Thursday 30 December 2010

Facebook is an ideal place to start a business. Think about it. There are literally millions of users on the site. They belong to groups and networks. They use the different site applications. Basically, they are sharing their lives and interests with you so that you can help enhance it.

If you look back at the Social Networking chapter, you'll notice that we talked about the ethic of social networking. These absolutely apply when using the site to promote your business. You first need to make sure that your actions aren't violating the terms of use. If they are, you need to change your approach.

Also, make sure that no matter what you're trying to accomplish, that you don't use the site to SPAM people. You will not be successful on the site this way. You'll just annoy people.

If you use the site ethically and follow the terms of use, you won't have any problems.

THE BASIC PHILOSOPHY

The basic philosophy behind using the site for business is to do what you can to build a community around your profile, service, and/or product. If you just post a bunch of links and a sales pitch, people won't respond to that. They want to get to know the company or brand and have a good time there.

For example, if you run a fantasy football site, your profile will focus on your love for the game. You may also start a group with fantasy football as the theme. You can post your ad and the link for your fantasy football service in the group and those who are interested will click on it.



So, what kind of tools can you use to do social networking on Facebook? The short answer is, anything goes. Since there are so many things you can do with the site, you'd do best to consider it a blank slate.

Since you define your experience on the site and set your own goals, you basically want to choose the activities, applications, groups, and networks that will help enhance this experience.

Here are some ideas for using the site for social networking:

"    Inbox
You can send messages to other users and accept messages from your friends.

"    Groups
Joining and participating in groups is a great way to meet people.

"    Friends
Once you find someone you have something in common with, you can add them as a friend. Once they accept, you can do things like sharing photos, inviting them to participate in groups, and encouraging them to add certain applications.

"    Applications
There are a lot of different applications on the site. Each of them helps the user engage in social networking. You can play games, send the applications to each other, take quizzes, etc.

"    Share
The ultimate way to enjoy the site and use it for social networking is to share things with each other. This goes for applications, videos, and photos. You can also invite them to join groups, and use the site to take a look at the groups your friends are interested in.

"    News Feeds
This is another important social element of the site. It is through the feeds where you can see what your friends are up to. For example, if a friend added a certain application, you have the ability to check out what they added and decide if adding it is a good thing for you to do.


Those are just a few of the examples. The site has so many resources that it's up to you to figure out how to use them for social networking. Just make sure you abide by the Terms of Use and conduct yourself in an ethical way while using the site.

A lot of people get in trouble for not using Facebook as ethically as they could. In fact, people who are part of social networking sites throughout the world continually abuse the privilege of being part of the site and end up using tactics that are less than ethical.

These are called black hat tactics, and they could result in your profile being banned. For lasting results, don't use black hat techniques or anything related to misdirection.

On the internet, some people will use dubious tactics such as optimizing a site for a keyword that is really popular, but doesn't even relate to the niche. Facebook has its own version of that.

If you want to make money on Facebook, join this team before it's too late.

Facebook For Business Basic Philosophy

Wednesday 29 December 2010

It all starts when some well-meaning (yet misdirected) person encourages a budding internet entrepreneur to "start in a niche they know alot about", or base their business around "something they're passionate about"...
As horrible as it may sound - they've unknowingly sent the hopeful entrepreneur down a path of false expectations, poor results and eventually - failure. In fact, the myth of "do what you love and the money will follow" has been responsible for more failure than likely any other influence - perhaps even more so than laziness or a lack of perseverance.


Because the simple truth of the matter is that the only way you're going to make real money on the net is if your business is based around two crucial things:
1) Large Demand
2) Buyers


In other words - you aren't going to get rich selling a $15 ebook about growing square watermelons - even though that might be a great passion of yours.
The demand just isn't there. Maybe there's a few searches a day on Google for the topic, and perhaps there's some interest in the online "gardening enthusiast" communities - but you'd be hard-pressed to make even a few hundred dollars a month from ebook sales.


Similarly, you also aren't going to have a particularly easy time getting rich by building websites about some seemingly "popular" topics like humor, jokes, funny pictures and so on. And while there are a few ways to "monetize" your site (with AdSense, CPA Offers, CPM Banners, etc.), it takes literally millions of website visitors to make even just a few thousand dollars in markets like that.
The demand is huge - but the visitor value is extremely low...


Instead, if you want to make it big online - pulling down an impressive six-figure income - you need to tap into markets with tons of demand, where the majority of the visitors are valuable.
You need to capture tons of traffic that wants to buy something. If you take this approach, you'd practically have to hijack your own order links (or affiliate links) not to make a sizeable income.
In fact - did you know that some affiliates make several thousand dollars daily just by promoting a single product in hot markets? (Just imagine what the merchant is making...)


In some markets there's actually so much demand that the vendors are quite literally selling over a thousand units - or more - per day. Digital products, with practically zero overhead/delivery cost.
But it all comes back to tapping into valuable demand. In most cases, it takes no extra effort or "skill" to market to a valuable market than it does to struggle along with something you're passionate about.


These two factors - demand and buying traffic - are what seperate the "wannabe" marketers from the millionaires. Because there's no real secret - you just need to sell what thousands of people are already buying.
The ball is now officially in your court. Are you tapping into markets with massive, valuable demand?
Or are you struggling to simply make a few dollars occasionally with a business that's based on your own passionate interests?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Rempel, author of "Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate", reveals 5 of his most effective traffic strategies and niche-targeting tactics in full detail at  http://su.pr/2vZEHp

The Two Biggest Reasons Why Most People Will Never Make a Full-Time Income Online...

Let me ask you a simple question...
Could you use some extra money? You could! Great!
And if I could show you how to earn an extra $250.00 or more per day, and all you'd need to spend is a couple of hours a day at your home computer...
Would that intrigue you? Then read on...

Very few people know what I am going to share with you now, and those that do are making a nice living online. In fact, I've earned over $25,000 since I discovered this unique opportunity. And no, it's not like anything else you've seen before. Im going to show you numerous companies that will pay you good money to post ads online for them.

* You don't need any experience
* You don't need any special skills
* You don't need a marketing degree

All you need is a computer and internet access. Let's face it, if these companies did all the work themselves, it would take forever! That's where you come in. Companies worldwide are bending over backwards to find people to post ads for them, and they'll pay you nicely in return.
Here's how it works...
* You type the ads
* You submit the ads
* You choose your own hours
* You do as many as you want, no restrictions

I'll provide you will a list of over 100,000 companies you can work with starting today. It's as easy as 1-2-3...

* Choose the companies you would like to work with. (1000s to choose from)
* Login to your ad account.
* Enter your ads into the forms and hit submit.
* Sit back and wait for your checks to come in.
If you need extra cash, act now... Go straight to..

The No. 1 Home Based Data Entry Online Jobs

Can I Interest You in an Extra $250.00 a Day...?

When it comes to making money, having your own product line can put you miles ahead of the competition.
But if you’re like most online business owners, creating a complete product line will take hundreds of hours of your time, or thousands of dollars of your money! That’s why I put together this step-by-step plan to show you how to create your own product as quickly as possible.


Step #1: Decide on Your Topic – Chances are you already have a niche area that you’re focusing on. If not, that’s the place to start. To do this, consider topics that you already have some interest in. Then browse the search engines, forums and even sites such as Clickbank and eBay to see what type of demand there is.
Step #2: Find the Content – I’m a big believer in using Private Label Rights (PLR) content as much as possible. It’s an affordable way to get some really unique content that you can use as your own. There are lots of sources of PLR so do a bit of research to find a few that will give you a variety of information on the same topic.
Step #3: Decide how you’ll use the content – There are many different types of products that you can create. A good idea is to have several options at different price points so that your customers have a good selection to choose from. This will also encourage them to purchase more than one product! When using PLR content, you can easily take articles and combine them to create a special report, ebook or mini-course. For higher end products, record them to create an audio product or have them printed as a physical product.
If you’ve found a great PLR ebook but want to do something different, add additional articles to it, or bundle it with an audio to create a complete product. The key is to be creative and think about what will be of interest to your target audience.
Step #4: Combine content to create a unique product – As was mentioned briefly in step #3, combining PLR content is a great way to create a product that is uniquely yours. Although others have access to the content separately, chances are that how you choose to combine it will be something that only you do. Select related information from several sources to create a comprehensive product.
Step #5: Add some of your own flare – If you’ve combined PLR content from several sources to create your product, it’s not necessary to rewrite everything. But adding your own personal touch is always a great way to engage your customers. This can even be as simple as writing an opening and closing letter that gives your spin on the information presented.
Step #6: Get some feedback on your product – Always have a few people read over your product before you release it to the public. This can be a spouse, friend or colleague although if you choose potential customers you’ll get better feedback. And you may even get a couple of testimonials that you can use in your marketing materials.
Step #7: Put together a sales letter – Some PLR content comes with pre-written sales letters. Since you will have added some additional information you’ll need to modify these materials. Or, sit down and write your own sales letter that highlights all of the benefits of your product.
Repeat these steps for multiple products at different price points and you’ll soon have a complete product line. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

7 Steps to Creating Your Own Product Within Hours

There must be plenty of reason why certain ebook writers are successful and others are not.
In other words, why do some authors make high six-figure incomes (even seven-figures!) and others barely make enough to cover their hosting fees?
There must be some reason for the difference in level of success, right?
There is.
In fact, there are three “reasons” why that I want to share with you now. I’ve used the word “K.E.Y.” as an acronym to reveal these three elements of successful ebook publishing.
1. K = KEEP it concise.
One of the biggest mistakes ebook writers make is starting their project with the idea in mind that their ebook must be a certain number of pages in length.
That is, they assume the ebook should be 50 pages or 100 pages or even 200 pages in order to be desirable to consumers.
Wrong. Ding. Thanks for playing.
Much more important than QUANTITY is QUALITY. Almost every potential customer in your target market is considerably more interested in learning something useful than they are reading a bunch of commentary that has little or no real value to them.
The ability to concisely (yet comprehensively) share content that is practical is a must if you want to be successful in the information business. No fluff. No filler. No fat. Just the meat.
That’s what consumers want. Especially today in our fast-paced, instant, I-want-it-now society.
And chances are you are much more likely to write a 30 page manual and get it done than you are to slave over trying to measure up to a 200 page masterpiece.
Your first key to success is “keep it concise”. Share what you need to share in the least amount of pages as possible. It doesn’t have to be the great American novel. This isn’t Hemingway.
2. E = ENJOY yourself.
I simply must mention that if you enjoy your “work” then you are exponentially more likely to complete your ebooks than those who reluctantly or grudgingly write.
Seriously, don’t underestimate what I’m saying here. You’ll get much more done as a writer by having fun with your subject matter.
That’s the beauty of information publishing. YOU get to pick the topic. A topic of interest – of passion – to you as the author. Something you find enjoyable, even exhilarating.
To be sure, you want to choose topics that are in demand and have a ready-made audience awaiting who are willing to purchase them. But, at the same time, you can look for those marketable topics that appeal to your interests and expertise.
I don’t care how “profitable” a subject may be, I’d never take it on as a project of mine unless I got some sense of satisfaction or enjoyment in writing about it.
Instead, look for those things that you are already talking about anyway. And then write what you’ve been talking about.
3. Y = YIELD results.
Finally, I must exhort you to “yield results”. That is, you simply must stick to it and finish the job.
I cannot tell you how many people that I’ve met online who struggle with the affliction “short-of-the-finish-line-it is”.
They begin running the race with gusto. They pick their topic like it was a Nike outfit. They outline their ebook like they just heard the starting gun fire. They come up with ideas to include in their work like they were sprinting down the track.
And when they round the first corner, they start slowing down. Before they know it, they’re up in the stands watching others cross the finish line.
That’s why I am adamant about telling you the golden rule of ebook content: Never start something you can’t finish in 30 days.
With any new ebook you are planning on writing, choose the topic and outline it in such a way that you can complete the content within one calendar month. Anything that goes
beyond that period of time is likely going to be discarded somewhere past the starting gate and before the finish line.
It’s important that you set for your goal a reasonable, reachable amount of pages for your ebook … such as 30 pages. Then, divide that goal number of pages into your 30 days. In this example, it would mean writing just ONE page per day (very realistic!) for 30 days and your ebook will be completed.
Victory! The finish line!
Certainly there are a wide variety of other “keys” to being successful as an ebook writer (choosing the right topics, learning to outline well, brainstorming ideas, marketing, etc.) but these three form a solid foundation for you to build upon as you continue to learn more about information publishing.

K = KEEP it concise.
E = ENJOY yourself.
Y = YIELD results.
Looking forward to see you becoming one of the outstanding ebook manufacturer!

The Real K.E.Y. To Becoming A Successful Ebook Writer

Tuesday 28 December 2010

To review, our 1st decision was to become an entrepreneur, our 2nd decision was to work with a team, our 3rd decision was deciding which team or which company.  By the way, if any of your decisions have been different, you may want to continue reading to have some information for the future.

What Is Your Dream Life?

If you designed your dream life today, what would it be like?  If you could have anything and do anything, what would that be?
I remember my first mentor asking me these questions and I also remember not knowing what to say. :roll:  ”Anything?”  I said.  ”You mean I could really have whatever I want?”…”Yes, if you are willing to be teachable and willing to follow our plan”, my mentor said.  I was surprised!  No one had ever told me that in my entire life! 8-O   I started to make a list just like he said. 

My First Dream List:
1. Be home with my son everyday,
2. Make enough money to be able to quit my job this year,
3. Send my son to the best private school,
4. Take vacations every year and travel to other countries,
5. Make enough so my wife has the option to quit her job,
6. Be there for my family and friends everyday,
7. Lose all my weight and have freedom to eat what I want for the rest of my life.
This was my first dream list in 2005, which for me, was really “Big”, and I didn’t believe it would come true.  I just did it like a homework assignment.  So, why am I telling you all of this?… Because they all came true in a very short period of time. 8-O   Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are.  I didn’t know anything except how much I wanted to believe it could come true!  I really just followed my company plan and I was very “teachable” 
(actually I had no clue how to be unteachable cause I had no clue how to be an entrepreneur! :roll: )
Make Your Dream List
Now, are you ready to make your list?  I will refer back to our 2nd Decision where we were designing our life.  I know we finished our homework from the 2nd Decision, therefore we are ready to follow the Road To Success.  All we have to do now, is follow our company’s plan or our mentor’s plan.  It’s really that simple.  Success Leaves Tracks and all we have to do is follow in the tracks of our chosen “successful people” in our company or team.  Once we do, we’ll be pleasantly surprised at how simple going down The Road To Success really is and very soon all of our Dreams start coming true.

Pretty simple huh?  Once we’ve decided on which company or team, the road is already paved and smooth.  All we have to do is stay on the “yellow brick road” and we will find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!! :-D   One last tip is to ask our mentor to keep us accountable, so if we get lost in the forest, our mentor will have permission to guide us back to the Road To Success!
Congratulations!  We’ve made it through the 4 major decisions and “forks in the road”.  Success is inevitable now!  We look forward to hearing all about your journey.

We hope you gained some insight from our article.  May we ask you to share by clicking the “f share” button at the top of the article, or “retweet” this post on Twitter?  And we would love to have you comment at the end of the article and let us know how you felt about our Road To Success. :lol:

Sending you a lot of “Aloha” (love) & “Mahalo” (thank you) for being a part of our “Ohana” (family)!

Dreams Can Come True By Following The Road To Success

Once we have chosen “the road” to become an Entrepreneur, there are many changes we will encounter.  For example, if we come from a family of employees, we will soon see that everyone around us will not understand why we want to become an entrepreneur.  They think we should stay in a “safe, secure job”. 8-O   This is usually where most entrepreneurs hit their first “road block” because the values and beliefs necessary to be an entrepreneur, in my humble opinion, are the opposite of an employee.

This is where we must be willing to lay our new “foundation” for our “beautiful new house” that was mentioned in our last blog post.  The values of an employee are not applicable for an entrepreneur who wants time freedom and financial freedom.
Robert Kiyosaki so eloquently stated these in our post called 8 Financial Myths About Money(click on title).  And as Jim Rohn says “your income is determined by your philosophy” and your philosophy is what you know plus the decisions we make.

Next Fork In The Entrepreneurial Road

The next thing to decide as an Entrepreneur is do we want to work alone or with a team?

Here are a few Questions To Consider when we are choosing our entrepreneurial endeavor:

– When do we want our ideal life?
– Are we always working and busy while earning our monthly income?
– Do we have residual income coming in each month?
– Do we want to travel without having to continue to work?
– Do we ever want to totally retire and have residual income which keeps on growing without us?

Example of Goals To Write Down :
In 30 days, I will make $…

In 90 days, I will make $…

In 6 months, I will make $… & quit my job

In 1 year, I will make $… & buy a car

In 3 years, I will make $… & retire my spouse

In 5 years, I will make $… & vacation in Paris

In 10 years, I will make $… & buy my second house

In 20 years, in 30 years, in 40 years, in 50 years…

Now we have decided to be an Entrepreneur, and we have decided to work alone or with a team.  We will work on our goals and make some major decisions for our “life plan”. 
 
Sending you a lot of “Aloha” (love) & “Mahalo” (thank you) for being a part of our “Ohana” (family)!

Now That You’ve Decided To Be An Entrepreneur, What’s The Next Step?

My #1 biggest secret for success would be to always have a mentor and/or coach who has mastered the skills you want, and who has “what you want”.  For example, if you are in a network marketing company, find a mentor who is at the level you want to be at in your network marketing company.  Choose a mentor and/or coach who has mastered the skills you value, and who possesses the character and integrity of the person you want to BEcome. You may choose to have more than one mentor or coach depending on how many skill sets you want to master.
 
Where To Find A Mentor
If you are in a network marketing company, you will have many people in your company who will be happy to coach you.  As you follow their plan and get promoted, you will have many successful people to mentor with.  In any other business, hire a coach or start with a mentorship program.  When I started my network marketing business, I had a mentor within my company, however, I wanted to “get better” fast, so I joined a 6 month mentorship program for personal development.  They kept me accountable each week and taught me the basics of personal growth.  Having someone keep me accountable was imperative to my success. My mentor in my company kept me on track for my business goals and my personal development coach kept me accountable for my personal growth.
The road to entrepreneurial success in truly a journey and there will be many “blind spots” on your road.  I truly believe having mentors in your life who have been where you are going makes the journey so much easier.  You must change and grow to become successful, and it will be uncomfortable, however, it does not have to be painful if you have an experienced mentor by your side.

Einstein said “You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it” and John Fogg, who wrote “The Greatest Networker” said “You don’t know what you don’t know”.  Therefore, find an experienced mentor and trust the steps they lay out for your path, then “Go For It”!  Give it everything you got and Success Will Be Yours!

What is your secret to success?  We would love to hear your secrets in your comments at the end of the article.  And may we ask you to share by clicking the “f share” button at the top of the article, or “retweet” this post on Twitter?
Also, if you’d like to receive some tips we’ve learned being an entrepreneur over the past 15 years, sign up for our video series below.
Sending you a lot of “Aloha” (love) & “Mahalo” (thank you) for being a part of our “Ohana” (family)!

The Biggest Tip To Achieve Success In Business and In Life…

Amir Rimer's roadmap to success.

Do you like to be earn huge amount of money on-line?

I bet you want!

But, the only way you can achieve this is by being personally trained by an expert.

Now I used to hate money making products, I thought they were cheap and over rated and to be honest I seen it as cheating!

Cheating because people are given wrong information from people who clearly don't know what they are talking about.

I didn't know this at the beginning, Until I actually sat down and looked into all the money making products in full.

It was not until I took part on Amir Rimer's Flip Course, that I realized what good information is all about.

Amir Rimer's Flip Course showed me how to TRULY be successful on-line. New, innovative course with the content to boot.

I was simply amazed at the results.

Now becoming successful on-line has never been so simple, every few minutes of watching the videos from this Flip Course and WAM! A new insight pops to my head.

Now is the time for the novice, the new guy to step and be counted amongst the big players, the gurus, the guys who are successful on-line.

Why spend vast amount of time, money and effort
understanding things on your own, when you can have a pro shows you the way.

After all, there is a secret out there and I know you can benefit from it if you just knew it!

Amir Rimer's Flip Course has shown me the key to on-line success!

I suggest you get on this road with me and cruise past the gurus!

Become Successful On-Line with a step by step Flip Course Now!

If you are sick of the fog of wrong money making information, then Amir Rimer's Flip Course is the tool you need to successed.

Thanks for reading!

Here is the Best Technique to Boost Your Income

Every once in a while, something comes along that changes the way that people do business online.  Sometimes it's a new software product, sometimes it's a traffic generator.

Right now, online marketer Richard Legg is putting the finishing touches to his new online marketing course
titled:

"Succeed In 30 Days - How anyone can have an online business in a month or less"

I've had a sneak preview of the course and I can tell you it is absolutely amazing.  If you are a newbie, or
if you've tried every program under the sun... and failed, this WILL help you finally succeed online.  As part of the course you'll discover:


> How to have your own "Online Empire" even if you have absolutely no experience.

> How to generate a list of Hungry buyers for ANY site.

> How to advertise to millions of people legitimately.

> How to get the most essential tool, that every marketer needs.  Without it, you could lose 90% of sales.
(You'll be shown how to get it at No-Cost!)

> Plus: Instant Access to a resource that can make you $50 or more within one hour of joining.

Plus much, much more...


As you can guess, a package like this could easily sell for hundreds *BUT* act now and you can get instant accessat no cost to you whatsoever!

Not many people know this, but in order to tweak and perfect the course, Richard is GIVING away a limited number of V.I.P memberships to the first few people to visit the site and join up. This way he can get feedback and improve it. Once he's confident, he's going to start charging up to $197 - $297 for the course.

I have been given access to a special V.I.P link to share with a few people.  Visit the site now, and you can join for absolutely nothing. You can save hundreds!

Claim *FREE* Access to Amazing $197 Marketing Course - First 50 only!

Like I said, there are only a limited number of V.I.P memberships and many are gone already.  If you want to
grab a copy, you must visit now and secure it before someone else does..

Get it FREE with this VIP link. First 50 People Only

All the best,


P.S. Using the last item on the list, I generated two $50 payments in my first hour.  And it didn't cost me a penny!
Make sure to sign up now before he starts charging for it.
*STOP!* Do NOT pay $197 or even $97 for this product

Discover How You Can Have Your Own Successful Business Online In 30 Days ... Or LESS!

Have you ever had a conversation at a networking event where the conversation died after the initial exchange of "Hi, how are yous?" We all have.  Here are three ways to keep a conversation alive.

#1 - When asked a yes/no question, respond in a way that keeps the conversation going. 

Instead of saying, "yes, or no," to "Did you have a hard time finding this location?" say, "it was really easy for me to find since I used to live three blocks from here." 

That keeps the conversation going and gives the other person something to respond to.  "Really? I used to live near here also."

#2 - Go to events prepared with responses to these inevitable questions:
"How are you?" 
"How's life/business/work?"
"What's been going on?" 

It may be easy to give superficial, one-word answers such as "Fine," "Good," "Nothing much," but those answers won't do much to advance the conversation because they don't give the questioner
anything to build on. 

Instead, have something interesting to say that will keep the conversation going. 

"My wife and I just got back from a wonderful trip to the Grand Canyon." 

 "Our business is expanding so much that it's providing real challenges in terms of staffing." 

 "I've been doing a lot of hiking this summer."

#3 - Phrase your own questions in a way that can't be answered with just one word. 

Instead of "Did you enjoy the presenter?", ask "How did you find the presenter's topic?"  If you get a short reply, follow up with "What did you find most interesting about the presentation?"

These techniques work at events, as well as with people you see regularly - colleagues, neighbors, friends.  Keeping a conversation alive will get you beyond the superficial and into the depths of what's really important to you personally and professionally.
Keeping a conversation alive is easy!  Try it this week.

Three Techniques for Keeping a Conversation Alive

We all know that getting referrals is one of the easiest ways to grow our own businesses, but did you know that the opposite is also true?  Giving referrals to other professionals is one of the best ways to get people to refer business to you.

When a business associate needs a service and asks you for a referral to another professional such as a web designer, an attorney, or a printer, the easiest response is to think of someone you know who meets the description and give that person's name and phone number to your business associate.

A better way is to ask your business associate if you can call and make the introduction.  Then you call the web designer, attorney, or printer who you know and say, "Hello, Linda, my colleague Frank
is looking for a web designer who can do A, B, and C.  Are you a good fit for him?"

This lets Linda know that you value her enough to pass on a referral and it helps you better understand the scope of Linda's services so you truly know good people to refer to her.  It also gives you a reason to be in touch with Linda. 

You can take it a step further and ask Frank if you can have Linda call him.  That way you get to call Linda with the contact information of a potential client for her business.  That's the best way to give a referral!

Looking for opportunities to refer business to your professional contacts will help you build strong relationships. Picking up the phone and actually calling them with the referral will do even more.  People will not only thank, they'll remember you, and they'll remember to refer business to you as well.

To keep your relationships strong and vibrant, don't just give referrals.  Make the calls to give the referrals.  That will make you an outstanding referral partner.

Being an Outstanding Referral Partner

Do you assume that networking happens only at something called "a business networking event"?  If you do, you're missing out!  We've said it before and we'll say it again, networking is about connecting with people.  You can do that anywhere - at a social event, at a group function, at your child's soccer game or at a neighborhood garage sale.  The Networking Gurus make connections wherever they go and you can too.

Here are five ways we've recently made new connections and steps you can take to do the same.
1. Talk to people you don't know. 
Even if you attend an event with someone, make an effort to talk to others.  It's easy to talk to your friends or colleagues and harder to reach out to someone new.  Yet that's how you will expand your network.  At a writers' reception, Nhung talked to a woman who was standing by herself.  She was a literary agent and after hearing about Nhung's book, she asked to read the first three chapters.  
Action Step:  When attending an event where you know people, step out of your comfort zone and introduce yourself to someone new.

2. Talk to people you do know. 
We often forget to make sure everyone in our sphere knows what we do.  Our sphere is not just our business acquaintances, it includes our friends, family and social acquaintances as well.  A social acquaintance contacted Donna to present an in-house company training.  This acquaintance knew enough about Donna's business and services to contact her with an opportunity.
Action Step:  This week, talk about your business with 5 or more people in your social sphere.

3. Always bring your business card. 
At a social reception, Nhung met an interesting writer from Singapore.  They chatted and she asked for a card, which he didn't have.  She gave him two of hers - one to keep and one to return to her with his information written on the back of it.  Donna was at a friend's birthday party where someone she met was interested in coaching and asked for her card.  
Action Step:  Check your supply of business cards.  Make sure you have a sizable stack of cards in your purse, briefcase, gym bag, glove compartment, wallet, jacket pockets, home and office.

4. Introduce yourself to the speaker or organizer of an event.
While attending an alumni event, Nhung introduced herself to the speaker afterwards.  It turned out they had a lot in common and Nhungwent to hear the speaker the next night.  During that conversation, they discovered that the speaker might be able to help Nhung with a project.
 Action Step:  At the next event you attend, make a point of introducing yourself to the speaker or the organizer of the event. You don't know where that might lead you.

 5. Check out people's web sites and look for things in common.
Nhung was attending a social event organized through a sports club. The organizer included his web site in the signature line of his e-mail (a great networking and marketing tip).  Nhung checked the web site before the event, which led her to tell the organizer about someone she knew who might be good for him to know.  The
conversation started by that introduction led to a follow-up lunch.  
 Action Step:  Make sure your e-mail signature line includes your web site (if you have one) and contact information.  Click on other people's web sites if it seems you might have common interests.

 Our challenge:  Pick one of the five steps above and take action! If you do, you will find that you can network anywhere with anyone, whether it's attending a picnic wearing your most casual attire or going to a formal event wearing your business clothes. 

Five Ways to Network Anywhere, with Anyone!

What do you do when a networking acquaintance invites you to meet for coffee? Do you find yourself saying yes, because you've been told that networking is about building relationships and getting to know people?  At the same time, do you find yourself wondering if this is the most effective use of your time?

Coffee meetings can be a hit or miss affair, and with time being a limited resource for most business people, it's important to use your time well. Here are 5 tips to help you make the best use of your time.

1.  Just say no.  That's right, it's perfectly okay to say no if you don't want to meet with the person, no matter what the reason is.  It's your time and you get to decide how to spend it.  You can simply say you're completely booked right now and don't have time for a one-on-one meeting but perhaps you'll be able to connect at some future networking event. 

2.  Take charge.  Schedule coffee dates with the people who interest you.  Looking for referral partners?  Who shares the same target market you do?  Who did you click with at a recent event that you want to get to know better?  Pick up the phone and invite them to meet.  (And don't take it personally if they say no, see #1.)

3.  Have an agenda and a time limit.  What's the purpose of the meeting?  What's your intention? What do you want to know about them?  What do you want them to learn about you?  How will you accomplish what you want to get done in the time you have available?   Prepare your questions and your answers. 

4.  Location, location, location.  If they asked for the meeting, they should be willing to meet at your convenience, and vice versa.  If your time is limited and they asked for the meeting, ask them to meet at your office.  That will save commuting time and time spent ordering and getting seated at a cafe.

5. Give value.  Networking meetings are more fulfilling when both people see some return.  If you're not sure how you can help them,ask!  Ask them who would be a good prospect or referral for them, or what resources they might need.  Or you can ask "What can I do to help you?"  And if they ask you first, be prepared with your answer of how they can best help you.

If you choose your meetings wisely and prepare in advance, getting to know you meetings can be an effective means of building relationships, which ultimately will grow your network and expand your business.

Making the Most of Getting To Know You Meetings

Twitter is one of the most popular social networking sites on the Internet. This program allows you to provide information to your "Followers" in 140 characters or less. This makes it a unique way to communicate concise information to a wide range of people. If you want to be successful with Twitter, there are several things that you will need to keep in mind. Here are some tips to becoming a social networking king with Twitter.

Provide Value

When you are going to get involved with Twitter, you need to make sure that you provide value to all the people that are following you. Many people tend to mindlessly update or "tweet" about mundane activities that they are doing. Most of the time, you followers are not interested in what you had for lunch. This means that you should put some thought into each of your tweets.
Everyone has to deal with a fair amount of information overload in today's society. Therefore, you should try to filter out some of the information that is completely useless before disseminating it to all of your followers. If you continually crank out tweets that have no value, you will soon lose many of your followers.

Do Not Repeat Yourself

Many people with Twitter accounts will continually repeat themselves over and over again. For some reason, these people think that their followers will not see the first two identical messages that they sent out. Do not get in the habit of repeating yourself over and over again. If your followers like what they see, they will retweet it for you. Every time you send out a message, all of your followers will see it at some point. Therefore, you do not need to be repetitive as it will usually annoy your followers.

Develop Relationships

Since Twitter is a social network, you should do the best that you can to develop relationships with all of your followers. Whenever someone decides to follow you, try to send them a quick message and tell them "Hello."
Also, when someone tweets something that you like, be sure to point it out. You want to try and develop a good relationship with everyone a you deal with on Twitter. It will make the experience much more personal and enjoyable for you and for your followers.

Multimedia

Instead of just always coming up with witty 140 character observations, you should also try to throw in some multimedia on occasion. If you have some interesting pictures that you think your followers would enjoy, post a link to the picture in your tweet. If you have an interesting video that other people might like, do not be afraid to post a link to it. However, when posting links you should make sure that you give a brief description of exactly what your followers will be clicking on. There is a lot of spam on Twitter and many people do not like to click on random links that they do not know anything about.



Secret Twitter Tips to Becoming a Social Networking King

Friday 10 December 2010

What is the core difference between building an Internet marketing business and generating quick cash online? Aren’t they the same thing?

Well, both of them generate income through the Internet; this is one common thing that they both share, but on the other hand, the methods that are employed, the processes and the business models are a bit different.

Consider this example:

In Internet marketing, a marketer is required to do 5 or 6 of these steps or processes. They are required drive traffic, capture leads, build a relationship (or let the affiliate merchant build the relationship for them), pitch the offer, monetize through selling products (or advertising space, depending on the business model) and automate the entire process so that most of the work is leveraged over the Internet.

Internet marketing also requires people to search for the right niche markets, create E-products such as E-books, audio interviews, graphics and articles and also to a certain extent, build content or sites.

It can be totally different when you are using the Internet simply to generate quick cash or fast money.

If you do research on the Internet, you will find that there are many individuals who are making quick cash in less than 24 hours. But how does one tap into these niches?

Firstly, you generate quick cash by tapping on existing markets that people are already willing to buy. This is a fast-track method to get online revenues fast because of the following:

(1) You don’t have to spend so much time generating traffic. The traffic is already there. And that is not all, the traffic is quite targeted as well because the people are already looking for the product or service – that is why they are at that site in the first place.

(2) You don’t have to spend lots of time building websites or content. In fact, in some cases, you can even do away with product creation (by outsourcing the ‘product’ creation process to others or by buying ready made products from the relevant suppliers).

(3) You don’t have to spend time selling to that market. In fact, people there are already pre-sold on the idea and even if you are not there to sell the product or the service to them, they will most likely buy from somebody else (so it is good to tap into that market and be the first one there!)

You will be able to generate quick cash by tapping into services such as writing services, recurring membership programs, selling ready made website templates, selling iPhones on eBay and many others. These are just some examples of industries that a quick cash seeker can tap into.

 For more information, please check out http://su.pr/1Qnqti

The Difference between Internet marketing and generating quick cash online

Thursday 9 December 2010

Hi Friend!

APSense business social network can be your most powerful advertising and branding tool on the Web.
With Apsense, you can actually post ads, write blogs, review others businesses and services and get paid. You can sign up to be someone's friend and others will request to be yours.

The best part is that everyone in this community helps out the other. So, if you have a business you are promoting send it to some of your friends or simply post a blog. Someone will definitely check out the website.
Create attractive looking Revpages for your products or services.
Brand yourself by Blogging and gain followers by submitting good original content.

Some Of The Tools Include:

*Business Centre (Create your own personal business space)
*Revpages (Review of your products and services)
*Blogs (Write about your favourite topics)
*eZine Space (Create professional looking newsletters)
*SEO Tools (Tools to help you get listed in a higer rank on the search engines)
*APSense Community 2 (Just for social)
*ASK Apsense (Get help from experts in a diverse field of categories)

There are also a lot of free add-ons like publishing your own e-zine.
It is an awesome place to share an to connect, there are share buttons all over the place. You can join or create groups.
Have a question? Find answers on any subject in ASK APSense.
The most amazing thing is this: you can even money with promoting your own business and by referring others.
So this is really a no brainer! See you on the other side!
All of this is available for FREE.

Newbie and Experienced marketers alike will find APSense a great addon to there marketing arsenal.

To top all this of, because of APSense good ranking in Alexa, your content gets added on Google within hours of submitting.

As a Partner member you can include your own google adsense advertising to your content.

Sign Up Today and get paid to promote your business. 
http://bit.ly/e6sc4q

Best Regards

Are you stuggling to get your foot in the door on the internet?

Tuesday 7 December 2010

With the rapid advancement in the Internet and its increasing user presence, the medium has become a preferred means of communicating directly with customers. Among the most popular activities on the Internet is the voracious usage of social networking sites.

With its open architecture and wide range of functionalities, Facebook stands as the number one social networking site. There are many reasons for this cult followership of Facebook. The ease of use and dissemination of content, tagging of friends and related users on shared items is yet another great Facebook feature. Facebook also allows creation of secured groups and publicly available fan pages regarding your own brands.

The Facebook applications are its most popular components. Facebook has an open platform for web developers and programmers to create different applications to run applications from within its framework.

What is new about Facebook applications?

Until the option of applications was incorporated, the Facebook features were more about conventional social media usage, such as adding friends and creating groups pertaining to common interests and affiliations.

Applications initiated by Facebook expanded the function of the site toward more interesting features, which included social gaming, where you could include friends and even unknown participants from around the world. The big leap happened when Facebook opened its programming platform to developers around the world, who could develop applications and submit it to Facebook. These applications are made live for public usage once they are certified by Facebook.

How do applications help brand marketing?
On an average, a user would spend no more than a few seconds on the homepage or any other text rich section of a website. Similarly, on Facebook, text-based sections have their own limitations when it comes to holding attention of the users on the same page. That is where rich content and applications come into play.

A game, such as Scrabulous or UNO, on Facebook can engage a user for hours. Social games like Farmville have brought about a new genre of Social Gaming, which is the latest buzzword in gaming circles.
For a brand, a Facebook application can serve as an effective tool to gather and engage captive audience for a longer stretch of time. Users hooked on a particular game or application on Facebook will stay with it until the completion of the game. Brands have smartly used the opportunity to insert their logos and branding very subtly in the game. Subtle messages like these are known to give more brand recall and attitude change compared to intrusive advertisements.

Much to the delight of a marketer, Facebook provides usage stats of subscribers, which gives insight into the profile of users that the brand attracts. This can be compared with the intended target audience of the brand, and campaign modifications can be done based on the findings. Unlike most surveys that are based on sample estimate, what you get to see here is a summary based on each and every user who has added the application.

Developing Applications for Your Brand

Unlike most other participative aspects of social media, developing applications for Facebook requires adequate programming knowledge. Facebook has its own set of guidelines for the creation and submission of applications. Developers working on the Facebook framework must be updated with the guidelines defined by the site for any application to run. Brand owners need to avail services of a developer who knows all the steps that go into the creation of successful Facebook applications to ensure that their brand makes its presence through one of the most engaging options available in online media.

Get more information here for the best Facebook training available: http://bit.ly/eJ50Ep

Engaging Customers with Facebook Applications

Creating the life you want to live through intuition.


"How is your day going?" is a question we often ask each other. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself "How do I want my day to go?" In other areas of our lives, we do ask such questions. In marketing, for example, professionals identify the business they most want to have by identifying their "ideal client," and they do this by identifying their ideal client’s demographic type, attributes, likes, habits, and other typical indicia. Why can’t that also work to identify your "ideal day?"

Ideal client profile

In marketing, professionals often take the time to write out a list of exactly what their ideal client would bring, including workload, finance, relationship, and satisfaction. Then, marketing professionals put the list away to let their intuition work on it for awhile. After a time, additional "ideal client" attributes pop into their minds, and other attributes fall off the list because they don’t "feel" exactly right. In time, the marketing professionals know exactly what their "ideal client" looks like and they know immediately when they see that ideal client.



Ideal day profile

With slight modifications, identifying your "ideal day" can work the same way. But where to begin? Why not begin by identifying the activities in life that bring you joy? We all engage in activities that have brought us joy, that were fun, that caused us to lose track of time during the activity, or that brought us peace of mind, or that just made us feel happy. Write them down and look at the list: does each of these activities bring you joy? When is the last time you did each of these activities? Is anything stopping you from doing them?

Ideal day list of activities

Start with your list of available activities that bring you joy and construct a day around those activities. Add in the elements that you feel are essential to maintaining your life. Rearrange the list so that the joyful and essential elements are scheduled to comfortably all happen in any given period of time. Review the list, pausing over each item to get the "feel" of the activity. At the end of the list, is anything missing? Add it to the list.


Typical list

Here’s a typical "ideal day" list:

MY IDEAL DAY


1. Get up early and exercise in serene, warm surroundings.

2. Go to office for meetings and decisions, or to talk to customers, or stay at home to analyze a problem or develop a proposal. The feeling is relaxed and OK.

3. Meet with new people and old friends to solve problems. The feeling is one of contribution.

4. Lunch with clients, prospects, or friends.

5. Afternoon at quiet work. Vacation trip details.

6. Charitable work in early evening.

7. Dinner at ease with family; play the guitar.

8. Plenty of money and security.

9. Family harmony.

10. Time and place to relax.

Ask your intuition for your ideal day

When you feel comfortable with your list, put it away until bed time. Just before you go to bed, review the list and ask your intuition to create it: "Please give me an ideal day." Be watching for when that ideal day comes. And when that day does come, as it surely will, thank your intuition for creating your ideal day. That night, ask your intuition for another ideal day.

Try it! You’ll be amazed at how it will change your life into just the way you want it to be.

How to Use Intuition to Create Your Ideal Day

For the majority of people money is the ultimate goal in life and the sign of success. For others it is the root of evil, the devil’s eye. Either way, money plays an important role, almost decisive, in modern times and therefore it is necessary to investigate its true value. See more!


Throughout history, almost like a broken record, people kept saying that "money has no value", yet every move they made seemed to revolve around the very thing they proclaimed to be the source of human misery. This kind of hypocrisy was so well spread that it actually did not even raise any eyebrows. There did not seem to be anything suspicious or horribly misplaced for a man who had great fortunes to say "Money has no value to me". However this type of thinking did not apply only to the upper class but to the poor and miserable as well. They were always finding themselves in the pursuit of money, yet simultaneously they shouted the same words as their fellow rich man. Nowadays, thanks to freedom of speech and the spreading of the "I don’t care what you think!" attitude, people are being more sincere both with others and themselves, and they are finally able to admit that they actually do want huge amounts of money. It is very important to understand this aspect: no matter what they say, as long as they are living, people want money.




The second thing we need to grasp is that, like all objects, these "pieces of paper with faces on them" cannot be labelled moral or immoral because these are attributes of human actions. Therefore, if we would undergo a moral investigation into this matter we would need to concentrate on what people are willing to do in order to obtain money and on what they intend to spend it on.



Money in itself has no value. Remember that age old question: "if you were to be abandoned on a deserted island what three things would you take?"It is certain that in this case very few people would even consider taking money. The true value of the dollar or euro lies in what you can buy with it. If you cannot use it to make a transaction then it is pretty much useless. However, this statement is the result of an economical view.



So far we came to the conclusion that people want money but only if they can use it to obtain something else. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that money plays an important role by borrowing the value of other things. The best of these things is human dignity. It may sound strange, but from a specific point of view this kind of connection is legitimate. Every individual has needs that he wants to satisfy. At the very top of his priority list are the physical necessities: water, food and shelter. If he cannot gratify these basic instincts, then he is closer in his actions and his way of life to animals that only live in the concrete moment. Only by having access to water, food and shelter he will then be able to address other higher necessities (of the mind, of the soul) that are superior on a moral scale to those of the body. Having money, in the majority of causes, offers you the assurance that you will always be able to satisfy your physical needs, and thus you have a sense of independence and liberty. However, the lack of proper finances will render you incapable of living a decent life. You will be forced to beg and implore someone else to give you water, food and shelter, which, in the final analysis, is a form of degradation. Money can also offer you the possibility to not only take care of yourself but also to look out for other fellow human beings, especially your children by allowing them to get the professional education they need. Talking strictly from this point of view, the dollar or euro does have value, but there are also some drawbacks.



Money can never be a true value like goodness, beauty, courage, kindness etc and we all know the reasons why. First of all, having "dough" can help you keep your human dignity but it can also be the source of its demise. In this case, we need to take into account, on one hand, what some people are willing to do to get their hands on some cash (stealing, killing, kidnapping etc) and, on the other hand, on what do they intend to spend it for (weapons, vices, all sorts of objects they surround themselves with and tend to forget about others etc.).



Moreover, the saying "you can’t have your cake and eat it too" applies very well to money. For example, if you take 100$ and give it to five people, two things happen: firstly, the 100$ is distributed by dividing it among five persons (which means the 100$ bill is gone) and secondly, that sum of money contributed to the satisfaction of a limited number of individuals. By contrast, a true value, like a truth or a song, keeps its unity in its distribution (a truth remains whole no matter to how many people you share it to) and it also has a beneficial effect on a much larger number of human beings.



In conclusion, money will always play an important role in our lives. What really a matter is the way we use it and perceive it, whether we fully understand its advantages and limits. After all, man created and shaped money…. or was it the other way around?

The Value Of Money

The Law of Attraction is an term that has been around for a while. Before being called The Law of Attraction though, the exact same concepts were circulating under other name. Some authors previously called it the power of the subconscious mind, the Universe (not in a astronomical sense, but rather in a spiritual sense), the power of the Infinite, the power of the Intention, and, of course, God. In a Law of Attraction sense, however, God is not seen as its biblical or very religious representation but rather as an powerful and omnipotent spiritual figure toward which everyone of us may turn to accomplish great things. There is no such things as sins, commandments, or else, but rather a spiritual presence within each of us and connecting each of us together. So what is the Law of Attraction anyway?


The Law of Attraction basically states that whatever you chose to concentrate your attention on will amplify itself. If you think of debts, you will attract more debts in your life. If you focus on illness, you will be sick. If you think of obstacles, you will attract more obstacles. To the contrary, The Law of Attraction states that if you choose to focus on prosperity, health, joy, success, that's what you'll attract in your life.

To many Law of Attraction theorist, it is not only what you concentrate on that matters, but also and maybe more importantly, how you feel about those things you think about. According to these Law of Attraction authors, it is not enough to think about money, success, or health to get those things in your life. For instance, if you thing of success but you feel like you are lying to yourself, the Law of Attraction will bring you more failures. If you think of prosperity but your heart is sad and you really feel like you are poor and you hope that some Infinite power will help you, you will attract more poverty in your life, and so on. To these Law of Attraction authors, this is the reason why so many people who try various visualization methods fail: because the positive image they focus on brings up more negative feelings. Here is a great Law of Attraction quote about this phenomenon, you can find more Law of Attraction quotes by clicking here:

"When your desires and imagination are in conflict your imagination invariably gains the day." This Law of Attraction quote is from Joseph Murphy , in The Power of your Subconscious Mind.


3. Some Law of Attraction authors also note that while visualizations, affirmations and meditations are necessary, action is ultimately the only way to get results.

Here is a Law of Attraction quote about this warning:


"THOUGHT is the creative power, or the impelling force which causes the creative power to act; thinking in a Certain Way will bring riches to you, but you must not rely upon thought alone, paying no attention to personal action. That is the rock upon which many otherwise scientific metaphysical thinkers meet shipwreck--the failure to connect thought with personal action." This Law of Attraction quote is from Wallace D. Wattles in The Science of Getting Rich.

4. The mechanisms by which the Law of Attraction works are not always very well defined by the authors. As you read various authors quotes, you will find that many refers to the human brain emitting frequencies, vibrations, cosmic waves, or other metaphysical concepts. These would, in turn, communicate with a kind of collective subconscious mind, and set into motion the forces you need to accomplish your goals. Other authors quotes will refer to the Law of Attraction as a more God-like being, which has its own will and will collaborate with you only if you communicate with it in some very specific ways, like in with gratitude, as an example.


5. Whatever the definition of The Law of Attraction, the same methods are always used to invoke this power and use it to accomplish your goals. These methods are: meditation, visualization and affirmation, which I will cover more specifically in upcoming articles.

The Law of Attraction: Some Quotes and 5 Key Elements

If you want to change your life e.g. become rich, gain success, etc, you should learn how to improve your luck. Yes, there are strategies that enable you to get good luck, or techniques on how to get lucky, which will be shared in this article.


Some people are believed to be born lucky, while some, unlucky. If you feel that you are an unlucky person, then, this article is right for you. You see, there are techniques you can apply that can change your life, specifically help you get good luck. The following are ways that can help improve your luck – in short, strategies on how to get lucky:

Technique A: You should take some risks.

To become luckier in life, one advice is to be a risk taker. This does not mean taking risks without even studying or thinking long and hard about the consequences – rather, it means letting go of the fear of risk taking e.g. when starting a new business, changing careers, and so on, as taking risks can help you on your way to success, a wealthier life, or a life that’s better than the life you’re currently living. To change your life for the better, there are times wherein you need to take risks, or else you’ll be stuck in a rut and never, ever get good luck.

Technique B: Know your strengths and make sure that you utilize them.


To improve your luck, you also have to find out what your strengths are. In this way, you’ll know what traits, attitudes, or skills you can use that can help you in your goal of how to get lucky. For instance, if you’re currently working as a call center agent, and you have the skill in selling used cars, why not use your skill by having a buy and sell car business aside from working as a call center employee? The extra income you can get from buying and selling cars can really change your life positively, to be specific, you’ll get more money, and when your biz booms, it is safe to say that you were able to get good luck because you did not put your strengths to waste.

Technique C: Help other people if you can.


Another way you can improve your luck is to be helpful if you really do have the means or resources to help others. Remember this saying: ‘what goes around comes around’, and believe it or not, this adage can be applied to people who wish to learn how to get lucky. Just think, every good deed you do for others will in one way or another, be reciprocated. This does not mean keeping score, but, believing that God will reward you eventually for your good deeds. If you desire to get good luck, therefore, help and give as much as you can, while never expecting payback, but, believing in your heart that you’ll get to change your life by being of help to those who need it.


Technique D: Improve your problem areas.

You can also start to improve your luck by determining what your weaknesses are and taking steps to correct them. Do you have problems with your communication skills, writing skills, and so on? By attending a speech or writing improvement class, or joining tutorials or seminars that will help you get rid of your weaknesses, you’ll discover the answers to the question of how to get lucky.

It is possible to get good luck, no matter if you really feel that you have been showered with unluckiness. You just have to follow these techniques that are guaranteed to help you change your life as well as improve your luck. Steve Gillman’s ebook: Secrets Of Lucky People will teach you all about the principles of good-luck and how you can more easily attract luck into your life. By reading this e book, you’ll start enjoying life as a lucky person.

Get Good Luck And Change Your Life: How To Get Lucky Tips

Marketing as an activity is all about reaching the right customers with the right products, and the result sought is delighted customers who are more than willing to open their purses wide enough to boost your revenues. For many years, marketers stalked their target customers through various means and by trying to get their message across to spread awareness about their wares.

Traditional Means of Communication
Traditionally, marketing communications were conducted via print, broadcast and such traditional media through disruptive advertising, where advertisements appear in between the content of interest for the customer.
Traditional media does give a large reach to a marketer with its programming of mass appeal. However, the wastage is equally high, since a large portion of the audience would belong to a different segment than the one that is to be targeted by the marketer.

Enter Social Media and the Internet
The revolution stirred by the internet as a medium took place because of the fact that it is highly personalized and provides more content on-demand than any other available medium. Social sites proliferated far and wide in their usage for a few simple reasons:

The power to create and distribute content is equally available to every user, irrespective of him/her being a customer or a marketer. In the earlier forms of media, that power rested with the editorial staff of the channel or the advertiser, but hardly ever with the user.

The medium is completely personalized, and a user can create or join groups and further create content based on what he/she likes.
Opinions are free and fair. This is one reason why social media is of utmost concern to marketers, since buying decisions are no more influenced as much by advertisements. The traditional word-of-mouth marketing approach has grown leaps and bounds on social networks.

Facebook – At the Center of Social Media
With 500 million (and growing) unique users worldwide, Facebook is the number one social networking site in terms of activity and subscriptions. What started as a garage initiative by Mark Zuckerberg has now become the biggest phenomenon on the internet.

A user interface that allows for quick communication and the ability to create fan pages and groups at the click of a mouse button are what make Facebook extremely popular. Another important reason for its immense popularity is the wide variety of social applications that have been developed and made available within the Facebook environment.

These applications can allow users and friends to do joint activities like playing games that run endlessly, sharing photos, videos, and web links, and many more.

How does this help a marketer?

Traditionally, media plans were drawn to include television channels, publications, or any other media that can grab maximum eyeballs and effectively reach a selected target audience. The science of segmentation and targeting has become only more accurate in the case of social media.

Facebook provides a wide variety of avenues to communicate with the audience, which opens up an entirely different world of possibilities to have a fruitful dialogue with customers. Some of these methods used popularly by marketers are:



Advertising: The first opportunity, which is the most obvious one, is advertising on Facebook. The difference, however, is the fact that you can create your own advertisement in a matter of minutes and also specify the details of your target group in terms of demographics and types of discussions where you want your advertisement to appear.

Fan Pages: Facebook allows every brand, as well as individual users, to create fan pages for their favorite celebrities and their own homegrown businesses. Large brands have also created their official pages on Facebook that have a huge, immediate fan following around the world. The fan page has immense utility to convey first hand information about the brand and also to collect immediate and frank feedback from your customers.

Branded applications: One of the most effective ways to engage a user toward your brand is by creating an application; this could be a game or a contest, with your branding coming across subtly through it.

What makes Facebook even more exciting is the way it allows you to target your communication sharply just to the customer segment you want to attract. It also provides analytics and page insights that give good feedback and measurement on the activity done.

The options provided by Facebook can be creatively explored and used judiciously for bringing about maximum benefits to any brand.

However, while doing all this, you need to be aware of the fact that customers have an equal say and have the ability to respond immediately to any of your actions with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Availing the service of a social media consultant to work out a social media strategy may be required so that your efforts will not be in vain.

Get more information here for the best Facebook training available: http://bit.ly/eJ50Ep

Facebook and Social Media - The Next Marketing Opportunity

Monday 6 December 2010

Empowering yourself to conquer procrastination
What exactly is procrastination? Why can't I follow Nike's slogan "Just do it!"? When we fail to do something that we yearned to do but did not, we ask ourselves the question "Why can't I just move my butt and DO it?"  It just means the act of putting off actions or tasks to a later time.
Procrastination, the opposite of decision is a common enemy that everyone should conquer in order to achieve the goals.
Why people procrastinate?
There are many reasons why people procrastinate and I will share with you the most common ones.
1. Fear of failure - you are not in control of other people response to work and over-valuing of these responses can cause anxiety and uneasiness. Take for example, if you want to achieve perfection in a task which standard cannot be met will discourage you from doing it.
2. Fear of success- you might find this strange, but it is true that some of us are afraid of what might happen if we are successful.
3.  Fear of changes - you do not want to change yourself to adapt to the new state because you are afraid of the impact the changes will bring to you, it is simply that you are already in your comfort zone.
4. Peer influence - if you associate closely with people who procrastinate, you will become one of them, so be careful of your association. Remember this "you are what you attract".
5. Habit - If you have this habit since young, it will become part of you and changes will be extremely difficult, for example, it will be hard for a smoker who has smoked for 30 years to quit, it will be mission impossible.
6. Difficulty in making decision - some people is indecisive in what they wants, so they will always tell themselves, "Next time then do".
7. Low frustration tolerance level - if you are easily aggravated by small hiccups or obstacles, you will tend to give up easily.
There are many more reasons like low motivation, stress, lack of skill, lack of assertion, laziness, fear of the unknown, lack of self confidence and many more factors that can lead to procrastination.
Next, we will come to how we are going to overcome it?
1.  Prioritize all the tasks to be done. Imagine if you have one large job on hand, you will tend to become over-loaded and soon you will be frustrated which will lead to procrastination. You can overcome this by breaking out the job into different tasks and prioritize them accordingly into 3 groups namely, H (High priority) - needs to be done immediately, M (Medium priority) - needs to be done, but not instantly and L (Low priority) - not essential but good to get it done. Focus on one task at a time.
2. You must also development good time management to prevent last minute excitement over incomplete work.
3. Adopt a habit of keeping a "To Do" list so that you can't "conveniently" forget about the overwhelming jobs to be done.
4. Promise yourself a reward once you have completed the task. This will motivate you to work towards your goals. You must reward yourself and not torture.
5. Identify and acknowledge the unpleasant consequences if the work is not completed.
In summary, use these empowering techniques to help you establish the right priorities, and manage your time in such a way that you make the most of the opportunities open to you. Always take action when opportunities arise, STOP procrastinating!!!.

Self Empowerment By Overcoming Procrastination

 
ENTREPRENEUR © 2015 - Designed by Templateism.com