Sunday, June 25, 2006

Streams of Revenue to Your Business

 
If you're just getting started on the Internet -- or simply looking for ways to add new revenue streams to your business -- you might consider the option of
placing ads for other companies' products on your web site.

When you're just starting out, your primary focus needs to be on promoting your OWN business -- not someone else's.

It's far better to build a relationship with your target market and generate interest in your own products than it is to try generating profits by advertising another company's items.

If you don't have a regular flow of visitors to your site, no one is going to be checking out YOUR products, let alone the ads you have for other people's products!

It takes a lot of research and testing on an already ESTABLISHED site to make even the best Internet advertising strategies truly pay off.

Content Marketing:

Develop a content strategy that provides value to your target audience.
Regularly publish blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, and other content.
Share your content on social media platforms and encourage social sharing.

Social Media Marketing:

Establish a strong presence on social media platforms relevant to your audience.
Share engaging content, participate in conversations, and build relationships.
Use paid advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to reach a wider audience.

Email Marketing:

Build an email list by offering valuable content or incentives.
Send regular newsletters with updates, promotions, and relevant information.
Personalize your email campaigns to enhance engagement.

Interactive Content:

Create quizzes, surveys, contests, or interactive tools to engage your audience.
Encourage social sharing and participation to expand your reach.
Use interactive content as a way to collect user data and feedback.

You may also find that you have a target audience that resists the presence of ads on a web site. If you're putting them off by placing affiliate ads or google AdSense on your pages, then you could end up losing more customers and revenue than you actually gain!

To make sure this doesn't happen, remember to always TEST every single aspect of each new ad campaign you run.

Only try one technique at a time -- that's the ONLY way to effectively track how successful the advertising is for you AND the company whose products you're promoting.

Once you can tell how a certain strategy is working, you can make an informed decision on whether or not it truly suits your site, your visitors, and the company you're running the ads for.

I wish You Success.

Monday, June 19, 2006

The Secrets of Persistance

"The person of good and lawful purpose cannot fail. It only needs that he daily renews the fire and energy of his fixed resolve, to consummate his object."

Persistence is the great equalizer for all of those reaching for success.

It overcomes lack of education, money, talent, intelligence, looks and all other seeming advantages. President Calvin Coolidge said nothing could take its place.

I cannot think of one victory I've ever had that I won without persistence. For a 
while I just thought that I had to work harder and longer than anyone else in order
to achieve the same thing. 

Then I really looked around and noticed that everyone else was just like me. 
Every mentor and every successful person I've ever known has their own story of how persistence was the key to their success.

Here's what Bob Proctor teaches: "This law decrees that all seeds (ideas are spiritual seeds) have a gestation or incubation period before they manifest. In other words, when you choose a goal or build the image in your mind, a definite period of time must elapse before that image manifests in physical results."

My most favorite inspirational example about persistence is the story of an Asian 
Bamboo species that even after five years of watering, weeding and fertilizing is barely visible. Then in a span of about six weeks it grows two and a half feet a day to 90 feet and higher. It grows so fast that you can literally "hear" it growing. The question to ask is did the bamboo grow 90 feet in six weeks or did it grow 90 feet in 
five years?

Obviously, it grew 90 feet in five years, for all the time when growth wasn't visible it was developing a massive root system that would later support its magnificent growth.

While pursuing business success is important, it's equally vital to maintain a healthy 
work-life balance. Balance and well-being contribute to long-term sustainability.

Consider the impact your business can have on the community and the world. Many successful businesses also prioritize corporate social responsibility and give back to causes they care about.

Remember that everyone's journey to business success is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all philosophy. It's essential to define your own principles and beliefs that guide you in your pursuit of success while remaining adaptable and open to new ideas and experiences along the way.


I wish You Success.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Business Lessons

Honestly, I could write a book about what it was like teaming up with a mentor ...... and perhaps one day I will. 

Success often begins with a choice and deep passion for what you do. Find a business or career path that aligns with your passions and values.

Resilience and Perseverance: Success is rarely immediate. Be prepared for setbacks and challenges. True success often comes to those who persist through difficulties with determination and resilience.

Integrity and Ethics: Build your business on a foundation of honesty and ethical conduct. Trust and reputation are invaluable assets that can lead to long-term success.

Innovation and Creativity: Encourage a culture of innovation within your organization. 
Be open to new ideas and creative solutions. Innovation can set your business apart from competitors.

Lesson 1: Failure doesn't "happen"; it's a choice.

There were only two ways you could "fail." You could give up and quit. Or you could decide not to learn from your mistakes.

Test new ideas, learn from what works, and what doesn't. Then apply those lessons to your next test or idea, do this until you get a satisfactory result. Even when mistakes occur, seek out the positive in every bad situation and say, "Well, what did we learn from this?"

... And, more important, "Will we do it again?"

Every costly lesson was going to result in exponentially greater success in the long term.


Lesson 2: Assume nothing, test everything.

Theories, assumptions, and guesses were the enemies of success you should either go straight to the source for the answers or test it yourself. Sometimes you even need to test the
"Facts." For example...
  • The customer demographics you collected through a survey last year may have drastically changed. 
  • And some of the most interesting statistics may be based on flawed data. (Always read the "fine print," and if there isn't any, ask for it!)
Before you make decisions, ask questions. Assume nothing. Test everything.

And don't be afraid of offending someone -- even an "expert"-- by questioning their logic. The true experts will applaud you for this. And your questions will expose the fakes.


Lesson 3: Make opportunities to learn and take notes.

Be absolutely relentless in reading. Always look for new strategies and marketing ideas that you could pluck from other industries.

The secret is making notes about everything you read and keeping all your thoughts in a couple of "master project documents" that you could refer back to every month.

The "genius" ideas... comes from these notes.

That way, even if an idea didn't work today, you could refer back to it sometime in the future.

"genius" doesn't just happen -- you need to look for opportunities to learn and keep track of your thoughts. Your best ideas will frequently be sparked by new information, or 
new approaches to old information.

Lesson 4: Seek out great teachers and be a great listener.

Never be afraid to ask "great people" for advice...
Never be concerned about looking dumb. There is absolutely no need to be the smartest guy in the room, always be focused on learning. Be a student of everything...and everyone.

If you want to fast-track your success, it's critical to learn from those who have gone before you... even if you just have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

Find people who are getting the results YOU want to achieve and ask them to mentor you. even if that meant paying hefty consulting fees for their guidance.

Ask people around you for feedback...How could you improve as a leader?
How could you be a better public speaker?

It takes guts to ask the people around you for feedback. But it takes wisdom to openly listen and learn from it.


Lesson 5: Define your own success and live with passion.

One of the most inspirational beliefs is that absolutely anyone can be successful.

You can learn anything... be anything... do anything.

If you decide that your age, background, and education limit your potential, they will. But if you decide that you can do anything, you will...

It's absolutely shocking what ONE step a day... just 10minutes a day... one hour a day... can accomplish over one month... three months... six months.

Just imagine where YOU would be in six months if you dedicated even 20 minutes a day to working on your business... learning new strategies... or building a "swipe file" of marketing ideas!

Success isn't determined by genetics. It's about Persistent, Consistent Action, Teamwork and Collaboration: 

Recognize that you can't do it all on your own. Surround yourself with talented and motivated individuals who share your vision and work together to achieve common goals.

These are personal philosophies I plan to continue.

I wish You Success.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

What is link popularity

Link popularity is a term used in the context of search engine optimization (SEO) to 
describe the level of popularity or authority a website or web page has based on the
number and quality of links pointing to it from other websites. It is one of the many 
factors that search engines consider when ranking web pages in search results.


Why is it important?

Increasing the number of quality links to your web site is the single most efficient technique you can use to increase traffic to your web site and boost your search engine rankings. The benefits of having a large number of relevant web sites linking to yours
are two-fold....

1. Direct Traffic

Your web site will start to receive a consistent stream of highly targeted visitors. Unlike search engine rankings and paid advertising (banners, per click, etc.), traffic generated by link campaigns can usually be counted on for years to come, with no recurring cost. If you have a commercial site, an added benefit is that incoming visitors may perceive your site in a better light, since they have found it via a recommendation (link) on another web site.

2. Search Engine Rankings

Increasing the link popularity of your web site can dramatically improve your search engine rankings. Most major search engines have tailored their algorithms (internal rules used to decide which sites are given priority) to reward sites which have high link popularity. Why? Two reasons...

- Search engines have found that judging a site by who links to it is one of the best 
indicators of site quality. After all, not many webmasters make a habit out of linking to bad or less than useful web sites.

- In the past, search engines have played a continual cat and mouse game with many webmasters who try to 'trick the engines' or 'beat the system'. Link popularity is one of the few factors which is very difficult to abuse (a webmaster would have to have control of tens or hundreds of different sites located on different servers). As a result, it is a safe bet that the major engines will continue to rely on link popularity and reward 'well-linked' sites in the future.

It is this approach which has made search engines like Google the new standard. In fact, Google's entire approach relies heavily on link promotion and link quality. In describing their proprietary ranking system (PageRank), Google's web site says the following...

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

It's not just quantity.... it's quality!

Anchor Text: The text used in the link (anchor text) can also impact link popularity. Relevant and descriptive anchor text can help search engines understand the content of the linked page.

Link Diversity: Having a diverse set of sources for your backlinks can be more beneficial than relying on just one or two sources. A variety of sources can indicate broader relevance.

In addition, links from these sites have the advantage of being considered 'more relevant' by the search engines and will help your own rankings improve.

I wish You Success.

How to Increase link popularity


Locating qualified link prospects

Learning how to find the right sites to approach is essential to increasing your link popularity.
Approaching the wrong sites can quickly sabotage your efforts
  
First you need to find sites which are relevant to your site. These are sites whose content is 
related to yours or whose visitors are likely to be interested in your site. Of these, many may 
not link to external sites. Others may not feel that your site is relevant to theirs. Weeding out 
these types of sites can be very time consuming. Luckily, there is a better way...

Running link popularity reports on competitors

This 'magic list' is the list of web sites which already link to one of your competitors!

For example, let's say the webmaster of Papa John's Pizza wanted to engage in a comprehensive link promotion campaign. He could spend days trying to locate different sites which would be interested in linking to a pizza company web page. Or he could run a Link Popularity report on one of his competitors (Dominos.com or PizzaHut.com) and find thousands of web sites who are related to 'pizza' in some way because they already link to a national pizza company.

Why it works

The list of sites which link to your competitors is extremely targeted. Since each of these sites 
already links to a competitor of yours, it is highly likely that...

1. These sites are relevant to your site.

2. They are willing to link to external sites in your field.

With this report in hand, you can quickly visit each of the sites 
(to verify that it is a quality, relevant sites), then introduce yourself to their webmaster 
and ask to be included on their site. In most cases, you will want to write a personalized message and mention that you noticed that they already link to sites in your field. This highly selective, personalized approach is one of the best possible ways to increase your site's link popularity.

Why approaching the right sites is critical....

1. Approaching the right types of sites will greatly improve your link request response rate. 
Webmasters who have an interest in your field are much more likely to be interested in opening and reading your link request letter. The majority of ignored or deleted link request letters are cookie-cutter messages sent to poorly selected sites. By selecting only specific pages which already contain very similar links, you will greatly increase the chance that your message will be opened and viewed favorably.

2. Relevant sites are much more likely to link to you. Targeting the right sites is the best 
possible way to increase the number of links to your site. If done properly, finding the perfect 
sites to approach will be a win-win situation for both your site and the sites you contact. 
Assuming you have a good site, you will be doing webmasters a favor by pointing out an extremely relevant site which may be of interest to their visitors. These webmasters are much more likely to link to your site and in many cases will thank you for taking the time to contact them.

3. Once they link to you, the visitors they send you will be more interested in your content. 
Since they are coming from a relevant site, these visitors are more likely to be interested in 
your content. They may perceive your site in a better light and even be more likely to do business with you since your site has been recommended (linked to) by another trusted site 
(as opposed to found via a banner ad or sponsored listing). Depending on the recommending site and the description of the link, you may find that these special types of visitors are much more profitable than your average visitor.

4. Increasing the number of relevant links to your web site can dramatically increase your search engine rankings. The major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista) reward sites which have high link popularity. However, just getting hundreds of random web sites to link to you will not help your search engine rankings. The relevance of the sites linking to you is extremely important. By focusing exclusively on gaining links from relevant web sites, you will be giving yourself a tremendous advantage over sites who take a more scattered, less effective approach.

Stay one step ahead of your competition: By analyzing who links to them, you can also determine...

1. Are they currently engaging in a link promotion campaign?
2. Are they purchasing banner advertisements or sponsoring related web sites?
3. Have they submitted their site to industry specific directories and resources?
4. Who their affiliates and joint venture partners are.
5. Are their customer's complaining about them?

Use this information to gain new insight into your competition and give you ideas to increase 
your own on-line marketing efforts. Being aware of who links to you competitors and using this information wisely can help you quickly build your link popularity. 

Natural vs. Manipulated Links: Search engines are against manipulative practices like buying or exchanging links solely for the purpose of improving link popularity. They prefer natural, organic backlinks that are earned through high-quality content and reputation.

I wish You Success. 

Avoid low link popularity


Traditional powerhouses, anchored by tangible products, suddenly began navigating a changed landscape. Bricks transitioned to clicks, and physical products converged with digital services.

Link Popularity (the number of web pages that link to a site) has become a critically important factor in driving traffic to a web site. Unfortunately, new sites and sites with low link popularity are at a severe disadvantage and often find it very hard to attract new visitors. Here's why...

Although rarely stated in plain English, search engines do not like and do not trust unpopular web sites! This sounds extreme but starts to make sense if you think about it from the search engine's perspective. 

Search engines evaluate millions of web pages and display them in order of relevancy. In the past, search engines have played a continual cat and mouse game with thousands of webmasters who try to 'trick the engines' or 'beat the system'. Given the rewards of a good ranking, some webmasters would create thousands of computer-generated pages hoping to trick the search engines into assigning them a good ranking. These pages would look bad to a human but would occasionally rank well. This happened more and more, and engines started to fill up with 'junk' listings.

Around this time, search engines started to discover that link popularity was a very effective way to weed out 'junk' pages and a good way to judge a site. Link popularity is very difficult to abuse (a webmaster would have to control tens or hundreds of sites located on different servers). Also, search engines found that judging a site by who links to it is one of the best indications of site quality. After all, not many webmasters make a habit out of linking to bad or less than useful web sites.

Although search engines don't come right out and say they don't like unpopular sites, it's easy to read between the lines...

1. Search engines now discourage manually submitting your site saying that they will find your site by following links on the web.

Google says (in their FAQ) that submitting is not necessary and that "The best way to ensure 
Google finds your site is for your page to be linked from lots of pages on other sites. Google's 
robots jump from page to page on the Web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to you, the more likely it is that we'll find you quickly."

Yahoo says (in their FAQ) that "The Yahoo! Search index, which contains several billion web pages, is more than 99% populated through the free crawl process. Yahoo! Search crawls the web every 2-4 weeks and automatically finds new content for indexing."

MSN advises (in their Site Owner Help) to "Make sure that each page is accessible by at least one static text link.".

2. Sites can be delisted from a search engine if enough pages do not link to it.

In their FAQ, Google explains that one of the possible reasons your web pages used to be listed and are now that.... 'The contents of your page or the links pointing to your page changed significantly and you no longer have a sufficiently high PageRank, or your page had low PageRank to begin with and a small change caused you to be dropped from the Google index.'


3. Once included in a search engine index, sites with higher link popularity are heavily favored

Google says (in their Technology Overview) that "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. "

Yahoo suggests (in their FAQ) that you should "Correspond with webmasters and other content providers and build rich linkages between related pages." to improve the ranking of your web site in their search results.

MSN says (in their Site Owner Help section), "The MSN Search ranking algorithm analyzes factors such as page content, the number and quality of sites that link to your pages, and the relevance of your site’s content to keywords."

How many links is enough?

Once site owners realize the importance of link popularity, the first question they ask is usually 'how many links do I need?'. The frustrating answer is.... it depends!

All sites need a basic number of links as a starting point. These links prevent the search engines from treating a site as an "orphan site" (one which is not linked to) and improve the chances of the search engine finding the site's pages to add to its index.

Some sites only need ten or twenty good incoming links to rank well. Others in highly competitive industries need hundreds or even thousands. The best way to tell is to run a Link Popularity report on your site and on your competitors' sites. If your competition is outranking you and has many more incoming links, you should probably start thinking about increasing your link popularity.

Increasing your link popularity

It's important to note that while link popularity is a crucial factor in SEO, it should be pursued ethically and with a focus on creating valuable content that naturally attracts links. Over time, as search engine algorithms continue to evolve, the importance of various SEO factors, including link popularity, may also change. 

Therefore, it's essential for website owners and SEO practitioners to stay informed about best practices and adapt their strategies accordingly.

I wish You Success.

Mind Altering Words That Make People Buy

Identify and eliminate inefficiencies in your business processes. Automation, improved logistics, and better resource management can reduce costs. The right words can improve sales.

1. Use the word "fast" in your ad. People want fast results, fast delivery, fast ordering, etc. Nowadays, we usually value our time more than our money.


2. Use the word "guaranteed" in your ad. People want to be assured they are not risking their hard-earned money buying your product.


3. Use the word "limited" in your ad. People want to own or receive things that are exclusive or rare because they are considered to be more valuable.


4. Use the word "easy/simple" in your ad. People want easy ordering, easy instructions, easy to use, easy payments, etc.


5. Use the word "testimonial" in your ad. People want to see believable proof before they buy your product. It should be reputable and specific proof.


6. Use the word "discount/sale " in your ad. People want to find bargains. They could be rebates, one-time sales, percentage offers, get one free offer, etc.


7. Use the word "free" in your ad. People want free incentives before they do business with you. They could be free books, accessories, services, etc.


8. Use the word "you/your" in your ad. People want to know that you are telling them. This'll make them feel important and attract them to read the whole ad.


9. Use the word "important" in your ad. People do not want to miss important information that could affect their life. People will stop and take notice.


10. Use the word "new" in your ad. People want new products or services that will improve their life like new information, tastes, technology, results, etc.

I wish You Success.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs

1. Barter
If you have a business, you should be bartering goods and services with other businesses. You should try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require little or no money. Barter has been used for centuries and is still a viable option for businesses looking to reduce costs or obtain resources without using traditional currency.

2. Network
Try networking your business with other businesses. You could trade leads or mailing lists. This will cutdown on your marketing and advertising costs. You may also try bartering goods and services with them.

3. Wholesale/Bulk 
You'll save money buying your business supplies in bulk quantities. You could get a membership at wholesale warehouse or buy them through a mail order wholesaler. Buy the supplies you are always running out of.

4. Reduce Overhead 
Evaluate your lease and rent agreements. If possible, downsize your office space or negotiate lower rent rates. Maintain optimal inventory levels to prevent overstocking or
understocking, which can tie up capital or lead to lost sales. Explore possible free options.

5. Borrow/Rent
Have you ever purchased business equipment you only needed for a small period of time? You could have just borrowed the equipment from someone else or rented the equipment from a "Rent-All" store.

6. Online/Offline Auctions
You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online and offline auctions. I'm not saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for these items try bidding on them first.

7. Plan Ahead
Make a list of business supplies or equipment you'll need in the future. Keep an eye out for stores that have big sales. Purchase the supplies when they go on sale before you need them.

8. Used Stuff
If your business equipment and supplies don't need to be new, buy them used. You can find used items at yard and garage sales, used stores, used stuff for sale message boards and newsgroups etc.

9. Negotiate
You should always try negotiating a lower price for any business equipment or supplies. It doesn't hurt to try. Negotiate with your suppliers for better discounts, or longer payment terms.

10. Search
You can always be searching for new suppliers for your business supplies and equipment. Look for suppliers with lower prices and better quality. Don't just be satisfied with a few.

I wish You Success. 

What do they mean by RSS?


The definitions of “RSS” acronym varies from “Really Simple Syndication” to “Rich Site Summary”.
Simply stated RSS is a method for sharing frequently updated information on the web and currently the most dominant technology in distributing headline news content. RSS feeds contains list of news headlines, summaries with links back to the appropriate site content.

RSS is a convenient way to keep up with a large number of websites or blogs, especially when you want to follow multiple sources regularly. It's often used by news aggregators, podcast apps, and other content-consuming applications to pull in and display content from various sources.

Subscribers to RSS feeds use either a downloaded program (RSS reader, aggregator) or a web-based aggregator such as MyYahooo, Feedster, or Syndic8. New updates are reflected on User’s RSS reader within minutes.


Benefit of RSS

Efficiency: Quickly scan over headlines and summaries

Timeliness: Automatically receive updates from your favorite site

Coverage: Receive updates from multiple web sites into one location (reader or aggregator)

List of Popular Readers

AmphetaDesk – Free RSS reader, works through web browser (Win/Mac/Linux)

Pluck – Integrates into Internet Explorer for windows (Offers other Tools)

FeedDeman – Commercial, standalone application for Windows

SharpReader – Simple and effective standalone RSS reader for Windows

NewsGator – Commercial plug – into Microsoft Outlook

NetNewsWire – Commercial, standalone RSS reader for Macs

While RSS remains a useful technology, its popularity has somewhat declined in recent years, with many people opting for social media or email newsletters to keep up with online content. Nevertheless, for those who prefer more control over the content they consume and how it's organized, RSS remains a valuable tool.

I wish You Success.