Once you truly understand the power of backend profits, you’ll explode your marketing results and create an unstoppable viral machine.
The techniques I will reveal to you have often been taught in many marketing courses and articles…but they are still underutilized because of two words - “tunnel vision.”
Backend profits means the additional income that you earn from a customer. The first purchase from a customer is the front end profits while the second purchase and so forth will be your backend.
The really good marketers understand that the most money will be made on the backend.
Here are a couple reasons why:
You can charge higher prices for backend products because you’ve already built a relationship with your customer.
They already know the quality of your product and of your customer service. You no longer have to convince them that you’re credible and that your information is good.
You only have to convince them that your backend product is higher quality than your front end product and that they NEED the backend product.
Trust is one of the single most important components of selling. You can earn that trust by providing a good front end product.
Most marketers do not truly understand the power of the backend and that’s a fact.
I know because I see very few affiliate programs which pay higher than 50% commission.
Think about this for a minute.
Let’s say you sell your product for $50 and you give 50% commission. You have 5 affiliates who each make 10 sales each.
You pocket $1,250 after paying commissions. You now have 50 customers. Five of them end up purchasing your $100 backend product for a profit of $500. Total profits is $1,750 for you.
Now let’s consider giving away 75% commission to your affiliates.
By giving away higher commissions, you get 10 affiliates instead of the 5. Ten affiliates making 10 sales each at $50 will make you $1,250 - which is the same front end profits as before.
Now you have 100 customers and make 10 backend sales for $1,000 profit.
So how did you end up making more when you increased your affiliate commissions by 25 percent? You made it on the backend.
Here’s what is happening behind the curtain as you increase your commissions.
You gain more affiliates and subscribers as those affiliates send you more traffic to your site.
Those affiliates are happier with their higher paycheck because you gave them higher commissions. Therefore, they will continue to send traffic to your site.
This cycle increases your traffic over time as you gain more customers, more affiliates and more subscribers.
It’s the ultimate viral marketing machine!
More subscribers equal more profits. More customers equals more profits. More affiliates equals more profits.
So is all that worth a hit on your front end profits?
Yes!
The problem most people have is they can’t stand to see their affiliates making more than them. Tunnel vision keeps them from seeing all the extra subscribers, customers and affiliates which could be theirs.
Please remember one thing about running your affiliate program.
A 75% reduction in profits is better than a 100% reduction, which is the case if the affiliate had not made ANY sale.
In summary, you should create an affiliate program for your front end product which gives away a majority of the profits.
You should also spend your time creating multiple backend products.
If the type of product you're selling requires manual work and it's not worth it for you to give higher commissions then an option for you is to create a different front-end product which will serve as a portal into your product line.
Your main goal in creating an 'intro' product is to use it to gain more traffic to your site. When you get the traffic, you should capture as many prospects as you can into your marketing funnel.
When you have more leads in your marketing funnel, you can control where they go by directing them within your follow-up emails.
Backend Profit Secrets And Viral Marketing
10 Eye Popping, Jaw Dropping Ad Copy Secrets
1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Write the ad on a piece of paper, scan it and publish the ad on your web page. Adding a personal touch will always increase your sales.
2. Publish a list of famous and respected customers who have bought from you on your a copy. People will think that if these people bought from you, they should also trust your business and purchase your products. Make sure to get their permission first
3. Show before and after photos for your products on your web page copy. Show the problem picture and then beside it, show the picture of the resolution to the problem when they use your product.
4. Include an article or review that has been written about you or your business with your ad copy. This will show people that your business is respected and will increase your credibility.
5. When you offer free bonuses in your ad copy, also list the dollar value beside each bonus. People will feel they're getting a good deal and it will increase the value of your product.
6. Hire a famous person to endorse your product or service. Make sure the person is well known to your target audience. Include their picture and statements on your ad copy.
7. Include your own picture on your ad copy. This will show people that you're not hiding behind your ad copy and will increase their trust. Also, include your contact information below the picture and a brief statement or quote.
8. Tell your potential customers on your ad copy that you will donate a percentage of their purchase price to specific charity. This will show them you really care about the people. They may just buy your product to donate to the charity.
9. Ask your potential customers plenty of yes and no questions in your ad copy. The questions should remind them of their problem and make them think about what will happen if they don't purchase your product.
10. Tell your potential customers they will receive a free prize if they find the five words in your ad copy that are misspelled or spelled backwards. The longer you can keep someone reading your copy the greater chance of them purchasing.
Get a boatload of FREE proven headlines, articles, ad copy, viral marketing materials, FREE software, and a home business where YOU keep 100% of the profits! www.freesoftware4life.com
Adsense secrets are exposed, home based business secrets revealed , by adsenselover.com
Many publishers love the ease with which Google's AdSense enables them to make money for their troubles. This program, however, doesn't always work like it's supposed to. Should ads completely unrelated to a site's theme continue to pop up, tweaking the system could be in order to protect income potential.
Google has been working hard to correct this issue, but there are things publishers can do on their own to increase their chances of getting ads that match content. Most of the measures are quite easy to employ. Since they can result in better revenue, they're worth considering if mismatched ads keep appearing.
AdSense is an easy program to work from home, to start online jobs, easy ways to make money from home, get adsense ready sites, adsense websites: it's a great form of an advertising bringing a lot of benefits to every person in the chain. And of course, seeing the results it can have on a business (and a publisher) people encourage this form of publicity.
But why does it work for the people clicking the links, as opposed to a standard approach?
It is aided by today's society. With bloggers and information based articles on the internet, people may be encouraged to complete purchases, which adsense can provide links to relevant suppliers whilst also benefiting the publisher.
And the good thing about this is that it works for site visitors as well. In fact Google realized that by pleasing the people who are looking for something, and directing them to what they need faster, everybody wins.
It is because of this that a lot of websites promote through AdSense in both content and search. They do it because they ultimately learned that it works for everyone.
If we look in the past, we can realize that this kind of publicity has a great impact over the people, especially in the last few years. When we enter on a web site and we see a graphical banner, our first idea is to cancel it out of our mind, because it's of no concern to us.
That's why traditional banner advertising is wrong. It's precisely because people are becoming savvy that they don't look at a flashy banner because they think they'll be losing their time with it.
We've gotten accustomed to banners that don't interest us. And we're accustomed to them having nice graphics. So we naturally associate the two things and think that a banner with nice graphics has nothing to tell us.
But we might look at a text-ad because we've grown accustomed to them being targeted at what we're looking for. Basically these advertisements have marketed themselves into being looked at by any visitor.
This is a typical "no fluff, just stuff" situation. And in the end it means the visitors will see what they're interested in, not some random cool graphics you throw at them.
As stated above, site visitors adopt this advertising mechanism, because it is efficient in leading them to pages of interest and can offer ton of things they really want to see. Someone coming across an article on adsense was probably looking for shoes or doing research on shoes when they came across the article.
And most importantly for everyone, including visitors, this scheme can only improve as the process gets further refined to make ads more relevant to what you're looking for, not just a couple of keywords on a site.
10 Setup Secrets For Your Home Based Business - Ten Of Them!
Setting up a home based business doesn't have to be intimidating, expensive or time consuming. When you decide to make your living working from home, you simply need to go through a basic set up process to ensure you are ready.
Here are the steps for setting up your home business for success:
1. Attitude
- The key to your business success is your attitude.
- Treat your business like a business.
This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. For example, the mom who works from home around her family. She always puts her family first, at the same time developing her business. She says, "I may work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude." To put another way, "Have a hobby attitude, get a hobby income, have a business attitude get a business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is unlikely that you will be successful just working in your "spare time".
2. Describe Your Business
Be able to describe your business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your business to others.
A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your business. This is often referred to as your "elevator pitch" or "audio logo". Think about it, if you ask someone about their business and they describe it as "a errr, well, I kind of take care of, you know, well in as much as..." would you be impressed? Would you think that you should really hire that person? It's much better to be able to speak briefly, confidently and memorably about your business and what makes it unique.
3. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have chosen the product or service to sell you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling e-books for example, then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it and know it "inside out".
You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge, you can become the preferred supplier.
If it is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) then you won't be using the product, however you can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
4. Get a Domain Name
Welcome to the twenty first century, you need a domain name for your business! You'll need an account with a reputable hosting company who will provide a "space" on the web for your domain name and site. The fees can be as low as $4.95 per month and go up from there. If you do not have any knowledge of HTML there are hosting companies that provide "site builder" software via the web. This can be a great option but be sure you like the application before you plunk down your money as you will probably be using it a lot!
5. Email
Once you have your own domain you will have one or more email accounts for that domain. This can assist in the promotion of your business and promotes a more professional business image.
Using email smartly can help you in the task of organizing your business communications. For example, sales can arrive via sales@your-company.com, support and help requests via support@your-company.com and so on.
By setting up some basic rules in Outlook or other email program you can have the mail conveniently sorted into folders for you as soon as it arrives.
6. Payment Processing
You will probably need a way to process credit cards. You could use services such as:
- PayPal https://www.paypal.com
- StormPay http://www.stormpay.com
- 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com
- Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com
Paypal now has a Pro level of service that includes a virtual terminal, helping to keep the costs low. Once your business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions but any of the sites listed will certainly get you started and may be all you need for the life of your business.
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored. You will need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.
Some suggestions are:
- AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com (free version available)
- Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org
- Microsoft Anti-Spyware: www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
- Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/
- Mailwasher Email Scanner: http://www.mailwasher.net
A good all-round selection is one of the Norton products as they are kept up to date and have many if not all the features mentioned.
8. Working Environment
Getting organized is highly important, to ensure that you complete projects on time but also pay your bills on time and even bill your clients on time!
Having a working environment that help rather than hinders you work is also highly important. It can be tough but you need to establish a definite workspace for both yourself and any other people that are around.
- A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
- A comfortable chair and organized desk.
- Stationery supplies as required.
- Ensure you have a good computer monitor if you will be staring at it for long periods of time.
- Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.
9. Administration
Use good record keeping practices... please!
You may need to consult a tax advisor who can let you know about the best way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor can recommend record keeping systems and software may simplify this aspect of your business.
Additionally you can obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate account. Many banks now offer free checking for small business so do your research in to the options available to you.
Keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. This can be quite a big deal once your have a number of business resources online.
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is PasswordSafe.com. They provide a free web based service for storing username / passwords so you can access them from anywhere with an internet connection. They've been around since 1998 so the service is both trustworthy and reliable.
10. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family and your business. When you mark off a block of time for work, then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self-education (reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. Remember, one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family and you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your family and have your business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.
These are the ten basics of working at home. Some of these items may change a little depending on the type of business you choose but in essence, this is it. A home based business can be the most fun, most rewarding experience of your adult life as long as you realize there are a few simple rules to keeping everything on track along the way.
Advertising Secrets
When I first got into the online advertising business, I was looking for the magical combination that would put my website into the top search engine rankings, catapult me to the forefront of the minds or individuals looking to buy my product, and generally make me rich beyond my wildest dreams!
After succeeding in the business for this long, I'm able to look back on my old self with this kind of thinking and shake my head.
If you're reading this article and you've come this far, you're probably looking for the magic answer yourself. You've probably read a few dozen or a few hundred articles just like this about pay-per-click advertising, maximizing return on investment, keyword stuffing, black-hat seo tactics, text-link banner exchanges, and the list goes on.
Well, I'm here to tell you that I have the one be all end all answer and I'm sharing it with the world!
The truth is that there is no magic secret to online advertising. No one method will generate the largest amount of income/exposure for every website or business imaginable - it's all a matter of trial and error, time and talent.
That's a pretty weak answer, I know. It would have been much cooler for me to tell you that buying tiny classified ads in your local paper was the key to success and riches. Well, I'm sorry. For the few of you that have been down this road before and are starting to get it, you'll hear a ring of truth in my words. The sooner you stop looking for a quick fix to make your message stick, the better.
For what it's worth, these are my thoughts.
1) The internet has only been alive for a few short years, and in that time it has changed dramatically many times over. Remember in 1995 when everyone first discovered the cool little animated envelope .gif that you would click on to send them email? Where was your online bill-pay, instant messaging, and dynamically generated page content then? And only a few short years later you can see how far we've come and use that as a measure for how far we can go.
The point is that the internet, like other forms of media, is a rapidly evolving monster. What works for online advertisers today might be completely ineffectual only a few months from now. That's why the best advertisers are constantly researching and creating their own unique marketing strategies. The trick is to find out what works for you, and to make sure that you revisit it from time to time to tune it up as the market changes.
2) You Have to Spend Money to Make Money. It's a tired line, but it's that way because everyone says it. Don't be afraid to add fuel to your advertising fire and take it to another level. Try investing (note that I said investing and not spending) five, ten, or fifty thousand dollars in advertising. If you don't jump out a window the first time you do it, you may walk away with a big smile and a little pocket money!
The hard part about investing a big chunk of money is coming up with it in the first place. If you already have $50,000 laying around for advertising and are just looking for a place to put it, give me a call. If you're not that lucky, try looking at the Small Business Administration for ideas on how to get a small business loan.
If you don't want to go farther than your mailbox, examine some of those credit checks your bank keeps sending you in the mail. A lot of people take advantage of their fairly reasonable interest rates to fund projects.
3) Presentation is Key. You'll find that excellent writing skills and good marketing go hand in hand. As you improve on one, the other is bound to follow. Knowing how to write, and how to write well will give you an extraordinary advantage of the majority of individuals vying for your customers' attention. I don't know about you, but I get a lot of spam for people wanting to sell me their "good, cheap, A+ #1 $$$ rolex watch, discount Viagra, H0t s1utz, etc."
Needless to say, I have never purchased anything from them and most likely, neither have you. If you have, please drop me a line and let me know how it worked out. I'm always wondering how many of those are a scam.
The emails and circulars that I do purchase from come from GoDaddy, buy.com, Google and a host of other professional companies that take a few minutes to earn my trust with good punctuation, grammar, and quality content.
If you don't have a talent for writing (and you know who you are) you have two choices:
Get better - easier said than done. Like most things, writing is one part talent and nine parts hard work. Take some classes, do peer editing suggestions, or send it to me look over (first ten-thousand submissions only).
Or, get someone else to do it - leaving more time for you at the helm. I like this option not only because it's a time saver for me, but also because the work generally comes out better than anything I could have done. This article is an excellent example. I provided a detailed outline, some good anecdotes, and the strategies above and the copywriters at danifer.com did the rest. I made a deal with them to write the article for $149 and we share the syndication rights. Not bad for half an hour's work.
If you can't afford to hire a pro, be courteous to yourself and your audience by simply re-reading your work, running a spell check, and letting your wife/husband/friend/co-worker look it over. You'd be surprised at how many things invisible to you will stand out to a fresh set of eyes.
OK. That's all I've got for now. Stay tuned at howtoadvertise.net for more advice on how to get started with online advertising. Please remember though that how far you go is up to you. There is no substitute for your own work and effort in succeeding in this business.
Good Luck!
Keeton
Bellsouth Secrets Revealed
Formed after the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) was forced to break up its regional companies, Bellsouth is based in Atlanta. Strangely enough, it is also the only one of those companies left that uses an actual bell symbol in its company logo. Bellsouth is a combination of Southern Bell and South Central Bell and provides services to 9 southern states in the eastern United States
In the 1990’s, when mergers were the name of the game, this company took a pass. Still serving the same states they did when they were first peeled out from under the AT& T umbrella, they have gone from the largest of the bells to one of the smallest. In 2004, in fact, their revenue was only about $28 billion.
In order to provide many of the services this company does to its customers, they operate a number of other smaller companies. For instance Bellsouth Telecommunications provides local phone, while Bellsouth is a provider of internet service. Long distance comes to the region via Bellsouth Long Distance and Bellsouth international provides international operations. Cell phone services are provided by Cingular Wireless, which also provides other wireless services to customers. Bellsouth also operates a number of other companies to bring all of their advertised services to the customers. It is important to note, though, that all of this is held under the corporate name of The BellSouth Corporation.
BellSouth does not own all of the companies alone. For instance, Cingular Wireless is jointly owned by this company and AT&T. In addition, the same two companies together co-own yellowpages, which used to be RealPages and SmartPages. These partnerships and individual company ownership allows this company to be the important company that it is today.
BellSouth was founded in 1984. They are a publicly traded company chaired by F. Duane Akcerman, who also operates as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (CEO). As of recent years, This company has begun to concentrate on the areas of wireless and broadband service. The joint, 40% venture with AT&T to put together Cingular provides a big part of the revenue of the company. The company’s strategy keys on the increase of broadband use among the general public. Their main competition comes from companies such as Spring, MCI, Qwest, and Vorizen wireless.
All of the move toward wireless is a move to save the future of the bell south company. This company, like many phone companies, continues to lose home phone customers on a regular basis. With internet voice protocol and cell phone use up, home phone use is down and many of the old bell companies are feeling the heat. Bellsouth remains committed to the wireless and broadband industries so that in the coming communications wars they don’t get left out in the cold.
9 secrets Mark Twain taught me about advertising
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
Advertising is life made to look larger than life, through images and words that promise a wish fulfilled, a dream come true, a problem solved. Even Viagra follows Mark Twain’s keen observation about advertising. The worst kind of advertising exaggerates to get your attention, the best, gets your attention without exaggeration. It simply states a fact or reveals an emotional need, then lets you make the leap from “small to large.” Examples of the worst: before-and-after photos for weight loss products and cosmetic surgery—both descend to almost comic disbelief. The best: Apple’s "silhouette" campaign for iPod and the breakthrough ads featuring Eminem—both catapult iPod to “instant cool” status.
“When in doubt, tell the truth.”
Today’s advertising is full of gimmicks. They relentlessly hang on to a product like a ball and chain, keeping it from moving swiftly ahead of the competition, preventing any real communication of benefits or impetus to buy. The thinking is, if the gimmick is outrageous or silly enough, it’s got to at least get their attention. Local car dealer ads are probably the worst offenders--using zoo animals, sledgehammers, clowns, bikini-clad models, anything unrelated to the product’s real benefit. If the people who thought up these outrageous gimmicks spent half their energy just sticking to the product’s real benefits and buying motivators, they’d have a great ad. What they don’t realize is, they already have a lot to work with without resorting to gimmicks. There’s the product with all its benefits, the brand, which undoubtedly they’ve spent money to promote, the competition and its weaknesses, and two powerful buying motivators—fear of loss and promise of gain. In other words, all you really have to do is tell the truth about your product and be honest about your customers’ wants and needs. Of course, sometimes that’s not so easy. You have to do some digging to find out what you customers really want, what your competition has to offer them, and why your product is better.
“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.”
In advertising, you have to be very careful how you use facts. As any politician will tell you, facts are scary things. They have no stretch, no pliability, no room for misinterpretation. They’re indisputable. And used correctly, very powerful. But statistics, now there’s something advertisers and politicians love. “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Preparation J.” Who can dispute that? Or “Five out of six dentists recommend Sunshine Gum.” Makes me want to run out and buy a pack of Sunshine right now. Hold it. Rewind.
“Whenever you find you’re on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.”
Let’s take a look at how these stats—this apparent majority—might have come to be. First off, how many doctors did they ask before they found nine out of ten to agree that Preparation J did the job? 1,000? 10,000? And how many dentists hated the idea of their patients chewing gum but relented, saying, “Most chewing gum has sugar and other ingredients, that rot out your teeth, but if the guy’s gotta chew the darn stuff, it may as well be Sunshine, which has less sugar in it.” The point is, stats can be manipulated to say almost anything. And yes, the devil’s in the details. The fact is, there’s usually a 5% chance you can get any kind of result simply by accident. And because many statistical studies are biased and not “double blind” (both subject and doctor don’t know who was given the test product and who got the placebo). Worst of all, statistics usually need the endless buttressing of legal disclaimers. If you don’t believe me, try to read the full-page of legally mandated warnings for that weight- loss pill you’ve been taking. Bottom line: stick to facts. Then back them up with sound selling arguments that address the needs of your customer.
“The difference between the right word and almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
To write really effective ad copy means choosing exactly the right word at the right time. You want to lead your customer to every benefit your product has to offer, and you want to shed the best light on every benefit. It also means you don’t want to give them any reason or opportunity to wander away from your argument. If they wander, you’re history. They’re off to the next page, another TV channel or a new website. So make every word say exactly what you mean it to say, no more, no less. Example: if a product is new, don’t be afraid to say “new” (a product is only new once in its life, so exploit the fact).
“Great people make us feel we can become great.”
And so do great ads. While they can’t convince us we’ll become millionaires, be as famous as Madonna, or as likeable as Tom Cruise, they make us feel we might be as attractive, famous, wealthy, or admired as we’d like to think we can be. Because there’s a “Little Engine That Could” in all of us that says, under the right conditions, we could beat the odds and catch the brass ring, win the lottery, or sell that book we’ve been working on. Great advertising taps into that belief without going overboard. An effective ad promoting the lottery once used pictures of people sitting on an exotic beach with little beach umbrellas in their cocktails (a perfectly realistic image for the average person) with the line: Somebody’s has to win, may as well be you.”
“The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession.”
We’re all part of the same family of creatures called homo sapiens. We each want to be admired, respected and loved. We want to feel secure in our lives and our jobs. So create ads that touch the soul. Use an emotional appeal in your visual, headline and copy. Even humor, used correctly, can be a powerful tool that connects you to your potential customer. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling shoes or software, people will always respond to what you have to sell them on an emotional level. Once they’ve made the decision to buy, the justification process kicks in to confirm the decision. To put it another way, once they’re convinced you’re a mensche with real feelings for their hopes and wants as well as their problems, they’ll go from prospect to customer.
“A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.”
Ain’t it the truth. More money, more clothes, fancier car, bigger house. It’s what advertising feeds on. “You need this. And you need more of it every day.” It’s the universal mantra that drives consumption to the limits of our charge cards. So, how to tap into this insatiable appetite for more stuff? Convince buyers that more is better. Colgate offers 20% more toothpaste in the giant economy size. You get 60 more sheets with the big Charmin roll of toilet paper. GE light bulbs are 15% brighter. Raisin Brain now has 25% more raisins. When Detroit found it couldn’t sell more cars per household to an already saturated U.S. market, they started selling more car per car—SUVs and trucks got bigger and more powerful. They’re still selling giant 3-ton SUVs that get 15 miles per gallon.
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
Who gets the girl? Who attracts the sharpest guy? Who lands the big promotion? Neiman Marcus knows. So does Abercrombie & Fitch. And Saks Fifth Avenue. Why else would you fork over $900 for a power suit? Or $600 for a pair of shoes? Observers from Aristotle to the twentieth century have consistently maintained that character is immanent in appearance, asserting that clothes reveal a rich palette of interior qualities as well as a brand mark of social identity. Here’s where the right advertising pays for itself big time. Where you must have the perfect model (not necessarily the most attractive) and really creative photographers and directors who know how to tell a story, create a mood, convince you that you’re not buying the “emperor’s clothes.” Example of good fashion advertising: the Levis black-and-white spot featuring a teenager driving through the side streets and alleys of the Czech Republic. Stopping to pick up friends, he gets out of the car wearing just a shirt as the voiceover cheekily exclaims, "Reason 007: In Prague, you can trade them for a car."
11 Secrets To Better Time Management For Entrepreneurs
Why is it that the Bill Gate's of this world are rich and famous? What secret do they know that the rest of us don't? If you study their lives closely, you'll discover the rich and famous have certain habits that attribute to their success. Successful people are very careful about how they spend their time. No matter how you slice it, we all have 24 hours in a day, so the key lies in learning to use our time wisely. Below are some ways you can dramatically increase your productivity through more effective use of your time.
1. MONITOR HOW YOU CURRENTLY USE YOUR TIME: If it seems like your day slips by all too quickly, try creating a log of your daily activities. Once you see where you are spending your time, you can identify and focus on the activities that provide the greatest returns for you personally and financially. Start your log by writing down what time you wake up, get ready, and begin work. Calculate how much time you spend on individual activities such as email, phone calls, and client work.
=> FREE TIME TRACKING TOOL: Here's a personal time survey to help you discover how much time you spend on various work activities: Personal Time Survey Tracker
2. CALCULATE HOW MUCH YOUR TIME IS WORTH: Time is money. Knowing how much your time is actually worth can help you make better decisions as to whether you should perform a task or outsource it. For instance, if your time is worth $200 an hour, you are far better off paying someone $30 an hour to edit your newsletter. You can "bank" the other $170 per hour by spending your time on profit making activities. Also take the time to determine how much time a day you need to spend on billable activities to make your desired profit. I try to spend 1.5 hours a day on money making projects.
=> FREE TIME COSTING TOOL: Here's a time costing worksheet to help you determine how much you are actually when you subtract the expenses. Time Costing Sheet
3. CREATE A DAILY SCHEDULE: Don't start your day without a to do list. Make a list of tasks and categorize them into business building activities, client activities, and personal items. Then break bigger unmanageable projects into smaller "doable" chunks so they less intimidating and are easier to accomplish.
=> FREE DAILY TO DO LIST: Try this free all inclusive WebMomz To Do List
4. PRIORITIZE: Have more to do than hours in the day? By prioritizing your tasks, you'll make sure that you are tackling the items that matter most. Create a system that works for you. One standard way of prioritizing is to mark items with A, B, and C.
Ask yourself these key questions:
What items MUST be done today?
Which items can be rescheduled?
What can be delegated?
Which tasks most closely match my priorities and goals?
Which items can be eliminated?
5. LEARN TO SAY NO: Are you adding one more item to your never-ending TO DO list? You are in control of your time. Be strong and uphold your personal boundaries. When you are well rested and treat yourself and your family to the time off you deserve, you'll feel happier and more productive when it's time to go back to work. **
Before you say yes, ask yourself these questions:
Do you really have the time or energy to do that extra task?
Do I like this customer? Are they good for me?
Will it be profitable?
Does it invade on your personal time?
Does it involve doing something you enjoy?
Does it fit in with your list of priorities and goals?
6. REMOVE DISTRACTIONS AND TIME SUCKS: Time sucks are lurking everywhere like viruses. Think about which activities are eating up your time. For me personally, these items include email, social calls, and telemarketers. I "conquer" the email demon by shutting down my Outlook when I am working. When a family member calls during work time, I politely ask if I can call them back during the afternoon and remind them of my work hours. Caller ID valiantly saves me from the "would be" telemarketer time thieves. With one glance, I can quickly differentiate telemarketers from important client calls.
7. STICK TO THE PLAN: Try not to get sidetracked from your plan. One of my friends has a motto, "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for me". It's a smart one to live by. Unless it's a true emergency, or you are being paid "rush" time, you probably don't need to squeeze a last minute request in today. Also, by assigning yourself project deadlines, you can keep on top of projects and avoid those dreaded last minute emergencies.
8. CHOOSE AN INSPIRING PLACE AND TIME: We are all "built" differently. Do the tasks which take your most "brain power" when you are at your prime. Are you a morning person or do you work best burning the midnight oils? Create an ultimate work haven that is clean, distraction free, and inspiring. My office overlooks my flower garden and is right in the heart of family activity. As I glance to the right, our Angel fish "Spike" proudly parades across the fish tank. In front of me, Monet has a glorious display of peach poppies in a field. Above me, Monet is painting a vivid portrait of his flower garden. In the living room, my son is softly singing the Spiderman theme to himself - music to my ears!
9. BUNDLE LIKE TASKS TOGETHER: As you work through your daily list, try to chunk your tasks into like activities. By creating a separate "chunk" of time for answering email, invoicing, making return phone calls, you'll save time and mental energy.
10. AVOID INTERRUPTIONS: Trying to do the same thing over and over again with interruptions can be maddening. Once you start a task, try to finish it to the end. If something comes up that you need to remember or do, unless it's urgent, simply add it to your list and continue on with your current project.
11. BE ORGANIZED: When things are tidy, it saves you time and frees you to focus on the task at hand. Digging through a pile of papers and finding a squished Twinkie isn't very conducive to the work experience. Follow your own organizational style. PHONE LISTS: For instance, I arrange my phone lists into groups according to how I use them: friends, family, doctors, my children's playmates, etc. I also list people in my phone book that I talk to on a first name basis by their first name alphabetically. For instance, I list my mom under "M" and my brother under "T" for Troy. "D" has a list of all my doctors. This works for me, because it's how I think.
EMAILS: Another time saving idea is to color code your emails. In my personal color scheme I use one color for clients, one for newsletters, and another for my coworkers. You can also group your emails using categories and folders.
ONE CALENDAR MEETS ALL: Keeping track of work appointments, Brownie meetings, and committee meetings can be very difficult. My secret to keeping on top of family and work appointments is to schedule them all on one calendar.
DAYTIMER SPECIAL SECTION: Create a special section of your Daytimer just for special interests, hobbies, or kids. My husband keeps one with all his stock info. I have a special kid section with phone numbers for Brownie leaders, playmates, doctors, school contacts, bus number and other items.
SUMMARY: Why wait for success when you can literally schedule it! By mastering your time, you can accomplish much more with less effort. Be choosey about how you spend your time. Focus on activities which most closely match your goals. By taking time to monitor, measure, and manage your time, you will enjoy an abundance of success and happiness.
10 REAL AdSense Secrets
Get Rich Quick Scams Revealed
Read this article before you consider paying for a "get rich quick" program.
From: AdSense Secrets
Everybody would love to make lots of money quickly, working from home, and only doing a few hours of work per week. I've spent the past two years trying to find a great way of doing this. Only over the course of the past few months have I found any "get rich quick" programs worth buying. I've been trying to make money online for a long time. I had a few small websites, but they never made much more than a few hundred per month. It was easy money and didn't require much work on my part, but I knew there were people out there doing better than I was and I knew I could do as well as them.
Now, I've seen a lot of "get rich quick" programs. Most of these people make claims about earning $2000/day with Google or something similarly insane. Almost all of these people are complete liars. Even if they were making $2000/day with Google AdSense, it'd be because they had high- traffic websites with a lot of quality content. I'd know, because in one whole month, I never even made half of what they promised I'd make daily with their programs. Maybe you've already been scammed by one of these fraudsters. Anyway, I finally got sick of what was being offered.
I decided I'd look through the all of the "get rich quick" programs I could find and see if there were any that were actually legitimate. I found that there were owners selling their programs for well over $100, but the information in them could be found almost anywhere online for free. Additionally, they all contained out-of-date information, had no e-mail support, no money back guarantees, and broken links in the downloads section.
In conclusion, almost all of the programs I found were completely useless. The owners knew it, but they couldn't care less about their customers since they didn't offer refund policies! Amazingly, while looking through all of the programs, I actually did find a few legitimate programs. They were run by ordinary people like you and me, and they had found some great methods of making money from their home by doing very little work.
I spent some time working with those programs, and my income is now ten times what it used to be. These programs provided a large amount of great information on how to make extra money on your computer doing very little work. Numerous customers had provided great feedback and reviews for their products. Many of them have started to make money just days after buying!
Their programs have excellent prices, and the authors have a group of paid staff who are dedicating to helping you or providing assistance if you need any. I must say I was amazed! If you do decide to purchase any of the programs listed below, I recommend you join quickly. Most of the owners tell me they are getting an overwhelming number of sales and plan on raising prices in the near future, so order while prices are still low!
To Your Online Success,
Begin at the Beginning: Secrets for Success
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It's a saying so true that it has become cliché -- a phrase used by suit salesmen and purveyors of shampoo -- but it's a saying that should serve as a motto for your booth staff.
A trade show is a non-stop series of beginnings. Every moment -- from the second the doors open until they blink the lights signalling the end of the day -- is a moment where you could be meeting customers for the very first time.
If all goes well, these crucial first moments will launch a mutually profitable relationship that will last for years. On the other hand, if the impression you create is not so positive, you've kissed a lifetime's worth of business goodbye.
Beginning well's means you're half done. Once you've established a rapport with the client, once that positive foundation has been laid, the hard work of negotiating a deal and closing a sale becomes so much easier. Here's what you need to know to create a favorable first impression time and time again, over the long hours and days that you'll be at the trade show.
What's for sale here?
Your company might make computers or luxury automobiles. You might sell scrub brushes. You could retail the finest gems found on the Indian sub-continent. It doesn't really matter. When you're at a trade show, what you're selling is YOU.
Today's buyers are nervous. They've been through the dot-com bubble. They've seen Enron blow up and corporate scandal follow corporate scandal. Yet they still have to do business. How do they know who they can trust?
There will always be a due-diligence component to business, but a surprising amount of decisions are made by people 'trusting their gut.' During those crucial first minutes where you're checking out the attendee, they're checking you out. They are, perhaps unconciously, assessing what they perceive as your intentions and motivations. Few people believe that they can get a good deal from someone they do not believe to be a good person.
Key Secret: People have to 'buy' you before they can buy your products.
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Non-verbal communication plays a huge role in creating first impressions. Attendees are constantly watching. If your body language conveys the fact that you don't want to be at the show, would prefer not to engage with attendees, or are just going through the motions, they'll pick up on that and go elsewhere.
Standing at the corner of your exhibit with your arms folded tells attendees "Stay away! I'm on guard." Sitting down, flipping through a magazine, or chatting with colleagues says "I've got better things to do." All togther, it means "You're not important to me," even if you ask the attendees what you can do for them today.
Secret: People won't come in if your body language says "Go away!"
The Wall of Noise
You have to approach attendees, engage them, welcome them into your booths. Unfortunately, many staffers take this to mean that they must offer up a constant stream of conversation, from the welcoming hello to the assurances that "We'll be in touch!" as the attendee hurries to a calmer, quieter exhibit.
Talking is important, but listening is more so. Shift the focus from your own sales spiel to actually listening to the customer and you'll find your results immediately improve. Ask attendees questions, and listen to their answers. Give them your full attention. Hear what they're saying and offer appropriate responses.
The fact that you're focused on the attendee, wholly engaged with them, and committed, however briefly, to solving their problems, is one of the easiest, most effective ways to create a positive first impression. It sets a good precedent, establishing how you will do business with this client further down the road. You're laying the foundation for that positive, profitable relationship.
Secret: Focus on the attendee for maximum results.
These three secrets will stand you well in the trade show environment. Remember that to begin new relationships, you must first create a positive impression. Being mindful of the fact that people need to trust you before they do business with you, avoiding off-putting body language, and listening more than you talk will help you do exactly that. And then you'll be well begun -- more than half done, well on the road to starting a new profitable relationship.
THE SECRETS OF FREE ADVERTISING
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product
or services are limited only by your own imagination and
energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your
objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just
to think of listing them.
One way is to write an article relative to your particular
expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing
in the dissemination of related information. In other words,
become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the
word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and
"tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your
address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more
information.
Another really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the
radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as
possible. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most
people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs,
then follow up with an in-person visit or telephone call. Your initial
contact should emphasize that your product or service would be of
interest to the listeners or viewers of the program--perhaps even
saving them time and money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include
the posting of advertising circulars on all free bulletin boards
in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery
stores, and beauty and barber shops. Don't discount the idea of
handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping
centers and malls, especially on weekends. You can also enlist the
aid of the middle school students in your area to had out
circulars door-to-door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad
relative to your product or service printed on the front or back
of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your
return address.
Be sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of
advertising you need. Many mail order publications just getting
started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a
free-of-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to
run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly
reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will
give you Per Inquiry (PI) space--arrangement where all orders
come in to the publication, they take a commission from each
order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for space. In this
arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they
have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or
less the regular price for the space need, insert your ad. Along
these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban neighborhood
newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get
in touch will all the other publishers and inquire about the
possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their
publication in exchange for your running an ad for them of
comparable size in yours.
Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and
tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer.
Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most
people--- a simple one page report with a "tag-line" inviting the
readers to send money for more information, with a full page
advertisement for your book or other product on the backside. Ask
for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the
appeal for your report and circulation of the publication in
which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with
responses!
The trick here, of course, is to convert all these responses, or
a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the
"tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for
more information, and the full page ad on the back of the report,
and other offers you include with the complete package you send
back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of this report, it's
just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and you
have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach
Sexy Beauty Secrets for A Fraction of Salon Prices
Summary:
Gentlemen, does the love of your life spend more on health and beauty therapies and treatments than you dare mention? But - you know you would never really want to deny her those little (expensive) luxuries, would you?. If that’s the case, you will benefit a lot by persuading her to read this article.
Health and Beauty Advice to Massively Boost Your Lifestyle, while at the same time, cutting costs tremendously on regular visits to the more expensive health and beauty stores
Keywords:
health and beauty products, hairdresser, charity, facial, pedicure, manicure, facial
Article Body:
Probably bigger than her car, what do you think is the biggest outlay of every modern woman? Yes – you’ve guessed it. Health and Beauty products. Not that men don’t have fingernails and toenails, hair all over their head (mostly), diet weight control issues, confidence issues, because they do – it’s just that men seem better at burying their heads in the sand and hoping the problems go away. They definitely do not seem keen on being seen having manicures, pedicures, facials, and such (even though they may secretly desire to have such pampering, their so-called masculinity inhibits them).
For a man, all I can say is thank goodness most women don’t have this problem, and do their level best to bring out their natural inner beauty to brighten up everybody’s lives, even though they normally do it by spending a fortune in health and beauty stores, health and beauty magazines, and usually quite expensive health and beauty treatments. Even when it comes to the hairdresser, a man will baulk at paying peanuts for a trim, where a woman may spend nearly a week’s wages at her favorite hairdresser.
However, there is really no need for such fortunes to be paid over to hairdressers, health and beauty stores, expensive health and beauty magazines, even expensive diet weight control systems, to achieve this exterior beauty that really comes from within every person.
So many of the things can be achieved from the comfort of your own home, using health and beauty products, simple home recipes, so that even usually expensive treatments can be complimented at home.
But with all of these treatments comes a by-product that is virtually priceless, and really explains why such fortunes are handed over every day to the professionals in these expensive salons. With such treatments comes that inner confidence that is born within us all, but is so easily suppressed by the stresses and strains of every day living.
For instance, do you remember the last time you were in the checkout line at your local supermarket, and there was a baby in its cart just in front of you, and it laid there looking at you, with a smile bubbling over with its sparkling little eyes – as if they had always known you? How does that make you feel? You simply can’t resist smiling back, and even pass the time in the queue talking to them.
Now apply the same technique to adults. If an adult has the inner confidence so that they could smile at you with sparkling eyes, how would that affect you? It would almost certainly push your confidence though the roof, and with any luck, you would do the same to the next person you met.
But – you are right – not everybody can afford to indulge in the wide range of beauty treatments, dietary and weight loss control, exercise regimes that are probably necessary for anybody to achieve this all-round sense of well-being and confidence.
So, we all need to define the main areas that our bodies (and our minds) need a bit of Tender Loving Care (TLC to you), and whether you are male or female, these are the most common areas that demand our attention (and usually our money).
• Skin Care Tips – including skin treatments, acne, foot care, and tanning.
• Hair Care Tips – more for women than men, but even they suffer from dry or oily hair and dandruff from time to time.
• Make-up tips – really the province of women, as the men luckily don’t usually have to pay out fortunes in make up ( or – Oh yes they do actually - on their loved ones)
• Exercise – getting motivated here to start, and then continue, is so important for building up everybody’s self esteem, and their health.
• Nutrition and Self Help – we really all need to understand the maxim ‘ what we are is what we eat ‘ and if you eat junk food – what does that make you?
• Weight Loss control – what is the biggest killer and destroyer of lifestyle in Western society, but obesity and its side effect diabetes.
Now, anyone of us could quite easily march into a number of expensive salons, select a personal assistant, and get all of these quite necessary pamperings provided on a plate, but we would have to work a darned sight harder and longer to be able to afford them.
So, what do we do? We know we need something like this to survive the stresses and strains of the modern world, but many of us just can not justify the expense.
Having searched for many years for ideal solutions to all of these above issues, with the massive onset of the internet as an information provider, there are many low cost solutions available, that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, but if searched for and built into your everyday routine, can give you the inner confidence to enable you to build a happy, confident lifestyle, so you become one of these people that spread a little happiness by radiating confidence and external beauty, without having to step over the threshold of many an expensive hairdressers or beauty salon.
You never know, you could always save a great deal of money, and donate it to your favorite charity.
Wow! Would that help boost your confidence, or what?