4 Ways to Overcome the Wrecking Ball In Your Online Business

There are four ways to overcome the wrecking ball in your online business but seem to elude the faint hearted.   If allowed, it will destroy the very fiber of your being!

I was almost classified in this category.  Do you remember the song, “I just wish that I knew what I know now?”  I don’t remember the artist, but I do remember the catchy tune.   Knowing what I know now sure would have saved me a lot of heartache when I was younger.

When I was about ten I remember having a lemonade stand in the middle of fall. It was cold out then and my friends ribbed me so harshly that I almost gave up on my sales escapade.  After I stayed outside for an hour or so with no sales money in my little cup, I began to believe what my friends were saying was true.

I guess my father saw my disappointment wrote all over my face through the window because he came out to keep me company.  Now I don’t know about anyone else’s dad, but mine was like Superman in my eyes.  Little did I know then pop taught me a few lessons that afternoon about business and life in general.

He sat and talked to me about 4 things I need to know to survive in any type of business.  The 4 concepts are actually very simplistic in nature.  They are belief, passion, patience, and perseverance.  

Dad asked me if I still believe people will come and buy my lemonade.  I answered by saying I didn’t know but if they were coming, I wished they would come soon.  He told me to be patient and they will come.  He said for right now, I need to know if you believe they will come or not.  Of course I said yes, but I still wasn’t sure.

I learned the awesome power of belief that day.  I found out that when I truly believed they would show up and buy, I became very passionate about selling.  I didn’t know the first thing about advertising or marketing like I know today, but I went into the house and began to call some kids in the neighbor.  Little did I know, my mother already called their parents. 

In the mean time I went back outside, only to find dad ready to tell me a story about some old farmer and his mule.  Bet your bottom dollar I wasn’t very interested in his story then, but it kicked in about thirty years later.  It was a perfect illustration about perseverance.

Pop told me this mule fell in an abandoned well.  The farmer attempted its rescue.  Unable, he was determined to bury his friend and dumped a load of dirt down the well.  That mule kicked, stomped, and snorted, until he stood two feet higher.  A few more loads of dirt a lot of kicking, snorting, and stomping down that dirt, the mule walked out on level ground… a survivor! 

I bet by now your asking “What in the world does this story have to do with an online business?”  It has everything to do with overcoming the wrecking ball!

Unlike the mule, often Internet marketers get caught in a well, but they see no way out so they give up!   In actuality, the wrecking ball is a form of self-destruction!  It’s so deadly!  I truly believe this is the reason it is so elusive to the faint hearted.  Not practicing these concepts in our business is like inviting a wrecking ball into our minds that can, and will, demolish everything in its path including our self esteem and confidence.

If you are one of the faint hearted, I urge you to keep your chin about you.  Try believing that people will buy from you!  Once you believe they will come, your passion level will be higher than you can possibly imagine!  

Now get out there and advertise the heck out of your product(s).  Just don’t expect it to happen overnight.  It does take hard work.  Be persistent and have patience prudence, they will come. 

By the way, about that lemonade stand… within a half hour or so people started to come and buy my lemonade.  I made $56.30 that day.  It may not seem like a lot of money to you, but back then, at ten cents a glass and age 10, it seemed like a goldmine to me. 


Article may be freely distributed in its entirety!  Absolutely no selling, editing, or altering of content including the link provided.  You may  add your text box with link under author's text box.

5 Easy Ways to Create Great Info Products

So you've decided to start publishing an e-newsletter, or you'd like to develop a Special Report as an added-value for your customers, or maybe you've even decided to teach a teleclass or a seminar as a way to bring prospects into your business. 

So now you have to decide what you’re going to write or speak about. So just how do you come up with the content? 

Well, you can start with looking at the knowledge you have that could truly benefit your prospects and customers.  What do you know a lot about, that your customers and prospects don't?  What information could you provide that could help them to improve their business, or make them happier, or show them a different way to do something, or provide them with tips on how to buy or use the product or service you provide? 

The key is finding out what information your prospects and customers need or want most.  Asking them is the easiest way to find out, and it is a great way to generate content for your info products.

If you have made arrangements to speak to a group, ask the person coordinating your talk if there is a way to survey the group as to their most important questions relative to your line of business. 

For example, if you offer Wellness Coaching Services and you are speaking to a group of corporate executives, find out what their burning questions are related to wellness.

In a corporate environment, they should be able to quickly and easily compile this information via an email sent out to all employees who have been invited to your talk. Knowing that your goal is to speak directly to their concerns, they will probably be more likely to attend as well.

When you get the results of your survey, look for common or recurring questions and focus your talk on the answers to these questions. Save any remaining questions as topics for your e-newsletter. You can use this as an incentive to get attendees to register for your e-newsletter by saying at the end of your talk “If I didn’t cover your most pressing question, I invite you to register for my free e-newsletter where I will address all remaining questions.”

Here are five more ways to generate ideas and content:


1. Add a page to your web site where visitors can submit questions.  You could title it "What is your most pressing question about [insert your topic of expertise here]. Make sure the page is visible and accessible from all of your web pages.  Consider promoting this service throughout your web site to drive people to that page to submit a question.


2. Purchase the domain name "askYOURNAME.com" (where "YOURNAME" is your first and last name) and publicize it as a service and great place for consumers to get their most pressing questions, in your subject area, answered.  Registering domains is cheap, and you can always point it to a page in your existing web site if you don't want to pay additional web hosting fees.


3. Include an email address, or web page address, in your e-newsletter or any other form of regular communication, inviting your prospects and clients to submit their questions.  Odds are if one prospect or client has a question, there are many others who also have the same question.


4. If you do presentations or seminars already, hand out a survey at the end to find out what attendees liked best about your presentation (it's always a good idea to get feedback anyway), and to find out if there are other relevant areas they would like to see you speak on, or if they have questions they'd like answered.


5. Keep your eyes open and your customers in mind when you read trade publications, magazines or newspapers. If you come across something you think would be of interest to your prospects and customers, share it.  Is something going on in the news that is relevant to your product or service?  Write about it.


In addition to using this information to drive newsletter or presentation content, you can also use it to develop articles and content for your website, or to write Special Reports, Tips Sheets, or How-To Guides you can sell or use for marketing to your prospects and customers.

(C) Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

4 Ways To Get Your Opt In Subscribers To Trust You Quickly

While the rest of the world have developed many barriers and protections to keep their e-mail accounts spam-free, there are also those that subscribe to mails that promotes their products, services and their site. This is mainly because these subscribes wants to know more about what these sites are offering and can be beneficial for them. They expect to get be kept posted on what they are interested in and what are new in the market or field they have chosen.

Businesses would be so lucky to have these kinds of customers; the basic element needed to get these types of people is trust. When your customers trust you they will reward you with their loyalty. Many internet users have gone to great lengths in protecting their email accounts from spam mail. Some free-mail internet providers and internet service providers offer spam protection while there are also some internet based companies that screen your mails for you.

With an opt-in mail list, the mails you send containing your promotional materials such as newsletters, catalogs and marketing media will go through. Your intended recipient will be able to read and view what you have sent making it a successful transfer of information. To be able to be allowed to do so, you will need permission from your recipient, to get this permission; you need to be able to get their trust. With the great lack of disregard for privacy in the internet, getting the trust of an internet user you don’t personally know is a big achievement.

To build a good opt-in list you need people to trust you, for a faster and quicker build up, you need to get your opt-in subscribers to trust you quickly. The faster you build your opt-in list the faster word about your site and company gets to be spread. The bigger the scope of your opt-in list the more traffic you get spelling more profits. Its easy math if you thin about it. Getting the numbers is not that simple though, or maybe it is?

•Getting the trust of your clientele shouldn’t be so hard especially if you do have a legitimate business. Getting your customers trust should be based upon your expertise. People rely on other people who know what they are talking about. Garner all the knowledge and information about your business. Ell, frankly if you decide to go into a business most probably you have an interest in it. Like how many basketball payers become coaches, you don’t really venture into something you don’t have any interest in.

•Show your clients that you know what you are talking about. Provide them with helpful hints and guidelines that pertain to what you are selling. Talk about how to install a roof if your into hardware products or provide articles on insurance settlements if you’re a settlement lawyer. You don’t have to be a big corporation to make use of an opt-in list. If your customers see you as someone who knows what he is doing and saying, they will trust you quickly.

•Be true to your customers, if you want to hype up your products and services, provide guarantees. The more satisfied customers you get, the bigger probability there is that they will recommend you. Generally, people will trust someone they know, when that someone recommends you then you’re a shoo-in. They will go to your site and check it for themselves and be given a chance to experience what the other shave experienced from you, so make sure to be consistent in the service you provide.

•Another tip in getting a customer to trust you quickly is to provide them an escape hatch. Show them that you are not there to trap them. Keep a clean list that would enable them to unsubscribe anytime they want. Elaborate your web form by providing information on how to unsubscribe from the list. Guarantee them that they can let go of the service when ever they want to. Many are wary that they may be stuck for life and would have to abandon their email accounts when they get pestered with spam.

Remember that when you get the trust of your clients don’t lose that trust. Because if you do anything with their email addresses like sell them or give them out, you will lose many members of your list as ell as potential members. The true quickest way to gain the trust of your subscribers is when you are recommended by someone they trust.

4 Tried and True Techniques To Create Loyal, Life-Long Customers

Let's be honest... everybody knows that people are in business to make money.  Yeah, customer's know you've got our eyes set on making a profit, but they still want to believe that you are in business for more than just their money.  Do your customers know that you really care about them?  Here are 4 "tried and true" techniques to show them you care.

1.  Be Personal
I recently walked into a well-known store and spoke with a salesperson who really seemed to have it going on.  I felt pretty good about the interaction, until I walked away and heard him reciting the same spiel he had just used with me moments earlier. 

Customers are looking for personal one-on-one recognition.  In this automated world, they are used to feeling like just a number, and crave to have real interaction.  Take the time to discover their lifestyle before you try to sell them a one-size-fits-all product.  Think about the ways the product will benefit THEM.

You'll find that there are pockets of people with similar interests and needs.  Hey, that's the perfect opportunity to customize your sales campaign to the needs of different market niches. 

2.  Look Out For The Customer
Sure, you've sat and listened to boring sales speaches that went on and on about every feature, aspect and guarantee a product had to offer.  Yeah, BORING!  Customers don't give a hoot about the specific details and credentials of you and your product nearly as much as they want to know how it will benefit them. 

Make sure your advertisements on the Web, sales letters, and other promotions point out the advantages to the customer.  Keep the focus on them.  How will the modern features make life easier?  How will your credentials make you better equipped to help them?

3.  Stay in Contact
There are a lot of customers who don't buy on the first visit.  Sure, there are a fair number of impulsive shoppers, but not everyone shells out the bucks the first time the idea pops into their head to make a purchase.  Wise shoppers take a little time to consider it first.

What happens in the meantime?  Well, that depends on you.  Do you follow up regularly with customers?  Give them a little additional information each time, and build a relationship of trust.  Before long, you'll have a loyal customer spreading the word about your business.

Internet marketers need to devise ways of getting email addresses to use for follow-up strategies.  Free newsletters and complimentary reports are perfect for opening the door for future communications.

4.  Be "Question Friendly"
Nothing says, "I really care," like taking the time to thoroughly answer a question - no matter how small.  Think of it this way... a customer who is asking questions is considering the possibility of making a purchase.  Hey, it might not be today or tomorrow, but someday you'll reap the benefits of the time you spend answering their questions.

Is it easy for your customers to ask a question?  Now, I'm not talking about calling an automated answering service that you spend 25 minutes pushing buttons and end up back at the main menu.  Can they ask questions, and get personal answers? 

Always provide a phone number where a person can be reached, or an email address that someone will personally answer.  You can save a lot of time by posting a frequently asked question page, where they can find answers without the effort of making contact. 

Assuring customers of their importance is one of the greatest ways to make loyal, life-long customers.

Title: 4 Strategies For Seasonal Selling - Planning For Retail Cycles Word Count: 393 Summary: Every product has a natural life cycle and a season where it sells best: some early buyers come at the beginning, and then the mass of buyers come. Prices peak and retailers begin running out of stock. Sales slow, and trickle down to a few last-minute shoppers. As an online seller, it’s critical you prepare for the natural retail cycles throughout the year. With some simple strategies, you can make the most of the opportunities presented by the changing seasons: 1.Keep ... Keywords: Product,sourcing,ebay,ecommerce,dropship,ebiz,entrepreneur,blog Article Body: Every product has a natural life cycle and a season where it sells best: some early buyers come at the beginning, and then the mass of buyers come. Prices peak and retailers begin running out of stock. Sales slow, and trickle down to a few last-minute shoppers. As an online seller, it’s critical you prepare for the natural retail cycles throughout the year. With some simple strategies, you can make the most of the opportunities presented by the changing seasons: 1.Keep the Flow Going The way to maintain sales volume is to be ready for the next selling season. Phase in your new seasonal items for early shoppers while your other product line sales are winding down. You can keep the momentum going in your store and your income if you plan accordingly. 2.Make Advance Preparations Don’t wait until the holiday is upon you to get your products lined up and ready to go. You should begin pushing your promotions two to three months ahead of time, according to Lisa Suttora of http://WhatDoISell.com. Says Suttora, “The advantage to having your products ready several months before a holiday season is you capture the early bird buyers…You’d be amazed how many people shop months in advance of a holiday.” Another benefit of early marketing is it provides lead time for the search engines to pick up the pages for your holiday specials. Include the season or holiday name in your titles, because people are searching for those terms. 3.Use What You’ve Got You don’t necessarily have to change your entire product line every season. Evaluate your current product line and see what can be promoted as a seasonal item. Use your imagination—create unique gift baskets and kits. Shoppers are pressed for time and are looking for solutions, so put together product bundles to solve their holiday needs. 4.Adjust Your Website Your web store should reflect the season—feature items that work well for the approaching holiday. Put a seasonal spin on your ads and listings. “Your sales don’t have to drop,” advises Suttora. “Evaluate what you’re selling and how you want to position it—freshen up the look of your site. You’ve got a whole new group of buyers coming in [with each new season], so you want to be ready for them.”

Every product has a natural life cycle and a season where it sells best: some early buyers come at the beginning, and then the mass of buyers come. Prices peak and retailers begin running out of stock. Sales slow, and trickle down to a few last-minute shoppers.

As an online seller, it’s critical you prepare for the natural retail cycles throughout the year. With some simple strategies, you can make the most of the opportunities presented by the changing seasons:

1.Keep the Flow Going
The way to maintain sales volume is to be ready for the next selling season. Phase in your new seasonal items for early shoppers while your other product line sales are winding down. You can keep the momentum going in your store and your income if you plan accordingly.

2.Make Advance Preparations
Don’t wait until the holiday is upon you to get your products lined up and ready to go. You should begin pushing your promotions two to three months ahead of time, according to Lisa Suttora of http://WhatDoISell.com. Says Suttora, “The advantage to having your products ready several months before a holiday season is you capture the early bird buyers…You’d be amazed how many people shop months in advance of a holiday.”

Another benefit of early marketing is it provides lead time for the search engines to pick up the pages for your holiday specials. Include the season or holiday name in your titles, because people are searching for those terms.

3.Use What You’ve Got
You don’t necessarily have to change your entire product line every season. Evaluate your current product line and see what can be promoted as a seasonal item. Use your imagination—create unique gift baskets and kits. Shoppers are pressed for time and are looking for solutions, so put together product bundles to solve their holiday needs.

4.Adjust Your Website
Your web store should reflect the season—feature items that work well for the approaching holiday. Put a seasonal spin on your ads and listings. “Your sales don’t have to drop,” advises Suttora. “Evaluate what you’re selling and how you want to position it—freshen up the look of your site. You’ve got a whole new group of buyers coming in [with each new season], so you want to be ready for them.”

4 Steps to Unbeatable Advertising

1. Negotiate
Have you noticed that some people seem to always get the best deals?  Yeah, you pay full price and think you did OK until they show up with the same thing, only they  paid several hundred dollars less.  It really get your goat!  How do they do it?  They're not afraid to ask for an extra discount.

Yep,  don't sell yourself short because you didn't ASK the next time your advertising rep makes an appearance!  Even if you're already getting a discount, ask for a bigger one.  You have not...because you ask not.

2. Trim
Bigger is always better...or is it?  When it comes to advertising, don't be surprised if some of your short ads meet with more success than larger more expensive ads. Trimming down on the size and cost of advertising doesn't mean you'll be trimming the results!

3. Exploit the Freebies
What's the difference between advertising and publicity?  ...who's doing the talking. Yeah, when you sell yourself, it's advertising.  When someone else is selling you, it's publicity...and it generates credibility and interest that you don't want to miss out on.

Think about the different ways you can get your business in the spotlight.  Do you have some news… write a press release?  Write some "how to" articles with a short byline at the end and release them to ezines, magazines, newspapers, and other publishers. Why not promote the product of a non-competitor in return for them promoting yours...think of the totally different market they affect! 

Yep, there are a lot of ways out there to get free advertisement that will benefit your business. Of course you won't be able to rely solely on the freebies, but hey, you can get a little extra for nothing!

4. Improve Your Offer
Is your deal too good to pass up?  If not, you need to improve it.  Hey, I'm not talking about cutting prices even more...you've still got to make a profit.  You can make the deal sweeter just by increasing the readers knowledge of the value of the product, or adding bonuses that are perceived as valuable, but cost you little. 

Motivate buyers with expirations.  Yeah, an open ended offer encourages procrastination...which leads ...yep, nowhere.  When the customer knows he has until Saturday to purchase an item he'll pay more for on Sunday, he'll make it a priority to head for your shop. 
    
Advertising doesn't have to wipe out your bank account to be effective.  When you learn to negotiate, know when smaller ads are as effective as large ads, ask for discounts, and create an irresistible offer, you're on your way to skyrocketing profit margins!

4 Steps To Explosive Joint Ventures

Everyone needs targeted visitors to their websites and tis could proof, at some times, to be a very tough job to do. You hear that you need to do one thing from this guru and the other guru tells you to do another. It gets confusing at one point.

Now, the one strategy that will never fail you is finding good partners. Basically even internet marketing is about the “partners” you have and find. You need link partners to gain popularity in the search engines and when you want to sell a product, effectively, you need JV partners to get this thing rolling.

Now why should I do a JV?

Well, whenever you have a product and you want to launch it, it may be wise to find websites in your niche that have lists and may be interested in selling your products. And even if they don’t have a list, just ask them if they would like to promote your product on their website.

What is in it for them?

Great question… whenever you set-up a JV, you need to be sure there is something in it FOR THEM. So depending on you focus you could offer them a commission of 50 up-to 100% on a product you sell.

So how do your determine what kind of commission you will give to your affiliates? It really depends on your focus… if you want to build a list of paying customers quickly, you set-up a JV and give as much commission as possible to your JV partners but when it is for a product that you are going to sell as your main product, you could offer them a commission anywhere between the 50 and 65% (you still need to make a living yourself).

In the first case the product doesn’t have to be extremely high priced, it is all about building that list with “paying customers”… your golden list. So something like $9,95 would be just fine and perfect to attract partners and hand you over their lists. Especially if you give-out a commission of 100%.

Now, the next thing you should do is make it as simple as possible for the JV partner. What I mean by that is that you shouldn’t let them do to much work. You should create all the messages for them(so they can send it out to their list), create a couple of banners that they can put up on their websites, text links, etc.

Now, I have shown you the basics of setting up a JV. Marc Goldmann knows a lot more about how-to set-up Joint Ventures, effectively. So if you ware truly interested, I highly recommend you to do a search on him on Google.

I want to stop by giving you step by step directions you can follow when you set-up your Joint Ventures:

#1: Have a product to sell. You need to make sure you have some kind of product your could sell before you can set-up a JV. And this doesn’t have to be your own product, just think outside the box or check out this website for more information about Joint Ventures.

#2: Set-up you website. When you set-up a JV for your own product, you need a website to promote that product. So you will need to buy hosting and a domain name. I personally get my domains at Godaddy and my hosting at Hostgator.

#3: Find JV partners. This is a very time-consuming task but very rewarding in the end. All you should do is look for websites in your niche and ask them if they want to be your JV partner. Try to call them if possible and otherwise send them a email about your affiliate program(how much they can make, other advantages for them).

#4: Set-up and prepare for launch. If you want to learn more about how to set-up a launch, you should take a look at this website. He knows everything about launches and can most surely help you set-up a launch in your own niche. I will just cover some basics.

What you need to do is make sure your follow ups are ready, that you start getting prospects before you launch and keep these prospects updated and interested about your product, Create a sense of urgency like your product is the best they can get in your niche. And it will make sure that your partners will make more money and the next time you launch something, they will be happy to help you out.

I hope this article has been useful and will help you set-up some explosive Joint Ventures in the future. Take action right now and good luck.
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Nicholas Kidd has been an internet marketer for over the past 3 years and is now the Affiliate Manager for Affiliate Cash Secrets and he is paying an unheared of 75% commission on every member you refer, every single month for life. For more information and free subscription to his newsletter(value $197 a year), please click here: http://www.superaffiliatemarketingsecrets.com