The Ultimate Marketing Tip

by Juanita BellavanceSend Feedback to Juanita BellavanceMore Details about Sales funnel here.

As an entrepreneur building your own business, you need a way to bring your target audience into the "doors" of your website. Once inside, you have the opportunity to show your "stuff."
When you think about businesses that are not Internet-based, you can see an example of "funnelling" people in the doors when you see coupons for discounts. When people come in to use their coupons for a specific item or items, the storeowner has other items not on sale located in areas of the store where they cannot be missed.
This technique is as old as business has existed. When people come into a store and bring the discount coupon with them, it’s easy and automatic for the storeowner to show other tangible items just by location of them. It’s not so simple on the Internet.
On the Internet, the "funnelling" process is different. It's difficult to show your products and services all at once and locate them so they cannot be missed with a website. It can be done however. One way of doing that is by offering something worth having and offering it for free or for a very low price point.
In exchange for the free information, the visitor leaves a name and email address for further contact. By doing this, the visitor is generously giving something to receive something and can be easily led back to your website "store" later. It is in no way coercive. It is simply an exchange based on the universal law of reciprocity.
The "funnel" process is only a terminology to help business owners understand efficient ways to display their products and services to the most appropriate audience. For example: It’s silly to put information about marketing a roofing company in front of a new parent whose focus is on parenting an infant.
We often use terminology in marketing that can be construed inaccurately. Yet the only goal is to discover processes that help customers find solutions to problems they may have and for businesses to somehow let those potential customers know about the solutions available.
By offering valuable information where people can easily “opt in” for more information from your business, you are “funneling” people gradually to the place that serves them best. All along the way, the people are learning more and more about you and your quality and style. At any point where they feel you are not a match for them, they can easily opt out – as easily as they opted in.
Therefore, your marketing funnel at the top will bring masses of people to the "door" of your website. As the funnel gradually narrows into the specific areas of servitude, some will drop away and others will discover they really are in the right place at the right time with YOU.
Bringing people into your marketing funnel can be done through many techniques and all are valuable to the visitors. As you do this, they enter through something called a landing page, an opt-in page and yes, sometimes referred to as a "squeeze" page. No matter what you call the page, its purpose is the same. On the Internet, without obtaining names and email addresses, people often click away intending to return and later cannot remember how they found you in the first place – even when they bookmark you, they forget what the page was called.
Your marketing funnel is essential for any business to move people through to see what you have to offer. On the Internet, the technique is a slight variation of what is done in traditional businesses. Nonetheless, the purpose is the same – it's all about informing people of solutions to their problems. And that’s the only purpose a business has in the first place.
Only after people have had an opportunity to learn enough about you to trust you will they spend money. At that point of your marketing funnel, you will be making money through serving people in the most tightly focused and efficient way possible.
Make your marketing funnel make you money…it’s all in a days work . . . :)""""
Keywords: sales funnel, marketing funnel, marketing strategy, work at home, business, internet marketing, small business
About the AuthorJuanita Bellavance, More Details about Sales funnel here. Juanita Bellavance, the author of this article is CEO-CoFounder, Audacious Enterprises. For a FREE teleclass "How to Create a Marketing Funnel that Makes You Money" go here: http://www.callinnumber.com

Using Self-Talk to Overcome Adversity

by Michael J. RussSend Feedback to Michael J. RussMore Details about Coaching you through adversity here.

While living on this planet, you can count on one thing: adversity. Sooner or later, something is going to upset your apple cart. The good news is that no event can add up to the end of the world unless you say so: adversity is inevitable and presents itself to test your inner strength and provide an opportunity for personal growth. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, adversity is officially defined as “misfortune, a wretched or troubled state, a calamity or a disaster.” This means that it could reveal itself to be anything from a minor event to what you would interpret as a full-scale life-altering catastrophe. The extent to which adversity affects you will be determined by your perspective, past experience, and degree of personal involvement.
Life is easy to live when everything is going smoothly. The real challenge is continuing to feel good about yourself when adversity hits you between the eyes. This is where self-talk becomes so vitally important. Self-talk is what you think and say about yourself, both in your head and out loud to others. Self-talk used before adversity comes into your life is just as important for overcoming it as is the self-talk used after it happens.
The self-talk you use before adversity strikes, bolsters self-confidence and strengthens your ability to deal with whatever comes your way. How you feel about yourself before experiencing adversity has everything to do with the way it affects you and how you decide to work through it. Negative self-talk makes it more difficult to shake off adversity and extends your recovery time indefinitely because this kind of self-talk inhibits you from accepting your circumstances so that can move forward. However, when you use self-talk that promotes optimism and self-confidence in advance of adversity, it becomes easier to maintain a positive perspective when it happens. For instance, when you repeatedly use encouraging self-talk, you build self-confidence and a strong self-image that lessens the impact of peer pressure, loss, verbally abusive people, and other adverse circumstances.
After the adversity, you can employ conscious self-talk that lessens its impact, enhances creativity, builds optimism, and supports a healthy self-image. This is when you want to repeat thoughts like “I am getting through this”, or “This is just a minor interruption: I will deal with it and move on.” The important thing is to consciously use more positive self-talk than negative. You do this by monitoring your self-talk.
Make it a point to be aware of what you are thinking and saying about yourself so that you can determine whether it’s current trend is positive or negative, fearful or hopeful, and most important, whether it reinforces a positive image of who you are. In the face of adversity be alert to whether your self-talk is stuck in the past with “shoulds” and “coulds.”
Being conscious of the path of your self-talk gives you the mental agility to change its direction when it falls short of supporting you, your intentions, and your goals. For example, when you encounter misfortune, self-talk emphasizing your aptitude for finding yourself in sticky situations, falls short of being fully supportive of you, your intentions, and your goals. Even when said in jest, these comments are just as destructive because humor only masks what you truly believe to be the truth about yourself. Furthermore, these comments act like a magnet, attracting even more of these experiences to your doorstep.
Being able to recognize when your self-talk is in a downward spiral is essential. If it is, you need to ask yourself if your self-talk is inhibiting your ability to get through adverse situations. Your answer will ignite a dialogue of self-talk that will help you find your way to the other side of what has happened. You can aid this process by transforming repetitive self-talk from that of a victim, to someone who encourages and supports his recovery with thoughts like “I can get over this” or “I am a survivor.” Transforming the path of your self-talk requires awareness, desire, and a conscious effort, and the results are worth your commitment.
Another way that you can use self-talk to overcome adversity is by designing positive statements upon which you can draw the moment adversity happens in order to reignite the energy, passion, and purpose you originally had for accomplishing your goals and intentions. These statements could be as basic as “I can do this” or “I can overcome any obstacle.” If you are in the process of enhancing your self-esteem, you could create self-talk like “I love who I am.” Repeated over and over again, these statements are a very powerful influence and represent a conscious way of supporting yourself in the face of the most devastating adversity.
Self-talk provides you with a way of turning misery into something positive through the use of self-actualization. The process involves dropping iffy language that begins with “I can’t”, “I don’t” and “I’ll try” and replacing it with purposeful thoughts and statements about you and what you are doing. When adversity seeks to get the best of you, this linguistic transformation fosters trust, enhances self-confidence, fortifies your resolve, and limits damaging effects to your attitude and feelings.
Something else that factors into the management of adversity is your expectation of perfection. Of course, you want to use self-talk that promotes perfection, yet adversity is something you should expect and for which you should be ready for. Factor the possibility of imperfection into everything you do, so that you can keep a clear head and maintain your mental agility when things don’t go as planned. To cultivate this mind-set, use self-talk that promotes open-mindedness and solution-based thinking.
Regardless of the adversity you face in life, it’s just a bump in the road that you have to get beyond in order to learn or experience something that will benefit you later in life. Self-talk is something you use every day. Keep a steady eye on yours and you will always be one step ahead.
This article was written by Michael J. Russ for the amazing new book, 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. It is a compilation of 101 articles with practical, solid advice on how you can finally take action and improve your life.
Keywords: adversity, self-talk, misfortune, disaster, life, energy, passion, purpose, love,experience,learn,catastrophe,perspective
About the AuthorMichael J. Russ, powerfulliving@msn.comMore Details about Coaching you through adversity here. Michael J. Russ is an avid golfer and passionate speaker who has authored several audio books on the mental aspects of golf, life and sales. His audio books include "Powerful Golf", "Powerful Self-Talk" and "Powerful Sales"and his latest "Design Your Life; Using Self-Talk to Create Your Life One Day at a Time." For more information please visit www.powerfulliving.org.

Why Work At Home? Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting A Home-Based Business

by Wayne Wu

Home-based businesses are the trend of the future. An increasing number of men and women are now opting to work at the comfort of their homes. Many of them are tired of office politics and being forced to give up their weekend for the good of the company. They are rediscovering the benefits of working at home. A home-based business is a great chance for many people, especially parents of growing kids, to strike a balance between career and family. An apparent advantage that a home-based business has over a traditional job is the freedom from the daily commute to office.
Moreover, technological innovations in the past decades have created an unprecedented environment for home-based businesses. Transactions are being made over the Internet everyday, with huge profits and hundreds of thousands of niches to be tapped into. Working from home is now viewed by many as their ticket to realizing their full potentials. The amount of money you could earn online is proportional to your own performance, without waiting for the boss to give you a raise or promotion. Whether your home-based business provides you with the sole means of support or just generates another income stream, its earning potential relies on your self-motivation and dedication to build momentum for it.
The financial benefits of working at home seem to be very attractive. However, starting a home-based business is not for everyone. If creating a successful home business is easy, everybody would be doing it. Before you jump at the chance of starting your business, ask yourself if you're willing to make the sacrifices to make your dream come true. To be more specific, ask yourself if you're the right type of person for a home-based business.
Having a home-based business means you're the boss. You're totally responsible for the success or failure of your own business. Are you able to work independently? Do you have the patience and perseverance with which you can overcome hardship and lead your business to full bloom? Are you excited about learning new things everyday? You need to equip yourself with necessary skills and knowledge to stay ahead of the competition. An important factor that determines the fate of any home-based business is consistent promotion. Do you have the drive to push yourself to make marketing plans and follow them on a daily basis? If your answers to these questions are positive, then congratulations and welcome on board.
I used to get negative comments from people when I shared with them my own business. They often labeled what I'm doing as a scam. The fear factor always holds people back and prevents them from starting a home-based business. They are so afraid of failure that they're reluctant to give it a try. To some extent, they envy those people who took action and have a home-based business. This is something they dream of but can't achieve. I'm sure you'll get derogatory remarks from time to time like I did. And my view is: follow your heart and do what's interesting to you. You'll find a business that suits your needs because there are unlimited opportunities out there. Stay focused with whatever you're doing. Your success is the best revenge for their cutting words.
About the Author
Wayne Wu is the owner of home business ideas and opportunities website located at : http://www.ecominfozone.com. Visit his site for free Internet home business tips and website marketing secrets. Also, be sure to check out his blog at: http://www.ecominfozone.blogspot.com and download his 'top pick' free e-book at: http://www.ecominfozone.com/dotcomology.html

Is your Web site 'usable'?

By Kim Komando
Let's start with this scenario: You need to buy something and you decide to do some advance research online.

You try one company's Web site. It's plain, but it lists pricing information, the models it services, and its contact information. Then you try another company's site. It makes you sit through a three-minute Flash presentation before letting you explore the site. (There's a "skip this intro" button at the top right, but the button is camouflaged.) And, instead of getting pricing information, you have to fill out a form and wait for a salesperson to call.
You're probably going to call the first company, right?
As you might infer by our second example, a Web site's elegance is simply not going to win over users. If your site is not easily navigable and doesn't contain relevant and up-to-date information, you're driving customers away.
That's where Web site "usability" comes into play. According to Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, an internationally recognized expert in this area, "Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use."
Here are six things you need to do to make your Web site "usable."
1.
Help your customers find their way. How easy is it to get around your Web site? When customers look at the home page, do they see a clearly marked navigation system? Or do they have to roam around clicking things until something happens?
Think hard about whether you really need to be a navigation trailblazer. If your navigation system is radically different than others, you'll confuse your users. A simple drop-down or tabbed menu using words is fine. It may not look as cool or trendy, but your users will be able to find what they need.
Let's consider a small bookstore's Web site as an example.
Imagine using pictures of books on the left-hand side of the page. When you mouse over the picture, the book opens and tells you the genre. It's clever but impractical.
Your customers don't want to remember that the third book down is the home-improvement section and the sixth book takes you to romance novels. And they don't want to wait three seconds for the book to open to find where that link will lead.
2.
Say what you mean, and say it clearly. It's so easy to get caught up in marketing lingo and buzzwords. But they may well confuse the customer. If you are selling a product or offering a service, state it clearly.
There are countless Web sites filled with warm and fuzzy slogans that never get to the point. What exactly does "providing solutions to problems" mean? What are the problems? How are they solved?
And a user shouldn't have to click on the About Us page (you do have one, right?) to figure out what your business does. That information should be on your home page.
3.
Keep it simple. A splash page — which is a special landing page for product offers, sale items or special features, often with lots of graphics and color — may be a great way for Web designers to show their talent. But for many customers, it can be an annoyance. I say, dump it. But if you must have a splash page, consider giving your customers a "Skip this" link (if you have the same basic information on another page).
Keep pictures, large text, flashing banners and the like to a minimum. Those types of gimmicks generally cheapen a site. They also make the Web pages take longer to download.
For example, I have reviewed many products from one particular company (that shall remain nameless). The products offered are of high quality, but the company's Web site is a flashing, gaudy mess. It makes the company look like it's peddling junk.
Your Web site doesn't have to be barebones. But it shouldn't be obnoxious, either.
4.
Provide information, not marketing-speak. Think about why people visit your Web site. They go there to get information or to buy a product. Make it as easy as possible to find the information they want — not just what you want to provide. I personally dislike lots of advertising puffery and grinning people. Please, just tell me what you do.
One sure irritant is pricing secrecy. Don't make a customer fill out a form to find out how much something will cost. You'd be annoyed if you walked into a grocery store and had to fill out a form to get the price of milk.
Obviously, if you sell insurance, you can't publish a price list. But you can set up a page that calculates several variables and provides free ballpark quotes. Customers want instant information. Give it to them.
It's also important to update your site regularly. It does you no good if the contact information for sales is for someone who left the company months ago. Unfortunately, many companies throw up a Web site and then forget about it.
5.
Test your site — again and again. There is one simple way to attain good usability. Testing, testing and more testing. But you have to test with the right people.
Your customers and readers are the best people to test a site. They are the ones who use your site.
Unless your core audience is Web designers and tech-savvy users, avoid using these people as your guinea pigs. What's obvious to them could leave the true users scratching their heads.
If possible, be in the same room as the tester(s). And test individually. That way you can observe and write notes as questions and problems arise. Don't answer questions. If something isn't obvious to users, you'll have to tweak the design.
It may sound like testing takes a ton of time and money, but it doesn't. For a small site, it should take about 20 minutes or so per user. Four or five users is a good sample to get sufficient feedback. After testing, changes should only take a day or two. You can always offer a free product or service — or perhaps a gift certificate to a restaurant — for the tester's time.
6.
Be a usability advocate; it can pay off. Having a Web site with strong usability could boost your bottom line.
The Nielsen Norman Group (www.nngroup.com) conducted a study on the return on investment of 42 redesigned Web sites. Owners of those sites spent an average of 10% of their Web budget on usability. After redesigning the sites, site usability increased by 135%, the sales-conversion rate increased 100% and traffic increased 150%, according to the study.
Yes, it's easy to see why you need usability. But I will be the first to tell you that it's also difficult to attain over time, especially if you have a Web site that changes, grows and evolves. This is something that I struggle with on my own site. I am continually updating it based on user feedback.
Web usability does take time, money and attention. But it pays off in the long run.

Kim KomandoKim Komando writes about workplace technology and security issues. She's the host of the nation's largest talk-radio show about computers and the Internet, and writes a syndicated column for more than 100 Gannett newspapers and for USA Today. Find Kim's show on the radio station nearest you, and send an e-mail to subscribe to her free weekly e-mail newsletter.

Develop A Home Based Business That Works!

by: Elias Georgi
Internet and home based businesses have virtually exploded since the 1980’s. To have an Internet presence these days for most companies is not just a desire, but a requirement for any company serious about attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. Even home based businesses have benefited from the Internet revolution. Today, payments can be made online and a person may never have to see, or even talk to, a real person. What a change from the old days, when one had to either speak with someone on the phone or live in a particular city to buy a product or make a sale! These days, anyone can have a home business and be successful, if they have the right systems and support in place.
Now, even small home businesses can put the power of the Internet to work for them. And you, as a savvy Internet Marketer and someone with a home based business, can and should put it to work for you. The days of having a home business with a “tangible” product and maintaining inventory (which is riskier), are just about over. That is the old way of developing a successful home based business. Now, you no longer have to spend thousands on advertising, and you don’t even have to consider print, radio or TV ads. The Internet has changed all that. What you do have to do is market your home based business wisely online.
The Internet is open 24/7. That means that anyone, anywhere in the world can visit your website or buy your products at any time. Your home business is your livelihood. This means that you need to be smart about how you manage your limited time and resources. As far as your home based business is concerned, this means having your sales and advertising systems on autopilot so they don’t require any driving from you. It also means separating the customers that are serious about buying your products from the “tire kickers”.
There are really only a few systems on the market for home based businesses that can save you valuable time and money by doing the advertising and sales work for you. Even fewer will send you real, targeted, qualified customers. But you don’t just need a computer system for your home based business, you need someone who will take you by the hand and show you the ropes. Many companies will sell you an Internet home business system. Not many will actually show you how to make it work for you. You need to find the one that will, because the success of your home based business depends on it.
Copyright 2006 www.eliasg.com
About The Author
Elias Georgi makes it easy to build your home based business and earn a substantial income quickly. Learn how to increase your income in the comfort of your own home with minimal effort by visiting: http://www.eliasg.com

Landing Pages, And Why You Need Them!

By: lionel
Landing pages are just web pages where visitors are directed to whenever they click a result in a web search or whenever they click a web ad. For affiliate marketing, landing pages would refer to the web page where you, as a merchant, would want your potential customer to be directed after clicking your ad on your affiliate's website. Landing pages are, nothing really different from other web pages in a particular website, especially if the website is an e-commerce siteIf you want to get something more from your online business, and if you want to bring in a lot of profits, you better create a special landing page for your web ads. There are a variety of affiliate marketing programs today, but most of these programs let the merchant pay the affiliate in a pay per click basis. Basically, all you have to do is sign up with the program and submit your ad. The program owner would then distribute your ad to various affiliates who would then place your ad on their websites. Whenever your ad is clicked, a visitor would be directed to your landing page and you would have to pay the affiliate for his service.As a seller, you earn in an affiliate program through conversions-that is whenever a visitor that is directed to your site actually buys a product on your site. Without these conversions, you actually earn nothing from the program. Now, you sure won't get any conversion if you have posted an ad on your affiliate's site without an actual landing page for the potential customer to be redirected into. It's just like advertising a product without actually having a store to sell your product. Your advertisement may be enticing enough to encourage people to purchase a product, but without the landing page, how will they know how to purchase the productIt is therefore important to have landing pages for your ads because it is the only way for you to earn something in an affiliate program. Many people make the mistake of making their website's homepage as the landing page for their ads. The same is true for those who make use of other pages like a "contact us" page or a product page. Homepages are often designed to serve multiple users and contains a lot of links to other pages or to other websites. If you want to be successful in an affiliate program, you don't want your landing page to cater to the needs of various people, most of which may not be really interested with your product.When choosing a landing page, you must always have the customer directed into that page in mind. Therefore, your landing page must be relevant to the keywords and the contents you placed on your ad. It is important that the landing page can encourage your visitor to take action to purchase your product or at least provide leads for possible customers.If you get into an affiliate marketing program without actually having a landing page, you'll end up paying too much without getting anything in return. So if you still don't have a landing page for your ads, you should start creating one now.
Article Source: www.Articlebliss.com
Lionel Estridge is the publisher of Zero to Hero newsletter; to get tips and trick using Adsense and Ebay, and lots more, go to www.lionel1.com/ or just send a blank email to: ebay1@aweber.com