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By tmcca, January 28, 2010 2:32 am

Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket – Offer One Product at a Time

The old adage advises against what the title of this article says, but sometimes it is a wise thing to do. As you work to grow your business, it is important not to put the cart before the horse (another wise saying). Here we are talking about your product offerings and when to present them to your audience.

Okay, you have decided on your business idea and niche. You have investigated and found a product that your target customer will be interested in. But, to diversify your business, you decide to gather a few other products to also promote.

What’s wrong with this picture? At first glance, nothing appears to be wrong. But, if you are trying to save money and grow your business in the right way, starting with one product is best.

First of all, with several products, you will spend time and money creating and promoting each one. To interest people into buying, you’ll want to give each product its due with a sales page, landing page and all the other goodies that go with it. Not the least of which is quality!

To save time and money, begin with one product. Work on your sales pitch, your content to promote it and other marketing tools to get the word out. Creating a quality product will help generate sales and also inspire the type of trust and confidence you need to build a strong customer base. Then, once you’ve started receiving some of your investment back, you can explore the option of adding other products and growing your line.

Here is another tidbit for you. Online businesses that offer downloadable products have another advantage. You can take one product and turn it into several others while technically still promoting one product.

Most of you may already know this but here is an example. If you start off with an eBook on fishing, that single document can become an e-course, a packet of PLR fishing articles, a special report on fly fishing, etc. That is only the beginning too – the possibilities are endless. Since you are promoting all these aspects of fishing in your eBook, most of the work is already done for you when it comes to introducing the others.

Just so you know, here are the disadvantages of offering too many products at one time:

• Uses up valuable monetary resources you don’t necessarily have right now
• May not perform as well as other products, wasting your money
• Too much to handle at one time, which will end up burning you out. This is never a good thing because your efforts will naturally be less and therefore, quality will suffer as well.

There will be time to diversify. As we said, building your customer base, email list and traffic will all play into your business success when you are ready to move to the next level.

If you want to save money and continue to move your business in the right direction, start off slow and  build up your product line only when you can devote the time and expense to make each one great!  

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By tmcca, January 27, 2010 9:07 pm

Starting a business takes determination and preparation. Oh, and it also takes money. How much money you need depends on the type of business you want to start. For an online business, you can make that dream come true and save some green in the process.

What is the first thing that people ask about with a business? Usually it’s “What will it cost me in the beginning?” With an online business you are already ahead of the game because you avoid many of the costs that come with owning a traditional brick-and-mortar company.

Even so, there will be some costs that you have to shoulder. If your capital is limited, you can still get things going. It may take some legwork and time but it is absolutely doable.

Here are the 3 main costs associated with starting an online business.

Domain Name Purchases – In order to have a presence online, you’ll need a website address or URL. There are specials all the time for domain name purchases, but you can get your domain name for less than $10 a year in most cases. Be careful not to get sucked into buying all the extras most domain name registrars try to get you to purchase when you purchase a domain. Stick to only purchasing the domain name.

Hosting – In order for your website to actually show up on the Internet you’ll need to purchase hosting for your domains. You can purchase this as low as $7.95 a month with hosting companies such as ReliableWebs.com.

Website Design – If you aren’t proficient in web design or HTML, you’ll need someone to set your website up for you. There are a few different options for getting this done:

• Hire a Designer: This is the most expensive way to get things done.
• Site Builder: You can build your site yourself with programs like SiteBuildIt. Learn how and save money by doing it yourself.
• Included with Hosting: Look for deals with your hosting company. For instance, when you purchase a ReliableWebs.com hosting package you can get a WordPress blog (using the WP platform as your main site is very common due to its ease of use and flexibility) installed on your domain for free. Any customization is up to you, but it’s a start that doesn’t cost anything extra.

Here are some tips for purchasing additional items you’ll need to run your business online.

1. Negotiate – All you can do is ask for what you want. When it comes to buying computers and other office equipment, there is some room for haggling. Find the best payment plans you can to help you to offset the cost. This goes for telephone services, answering services and high-speed Internet rates too.

2. Shop around – Buying computers online at sites like Dell.com allows you to add the features you need and pay the price you want to pay. Printers don’t cost as much as they used to. If you need a fax machine and a printer, look for deals on all-in-one equipment so you can save money.

3. Buy in bulk – When you need paper, printer ink and other office supplies, buy as much as you can when a deal comes along. Even if it takes you an entire year to use the paper, you know that you will use it so it doesn’t matter.

4. Ask for advice from others – For example, you’ll need hosting for your website. While there are dozens of web hosting companies out there, both paid and free everyone’s needs differ. What are your needs? If you know other online entrepreneurs, ask who they use. Keep in mind that high price doesn’t necessarily equate with good quality, just like low price doesn’t always mean poor quality.

5. Use what you already have for now – The best thing about an online business is that it is operated from your computer. Most people already have one of those. It may not be the top of the line model, but if it has high speed Internet access and a word processing program, you can get started. 

There are costs that you can avoid by starting an online business versus an offline one, but you still have to spend some money. The above five tips will help you to whittle down the costs you do have even more. This allows you to get your new enterprise up and running as soon as possible. And, don’t forget all these costs can be written off on your income taxes so don’t forget to keep records.

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By tmcca, December 29, 2009 12:47 am

6 Top Tips for Finding Recession-Proof Jobs

Recession can be a very stubborn thing.  Once it drops by, it can take a while for it to fade away and disappear.  However, that doesn’t mean that we should simply sit back and let it overcome us.  It can, after all, wreck havoc on our finances and personal lives.  In these tough times, finding a job already seems improbable – just imagine being in the market for jobs that are not affected by recession.  But take heart.  There’s still hope yet.  Here are top 6 tips for finding recession-proof jobs:

Look for jobs in secure industries.
If you’ve read the news by now, trying to get a job in an auto plant is like trying to get on an elevator that’s going down – and you’re trying to go up.  The same is true if you’re trying to get a leg in real estate.

Instead of wasting your time trying to join an industry that’s experiencing some bad times, try to set your sights on industries that have remained stable or are experiencing growths.  These include:

-    Health care (nursing, caregiving, special care, medicine, physical therapy and other support manpower)

-    Law enforcement

-    Information Technology (network administration, software design and development)

-    Support Services (customer service, administrative assistance)

-    Sales and business development (product management, retail and wholesale)

-    Engineering

-    Education (teaching, school administration and other related support services)

Boost your resume.

If an employer sees nothing promising or exciting in your resume, they won’t think twice about throwing your piece in the trash bin.  Before you try to hook a recession-proof job, consider revamping your resume right now.  Take a copy of your latest and review it.  If your resume is several months old, there’s a high likelihood that it needs a makeover. 

Focus on accomplishments.

A common error among jobhunters is detailing their job descriptions in their resumes.  Although this is helpful in establishing their work experience, it may not always give the prospective employer a good idea of what you can do.  Emphasize on the results that you have produced instead.

Adapt your resume.

Typing out and printing a generic resume is a huge mistake.  Generic is average, which means that you have very little to help you stand out from the crowd.  If you want a recession-proof job, make sure your resume is something that your employers will find attractive. 

Consider the industry you’re targeting.  If the job calls for someone who has a strong sales experience, emphasize your sales background.  If the job calls for someone who had been involved directly in marketing and promotions, show your qualifications in these departments.  The more relevant your resume says you are, the better you’ll be at landing a recession-proof job.

Expand your reach.

Other than advertised job vacancies, consider other venues for finding recession-proof jobs.  Look for trade magazines, papers, clubs and associations.  You could also tap your network of professionals in the same field.

Get further education.

In tough times, you ought to arm yourself with tougher credits.  One is by obtaining additional training or education.  Getting certified or expanding your professional qualifications will help make you a more desirable hiree. 

Recession-proof jobs are usually the most popular among jobhunters who are probably considering the same strategies as you right now.  It’s likely that for every recession-proof job that is available out there, there are thousands of other jobhunters out to get it.  If you have better qualifications courtesy of better training and experience (in case you’ve had hands-on education or internship), you’ll come out as the best, most capable candidate.

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By tmcca, December 11, 2009 12:38 am

Use Your Signature Lines to Your Advantage

A signature line is good for more than your name. Some people don’t even use them because their name shows up in the email header information. For an online business owner trying to build their business, avoid overlooking such a helpful tool.

When you learned to write a letter in grade school, it always included a salutation at the end with your name. This ending in electronic arenas is referred to as a signature line. If you haven’t been using yours, you might be missing out on free website promotion.

Think of all the places that you are provided with the option of using a signature line:

• Email
• Forums
• Newsletters
• Text messages
• Social networking sites
• Instant messages

A signature line doesn’t just have to be used for just your name. Include your website information here. When you choose to have your signature automatically added to each email, text, forum post, etc. everyone gets to see and read it. Regardless of whether they are personal communications or business, your little personal billboard goes with them.

On forums, using a signature line is paramount. Most forums do not allow you to advertise, so this is your way to let people know who and where you are and what you are doing. As they see you more and more in the threads, they will take an interest and look for more information from you.

How is that for free advertising with minimal work? So, to use it effectively, make every word count. Of course you will have your name first. You can also precede your name with a traditional salutation if you choose. Common ones include:

• Sincerely,
• Best Wishes,
• Warmly,
• Have a Great Day, etc.

On the next line add your website link. Because it is a link it will automatically appear in blue and be clickable to those who see it with most email programs. Most people can’t resist the blue. They’ll click out of curiosity if nothing else.

What’s next? You can put another link if you have more than one website or if you have a blog. Some businesses have a tagline as a part of their brand. If you have one, use it on the next line (in quotations) below your website link.

Don’t feel like you have to keep your signature the same forever. You can change your signature line as you need to in order to keep it fresh and alert others to anything new and exciting you may be doing. If you create a new website, feature that link in your signature line for awhile so others can click and find out what you are up to.

Signature lines can even be added to your mobile phones. This works great for text messaging especially. While most people will put personal signatures in their text message, take a minute to decide if your website would be a good fit for your text messages.

Do you use social networking sites? These have proven to be great tools for business marketing but with a signature line, you are giving yourself that little bit extra to get noticed.

What are you doing with your signature line? If you are leaving it off, rectify the situation right away. It could be costing you a lot of free traffic.

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By tmcca, December 10, 2009 2:44 am

Start a Blog to Promote Your Business Website

A website is where you conduct your business. But, where can customers and visitors go to learn more about you and get to see you with your hair down, so to speak? Start a blog as a companion to your main website and another way to build more traffic too.

Blogging is basically online journaling. People start blogs everyday on a number of topics. You can talk about a number of topics and get responses from those who visit and read what you post.

As a business tool, use your blog as a place where customers (and potential ones) can go to get away from the more formal website where you sell your products or services. Allow them to find out more about your business and more importantly, the person behind the business. A blog for your business is a great way to get people talking about your business.

Getting Started

Getting started is not as hard as you think. Many blogging platforms offer free web hosting. Two popular blog hosting sites are Wordpress and Blogger. Customizing your blog to your needs is not a chore when you have ready-made templates to help you. Each site offers step-by-step instructions to help you get up and running in no time.

Your blog will be a part of your website so the domain name can be also. Remember to keep it easy to access for anyone. If they know your website name, then they will be able to find your blog. You can also create a link to the blog right from your website’s pages and vice versa.

What Will Your Blog Include?

Ideally, you may want to use your blog to draw more traffic to your site. Existing customers can find a place to ask questions and communicate with other customers. For people who find you through your blog (versus your business website), they can find out from your customers just how great your products or services are.

Offer interesting content. Your blog posts are shorter than full fledged articles, making it easier for readers to gain insight and information. Create posts that will engage the reader. If your business happens to be about gardening, offer content that gives tips for growing different types of flowers or how to winterize your garden as examples.

You can even give them a teaser so to speak. Those interested in learning more can do so by visiting the link you include in the individual post that refers them to a page on your website with more detail. Remember to keep the voice of your blog relaxed and inviting in order to keep past readers coming back and new ones interested in learning more.

Your blog will be a less formal setting so you can use it to give your customers a place to do a variety of things. First, they can offer their opinions. With blog posts, there are always places for comments. Pose questions in your posts like “How can we improve our business?” or “What did you think of the new product line?” and invite visitors to provide their feedback in the comment section.

Post contest links and discount coupon codes on your blog. To enter the contests or take advantage of the codes the readers will have to follow the link back to your website.

As you gain a wider readership, you can add more features. How about a “Letter from the Owner” type section? You can post blurbs from reader comments and your take on what they have to say. Invite notable guest writers who have something to offer your readers to blog for you as well.

Above all, interact with your readers. When they comment, answer back. This shows that you are not just there to promote your website or to sell them something. In fact, try your hardest not to sell them anything at all – at least at first. Instead, give them helpful information, interact with them and then post links to your main site as well as other sites. Let them find their way to your site based on your newfound relationship.

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By tmcca, December 9, 2009 5:51 am

Use Social Networking to Promote Your Website

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone these days that isn’t a part of at least one social network. Use that to your advantage. Join up and find free ways to promote your website and increase your traffic for free.

Social Networking Craze

Social networking is one of the easiest ways to stay connected to friends and family near and far. You can share pictures, stories and send instant messages when you are both logged in. This way of keeping in touch has extended into the business world and become useful as a marketing tool. Joining a social network is free so there’s no reason not to give it a try. These sites bridge the gap across the miles better than simple email.

Which sites can you use? Actually, business owners have found most of the more popular sites useful: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace. The results from each site are different for every business so don’t be afraid to test and track which ones yield the best outcome for your business. Once you sign up with a valid email address and password, you are ready to get started.

Using sites like these, you can create a page that tells all about you and your business. Look for friends, family and business associates who are also connected so you can keep up with what is going on in their lives and businesses as well.

How to Use Them Effectively

Let’s look at a site like Facebook. It is highly popular and can be beneficial for both business and personal use. On the business side, you can post links to your website when new products are launched, new newsletters are published or sales are going on.

If you blog, post links to your newest blog posts (or to guest blog posts you’re doing elsewhere around the blogosphere). Highlight contests, guest bloggers and other events that you are a part of. Have an online radio show? You can invite friends to listen to live podcasts to learn more about your business.

On a site like YouTube, you can post videos and add the links to your Facebook profile, Twitter stream, etc. Invite friends to view and leave comments.

The best part about social sites such as these is that friends and business contacts can pass your links on to others who might be interested in the topics as well. Quite possibly viral marketing at its best!

Relationships Matter

The one thing to remember about promoting your website or blog on social networking sites is not to do so just for that purpose. Relax and get to know the people you are trying to reach out to. They say that social networking is can be addictive. While it can be a double edged sword if you’re not careful, setting boundaries will make it addictive in a good way by growing your business.

Just like so many other marketing tools, the name of the game is relationships. You can build meaningful ones not only with friends and family, but with your target audience and business associates on all the social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook of course, and others.

Comment on your friends posts and visit their links as well. As an Internet marketing tool, social networking works both ways. Don’t think of it as a means to an end but one of the more fun marketing tools you get to use to grow your business. The best part – you can do it all for free.

If you aren’t currently using any social networking platform, now is a great time to start. It can serve dual purposes in your life; both to your benefit. Each business contact you meet, invite them to be your friend or follower. Who knows? You could be connecting with a future joint venture partner or find that diamond in the rough service provider to help you take your business to the next level.

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By tmcca, December 2, 2009 5:10 am

Network Marketing to generate a Waterfall of Income

The concept is too darned simple – you build a network of people and jointly you promote a product or service. At the same time, you try to bring more people into the network. For each person that joins the network, the upline members earn a commission. Direct sales bring in the money too, but the main commission is brought in through the commissions that the network building generates.

However, the implementation is not quite as simple. Building the network can be formidable to most people. Even so, there are many facilities you get so that you can build the network well. You get a website from the network marketing company that you join, you can attend physical seminars and webinars and you have access to a host of material, online and offline, where you can learn how to promote your network to the hilt.

You need to remember one thing – joining a network marketing opportunity could be a life-changing experience. You might begin seeing everything in a totally new light. But that’s the way you can earn all those six figure incomes a month.

Two of the most popular network marketing opportunities of the world, Amway (http://www.amway.com/) and Herbalife (http://www.herbalife.com/) promote themselves on a global level. Joining such opportunities carries the great benefit of prevailing goodwill that you can cash upon. Also, they have their own training and orientation programs all over the world which can help you start out on the right foot.

The drawback here is that there are a lot of players in the network marketing (also called as multilevel marketing or simply MLM) world. A lot of them are scammers and these are the people who have given the industry a bad name. You have to particularly beware of pyramid schemes in which people earn only through building a network but don’t have any product to sell. In most parts of the world, pyramid schemes are considered to be illegal and the people involved in such an activity could be prosecuted by the law.

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By tmcca, November 27, 2009 10:54 pm

Play and build your Bank Balance!

Did you know that you could play and earn? Game development is a multibillion industry, we all know about that, and game developers do not want to take any risks. That is the reason audience feedback becomes important to them. Just as movie producers guesstimate their prospects through the rushes they get, game developers guesstimate the prospects of their upcoming games through the feedbacks of game testers. Also, they come to know if there are any bugs in the game that need to be fixed before it can be released.

Sounds scrumptious, doesn’t it? Well, a game tester’s job is really like that. There are both paid and free game testing sites, but it is highly advisable to go for the paid ones because there is big money involved there. You can choose your genre of gaming. Whenever there is a game coming up in that genre – which keeps happening all the time – you can apply for testing that. You will be then either given a download link for the game (it could be a demo) or you could be shipped a disk of the game. You play it and answer what they are looking for.

There’s usually a questionnaire to be filled. Of course, there’s a deadline which you need to strictly adhere to. Sometimes you will be playing under pressure, but who’s complaining?

The following links will be useful to you if you are looking at an opening as an online game tester:-

Games Tester (http://www.gamestester.com/

Gamer Testing Ground (http://www.gamertestinggroung.com/

Video Game Tester Jobs (http://www.videogametesterjobs.net/

This is a highly legal activity, with an organization built to govern its functioning. This is controlled by the International Game Developers Association, where you can also find a lot of information about the profession.

You can expect to be paid anywhere from $10 to $200 an hour depending on your reputation as a game tester and the company’s reputation. You need to make a start here to understand the vast potential that exists in it.

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By tmcca, November 25, 2009 9:42 pm

Brokering – A Route to Online Income

Everyone knows what brokering means in the real world; on the Internet it means the same thing. Essentially, you don’t have a product of your own here, but you have a product that belongs to someone else which you promote. You find customers for it and you get paid commission for effectuating the sale. The seller pays you the commission, which could be moderated through a site.

There are many ways in which brokering happens. The commonest route is through the middleperson approach. You don’t own the product, but you just promote it and bring about the sale. Usually, when you are the middleperson, you earn commissions from the buyer and the seller both. But the main thing is that the sale has to work out to the very end. It has to close. Failed sales don’t pay you anything for your efforts.

The joint venture partner brokering is another subset within this main theme. Here you bring about joint venture collaborations between different marketers. These collaborations are the spine of most online businesses. People come together to make up for what they lack. If you become instrumental in getting the right people to partner with each other, there are various ways in which you can benefit. You can get paid for your services or you can actually get a share of the business that is to happen.

Another type of brokering is service brokering. Here you find the right service people to carry out particular services for people who need them. You could find them through online freelance sites or you could approach some people directly.

Here are some sites where you could learn more about brokering and even join into the opportunities.

        Joint Venture Broker (http://www.jointventurebroker.net/

        JV Web (http://www.jv-web.com/jv_art_broker.html/

        JV Wisdom (http://www.jvwisdom.com/

The income opportunities are endless. There is a lot of networking involved and you will be learning from people that have many different products in many niches.

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By tmcca, November 24, 2009 10:33 pm

Blog your Way to Internet Richness

The one thing about blogging that you need to know is that you can monetize it in several different ways. There isn’t just one way in which you can make money out of a blog; there are several. Once you have a blog of your own, it is a learning experience in itself. But, at the same time, the money begins flowing in almost immediately, which motivates you into milking your blog further.

A very good platform to build your blog would be Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.com/) or Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/). These are blog platforms, i.e. you can create your blog using the software they provide. In addition, you will also need some hosting space and domain name to set your blog running.

The one difference between Wordpress and Blogger is that Blogger is a free tool. That means, you will have to contend with advertisements from other people on your blog. Wordpress is considered to be more focused and speaks better of the commercial blogger’s intentions.

Another blogging service that you might like is Typepad (http://www.typepad.com/). Typepad is an uploading and hosting service. You just pay them, build your blog through Wordpress, and Typepad will take care of the uploading and hosting. One perk is that Typepad does a lot of search engine optimization for you, so you can be sure that your blog will begin ranking high right from the start.

If you get good content on your blog (including keyword optimized text, videos and photos), you can be sure that it will get populated soon. The search engines love blogs because they get a constant update of content and because so many people keep visiting them. In today’s scenario, blogs are more effective in websites.

The following are some ways in which you can monetize your blog:-

          You could use PPC advertising on your blog.

          You could directly sell or advertise products.

          You could give away an eBook or a newsletter subscription and get leads.

          You could build a blog, populate it and then sell the whole thing for a tidy profit.