficult. They paved the way for the rest of the network marketing companies --well done to Dexter Yager! I also admire SFI for their totally automated home business system."
Favorite Quotes: Do or do not. There is NO try --Yoda ("Empire Strikes Back," Lucasfilm Ltd.) Losers always have an excuse; winners always have an idea. Losers fix the blame; winners fix the situation. Losers make promises; winners keep commitments. Losers let it happen; winners make it happen. Losers say, "Why don't they do something?" Winners say, "Here's something I can do." --Unknown "Today I shall behave as though this is the one by which I shall be remembered." --Dr. A. Twersk
The Person Who Most Influenced His Life: "My dad Val. He was very wise and simply amazing; he had great understanding and great communication skills. With that came his great leadership. Sadly, he passed away five years ago, but he still lives with me in my memory everyday."
Heroes: "Derek Ross. He taught me all about networking, and, most importantly, he gave me belief in myself. He passed away recently, but he was truly a great inspiring leader, motivator, and trainer."
Special Accomplishments: Member of Six-Figure Income's Presidents Club; number three in SFI's Top 100 Sellers list in June 2003 and a top re-seller; achieved the top position of senior marketing director with UK MLM Telecoms Company, turning over more than $1 million a year; achieved presidential member status of MLM Home Shopping Club in less than one year; president member in leads company Traffic Oasis; also a top seller in many affiliate programs and top producer in traffic-generation programs No More Hits and Free Net Leads.
Months Before Achieving A Profit: "I made a profit in my first month."
Books/Tapes/Reports He Authored: "I have many training e-mails I send out to my team on a regular basis. If you would like to receive my FREE 52 follow-up training course about how to start a home based business and profit from the Internet, please send a blank e-mail to: mailto:freeinfo4u@hotresponders.com.
Contact Simon At: + 44 (0) 1270 611371 (United Kingdom) or simon@amzing2ndincome.com
GETTING STARTED
They say it takes money to make money. Should I try to get a small-business loan for my startup capital or just try to get by with my own limited finances?
SS: I know of many people who started without a loan, me included. Having startup money is certainly a huge advantage, but it's not everything. Having the motivation and desire is far more important.
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
Approximately what percentage of your sales originate from Internet marketing?
SS: Approx 90%. I also advertise my Websites offline.
What other kinds of marketing do you use?
SS: I advertise with drop cards and even on the back of my two new cars.
MONEY & INVESTMENTS
What are the advantages of earning a lot of money. What are some disadvantages?
SS: There are a lot of advantages --the main one being freedom of choice. You can choose what to do when you want to do it. Lifestyle is everything --the time and freedom factor, nice cars, frequent holidays, etc. A disadvantage is complacency. Don't ever get complacent!!
NETWORK MARKETING
What do you lead with --your company's products or the business opportunity?
SS: The business opportunity, unless it's with a service-based MLM, such as a telecom. In that case, I would lead with the service first, then the opportunity.
Best tips for surviving rejection?
SS: Don't take it personally. Each "NO" is a step closer to a "YES." The leaders in this business have had more nos than yeses. You have to expect it. Train your downline about this, and they will stick with you when the going gets tough.
POWERFUL IDEAS
What was the motivating factor that drove you to start your own business?
SS: The lifestyle. It wasn't all about money; it was about doing what I wanted to do. First, I worked as much as I needed to make a living. Then I created the plan to make it happen.
What motivates you now to continue building your business?
SS: I love helping people become successful; I get real satisfaction in that.
Friday, December 18, 2009
How To Start Your Own Virtual Assistant Business
Thanks to the Internet there’s a new way to make money with your computer. You might be surprised at all the different services you could offer with this new home business. Most people have become familiar with word processors, which usually consists of typing manuscripts, letters, transcription and writing resumes, but the new virtual assistant is like word processing on steroids.
Diana Ennen, has been a home-based word processor now for about 15 years. She started to educate herself about all the possibilities a person has when starting a virtual assistant business. Diana Ennen along with Kelly Poelker, a certified Master Virtual Assistant, just finished writing an ebook called, “A Bizy’s Guide: How To Start Your Own Home-Based Virtual Assistant’s Business.â€
So What Exactly Is A Virtual Assistant?
Diana Ennen explains, “A virtual assistant, or VA, is a highly skilled professional who provides administrative support and other specialized services to businesses, entrepreneurs, executives, and others who have more work to do than time to do it.
Many VAs work as independent contractors from their own home. VAs use leading edge technology to communicate work assignments via the Internet, e-mail, disk transfer or such traditional methods as regular mail, overnight shipping and even pick-up and delivery in local areas. A VAs services typically include word processing, medical or legal transcription, database management, Internet research, e-mail handling, reminder service, bulk mailings, information processing, and any other tasks typically given to the office secretary. Many VAs also provide web development, design and maintenance, desktop publishing, meeting and event planning, bookkeeping, and business start-up consultations. The services are endless depending upon your knowledge and skills.â€
Tisha Silvers explains her virtual assistant business as, “One who assists another from literally anywhere in the world. I don't limit it to just business support functions. And I consider the person a few miles down the street to be just as virtual if you don't meet regularly or at all. I have a few of those kinds of clients myself.â€
How Can You Market This Business?
Showing clients how much you can help them as their VA isn’t as hard as you think. Julie McMann explains, “Using a virtual assistant allows clients to outsource any projects that can be done from a remote location. It allows them to accomplish more with less time. Since time is so precious to business owners, anything that frees up time and keeps the business moving ahead is extremely valuable. It's also convenient to be able to hire and utilize a virtual assistant whenever you need them. One month you may have more projects than another. It's much less expensive than hiring a full-time employee who doesn't get used to their full potential. Clients also benefit by not having to worry about providing employee benefits such as insurance, 401K, vacations, etc. Finally, office space and equipment are provided at the expense of the virtual assistant, which again saves the client money.â€
Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Successful VA?
Here are some questions to ask yourself when you think about starting your own virtual assistant business:
· Do you have excellent typing and proofing skills?
· Do you enjoy helping people?
· Are you familiar with the Internet and enjoy learning new things about it?
· Do you already know several people who could utilize your services?
· Are you capable of making a great income and will stop at nothing to make it happen?
SKILLS NEEDED
Diana and Kelly explain, “Every virtual assistant has their own unique skills and experience that enables them to start their business. The right skills are those that you have perfected and can perform well. As you further develop your skills, you can expand your service offering.
Skills range from the basics such as typing to highly specialized areas like web design, graphic arts, technical writing, and more. A professional VA will be proficient in the Internet, computers, software, word processing and spreadsheet applications, etc. In addition to the technical skills, a professional VA will have good business management skills as well as knowledge of marketing, advertising, and public relations. Business management skills not only help you in operating your own business, but allows you to aid your clients in running theirs.
VAs must be motivated. You can’t get discouraged when you experience minor set-backs. Start fresh each day. If the phone didn't ring yesterday, make it ring today. Failure is not an option. You need to know that you're going to make it and will stop at nothing short.â€
How Much Can You Make?
“Our research shows most pricing is centered around a base price of $25 per hour. However, the rate does depend on the services you provide and also how long you’ve been in business. Another consideration is the area in which you live. In some areas you will receive more than in others. For example, in south Florida you can charge a better rate in Miami, than say a smaller town like Pompano Beach.
There are different ways in which you can charge for services. By the hour, by the project, by the page, or for something like event planning you could charge a certain percentage of the total event cost. Many VAs offer reduced rates for a monthly retainer option. With a monthly retainer your client commits to a certain number of hours per month at a predetermined rate. If you work less than the committed number of hours you are still paid the same. If you work over the committed number of hours then you would bill the client for the additional hours at that same rate or whatever is agreed upon,†says Diana and Kelly.
For More Information On How You Can Become A Virtual Assistant
You can purchase Diana and Kelly’s ebook, A Bizy’s Guide: How To Start Your Own Home-Based Virtual Assistant’s Business at: http://www.bizymoms.com/main/?10433
Diana Ennen, has been a home-based word processor now for about 15 years. She started to educate herself about all the possibilities a person has when starting a virtual assistant business. Diana Ennen along with Kelly Poelker, a certified Master Virtual Assistant, just finished writing an ebook called, “A Bizy’s Guide: How To Start Your Own Home-Based Virtual Assistant’s Business.â€
So What Exactly Is A Virtual Assistant?
Diana Ennen explains, “A virtual assistant, or VA, is a highly skilled professional who provides administrative support and other specialized services to businesses, entrepreneurs, executives, and others who have more work to do than time to do it.
Many VAs work as independent contractors from their own home. VAs use leading edge technology to communicate work assignments via the Internet, e-mail, disk transfer or such traditional methods as regular mail, overnight shipping and even pick-up and delivery in local areas. A VAs services typically include word processing, medical or legal transcription, database management, Internet research, e-mail handling, reminder service, bulk mailings, information processing, and any other tasks typically given to the office secretary. Many VAs also provide web development, design and maintenance, desktop publishing, meeting and event planning, bookkeeping, and business start-up consultations. The services are endless depending upon your knowledge and skills.â€
Tisha Silvers explains her virtual assistant business as, “One who assists another from literally anywhere in the world. I don't limit it to just business support functions. And I consider the person a few miles down the street to be just as virtual if you don't meet regularly or at all. I have a few of those kinds of clients myself.â€
How Can You Market This Business?
Showing clients how much you can help them as their VA isn’t as hard as you think. Julie McMann explains, “Using a virtual assistant allows clients to outsource any projects that can be done from a remote location. It allows them to accomplish more with less time. Since time is so precious to business owners, anything that frees up time and keeps the business moving ahead is extremely valuable. It's also convenient to be able to hire and utilize a virtual assistant whenever you need them. One month you may have more projects than another. It's much less expensive than hiring a full-time employee who doesn't get used to their full potential. Clients also benefit by not having to worry about providing employee benefits such as insurance, 401K, vacations, etc. Finally, office space and equipment are provided at the expense of the virtual assistant, which again saves the client money.â€
Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Successful VA?
Here are some questions to ask yourself when you think about starting your own virtual assistant business:
· Do you have excellent typing and proofing skills?
· Do you enjoy helping people?
· Are you familiar with the Internet and enjoy learning new things about it?
· Do you already know several people who could utilize your services?
· Are you capable of making a great income and will stop at nothing to make it happen?
SKILLS NEEDED
Diana and Kelly explain, “Every virtual assistant has their own unique skills and experience that enables them to start their business. The right skills are those that you have perfected and can perform well. As you further develop your skills, you can expand your service offering.
Skills range from the basics such as typing to highly specialized areas like web design, graphic arts, technical writing, and more. A professional VA will be proficient in the Internet, computers, software, word processing and spreadsheet applications, etc. In addition to the technical skills, a professional VA will have good business management skills as well as knowledge of marketing, advertising, and public relations. Business management skills not only help you in operating your own business, but allows you to aid your clients in running theirs.
VAs must be motivated. You can’t get discouraged when you experience minor set-backs. Start fresh each day. If the phone didn't ring yesterday, make it ring today. Failure is not an option. You need to know that you're going to make it and will stop at nothing short.â€
How Much Can You Make?
“Our research shows most pricing is centered around a base price of $25 per hour. However, the rate does depend on the services you provide and also how long you’ve been in business. Another consideration is the area in which you live. In some areas you will receive more than in others. For example, in south Florida you can charge a better rate in Miami, than say a smaller town like Pompano Beach.
There are different ways in which you can charge for services. By the hour, by the project, by the page, or for something like event planning you could charge a certain percentage of the total event cost. Many VAs offer reduced rates for a monthly retainer option. With a monthly retainer your client commits to a certain number of hours per month at a predetermined rate. If you work less than the committed number of hours you are still paid the same. If you work over the committed number of hours then you would bill the client for the additional hours at that same rate or whatever is agreed upon,†says Diana and Kelly.
For More Information On How You Can Become A Virtual Assistant
You can purchase Diana and Kelly’s ebook, A Bizy’s Guide: How To Start Your Own Home-Based Virtual Assistant’s Business at: http://www.bizymoms.com/main/?10433
Thursday, December 17, 2009
E-Commerce Checklist
Checklist Leading to a Successful E-Commerce Website
By Bill Platt
To succeed in e-commerce, the following eleven steps are those that every business owner should tackle when developing their new online business:
The Basic Online Business Development Checklist:
1. Determine your products or services - Know what products and services you will be offering and define the common thread that will tie all of your products and services together.
2. Research your products and services marketplace - Find out who your competitors are and the differences in the product offerings they deliver to their customers. Find out your competitors price points and value offerings. Find out who your customers are. Find out how many customers exist in your market and how you can reach them.
3. Establish your site goals - Determine how you are going to use your website in the quest to develop your customer base. Are you going to use it as a billboard on the Internet Super Highway? Or, are you going to use your site to develop long-term relationships with your customers? Or, do you intend that your site should provide everything necessary for an immediate, one-time transaction?
4. Plan your site layout - Understand how you are going to utilize your site to the fullest of its potential. Make a pre-determination as to the different sections of your site, which will be vital to meeting your goals.
5. Plan for growth of your site - Understand that your site will grow and change to meet with the challenges of the future. Anything that you can do now to simplify the transition into future design changes will increase your overall productivity in the maintenance of your online storefront.
6. Take a quick lesson in HTML -
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/teachingtool/ HTML design software can help you build your website fast. Learning the basics of HTML firsthand can improve your effectiveness in modifying your website. If you ever need to make minor changes or troubleshoot display or formatting problems in a web page, you will have the basic understanding of the technology to work through those problems without outside assistance.
7. Build basic HTML template - Your HTML template should be thought of as your custom letterhead. Each page on your website will be demonstrated with a basic visual format to secure the cohesion of your website. It is this basic visual design or letterhead that you want your HTML template to represent.
8. Build e-commerce section - The payment area of your website is the most important element of your entire design. Without an effective payment processing system, your customers will not be able to pay you for your products or services. StormPay is a third-party payment processor that enables small businesses to provide secure payment options to their customers. Learn for yourself the advantages of using the StormPay program on your website: https://www.stormpay.com/
9. Build customer support section - While a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page can be a very useful tool in keeping support requests to a minimum, it cannot stand alone as your customer support system. Some people need one-on-one human contact to answer their sales and support questions. As a matter of trust, some folks simply will not do business with a company that does not offer some type of human contact point --- either by email or by telephone.
10. Build site content - Once you have developed the bulk of your site structure, the time will come to tackle building your content pages, which will include your sales pages. As you conclude building your page content, it may also be helpful to undertake an understanding of the use of Meta tags with your web pages. For a quick tutorial on the subject, visit: http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html
11. Begin Promoting - There are simply dozens of ways in which you can promote your website --- both online and offline. We simply do not have enough space here to go into all of the methods available to a website owner for the purpose of promoting their website. Our primary goal is always to sell products or services through our business. Online or offline, it is important to remember that sales cannot happen where there is no traffic. To draw traffic to our business, we must promote our business.
My hope for you is simple. I hope that you will be able to develop your own online business and you will be profitable in doing so. It is my hope that this checklist will serve to help you reach that end.
---------------------------------------------------------
About the author:
Bill Platt owns The Phantom Writers, a company committed to helping people to establish an Internet presence & promote their businesses through the use of Free-Reprint Articles andPress Releases. Articles are distributed to 6,500+ publishers & webmasters as part of the package. http://thePhantomWriters.com
By Bill Platt
To succeed in e-commerce, the following eleven steps are those that every business owner should tackle when developing their new online business:
The Basic Online Business Development Checklist:
1. Determine your products or services - Know what products and services you will be offering and define the common thread that will tie all of your products and services together.
2. Research your products and services marketplace - Find out who your competitors are and the differences in the product offerings they deliver to their customers. Find out your competitors price points and value offerings. Find out who your customers are. Find out how many customers exist in your market and how you can reach them.
3. Establish your site goals - Determine how you are going to use your website in the quest to develop your customer base. Are you going to use it as a billboard on the Internet Super Highway? Or, are you going to use your site to develop long-term relationships with your customers? Or, do you intend that your site should provide everything necessary for an immediate, one-time transaction?
4. Plan your site layout - Understand how you are going to utilize your site to the fullest of its potential. Make a pre-determination as to the different sections of your site, which will be vital to meeting your goals.
5. Plan for growth of your site - Understand that your site will grow and change to meet with the challenges of the future. Anything that you can do now to simplify the transition into future design changes will increase your overall productivity in the maintenance of your online storefront.
6. Take a quick lesson in HTML -
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/teachingtool/ HTML design software can help you build your website fast. Learning the basics of HTML firsthand can improve your effectiveness in modifying your website. If you ever need to make minor changes or troubleshoot display or formatting problems in a web page, you will have the basic understanding of the technology to work through those problems without outside assistance.
7. Build basic HTML template - Your HTML template should be thought of as your custom letterhead. Each page on your website will be demonstrated with a basic visual format to secure the cohesion of your website. It is this basic visual design or letterhead that you want your HTML template to represent.
8. Build e-commerce section - The payment area of your website is the most important element of your entire design. Without an effective payment processing system, your customers will not be able to pay you for your products or services. StormPay is a third-party payment processor that enables small businesses to provide secure payment options to their customers. Learn for yourself the advantages of using the StormPay program on your website: https://www.stormpay.com/
9. Build customer support section - While a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page can be a very useful tool in keeping support requests to a minimum, it cannot stand alone as your customer support system. Some people need one-on-one human contact to answer their sales and support questions. As a matter of trust, some folks simply will not do business with a company that does not offer some type of human contact point --- either by email or by telephone.
10. Build site content - Once you have developed the bulk of your site structure, the time will come to tackle building your content pages, which will include your sales pages. As you conclude building your page content, it may also be helpful to undertake an understanding of the use of Meta tags with your web pages. For a quick tutorial on the subject, visit: http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html
11. Begin Promoting - There are simply dozens of ways in which you can promote your website --- both online and offline. We simply do not have enough space here to go into all of the methods available to a website owner for the purpose of promoting their website. Our primary goal is always to sell products or services through our business. Online or offline, it is important to remember that sales cannot happen where there is no traffic. To draw traffic to our business, we must promote our business.
My hope for you is simple. I hope that you will be able to develop your own online business and you will be profitable in doing so. It is my hope that this checklist will serve to help you reach that end.
---------------------------------------------------------
About the author:
Bill Platt owns The Phantom Writers, a company committed to helping people to establish an Internet presence & promote their businesses through the use of Free-Reprint Articles andPress Releases. Articles are distributed to 6,500+ publishers & webmasters as part of the package. http://thePhantomWriters.com
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Home Business Anyone?
Contrary to popular belief nothing is as simple as buying a magic e-book or joining the latest network marketing craze, to suddenly owning a healthy low maintenance online business. It just doesn't happen.
It a nut shell, it takes LOTS of time, money, effort, dedication and a lot of skill and planning. If you are looking for a quick $25 fix, then I am afraid that I simply can't help you. Oh, I forgot that the most important skill of all is juggling.
That's right, juggling. You need to prepare yourself for the long haul. My first online business, took nearly 6 months before it even covered my startup costs (business name, legal fees, bank accounts, web hosting etc.) So I needed some way to eat, sleep and be happy for 6 months while building this business. I chose to continue with my day job and put away as much money as I could to live on for the following 6 months, when I would take the switch from running the "home based business" while I was still actually working full time, to spending the following 6 months dedicated to growing my own business. I needed cash in the bank to do this.
I'd wake at 6:00am and respond to emails and process my online orders. I'd leave home at 8:00am to arrive at work by 9:00am. I had a special relationship with our international courier to pickup deliveries from our garage (without being present personally.) Fortunately I was able to use my ISP's web mail facility from my "day desk" to response to my personal clients during the day. It was great. I could respond to my personal customers quickly, answer questions and let them know their orders had been received and would be processed later that day. And I mean, speak with them personally by email. Auto-Responders are great, but they always look like an auto-responder. In exchange for this fringe benefit from my employer, I gave up ½ my lunch break and offered to be available by telephone for emergency after hours support (I worked in IT if you hadn't guessed.) When I arrived home at 6:00pm, I'd spend usually another hour processing orders received during the day, have di!
nner, watch the nightly news, have a quick 30min bike ride if possible, and slip into bed around 10pm after doing some web page marketing.
I had designed a system that allowed be to slowly build an online business, while saving money to make the jump to full time, self employed, work at home. Which inevitable comes with an initial salary sacrifice. Something like 3 out of every 4 small business's fail. It is simply because they have large startup over heads, with little or no immediate income. You don't need an accounting degree to work out if your expenses are larger than your net income, the business is not in good shape. Hence, so many people end up closing their small business and going back to their "day job." I was determined that this would NOT happen to me.
There was lots to learn, and learn fast. Accounting, advertising, marketing, business practices, web page design, web page optimization, web page promotion, email marketing, web page statistics... the list goes on. Oh, and customer relations. So many articles I see focus so much on meta tags, keywords etc, not paying much attention to the customers, and people actually looking at your web page.
I dabbled for months, years probably, in optimizing my web pages, using submission software, swapping web page links. NOTHING has worked better than following up with my customers, offering affiliate and referral commissions, providing an online post-sales customer followup / satisfaction survey. I've since noticed customers of mine writing nice reviews about their experience with us on industry forums, I can track the click throughs from these reviews and they do generate sales for us. The best advertising is simply the advertising that works, not necessarily that is the most expensive. From this I can see more and more incoming web page links and I haven't even needed to ask for them!
I try to update or add content to our web page EVERY DAY. I spend at least 1 hour every morning improving the content, changing the content, looking at ways to stream line the HTML code, checking what our competition is doing, looking for the latest innovations in our industry. This constant tinkering with my web page seemed to interest search engine spiders like Google to return more often. I'd see google crawlers in my site stats maybe 1-2 times a month, its not nearly 100 times a month. So changes to my web page are quickly indexed.
Another misconception with home businesses is that they run themselves. This might be the case for electronic products, such as e-books and web templates that don't involved actual product handling. But this market is saturated beyond comprehension, and from my understanding, charge backs from credit card providers are rampant as customers aren't happy with their purchase and demand refunds.
In order to convince a real person to order from your online business, they must be convinced that you are, in fact, also a real person. You need to speak with them. This can be via content on your web page, PERSONALIZED email replies (e.g. Dear John or Dear Mary, not Dear Client or Dear Customer.) Your need to answer their emails fully, honestly, promptly and also follow up on your emails. If a customer on Monday asks you to confirm a price, availability and TOTAL order cost. Email the information ASAP, address the customer by name, and sign the email with your name. If you don't hear back from the customer, follow-up with THEM (don't forget to print this policy in your online privacy policy to keep everybody happy.) Who knows, if you don't follow up with the potential client, they could already have their wallet open, credit card out, and ordering from your biggest competitor. Best you get back to them before somebody else does. And it will happen! I started this!
policy after the exact same thing happened to me. I learn quickly and make sure that I will never lose a sale to a competitor again by not following up with EVERY potential customer.
SPEED is also important. You need to respond to emails ASAP. If you consider that most people still access the internet by dial up modem, they login the internet, do a bit of web surfing, send some emails and then logoff. Their home computer is switched off, and may not be turned on again sometimes for days. So if you take a day to respond to emails, there is every likely hood that your potential client may not actually receive your response for some time - maybe a week. The best way to grab this potential client's attention is to response to their email IMMEDIATELY. They will receive your reply during their same internet session. It also sets their expectation on your high service levels and responsiveness. Answering their first question, which must be "how good is this company anyway" and "do I trust them with my money?"
Hmmm, so I have to sit at my computer 24 hours a day and respond to emails? Doesn't sound like much of an existence does it? Sadly, I admit I went through a period actually doing this. About 1 or 2 months I think. Yes, I am sad I know. This was the largest recordable growth period for my first online business. Then I learnt about Outlook mail rules (I actually knew about them all along, I just hadn't thought to use them!) I could setup Microsoft Outlook to screen my emails looking for orders from my web page, send them to a specific folder, and then play a sound file when an order or customer question arrived from my web page. Now, at last, I was finally free from the computer and home office, just listening out for my incoming order / customer question sound. Actually, it became a motivation factor. My wife and I picked some of the sound clips from Comedy Central Inc, which make receiving an order even more fun (yes I know, simple things.) But it is good to know whe!
n I hear "I've got mail" sung by Special Ed, we've got an order.
Basically, you need to build a strong loyalty with your customers. You ca
n do this by responding to them fast, giving them accurate information, and delivering their products fast. You need to spell out explicitly why they should buy your widget and chose your company, over the 1,000 other similar firms. To start a successful home business, you need to prepare for an initial dry spell. Remember, nothing just happens over night.
You need to pick a product or niche market. You need to make yourself known as an expert in this field, you need to get your name out there and you need to convince potential customers to become real customers. This all involves the evil W-word; WORK.
Now without sound too like a cliché, we own our own house, work about 2 hours a day (early morning) have a little boy crawling around, another on the way, and building a brand new dream house for ourselves - all with cash without any bank loans, fees, guarantees or interest. We didn't get here by paying $25 for a "guaranteed successful online business design" that simply involved selling $25 "guaranteed successful online business designs." We have daily regular and scheduled collections from our local and international couriers, and if we aren't home, we leave them at the front door. So the rest of the day, is all free time now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author
Nick Balgowan is the winner of several Australian sponsored small business and entrepreneur awards. Since 1995 he has build and sold several successful online businesses. His current online businesses include www.beatpsoriasis.com offering medical product worldwide and www.veryownweb.com offering unique and cut price web hosting to the Australian market. He can be contacted at nick@beatpsoriasis.com
Article from entireweb.com
It a nut shell, it takes LOTS of time, money, effort, dedication and a lot of skill and planning. If you are looking for a quick $25 fix, then I am afraid that I simply can't help you. Oh, I forgot that the most important skill of all is juggling.
That's right, juggling. You need to prepare yourself for the long haul. My first online business, took nearly 6 months before it even covered my startup costs (business name, legal fees, bank accounts, web hosting etc.) So I needed some way to eat, sleep and be happy for 6 months while building this business. I chose to continue with my day job and put away as much money as I could to live on for the following 6 months, when I would take the switch from running the "home based business" while I was still actually working full time, to spending the following 6 months dedicated to growing my own business. I needed cash in the bank to do this.
I'd wake at 6:00am and respond to emails and process my online orders. I'd leave home at 8:00am to arrive at work by 9:00am. I had a special relationship with our international courier to pickup deliveries from our garage (without being present personally.) Fortunately I was able to use my ISP's web mail facility from my "day desk" to response to my personal clients during the day. It was great. I could respond to my personal customers quickly, answer questions and let them know their orders had been received and would be processed later that day. And I mean, speak with them personally by email. Auto-Responders are great, but they always look like an auto-responder. In exchange for this fringe benefit from my employer, I gave up ½ my lunch break and offered to be available by telephone for emergency after hours support (I worked in IT if you hadn't guessed.) When I arrived home at 6:00pm, I'd spend usually another hour processing orders received during the day, have di!
nner, watch the nightly news, have a quick 30min bike ride if possible, and slip into bed around 10pm after doing some web page marketing.
I had designed a system that allowed be to slowly build an online business, while saving money to make the jump to full time, self employed, work at home. Which inevitable comes with an initial salary sacrifice. Something like 3 out of every 4 small business's fail. It is simply because they have large startup over heads, with little or no immediate income. You don't need an accounting degree to work out if your expenses are larger than your net income, the business is not in good shape. Hence, so many people end up closing their small business and going back to their "day job." I was determined that this would NOT happen to me.
There was lots to learn, and learn fast. Accounting, advertising, marketing, business practices, web page design, web page optimization, web page promotion, email marketing, web page statistics... the list goes on. Oh, and customer relations. So many articles I see focus so much on meta tags, keywords etc, not paying much attention to the customers, and people actually looking at your web page.
I dabbled for months, years probably, in optimizing my web pages, using submission software, swapping web page links. NOTHING has worked better than following up with my customers, offering affiliate and referral commissions, providing an online post-sales customer followup / satisfaction survey. I've since noticed customers of mine writing nice reviews about their experience with us on industry forums, I can track the click throughs from these reviews and they do generate sales for us. The best advertising is simply the advertising that works, not necessarily that is the most expensive. From this I can see more and more incoming web page links and I haven't even needed to ask for them!
I try to update or add content to our web page EVERY DAY. I spend at least 1 hour every morning improving the content, changing the content, looking at ways to stream line the HTML code, checking what our competition is doing, looking for the latest innovations in our industry. This constant tinkering with my web page seemed to interest search engine spiders like Google to return more often. I'd see google crawlers in my site stats maybe 1-2 times a month, its not nearly 100 times a month. So changes to my web page are quickly indexed.
Another misconception with home businesses is that they run themselves. This might be the case for electronic products, such as e-books and web templates that don't involved actual product handling. But this market is saturated beyond comprehension, and from my understanding, charge backs from credit card providers are rampant as customers aren't happy with their purchase and demand refunds.
In order to convince a real person to order from your online business, they must be convinced that you are, in fact, also a real person. You need to speak with them. This can be via content on your web page, PERSONALIZED email replies (e.g. Dear John or Dear Mary, not Dear Client or Dear Customer.) Your need to answer their emails fully, honestly, promptly and also follow up on your emails. If a customer on Monday asks you to confirm a price, availability and TOTAL order cost. Email the information ASAP, address the customer by name, and sign the email with your name. If you don't hear back from the customer, follow-up with THEM (don't forget to print this policy in your online privacy policy to keep everybody happy.) Who knows, if you don't follow up with the potential client, they could already have their wallet open, credit card out, and ordering from your biggest competitor. Best you get back to them before somebody else does. And it will happen! I started this!
policy after the exact same thing happened to me. I learn quickly and make sure that I will never lose a sale to a competitor again by not following up with EVERY potential customer.
SPEED is also important. You need to respond to emails ASAP. If you consider that most people still access the internet by dial up modem, they login the internet, do a bit of web surfing, send some emails and then logoff. Their home computer is switched off, and may not be turned on again sometimes for days. So if you take a day to respond to emails, there is every likely hood that your potential client may not actually receive your response for some time - maybe a week. The best way to grab this potential client's attention is to response to their email IMMEDIATELY. They will receive your reply during their same internet session. It also sets their expectation on your high service levels and responsiveness. Answering their first question, which must be "how good is this company anyway" and "do I trust them with my money?"
Hmmm, so I have to sit at my computer 24 hours a day and respond to emails? Doesn't sound like much of an existence does it? Sadly, I admit I went through a period actually doing this. About 1 or 2 months I think. Yes, I am sad I know. This was the largest recordable growth period for my first online business. Then I learnt about Outlook mail rules (I actually knew about them all along, I just hadn't thought to use them!) I could setup Microsoft Outlook to screen my emails looking for orders from my web page, send them to a specific folder, and then play a sound file when an order or customer question arrived from my web page. Now, at last, I was finally free from the computer and home office, just listening out for my incoming order / customer question sound. Actually, it became a motivation factor. My wife and I picked some of the sound clips from Comedy Central Inc, which make receiving an order even more fun (yes I know, simple things.) But it is good to know whe!
n I hear "I've got mail" sung by Special Ed, we've got an order.
Basically, you need to build a strong loyalty with your customers. You ca
n do this by responding to them fast, giving them accurate information, and delivering their products fast. You need to spell out explicitly why they should buy your widget and chose your company, over the 1,000 other similar firms. To start a successful home business, you need to prepare for an initial dry spell. Remember, nothing just happens over night.
You need to pick a product or niche market. You need to make yourself known as an expert in this field, you need to get your name out there and you need to convince potential customers to become real customers. This all involves the evil W-word; WORK.
Now without sound too like a cliché, we own our own house, work about 2 hours a day (early morning) have a little boy crawling around, another on the way, and building a brand new dream house for ourselves - all with cash without any bank loans, fees, guarantees or interest. We didn't get here by paying $25 for a "guaranteed successful online business design" that simply involved selling $25 "guaranteed successful online business designs." We have daily regular and scheduled collections from our local and international couriers, and if we aren't home, we leave them at the front door. So the rest of the day, is all free time now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author
Nick Balgowan is the winner of several Australian sponsored small business and entrepreneur awards. Since 1995 he has build and sold several successful online businesses. His current online businesses include www.beatpsoriasis.com offering medical product worldwide and www.veryownweb.com offering unique and cut price web hosting to the Australian market. He can be contacted at nick@beatpsoriasis.com
Article from entireweb.com
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Choosing a Location
Choosing a retail location is a very risky undertaking, so get as much assistance as possible in this area.
Listed below are several questions you should ask yourself when choosing a location for your business.
1. How much can you afford?
2. Does the area (your target market radius) have enough customers to support needed sales?
3. Can the structure be up fitted to meet the companies needs and still meet budget?
4. Will customers feel safe as they enter and exit your premises
5. Ease of entry and exit to your premises
6. Is there ample parking? Will you have to pay for additional spaces
7. Signage
8. Based on your business plan, is there room for expansion?
Listed below are several questions you should ask yourself when choosing a location for your business.
1. How much can you afford?
2. Does the area (your target market radius) have enough customers to support needed sales?
3. Can the structure be up fitted to meet the companies needs and still meet budget?
4. Will customers feel safe as they enter and exit your premises
5. Ease of entry and exit to your premises
6. Is there ample parking? Will you have to pay for additional spaces
7. Signage
8. Based on your business plan, is there room for expansion?
Monday, December 14, 2009
What Is An Innovation?
something that is invented (ex. CD's) or
something that is created from an existing idea or product (ex. Super Wal-Mart)
Where do innovative ideas come from?
1.unsatisfied customers
2.demographic changes in society
3.luck
4.imagination
5.vision
6.problem-solving
Remember:
1.look for new ideas
2.keep it simple
3.start small
4.try, try, try again
something that is created from an existing idea or product (ex. Super Wal-Mart)
Where do innovative ideas come from?
1.unsatisfied customers
2.demographic changes in society
3.luck
4.imagination
5.vision
6.problem-solving
Remember:
1.look for new ideas
2.keep it simple
3.start small
4.try, try, try again
Sunday, December 13, 2009
What Is Creativity?
Creativity is being able to create new ideas and ways to solve problems that provide cool opportunities.
Characteristics of Creative People
bright
adaptable
high self esteem
challenge-oriented
idea-oriented
inquisitive
curious
Can you improve your creativity? YES! How?
Gather as much information as you can (read, talk with experts, etc.) "brainstorm" over time. Just think about the problem or issue until an idea comes to you.
Is the solution reasonable? If so, try it. If not, keep thinking. Did it work? If so, great. If not, begin the process over again. Don't put barriers on your mind. Put these steps to use.
Left Brain = Analytical Rational
Right Brain = Intuitive Artistic
You need both sides of your brain when being creative because they compliment each other.
Characteristics of Creative People
bright
adaptable
high self esteem
challenge-oriented
idea-oriented
inquisitive
curious
Can you improve your creativity? YES! How?
Gather as much information as you can (read, talk with experts, etc.) "brainstorm" over time. Just think about the problem or issue until an idea comes to you.
Is the solution reasonable? If so, try it. If not, keep thinking. Did it work? If so, great. If not, begin the process over again. Don't put barriers on your mind. Put these steps to use.
Left Brain = Analytical Rational
Right Brain = Intuitive Artistic
You need both sides of your brain when being creative because they compliment each other.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Work It Out
New businesses do not need big ad dollars to reach potential customers says FELIX SIEW.
They aren't just lean and mean in their demands with their bodies, but also with how they market their fitness services. Sculptured Bodies is a company of professional personal trainers who keep their clients fit and healthy. It was started in 1996 by Mr Jerry Howard.
The former United States Navy Seal felt then it was essential to get the company's name and services known to as many people as possible.
This was done mainly through meetings with clients, modelling assignments and getting clients to tell their friends about the company.
But as his business grew, Mr Howard felt he needed to adopt a more professional marketing approach. In 1997, he roped in a friend, Mr Khalid Caesar, to help.
The goal, said Mr Howard, was not to market his company as a super gym and try to get 100 or 200 clients. "Instead, our focus is on providing individual and personalised services to each client," he said.
Adapting to the business climate
An initial challenge faced by Mr Caesar was to adapt to the working conditions and business climate of Singapore.
"I had to be flexible and change according to local attitudes, to tailor-make marketing concepts to suit the lifestyles of Singaporeans," said Mr Caesar, who studied business and marketing in America. He noticed that marketing through the print medium was vital to his success as Singaporeans have a habit of reading in the MRT every morning.
But print ads are costly. Mr Caesar constantly watches out for new and less expensive ways to stretch the budget and still get his company's name known.
For example, Sculptured Bodies has started advertising on postcards and participating in fitness-related seminars. By sponsoring public activities, the company also gets to display its banner in public.
The company's seven personal trainers also have a professional look. At their training facility at the Le Meridien hotel fitness centre, the trainers wear white t-shirts printed with the company's logo, matched with black workout pants. These outfits also act as a form of branding for the company.
Media exposure
In addition, Sculptured Bodies has also contributed articles, and acted as a consultant for fitness-related advice columns in magazines and newspapers.
Said Mr Caesar: "You don't need a big advertising budget to get people to know about your business. You just have to be creative, and keep your ears and eyes open for other forms of advertising that come along."
One investment the company has made is in the set up of a website. Mr Howard believes that it is money well-spent: "Being online exposes the company to a global community. Potential clients can e-mail us for more information on our services."
Currently, a webmaster is employed to look after the website, but Mr Caesar hopes that in a year or so, the company will be able to handle this responsibility itself.
This will be yet another avenue for the company to minimise its marketing costs and still achieve maximum effect. Ultimately, Sculptured Bodies understands that in the service industry, the tried and tested method of word-of-mouth still yields great influence.
Hence, whatever marketing efforts employed, and however much money invested, it is the trainers' services that still best sell the company. "A personal trainer should be able to motivate his or her client, and provide suitable training programmes," said Mr Howard. "They share a level of trust an ad directed at the masses cannot give."
They aren't just lean and mean in their demands with their bodies, but also with how they market their fitness services. Sculptured Bodies is a company of professional personal trainers who keep their clients fit and healthy. It was started in 1996 by Mr Jerry Howard.
The former United States Navy Seal felt then it was essential to get the company's name and services known to as many people as possible.
This was done mainly through meetings with clients, modelling assignments and getting clients to tell their friends about the company.
But as his business grew, Mr Howard felt he needed to adopt a more professional marketing approach. In 1997, he roped in a friend, Mr Khalid Caesar, to help.
The goal, said Mr Howard, was not to market his company as a super gym and try to get 100 or 200 clients. "Instead, our focus is on providing individual and personalised services to each client," he said.
Adapting to the business climate
An initial challenge faced by Mr Caesar was to adapt to the working conditions and business climate of Singapore.
"I had to be flexible and change according to local attitudes, to tailor-make marketing concepts to suit the lifestyles of Singaporeans," said Mr Caesar, who studied business and marketing in America. He noticed that marketing through the print medium was vital to his success as Singaporeans have a habit of reading in the MRT every morning.
But print ads are costly. Mr Caesar constantly watches out for new and less expensive ways to stretch the budget and still get his company's name known.
For example, Sculptured Bodies has started advertising on postcards and participating in fitness-related seminars. By sponsoring public activities, the company also gets to display its banner in public.
The company's seven personal trainers also have a professional look. At their training facility at the Le Meridien hotel fitness centre, the trainers wear white t-shirts printed with the company's logo, matched with black workout pants. These outfits also act as a form of branding for the company.
Media exposure
In addition, Sculptured Bodies has also contributed articles, and acted as a consultant for fitness-related advice columns in magazines and newspapers.
Said Mr Caesar: "You don't need a big advertising budget to get people to know about your business. You just have to be creative, and keep your ears and eyes open for other forms of advertising that come along."
One investment the company has made is in the set up of a website. Mr Howard believes that it is money well-spent: "Being online exposes the company to a global community. Potential clients can e-mail us for more information on our services."
Currently, a webmaster is employed to look after the website, but Mr Caesar hopes that in a year or so, the company will be able to handle this responsibility itself.
This will be yet another avenue for the company to minimise its marketing costs and still achieve maximum effect. Ultimately, Sculptured Bodies understands that in the service industry, the tried and tested method of word-of-mouth still yields great influence.
Hence, whatever marketing efforts employed, and however much money invested, it is the trainers' services that still best sell the company. "A personal trainer should be able to motivate his or her client, and provide suitable training programmes," said Mr Howard. "They share a level of trust an ad directed at the masses cannot give."
Friday, December 11, 2009
Know Yourself
Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. It takes a special talent. Some owners of small businesses have it and some don't. Before you invest time, energy, money and a piece of your heart, it's important to do some serious self-analysis. To answer such questions as: Am I prepared to work hard and make sacrifices? Am I self-disciplined? Do I have management ability? Am I experienced enough in this field? What do I want out of life? Are my goals realistic and attainable?
Studies have shown that entrepreneurs are persevering and not easily defeated. They thrive in a challenging environment and have a tremendous need to be in control. They turn diversity into opportunity. They are risk takers. They welcome responsibility, and they are willing and able to make decisions.
Moreover, successful entrepreneurs are patient and able to wait out the sometimes slow beginnings of a business. They also are able to learn from their mistakes, trust their own judgment and have an optimistic outlook.
Take a good look. Do those traits describe you? "Know yourself and be willing to work 60 hours a week. Starting a business is one of life's biggest commitments," advises Roy Nordman, director of Emerging Business Services Practice for the San Francisco office of Coopers & Lybrand.
Small business owner Nancy Wansick, of Wansick Graphics, echoes those sentiments: "My business has become my whole life. Day becomes night and work has become play."
It's obvious: you have to love your work. And if you choose a business that meshes with your personality (the answers to the above questions should tell you about your personality), those extra hours spent won't be as difficult. The key is to identify what you enjoy doing the most and then find a business opportunity that makes use of your skills and interests.
Studies have shown that entrepreneurs are persevering and not easily defeated. They thrive in a challenging environment and have a tremendous need to be in control. They turn diversity into opportunity. They are risk takers. They welcome responsibility, and they are willing and able to make decisions.
Moreover, successful entrepreneurs are patient and able to wait out the sometimes slow beginnings of a business. They also are able to learn from their mistakes, trust their own judgment and have an optimistic outlook.
Take a good look. Do those traits describe you? "Know yourself and be willing to work 60 hours a week. Starting a business is one of life's biggest commitments," advises Roy Nordman, director of Emerging Business Services Practice for the San Francisco office of Coopers & Lybrand.
Small business owner Nancy Wansick, of Wansick Graphics, echoes those sentiments: "My business has become my whole life. Day becomes night and work has become play."
It's obvious: you have to love your work. And if you choose a business that meshes with your personality (the answers to the above questions should tell you about your personality), those extra hours spent won't be as difficult. The key is to identify what you enjoy doing the most and then find a business opportunity that makes use of your skills and interests.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tips
1. Choosing a business you enjoy is of utmost importance. Think of it as picking a lifetime mate!
2. The most common mistake and the most costly one is not picking the right business to begin with. Before you decide, keep in mind that this is the time for soul-searching, gaining experience in the business, conducting research and even test marketing.
3. One of the biggest risks in starting a moonlight business is that your job might conflict with your business. This can be avoided by compartmentalizing your business in every way: separate time, place and product or service.
4. Take your sweet time. Since your selection will be your single most important business decision, wait for that one opportunity that has everything you are seeking. Think about jumping a hurdle: wouldn't you rather risk getting over a one foot hurdle than a seven foot one?
5. If you open a service station, the price of your product (gasoline) is going to be controlled by what other operators sell for on the same corner. As Warren Buffett has said, "You're only as smart as your dumbest competitor." In other words, you are in a commodity business and must have the lowest cost in order to survive. On the other hand, if grandma's candies are really good, then over time you can build a brand name and achieve pricing power. Your candy customers won't be taking price bids on candy when the buy it for their sweethearts!
6. Work for someone in the same business.
7. Creating a company where all principal activities are outsourced. Hollow corporations are appropriate for start-up entrepreneurs.
8. You have always dreamed of opening a hardware store but now that you're ready to start you realize that the Home Depots of the world would be too hard to challenge. You should:
a. Find a niche segment in the hardware business that you can specialize in.
b. Find another business.
c. Go to work for one of the "big box" hardware chains and see if any needs exist that you could uniquely fill.
9. Service businesses generally have pricing power and are not dependant on competing with the lowest price in town.
2. The most common mistake and the most costly one is not picking the right business to begin with. Before you decide, keep in mind that this is the time for soul-searching, gaining experience in the business, conducting research and even test marketing.
3. One of the biggest risks in starting a moonlight business is that your job might conflict with your business. This can be avoided by compartmentalizing your business in every way: separate time, place and product or service.
4. Take your sweet time. Since your selection will be your single most important business decision, wait for that one opportunity that has everything you are seeking. Think about jumping a hurdle: wouldn't you rather risk getting over a one foot hurdle than a seven foot one?
5. If you open a service station, the price of your product (gasoline) is going to be controlled by what other operators sell for on the same corner. As Warren Buffett has said, "You're only as smart as your dumbest competitor." In other words, you are in a commodity business and must have the lowest cost in order to survive. On the other hand, if grandma's candies are really good, then over time you can build a brand name and achieve pricing power. Your candy customers won't be taking price bids on candy when the buy it for their sweethearts!
6. Work for someone in the same business.
7. Creating a company where all principal activities are outsourced. Hollow corporations are appropriate for start-up entrepreneurs.
8. You have always dreamed of opening a hardware store but now that you're ready to start you realize that the Home Depots of the world would be too hard to challenge. You should:
a. Find a niche segment in the hardware business that you can specialize in.
b. Find another business.
c. Go to work for one of the "big box" hardware chains and see if any needs exist that you could uniquely fill.
9. Service businesses generally have pricing power and are not dependant on competing with the lowest price in town.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Why Small Businesses Fail?
Success in business is never automatic. It isn't strictly based on luck - although a little never hurts. It depends primarily on the owner's foresight and organization. Even then, of course, there are no guarantees.
Starting a small business is always risky, and the chance of success is slim. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years.
In his book Small Business Management, Michael Ames gives the following reasons for small business failure:
1:Lack of experience
2:Insufficient capital (money)
3:Poor location
4:Poor inventory management
5:Over-investment in fixed assets
6:Poor credit arrangements
7:Personal use of business funds
8:Unexpected growth
Gustav Berle adds two more reasons in The Do It Yourself Business Book:
9:Competition
10:Low sales
More Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
These figures aren't meant to scare you, but to prepare you for the rocky path ahead. Underestimating the difficulty of starting a business is one of the biggest obstacles entrepreneurs face. However, success can be yours if you are patient, willing to work hard, and take all the necessary steps.
On the Upside
It's true that there are many reasons not to start your own business. But for the right person, the advantages of business ownership far outweigh the risks.
1.You will be your own boss.
2.Hard work and long hours directly benefit you, rather than increasing profits for someone else.
3.Earning and growth potential are far greater.
4.A new venture is as exciting as it is risky.
5.Running a business provides endless challenge and opportunities for learning.
Starting a small business is always risky, and the chance of success is slim. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years.
In his book Small Business Management, Michael Ames gives the following reasons for small business failure:
1:Lack of experience
2:Insufficient capital (money)
3:Poor location
4:Poor inventory management
5:Over-investment in fixed assets
6:Poor credit arrangements
7:Personal use of business funds
8:Unexpected growth
Gustav Berle adds two more reasons in The Do It Yourself Business Book:
9:Competition
10:Low sales
More Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
These figures aren't meant to scare you, but to prepare you for the rocky path ahead. Underestimating the difficulty of starting a business is one of the biggest obstacles entrepreneurs face. However, success can be yours if you are patient, willing to work hard, and take all the necessary steps.
On the Upside
It's true that there are many reasons not to start your own business. But for the right person, the advantages of business ownership far outweigh the risks.
1.You will be your own boss.
2.Hard work and long hours directly benefit you, rather than increasing profits for someone else.
3.Earning and growth potential are far greater.
4.A new venture is as exciting as it is risky.
5.Running a business provides endless challenge and opportunities for learning.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
You Can Do It - Start Your Own Business
I have talked to so many people who have desperately wanted to start their own business. Whether their reasons were wanting to stay at home with their children instead of going into an office, to supplement their income by working for an hour or two in the evening, or to utilize the couple hours they have in the afternoon when the kids are napping, there really is a business for everyone (see listing at the end of this article for some great resources).
So, where do you start? My suggestion would be to take some time to think about what you love to do. Have you always been interested in a particular field? Maybe you always wanted to be a make-up artist or esthetician. Have you ever looked at a work from home skin care/cosmetics company? Do you like meeting with people or would you rather stay home and introduce people to the products online?
You can learn how to have skin care, nutrition or other parties, or simply send people to your website to view the products. Have you always been interested in health and disease prevention? Maybe you should check out a nutrition/wellness company. Perhaps you are more interested in products for children. There are several companies that sell books, toys, or clothing.
The key is to figure out what you would enjoy the most. I personally think it's easier to join an existing company, but you may have a great idea of your own! Maybe you have artistic talent and would like to design and sell greeting cards or gift baskets. Working from home can be such a rewarding experience. Especially if you hate your current job! But it does take discipline, and if you don't enjoy what you are doing, it is too easy to make excuses not to do it. There are many places to go on the Internet to check out home based companies. However, be forewarned. There are many, many scams out there. Listed below are some guidelines to follow:
1) Make sure the company has a good reputation. Check out their main website. Does it look professional? How long have they been in business? If the business offers a "ground floor opportunity," realize that it may never get OFF the ground! It always sounds exciting to be one of the "first" people in a new opportunity. Unfortunately, that is one of the ways scam artists lure you in. Don't get me wrong, it may be a great business, but let others be first, so you can be sure.
2) If the company requires an investment, what is it for? Do you get products for the money you are investing? Is there a money back guarantee? If you don't get anything for the investment, my suggestion would be to back off. It could be a scam where you only make money if you get others to invest. That is NOT a business! It's called a pyramid scheme and it is illegal! If you DO get products for your investment, make sure you get a money back guarantee.
3) To make sure the products work, try them first! Suppose you invest $100.00 for a "kit" of some kind and the products don't work for you? Could you really sell something you don't believe in? And this is where your money back guarantee comes in. I once invested $200.00 for a skin care kit that gave me a case of acne you would not have believed! The person who sold it to me suggested I get a letter from a dermatologist and maybe she could get my money back. I didn't need to see a dermatologist to know I was allergic to something in the product!
4) Make sure there is someone to show you the ropes and support you. There is nothing worse than having a potential customer ask you a question which you can't answer, and have no one else to turn to for help. I also suggest getting 3-way calling from your local phone company. It only costs a few dollars per month, and is such a great help. If you have a customer on the phone, you can press "flash" on your phone (or another button, depending on your phone) and get a third person on the line to help you.
Once you have made a decision on what you want to do, start networking. (There are several great articles about networking in the last issue, and one in the archives.) Let everyone know what you are doing. In my business, I refer people to a wholesale buying company for nutritional products. I can't tell you the number of times I have had people say to me, "You never told me you did that! I ran into Bob the other day and HE told me he gets his products from your company!" Shame on me! Tell EVERYONE! Get creative in your marketing efforts. I was at a resort last weekend planning a family reunion, and the activities director said, "We have several companies who come in and do facials or jewelry parties. Would you like me to call one of them to come in when your group is here?" How brilliant! I would also suggest getting a website (there are many companies that offer them for free, including AOL), and doing some networking on the Internet.
Finally, manage you time. If you are at Work At Home Mom, you know you have very little time to begin with! Manage it wisely. Set a schedule and stick to it. Get organized and try to stay that way. For more help in getting and staying organized, see "People Don't Plan to Fail, They Just Fail To Plan" in the archives.
So, where do you start? My suggestion would be to take some time to think about what you love to do. Have you always been interested in a particular field? Maybe you always wanted to be a make-up artist or esthetician. Have you ever looked at a work from home skin care/cosmetics company? Do you like meeting with people or would you rather stay home and introduce people to the products online?
You can learn how to have skin care, nutrition or other parties, or simply send people to your website to view the products. Have you always been interested in health and disease prevention? Maybe you should check out a nutrition/wellness company. Perhaps you are more interested in products for children. There are several companies that sell books, toys, or clothing.
The key is to figure out what you would enjoy the most. I personally think it's easier to join an existing company, but you may have a great idea of your own! Maybe you have artistic talent and would like to design and sell greeting cards or gift baskets. Working from home can be such a rewarding experience. Especially if you hate your current job! But it does take discipline, and if you don't enjoy what you are doing, it is too easy to make excuses not to do it. There are many places to go on the Internet to check out home based companies. However, be forewarned. There are many, many scams out there. Listed below are some guidelines to follow:
1) Make sure the company has a good reputation. Check out their main website. Does it look professional? How long have they been in business? If the business offers a "ground floor opportunity," realize that it may never get OFF the ground! It always sounds exciting to be one of the "first" people in a new opportunity. Unfortunately, that is one of the ways scam artists lure you in. Don't get me wrong, it may be a great business, but let others be first, so you can be sure.
2) If the company requires an investment, what is it for? Do you get products for the money you are investing? Is there a money back guarantee? If you don't get anything for the investment, my suggestion would be to back off. It could be a scam where you only make money if you get others to invest. That is NOT a business! It's called a pyramid scheme and it is illegal! If you DO get products for your investment, make sure you get a money back guarantee.
3) To make sure the products work, try them first! Suppose you invest $100.00 for a "kit" of some kind and the products don't work for you? Could you really sell something you don't believe in? And this is where your money back guarantee comes in. I once invested $200.00 for a skin care kit that gave me a case of acne you would not have believed! The person who sold it to me suggested I get a letter from a dermatologist and maybe she could get my money back. I didn't need to see a dermatologist to know I was allergic to something in the product!
4) Make sure there is someone to show you the ropes and support you. There is nothing worse than having a potential customer ask you a question which you can't answer, and have no one else to turn to for help. I also suggest getting 3-way calling from your local phone company. It only costs a few dollars per month, and is such a great help. If you have a customer on the phone, you can press "flash" on your phone (or another button, depending on your phone) and get a third person on the line to help you.
Once you have made a decision on what you want to do, start networking. (There are several great articles about networking in the last issue, and one in the archives.) Let everyone know what you are doing. In my business, I refer people to a wholesale buying company for nutritional products. I can't tell you the number of times I have had people say to me, "You never told me you did that! I ran into Bob the other day and HE told me he gets his products from your company!" Shame on me! Tell EVERYONE! Get creative in your marketing efforts. I was at a resort last weekend planning a family reunion, and the activities director said, "We have several companies who come in and do facials or jewelry parties. Would you like me to call one of them to come in when your group is here?" How brilliant! I would also suggest getting a website (there are many companies that offer them for free, including AOL), and doing some networking on the Internet.
Finally, manage you time. If you are at Work At Home Mom, you know you have very little time to begin with! Manage it wisely. Set a schedule and stick to it. Get organized and try to stay that way. For more help in getting and staying organized, see "People Don't Plan to Fail, They Just Fail To Plan" in the archives.
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