How to build a successful internet business

I would like to talk about a few things that have helped me get a solid start to my internet business. When I first started my online business, I didn’t know what tools were necessary in order to be successful. After doing some research, I decided that promoting affiliate programs was the way for me to go. Affiliate programs provided me with the products and marketing tools that were necessary to get my business off to a good start. So, my purpose today is to give you some ideas of things you should do in order to have success in starting and building your internet business.

1. Register your own domain name

Registering your own domain name establishes credibility, trust, professionalism and ownership for your business. Having a domain such as islandhomebiz. com will establish you as a legitimate business owner and not just an affiliate. Affiliate links are usually much longer and are difficult to index into the search engines. Your domain name is your home on the web, so if you want to get a good start to your business you have to purchase your own space on the web. Purchasing or renting space is true not only for an internet business but for any type of business.

2. Use a website homepage

Build your own website home page or have one built for you. There are many legitimate work-at-home affiliate programs and money making programs online that will build a free website homepage for you when you join. Most turnkey home businesses will provide at least 6 income schemes for your website homepage. Just make sure that you do some research to ensure that you indeed join a legitimate and proven work-at-home program. Try to find programs that offer products that are high in demand and interesting too. The affiliate programs you join should also provide you with long term residual income rather than just one sale at a time.

3. Use a lead capture page.

Use a lead capture or sales page to quickly grab the attention of your website visitors. Your lead capture page should provide your visitors with a free news letter, ebook, or even the ability to download free tools and bonuses. Providing this type of service to your website visitors will make it easier to capture their contact information. Most lead capture or sales pages will capture at least the visitor’s first name and email address. Capturing your visitor’s contact information will help you build your subscriber list. I’m sure by now you’ve heard the phrase “the money is in the list”. Well, that’s absolutely true; your subscriber list is the lifeline of your business. Your subscriber list is your customers; you can sell to them over and over again, because these are the people that you have built a trusting relationship with. However, in order to build a list you need to have an autoresponder to follow up with your prospects.

4. Use an autoresponder

Your autoresponder will work hand-in-hand with your lead capture or sales page. Many affiliates market their affiliate websites without the ability to capture their visitor’s contact information. This is one of the biggest mistakes new marketers, or anyone for that matter, can make when trying to build an internet business. It’s imperative that you have the ability to follow up with your prospects if they don’t buy from you the first time they see your offer. Your autoresponder will do the follow-ups for you. Autoresponders have many functions available to you, such as blasting special offers or anything else that you may want to send to your list. Your autoresponder will never get tired or take a break. It will work for you twenty-four-seven.

5. Reinvest into your business.

As your business begins to grow and sales start to come in, reinvest a portion of your earnings back into your business. You may want to increase your advertising budget, and think of new and exciting ways to drive more traffic to your website. For example, you can add an ebook with reprint rights to your marketing campaign which will allow you to make sales and keep all the profits for yourself. You should strive to keep your prospects excited about your products and services by adding new and useful content to your website or email marketing campaign on a regular basis. Reinvesting into your business, increasing your marketing efforts and adding fresh and useful content to your marketing campaign will help you continue to make sales, and add new prospects to your list.

If you follow these few steps, you can feel confident that you are on the right path to building a successful internet business. Then you can relax awhile, take a break and spend some quality time with your family. Finally, if you haven’t done so already, make a work schedule that fits you and continue to market and build your internet business. Remember, there’re many ways to build and grow an internet business. These are just some tips for you that have helped me along the way.

Ultimate blogging series part 1 6 fast and easy steps to set your blog on fire

Have you been thinking how a blog gets popular? There are literally 1001 ways to drive traffic to your blog and set your blog on fire. It is not hard at all to drive thousands, if not, tens of thousands of visitors to your blog. You need to know what you need to do.

Ultimate Blogging Series is created to help you explode your blogging experience. This will be the first article in the series. In this article, I will talk about one of my favorite way to drive heavy amount of traffic to any site I want, in a snap of a finger. I call it "6 Steps To Set Your Blog On Fire". Let’s start:

Step 1: Write A Free Report

Surprise! This looks weird isn't it? You have probably head of driving traffic using article marketing, forum participation, link building, link exchange and the like. Have you ever heard of driving traffic using a free report? Guess what, if you do it right, you will never have to worry about traffic again, unless you really want to set your server on fire.

Step 2: Address A "Sleepless" Concern

In order for the free report to work, you need to write it in a way that it addresses a concern. Don't be afraid to write your best kept secret into the free report. It has to be real good! I mean REAL good. This is to ensure that your free report will stand out from the crowd, knowing that there are thousands of free reports freely exchanging hands on the internet. But how do you know you are addressing a concern? A rule of thumb is always ask yourself, whether the free report answers the headache question that keeps people awake in the night.

Step 3: Include Link-Backs In The Free Report

Since my college years, I have always been taught: Do Not Give Anything Away For Free. That's right! You cannot do someone a favor until you know how to love yourself. In your free report that you will give it away in the end of the day, include not one, but many link-backs to your blog so that people have some where to go for more after reading your free report.

Step 4: Make The Free Report Into PDF Format For Easy Distribution

The next step is to make your free report into PDF format. PDF is easy to distribute and looks welcoming. Always make your reports into PDF format. Do not ever distribute your free report in the form of word document. Protect it using PDF, so it is not easily editable. You may convert your word document into PDF using pdfonline. com, or simply download a free copy of OpenOffice at OpenOffice. org to save your free report in the form of PDF directly. I like OpenOffice very much, as it allows me to save all my work in PDF directly, free of charge!

Step 5: Give Readers The Right To Give The Free Report Away

In your free report, tell them that they have the right to give this free report away, whether via direct download (give them the link of the download), via email, or anyway they like. Remind them a few times, especially after every strong and informative paragraph. Sometimes, people share the free report with their friends immediately after reading something that hits them hard.

Step 6: Give Your Free Report Away

Now, here is the secret move for this free report: give it away, all over the places! You can include a download link on your blog, in your forum signature, in your resource box when you are submitting articles, in your MySpace profile, in your BlogFeast. net blog. Attach this report in an email and send it to all your friends. Do a search on Google about "free ebook directories" and submit your free report to all the directories. Try to get as many people to download and read as possible.

The first wave of give-away is usually done by you, which I call seeding. Make sure you seed in at least 10 traffic hubs. By mentioning traffic hubs I mean sites or places that the traffic gathers. Make your free report a direct download. Once you seed the free report, if it is REAL good, it will get distributed.

Remember you left a link in the free report pointing back to your blog? You should start to see some traffic coming back to your blog for more information. You can then capture them into your RSS subscription or mailing list. You can even offer them more free reports of other closely related concerns to have them give away for you.

This technique is a surefire way to set your blog on fire. It is not hard at all. Your free report does not have to be in hundreds of pages. A 10-15 pages report addressing a "sleepless" concern will do the trick. After sending the free report away, give it some time. Slowly, you will see your blog's traffic increasing. The traffic will not come in a day, but it will come gradually, today more than yesterday, as your report is now reaching more and more people’s hand.

Franchise exhibitions - the best way to evaluate a franchise business

A franchise opportunity can be an excellent way to start a business for the first time. And the best way to find the right franchise is to attend a franchise exhibition. Some of the major franchise exhibitions showcase hundreds of different opportunities under one roof.

This gives potential franchisees the ability to shop around and question many franchisors all in the same day! It is also possible to negotiate favourable terms as so many franchises are competing to get a franchise agreement signed.

If a franchisee wants to make the most of attending a franchise exhibition then it is important that prior to attending basic research is carried out. By searching on the internet it will be possible to research many of the franchisors that are attending the exhibition.

It is also a good idea to be clued up on how franchises operate so that valuable time is not wasted learning the basics. Be careful though as there are many sharp sales people manning the stands and some of them may be far too ruthless when it comes to getting a franchise agreement signed!

It is always a good idea to question all the franchisors but not to make a decision on the same day. Request details from all the franchises that seem appealing and then evaluate them over the next few days in the comfort of your own home.

A franchise exhibition can also be a great day out for the family and children if planned correctly. For the older children it can be very educational looking at and discussing with you the various opportunities that are on show. It is better to leave younger ones behind with a friend or family as they will find the whole experience rather tiring.

Make sure that all of you are smartly dressed as the franchisors will also be evaluating you! Remember to take lots of business cards or alternatively print out some compliment slips with your full details to distribute to the franchisors.

It is better to leave the house early so that you arrive just after the exhibition has started. This way you can quickly and easily question the exhibitors that are of particular interest before the crowds start to arrive.

As soon as you feel tired stop for a bite of lunch. If you have packed some food then you will find many seating areas to refuel. There are also food stalls in most exhibitions where you can get some lunch prepared for you. If you arrived early then now is the time to have a nice break and freshen up.

A franchise exhibition is also an ideal way to meet some of the larger banks who can provide you with funding. Some of the banks that have a dedicated franchise department usually exhibit at the shows and can often give you a better deal for funding your purchase than your existing bank.

Some of the top franchise lawyers often offer free legal advice at the exhibitions. How often do you hear the word "free" when it comes to legal matters!

Are you looking to buy a franchise? A franchise exhibition is the best way to quickly evaluate and discover new business opportunities.

Best bargain hunting objectives

Often people go bargain hunting to buy items that are very low priced. While this is the usual objective for most shopping trips, there are some people who hunt for bargains on a professional level and the objectives for these shopping trips are viewed with a different perspective. These shoppers go bargain hunting to find items that other businesses need and these items might keep businesses in operation.

There are many industrial part vendors that go bargain hunting any place in the world because a client needs a repair part to keep a piece of machinery running. These machinery parts locators have access to a large network of repair parts providers and simply must find the correct part and deliver it to the business. The bargain hunting objective on these trips is to find parts are very low prices.

The savings will normally not be passed on to the client and this is why a bargain hunter remains in business. They are willing to do a lot of hard work to find a repair part and feel that the extra profit is simply a reward for a job well done when they eventually locate the part. Some bargain hunters will visit shipyards and other industrial areas where safety issues can occur at any moment.

The bargain hunting might require the shoppers to climb up scaffolding to gain access to a part. The parts locator will make a considerable profit if they can put their hands on a part that nobody else has been able to find and they are willing to go down into the hulls of ships to find a part that has not been made in forty years or more. Finding rare parts is part of the excitement that bargain hunters experience during a bargain hunting trip.

Some of the best bargain hunting objectives can be found with military contractors. The pricing on parts with the military is often open to suggestion but the military still has many locations for storing and selling parts to outside sources. Some parts locator services will bring shopping lists with them that contain a hundred items or more. The bargain hunters keep an objective tally on the number of parts that will fit on one truck to make sure that profits do not slip silently away.

Professional part vendors maintain an objective view on how they can sell the items in their inventories. They might create a repair parts website and allow other people to go bargain hunting for parts that they need for their tractor, truck or mobile home. The best bargain hunting objectives can work both ways and if shoppers and sellers will agree to great deals, then everybody will come out a winner on a bargain hunting shopping trip.

How does affiliate marketing works

With the internet, you can get almost anything at the click of a mouse. There is tons of data and information out there on all subjects or topics. And the Internet continues to affect how we operate on a daily basis. People use it for everything from entertainment to education. So it is not a stretch to the imagination to see that there are great financial possibilities for the entrepreneur.

Its not only for the professional business types, any individual can make money without a traditional company. You don’t need products to sell. How is this possible? Affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing works when a merchant gets an affiliate to promote his service or product. The affiliate shares some of the revenue. This scheme is an efficient way of getting profit for the merchant it also pays for the affiliate and the affiliate network.

The merchant benefits by having someone else spend the time and money advertising and encouraging customers to buy the product. He also benefits though the variety of markets the products can be reached using different affiliates. And his sales may be increased through word of mouth rather than other costly endeavors. The affiliate benefits by getting a commission of each sale he makes. If a consumer clicks on the merchant’s link on the affiliate website and buys the product or service, then the affiliate may get percentage of the sale.

To become a successful affiliate, you must first figure out what you are interested in. What are you passionate about? You will have to build a website around your subject and be informative about the topic. It would also help to make your site unique.

Then look for a merchant that pays well for products or services related to your area of interest. While making these decisions you may want to think about the conversion rate of visitors becoming buyers. Browse through the various affiliate networks to find out which products work for you.

After choosing the area, the products you would like to use and setting up your website, you will have to address the issue of traffic to your site. This is important if you are to make any kind of money. For example, if you are selling expensive items it is possible to make a lot of money very quickly but high ticket products may be harder to sell. To help with promotion and marketing do some research online and purchase books about the subject.

How to launch a successful home business as a layman

There are a lot of affiliate programmes around. They all promise great products with even greater returns. How would anybody choose from so many programmes? And can you believe all these promises? In this first article I take you on the earliest steps of this journey that I have taken myself when I not too long ago started my home business. Discover which programmes are good and which ones are bringing the return I hoped for.

First of all, you need to understand the basics. Doing any kind of business, and a home business as an affiliate is just that, has to do with supply and demand. There are many affiliate programmes around and even more people who join them. All these affiliates are fishing in the same pond of the customers' dollars. While the market of ebusiness is increasing, so is the number of affiliates. In order to be succesful you need to be determined and realistic. A lot of people stop after a few months because they did not make thousands of dollars.

Second of all, you will find a lot of very good advice of how to become successful in your home business. Be sure that when you read this advice millions of others read the same thing and act on it. Do I need to say more, except that I do advice to read some material so you understand what you are doing? Dotcomology is such a book that covers all of the topics you need to know about when starting your home business.

Knowing and understanding the first two points you should realise that this is business and it can become big business, one that you need to build up and maintain. You will need to invest time. If you do not have time, make sure you have money to invest as customers don't just pop up and buy into your product.

One thing that has helped me a lot is that I joined a programme that has helped me launch several affiliate programmes and taking me by the hand to build a home business. Find also an affiliate programme that helps you build a business from scratch that takes you by the hand, step by step. You will need to know and deal with so many things that any help is welcome. At first any business you start is mind boggling. Remember, this is a real business, even though affiliate programmes take care of a lot of things. But still, the marketing part which is not as straight forward and easy, you will need to deal with yourself.

Finally, be clear about one thing before you start. Set beforehand a $$ amount that you are willing to invest. As with any, and I mean any, affiliate programme, even though they are in most cases free to join, you will always be offered the choice to join and/or upgrade many other parallel running programmes in order to increase traffic or to accomplish something else. These upgrades can total a pretty high investment. Determine also how much time you would like to spend on your business. If you have no money and time to invest, and want lots of money within a short period, better think again before starting.

Cheap conference calls are they any good

Conference calls have been an alternative way of gathering people together in a business seminars or meetings. It can save everyone the hassle of traveling from one place to another just to attend a business gathering. Not only that, it can also relatively lower down company expenses because all you really need is a telephone system and you are good to go. Technology has really gone a long way and has helped the business sector in making cost-effective solutions that fits their needs.

You may think that setting up a call conference may be costly. Actually it need not be. There are a number of conference call service providers in the market that are offering affordable call conferencing packages which are available for everyone.

How come some cheap conference call providers can reduce their rates that low?

Firstly, offering cheap rates is their marketing strategy to get more people to commission their service. Second, cheap conference calls are often service providers themselves and have their very own network that they use during conference calls. This way, there are actually no or at least very minimal overhead cost. Without these additional costs, they can easily lower down their rates.

How do cheap conference calls work?

Providers usually would give their costumer a unique toll free number. The participants of the conference call will then dial-in the given number. The host would simply call the toll number and can easily conduct the conference right there and then.

Advantages of cheap conference calls

Reservation-less conferencing

Cheap conference call does not need reservations for a person to join the conference. A client can call a conference anytime he needs one without making prior reservations.

Call management system

Cheap conference calls also provide their own call management system. Just be sure to check with your provider other services and additional features that come with the package you paid for. Call management system would ensure that you have a smooth-flowing conference at all times.

Operator assisted

Cheap conference calls also provide live operators upon request but you would usually be required to pay additional cost for this. Since cheap conference calls are committed to provide the most cost-effective solution possible for their costumers they usually use automated system instead of live operators to cut down the cost of the service you have to pay for.

Easy setup

You might think that you need extra tools to set up conferencing, but this is actually not the case. There are no additional equipments that you need to have to make a conference call. All you need to have is a simple telephone system that you would use during the conference.

Get in touch with hundreds of people

The primary use of a conference call is to get two or more people together. But with a cheap call conference, it gets even better. You can converse and connect to one person or to one hundred people all at the same time.

Who would benefit from cheap call conferences?

Call conferencing is not exclusive for business use. It could also be used for medical consultations and for small organization’s staff meetings.

Start-up companies would greatly benefit from cheap call conferencing. They would give your company the professionalism it needs without you shelling out a big fortune. Cheap call conferencing would perfectly fit your budget.

Small organizations and charity institutions can also use cheap conference calls. This way, they can get in touch with their staff wherever they are in the world. You do not need to pay for high cellphone bills anymore or to travel far just to talk to your staff. Cheap conference makes it easier for you.

Cheap conference calls, are they any good? In conclusion, they are! They offer cost-effective solutions to suits your needs without paying for high fees. They are very economical compared to traveling to different places just to meet with certain people whether it is for your business or for your organization.

Apart from being affordable, cheap conference calls are not short when in comes to technical advantage. They can offer the same service most high-priced providers offer. What you really have to do is to evaluate your provider’s services and ask them about what they can offer you. It would be a good idea to compare providers and choose what you think is best suited for your cause.

Communication is very vital in a thriving company. With cheap conference calls, you can create seamless communication with your people and still save up a little of your budget.

Become a recognized expert in your field

How would you like to have prospective clients call YOU? How would you like to stop chasing business and sit back and let the phone ring? Most of us would love that luxury. And after years in a particular business, many of us get to that point. But it’s a struggle and many others never quite get there. The trick is to become a recognized expert in your field, to establish a name for yourself that is associated with expertise in your business. The trick is to become so well known in your field that prospective clients seek you out and never even compare you with your competition.

You already know the recognized experts in your field. You know who they are. And in many cases, their achievements appear out of reach. Their business reality is so different than our own that it seems almost out of reach. Well, that is not case. Although these recognized experts seem to have a certain degree of star power, they are human beings just like you and me and they got to their level of recognition by following a strategy, by doing certain things deliberately to achieve the desired results.

So the question really is: what did they do? What were the steps along the way and exactly what did they do to achieve the exposure they now enjoy. Believe me; it’s not an easy path. Yes, in some cases, people almost stumble into their own success. Those stories exist and we’ve all heard them. But there are many more than take the hard road and literally muscle their way onto the stage. This article will look at the conceptual foundation of that process.

The first thing you’ll need to become a recognized expert in your field is expertise. There’s no way to fake this. And as an author myself, I’m certainly not encouraging any sort of deceptive run into stardom. If you have ambitions to become a recognized expert in your field, you absolutely must become an expert first. And with the internet close at hand, doing so is easier than ever.

There’s no question that the best value for your money in terms of acquiring expertise is in published books. Do a search on Amazon and you’ll quickly find more knowledge than you can handle. And for those of you who don’t like to read, you can often buy the books in audio format. In fact, you can do a search on iTunes and YouTube and probably find dozens of free podcasts or videos on your topic. And of course, a Google search will bring up all the resources you need.

The second thing you need to do is give your expertise away for free. Yes, you read that right. Give it away for free. Make yourself useful. Get out there and demonstrate your expertise. Show the world your knowledge. And the internet plays a major role in that as well. No longer do you need to publish a book to demonstrate your expertise. Now, you can publish articles like this one or start a podcast series. You can contribute to blogs or forums or you can start a blog of your own. All of these tactics will position you as an expert in your field. All of these things will increase your credibility and your exposure.

Now, the idea of publishing a book is another great option. And that’s a lot easier than it once was as well. No longer do you have to submit a proposal to the industry heavies like Penguin and Random House and pray you get accepted when thousands of others get denied. No. Now, you can find a smaller independent publisher or self-publish your own book. And regardless how you get it out there, you will make the transition from a regular runt to an author. And from that day forward, people will treat you differently. They will treat you like an expert.

The last thing you need to do is leverage the early exposure you get to widen your audience. After you’ve contributed to blogs and forums, after you’ve found an audience by podcasting, after you’ve sold 100 copies of your new book, you need to immediately put those victories into your bio and use them to position yourself for larger and larger venues. Done properly, the process can snowball and lead you on a steep climb to success.

The recognized experts in your field aren’t that different than you and I. They’re just a few steps in front of us. And just because their reality looks so different than yours, don’t think the same reality isn’t equally available to you. It is. You just have to map out a strategy and follow through with it. You have to develop expertise and then give it away for free. And then you have to leverage the early exposure to widen the audience. Good luck!

Email marketing the timing and the relevance

If you look hard enough you will find research on almost any given topic. For instance, were you aware that there are certain times when sending email marketing is probably a bad idea? There are also times when sending marketing emails makes perfect sense.

Monday and Friday – These two days are not as useful to email marketing as other days of the workweek. The primary reason is Monday is generally a time to get back into the swing of work, while Friday is a time to gear down. Your email is likely to be lost in the shuffle. Since most email marketing can be sent out on command this is something to consider when developing an email marketing campaign.

Saturday and Sunday – The weekend is generally throwaway days for email marketing for much the same reason as Monday and Friday. If someone is in the office on the weekend, the last thing they are interested in is marketing emails. If your email comes in over the weekend chances are pretty good your email marketing campaign will be subject to a readily used email purge without serious consideration.

It should be noted that you might find some receptivity to email marketing campaigns that are sent out to individual consumers late in the workweek or even early in the weekend. This is the primary difference between business-to-business email marketing and business-to-consumer marketing.

Tuesday through Thursday – These are the three days when all email marketing seems to have the greatest impact. Employees and business owners are fully entrenched in their workweek and the result is their minds may be better geared toward business decisions or consumer purchases.

Interestingly if you can send your emails out around either 9 am or 1 pm, response seems to be better than if you wait for either lunch or the end of the workday.

Essentially what we are seeing is if you can approach consumers and business contacts during the ‘trench’ part of the workweek, when their minds aren’t focused on either closing time or lunch you may stand a better chance at affecting a site visit and potential sale. You may even find fewer opt-out requests when you work within this simple time frame for email marketing.

Remember, no one likes junk mail and they don’t like emails that are thought of in terms of spam. Make sure your content is relevant to the topic the individual signed up for, make sure you can provide information or price reductions on products the customer may be interested in or has purchased in the past. Relevancy and timing are keys to acceptability in all email-marketing campaigns.

How to start home business ventures with next to no money

By and large, there are two ways to start home business ventures:

1. Utilize a well thought out media blitz to generate interest in a good or service you are selling and then place it visibly for all to sale on the ‘Net.

2. Sell a good or provide a service by relying on your wits, skills, support group and talents.

The first methodology requires money, and lots of it. The upside of course, if the media campaign works, is a gigantic profit margin. If you remember the various toy crazes that hit right around the Christmas holidays a few years back, you will be able to understand just what a creative and well funded advertising campaign can accomplish in a short period of time. Yet the average would-be entrepreneur lacks this kind of advertising budget and instead will have to opt for alternative two, which will permit her or him to start home business ventures with next to no cash.

If you are ready to try your hand and would like to learn how to become successful working from home but do not have a lot of money to spend, here are some tips you cannot do without:

* Take an inventory of your skill set. Are you are mother? If so, you have valuable parenting skills that could be turned into an income. Do you have a degree in finance or accounting? Again, this is a skill set that is highly sought after in today’s online marketplace. Are you creative and do friends ooh and ah over the dinner table at Thanksgiving? If so, you might have a knack for interior decorating! Do not be bashful; this is an opportunity to toot your own horn!

* Decide if you want to provide a service or sell a good. Next, pick something that you believe in and use in your own home. Conversely, you might want to provide a service or make a good to be sold by others. Again, pick something you enjoy and can see yourself doing even if you do not necessarily feel like it.

* Once you know what you want to do and know that you have the skills to do it, utilize what you have already at home to make it happen. If you have a computer, then this is the one you will use to post your creations on the ‘Net. If you bake dog biscuits in your kitchen, then this is the facility you will use for your work. Combine the two, and you will have a good and an advertising tool! You can print your own flyers; create your own labels, print up order forms, and also coupons to be handed out to potential customers.

* Enlist the help of friends and family. Spreading the word about your good or service should be done by those who love you and believe in you. With their help you will be able to reach segments of the population previously closed to you. This will allow you to make some money, which you can then reinvest in the business in order to grow it.

Start home business success by concentrating on a small circle of potential consumers and gradually enlarging it by allowing your profits to pay for the expansion.

Serving valued and essential customers is key to business success

Share your knowledge about your product or service with your customers. You will find that teaching customers will help you learn how best to build and manage your business.

Imagine yourself as the customer desiring to purchase a wedding cake. Your first step may be to visit a local bakery who you know bakes cakes and other goodies. The bakery employee listens to your request for a wedding cake. He or she may show you pictures or actual cakes they produce and give you a price for each. You choose a cake, and arrange for delivery or pick-up. You leave the bakery shop. The visit was professional and courteous. You will probably receive a satisfactory wedding cake. You might return to this bakery again the next time you need a wedding cake or any other kind of baked goodie……or you might not. There was no particular connection in this meeting and transaction.

Now choose a bakery that specializes in wedding cakes. Perhaps when you walk through the doors you immediately feel as though you are at a wedding reception. The shop is decorated with several different themes of weddings. There is nothing but wedding cake samples everywhere. You can take a sample home with you if you like. This shop is perhaps a family-owned business for more than 100 years. Most of this family is unmatched in their knowledge about baking and wedding cakes specifically. The owners have authored or co-authored cake cookbooks and maybe even own some patents related to utensils used for baking cakes.

If you express interest in their wedding cakes, whoever waits on you will most likely ask you about the specific wedding plan. They will inquire as to your preferences for taste and texture. They will show you a variety of wedding cake themes. When you make your choice they will also offer a selection of other items or services associated with weddings, wedding cakes, wedding receptions. They may have copies of books they authored or co-authored or they recommend about weddings in general and the wedding cake. When you leave their bakery, they will hand you a business card with their contact details and website address in case you have more questions when you get home.

Visiting this bakery was a wonderful and gratifying experience and you will have the same sort of feeling when you visit them online. Their web site will be filled with helpful information and beautiful photographs of wedding cakes they produce.

This type of wedding cake bakery is a prime example of a business that embodies the single most important principle that has fueled the success of many business owners. The principles can be applied to any type of business. The central message is “connect with your customer.” Love, cherish and listen to your customers. Teach your customers everything you know so you can learn from your customers how to serve them better. You can be satisfied that you are offering quality services or products that customers truly need, enjoy, but above all “want.”

If you are truly interested in building a successful business, there should be no one more important to you in your business life than your customers. Connect with your customers via the internet, via publications and articles, via television, magazines and newspapers. Remind yourself that serving valued and essential customers is your number-one priority and is the key to a successful business.

This articles if FREE to publish with the resource box.

© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved

Customer service -- customer loyalty wins sales

Batteries not included. Three of the dumbest words.

Your Company spent millions of dollars to develop this wonderful product. Engineers spent countless hours creating and refining it. You spent additional millions of dollars in advertising to get me to buy it.

I bought it. I took it home and now it won't work because YOU neglected to include the only part that WILL make it work. For a couple of extra bucks, your cost and mine, I'm frustrated and angry with you and your Company.

It's the same with customer service.

No matter what you sell; whether it's goods or services, big ticket or small, sales and customer service are not two separate pieces. Every sale must come with the customer service built in.

Exceptional customer service is NOT an extra cost of doing business. It is an investment in your own future success.

In the early 1950s, my uncle had a very small clothing store in Miami, Florida. In those days, Miami was a major entertainment center, with the biggest names in show business appearing at the major hotels, very similar to Las Vegas today.

One evening, as he was leaving the stage at the end of the early show, a young singer ripped his tuxedo jacket on a nail sticking out of the wall. It was after 8 P. M., all the clothing stores were closed.

The hotel management called the major stores and owners because the singer didn't want to go on stage with a torn jacket or worse, no jacket.

None of the fancy clothing shop owners would leave their homes to accommodate the young man. Finally, in desperation, my uncle got the call. Would he come downtown with a couple of tuxedos?

Within an hour my uncle was at the hotel with 4 tuxedos. He did the fitting and tailoring right on the spot.

The young singer and the big hotel management were ecstatic. The singer tried to shove a few extra hundred dollar bills into my uncle's hand, but he wouldn't take the money, explaining that he was honored to have the opportunity to earn the business.

The singer promised that he would never forget my uncle's kindness and would tell his show biz friends about my uncle. True to his word, the singer continued to tell his friends about my uncle, even as his singing career skyrocketed.

The young singer - Frank Sinatra.

My uncle - went from a tiny clothing store on the edges of oblivion to "Mickey Hayes - Clothier to the Stars"; his walls covered with hundreds of photographs of the biggest names in show business.

On the other side of the coin is INTEL, the major manufacturer of computer chips, and, a great company.

Some years ago, Intel's newest chip had a design flaw that caused a problem in only the tiniest number of calculations, and only in highly complex situations. As this problem began to get reported in the press, owners of computers built with these new chips wanted replacements.

Intel's management stated that these customers were somewhat stupid since only highly complex calculations in specialized situations would experience that problem and then, only on the rarest occasions. They said that they would replace the chip if the customer could substantiate the claim that their chip was flawed.

How stupid. If it only goes bad once in a zillion times, why not give a lifetime guarantee? Most of the customers would never run into that problem. If they had immediately offered the lifetime replacement guarantee, ALL of the customers would have had a very high degree of confidence that they would never need to take Intel up on their offer.

Intel finally did offer lifetime replacement - after worrying, offending and insulting millions of their customers.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Nordstroms; the department store famous for customer service. Their service to customers is so incredible, that people go out of their way to shop there.

Mr. Nordstrom calls it 'customer heroics'. "We do it because we want more business - NOT simply because we're nice guys."

I've always told my employees - "don't save me 'MY' money. If it helps the customer, SPEND my money. Even if they make a mistake, they won't be criticized if it helped the customer".

Nordstrom, over a period of many years, has developed a corporate culture of service to the customer. Any corporate culture, if it is going to endure successfully, MUST take on a life of its own, apart from the wishes of management. It has to be adopted by every employee, because THEY each think that it's a good idea.

Whether you are a 1 person operation or the largest company, you know what good customer service is. It's the Golden Rule applied to business - "Do unto others".

Listen to your customers' spoken requests - and unspoken. They'll tell you what they want. Add a large portion of your own good common sense. Make a commitment to yourself that you will give your customers, service beyond their highest expectations

If you will do these few simple things, I can guarantee you success beyond YOUR expectations.

Online privacy and security

The right to privacy is a serious issue for all online. No formal law exists within cyberspace, and Internet users can find recourse only through the applicable laws of their own government. It is your responsibility to ensure the privacy of your web site visitors. You have to create a transactional or interactive environment that protects the privacy of your customers.

Many people fail to become online consumers because they fear their personal information could be misused or compromised. Identity theft, credit card fraud, breach of personal information are among the more common consumer concerns. According to Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC, “The absence of consumer privacy protection may in fact be the number one obstacle to the growth of e-commerce.”

Privacy is one of the leading issues facing the future success of e-commerce. One of your most important tasks as an online business is to establish trusting relationships with your web site visitors. Be sure to prominently display a privacy policy on your site that details how customer information is collected, used, and protected.

Learn from the pros, if you are unsure about what your privacy statement should look like. There are many highly successful online businesses you can learn from. Don’t copy their privacy statements, but use them as learning tools. If there is an industry leader in your field, study their web site. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of competitive intelligence.

As you study privacy policies look for common trends. Take notes, and make an outline. Ask questions as you are writing your outline. What does their privacy statement include? Where is the privacy statement located? Is it easy to find? Using the intelligence you have gathered during your research process, write your own privacy statement.

The body of your privacy policy should have several components such as, how common the collected user information is protected, the security measures you take to protect the information, if you share that information with a third party. Also include privacy information specific to your field. For example, if you're collecting customer e-mail addresses be specific about how you plan to use them.

Always include the company contact information in your privacy policy so that customers can contact you in case they have any questions. Make sure that a link to your privacy policy is clearly visible on your website. At the very least, you should have a link to the privacy policy from your homepage but it doesn't hurt to have a link to it from all web pages.

The feel of the web

Have you noticed how the feel of the web is changing?

Perhaps you use LinkedIn - linkedin. com – or Jobster - jobster. com – and very probably you have had a look at Google maps - maps. google. com/

If so you cannot but have noticed that these sites and others have a different look and feel. It’s not about but about the way that they seem easier and faster to use.

So many sites are slow and tedious giving you the feeling thatyou have plenty of time to get a coffee or even go to lunch. It's the horrible hourglass. You click a link and the hourglass appears as the site contacts the server and the server thinks about what it's going to send back to you.

There is a reason for the ‘new’ sites being faster and nicer to use. It’s called AJAX.

Not the cleaner invented in 1947 nor the mythical Greek hero but a web development technique.

AJAX is not new technology but a combination of existing mature technologies. It’s an abbreviation for ‘Asynchronous JavaScript and XML’ and a web development technique to make web pages feel more responsive. It does this by exchanging small amounts ofdata with the server behind the scenes and displays it without re-fetching the entire page at the same time, hence the term ‘Asynchronous’.

In case you are not entirely clear what asynchronous means, synchronous means that processes are dependent upon other processes 1 >> 2 >> 3 etc whereas asynchronous is the ability to handle processes independently from other processes.

It might seem that adding a layer to any application will make it less responsive, but because the browser first loads an AJAX engine responsible for both providing the interface the user sees and communicating with the server on the user’s behalf the user is very rarely staring at an hourglass icon waiting around for the serverto do something.

Every user action that normally would generate work on the server goes to the AJAX engine instead. Any response to a user action that doesn’t require a trip back to the server the engine handles on its own. If the engine needs something from the server in order to respond it makes those requests asynchronously without affecting a user’s interaction with the application.

All of this means AJAX is ‘sexy’ just now - a bit like Flash has been. It might be very tempting to use AJAX simply because “AJAX is cool” or “my boss told me to”.

But when you're building any site you should think of your customers first. What do they need this application to do? What will make it easier to use? A good rule of thumb as to whether or not to use AJAX IS: AJAX is for action not content.

If you are not accessing data that changes then you might want to think again. The point of the asynchronous request is that it makes requests to the server for information that has changed faster - because it's happening while the reader is doing something else. Then when they click a link or button data shows up right away. If your content or data never or rarely changes, then you probably shouldn't use Ajax to access it.

Then there are other issues:

Page changes

When an entirely new page is produced there is a brief moment of re-adjustment when the content changes. Because this doesn’t happen with smaller portions of the screen this becomes more apparent. This can leave people wondering.

Search engine optimization

Search engines do not generally read the JavaScript code required for AJAX. This can mean AJAX ‘pages’ remain un-indexed unless a static page is provided.

JavaScript

As AJAX relies on JavaScript, which is implemented differently by different browsers or even different versions of the same browser the JavaScript may have to be rewritten for several browser(s) type(s) though background libraries are resolving this, but an issue still arises if the user has switched off JavaScript support in the browser.

Web analytics

Many web analytics solutions are based on a new page being loaded whenever new or updated content is displayed to the user or to track a process such as a check-out. Since Ajax alters this care must be taken to account for how to ensure a page or a portion of a page can be accurately tracked.

Having written everything above, Google has made a huge investment in developing AJAX sites. All of the major products Google has introduced such as Orkut, Gmail, Google Groups, Google Suggest and Google Maps are AJAX applications.

Then again AJAX [and other terms such as Rich Internet Applications or RIA for tolls such as Flash] are just new terms for a technologies and technology combinations that have been around for years.

Given the hype for these terms, it is sensible not to get carried away. Careful evaluation of when and how to use AJAX is essential.

Don’t forget that Flash and other applications still do not form the basis of most sites and users want usability first. If AJAX enhances the users’ experience whether via design or speed then it’s worth considering – carefully.

Unusual and ethnic instruments

Learning to play unusual or ethnic musical instruments creates a special aura of drama around the musical instrument, especially for children. Having an exotic edge is becoming more common these days in part due to advanced media. You no longer have to experience something for it to influence your world.

Exotic instruments are not hard to find, musical instruments of all kind are available right on the internet. All you do is place an order and something that you’ve never seen, heard, nor played before can be at your doorstep within days. For most people, having an unusual musical instrument simply isn’t enough. Most people like to learn to play the musical instruments they purchase.

Finding a competent instructor for your exotic musical instrument may also require a little time in the multi media world. In my own local phone book, I found one instructor for exotic or ethnic musical instruments. However, they had not previously heard of the instrument that I had chosen as my test piece. The exotic and unusual instruments may not have local instructors, depending of course on the area you live in.

If you opt for an unusual or ethnic musical instrument purchase, you may want to check out online classes. Online musical instruction classes for unusual or ethnic musical instruments may be run in lecture style, where you download the lesson for the week, or they may be done interactively via webcams. For adults, this is not a bad option for learning to play an unusual or ethnic musical instrument that you can’t obtain standard lessons for, but children may have great difficulty with learning this way.

One mother I know solved this problem when her son wanted to play an unusual musical instrument. She started her own lessons online, and when she was sure that she was competently able to introduce lessons to her son, she handled them personally. The final result was that each of them learned to play an unusual musical instrument, and they were a huge hit a family gathering and social events.

Unusual or ethnic musical instruments can open up a whole new world for both you and your family. Your children can become quite interested in learning about things that they never would have considered interesting before, as unusual and ethnic musical instruments typically have histories and cultures that are definitely worth learning about.

Does your erp system have a carbon footprint

When you study history, you see that the challenges society faces are cyclical in nature. If you get nostalgic for the good old days, watch the local television station that rebroadcasts shows from the 70’s. You might notice the hot issues look awfully familiar: saving the environment, the energy crisis, race relations, immigration.

The buzz words have changed: global warming, carbon footprints, diversity. But the issues remain as thorny and controversial as ever. In the case of global warming, arguments rage on, with standard bearers on both sides questioning each other’s agendas, and the very validity of the issue itself.

Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of belief and philosophy, one thing seems to be clear: “going green” has become a mandate for business. It’s time to take stock and consider how to approach this issue. Your business systems – ERP, Accounting, Human Resources - can help you turn this challenge into an opportunity.

As you use your IT and software technology to track the direction your carbon footprint is taking you, consider these benefits to going green.

• Despite the perception that greening a business is expensive, going green and staying in the black are not actually mutually exclusive. Very basic, easily achieved green practices can help the environment and improve the bottom line: turn off lights and computers when not in use, recycle paper. Look for creative ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Use your accounting systems to track the costs of a lighting retrofit versus the reduction in your utility bill. If you are more ambitious, look into having your staff do more telecommuting. Tools like web-cams, internet chat/instant messaging, and online project management applications, can make telecommuting a more effective solution.

• Being ecologically responsible has become something of a marketing tool. More and more consumers are looking for companies that are known for their green products or practices. Even Wal-Mart has become famous as the world’s largest producer of organic cotton goods, and Nike gets press for grinding up and recycling its old shoes into safer playground materials for children. But beware: eco-savvy consumers can sniff out an overinflated claim. That’s why it’s important to have documented results, and this is where your ERP system can help you. Use it to track the amount of waste reduction in your manufacturing process, or if you are adding more warehouses to cut down on fuel-driven distribution costs, use it to separately track and compare costs. With verifiable results there will be no need to be humble about your green contributions.

• You can enhance your image and reputation by taking a leadership position on this issue. Perhaps you could rank your suppliers based on their eco-sense, or use more green products. Use your Accounts Payable systems to give your vendors a “green” rating and then track purchases according to this rating to later report results. This can give your company a competitive advantage, and make it stand out for all the right reasons.

• This is an ideal opportunity to get your employees involved. Going green is a grass roots operation, so turn to your employees for ideas and suggestions on how to run the business in a more eco-friendly way. In addition to giving them a sense of ownership, it will increase their pride in the company they work for. Not only might you be amazed at the quality of the suggestions, but you will probably get a lot more cooperation in making the necessary changes. Make sure you set up automated systems to allow tracking of suggestions, participation in cost-saving programs, etc. Many human resources packages can track an employee’s input, which can then be used in evaluations or as a basis of additional monetary compensation or non-monetary perks.

We may have new jargon to describe the problem thirty years from now, but chances are we’ll still be grappling with the issue. Certainly for the time being, going green is not going away. It might make sense to use all the tools in our toolbox to tackle this one now.

If you need help adapting your ERP, Accounting, or Human Resources Management systems to track and manage your going-green efforts, email me at solutions@ACIconsulting. com or visit us at ACIconsulting. com. I’ll put our team to work on it!

What kitchenware do you need

The food processor has many fine features , when it comes to needing help in the kitchen preparing a meal. Whether you are looking to slice; chop; grind; puree; or shred , the food processor can handle the task. A food processor is essential to have in your kitchen.

This one kitchenware appliance can deliver unremarkable vegetable or citrus juice. When you are trying to prepare that special cake, let the food processor help lighten your load. It is great at beating cake batters of any magnitude. Whether it is just regular cake mix or a cake that needs fruit or nuts added , the food processor can perform miracle results.

When holidays come , many cooks like to show off their pumpkin bread. Why not make your own and show it off. Save on buying gifts. Give your friends and family a loaf of your favorite bread. That is what holidays are all about! Eating.

A Banana Pudding is really good with that egg white topping. Let your food processor beat those egg whites for you. Topping comes out great with every try.

Maybe you are one of many with false or no teeth. Grind those vegetables and meats up so you can enjoy the flavor.

Food Processors come in many different sizes. You have the option of purchasing a mini; full; or compact processor. All the components are the same. Each food processor has the same motor; feeding tube; and a bowl with a lid. The necessary attachments are included with each. Mini bowls can make two to five cups. Full size bowls have a nine to thirteen cup capacity. Compact bowls usually makes five to seven cups.

The food processor has a plunger attached to the feeding tube , which helps in pushing the ingredients down into the processor.

The basic housing where the motor is located is the heaviest part of the food processor. The weight helps in keeping the processor stable while in operation.

White at one time was the only color the food processor was available in. Today you have a variety of colors to choose from. The bowl has always been a transparent durable plastic The bowl of the food processor is locked down in place by the shaft that comes up from the motor. Once the food processor has been loaded with the ingredients you need in preparing your food or beverage, the lid can be put in place . The lid also locks in place. This prevents splattering the ingredients all over counters and walls.

The food processor is designed with preparing food in mind. This is a very helpful unit to add to your kitchenware.

Deep linking strategies for seo

Linking is one of the prime areas of any SEO campaign and is considered a key concept that can drive targeted traffic to your website if done the right way. The good news is that Linking is effective and the bad news is that there are many aspects of linking that have undergone severe changes over the years.

One of the good aspects is that one single linking tip can put you way ahead of your competition especially where most webmasters think that all you need is a reciprocal link directory for gaining link popularity in some of the top search engines like Google or Yahoo. If you have already gone through the Google page rank update then you are aware of the fact that directories with hundreds of links are not happening any more. It is being treated as a negative tactic.

There was a time when content was supreme and then it shifted to design and other elements and it has come full circle back to content. Hence more and more people have started to focus their efforts in content. Let us look at a different perspective, maybe an example.

Hypothetically, you have a website with 500 pages of resourceful content. If you want to publish articles on multiple categories then the page number can go higher up. Now on the other hand if you have a website with 30 pages, you can expect it to grow to 500 if you keep publishing articles. Now each of the articles as well as the resource pages is live links to your web site. There are two ways by which you can get links to your website in a given situation and they are:

You can get a link for your home page as a part of an exchange for a link to one of relevant article pages on the site with whom you are doing the exchange.

The second option is deep linking. In deep linking, you will get a link straight to the particular page on your web site, which you are going to link them to. The question is how will it benefit you?

So let us look at the various benefits of deep linking:

1. This will make webmasters excited regarding linking with you/your site simply because you will be putting them on your web site and not on any low rank, shady website where people might not visit.

2. This will give a signal to other webmasters that you have studied their website carefully and completely and hence know where their link will fit on your website. It is any day better than a simple swapping of web site links. There is a more meaningful result associated with deep linking.

3. You will start to build link popularity directly on to the pages that are within your web site.

4. You will have the leverage and hence you will be in a position to ask for better links from different web sites. This means that there will be no dumping of links. You will also have the advantage of asking for links of importance from various webmasters.

5. Your links page will grow in value because it will not be crammed with links, it will now have only useful or relevant links.

6. These links will help to direct meaningful or targeted traffic to your website, which in the long-run will generate revenue and provide opportunity for many more traffic spikes.

These benefits are enough to keep your website ahead of competition and will not impact your Google page rank severely even when the next page rank upgrade is released.

Increased web site traffic - doing the little things

More often than not, obtaining increased web site traffic dictates that most business owners follow many of the established guidelines that the internet marketing community deems important and necessary. Yes, these procedures are virtually mandatory, but many web site owners often overlook a multiplicity of simple concepts that can exponentially increase the bottom line. However, by taking the initiative to add these simple and easy to use steps, the online business owner is certainly assured of guaranteed web site traffic. As more visitors become customers through these means, more transactions will be generated and provide a handsome profit. These simple steps costs absolutely nothing and the qualitative aspects of prospecting for customers is not compromised.

Obtaining more site visitors can be procured through various techniques such as Yahoo Answers, establishing a presence on social sites like MySpace, utilizing YouTube, and forum creation/maintenance. These are just a few of the specifics that can bring a substantial amount of quality visitors to your site on a continual basis.

Yahoo Answers is an excellent resource for online marketers. This service allows Yahoo members to ask and reply to questions on any subject matter. Inevitably, a subject that pertains to your online business will appear on Yahoo Answers. Your reply can include a backlink to the web site for potential business or you can create a question with the same objective. It is quick and easy to use.

MySpace is a social networking site that can include information about your web site, a brief biography, and any additional information that is relevant to the topic at hand. Since this is a personally maintained web presence, you can include several backlinks to your site.

YouTube is the popular personal video site that caters to countless thousands of individuals on a daily basis. By subscribing to YouTube, you can post remarks at appropriate locations and build a vast number of rewarding backlinks as well.

Creating a forum and maintaining it with relevant material is another way to generate more visitors and potential customers. Not only will you be able to attract a large number of individuals to your web site, you will also create an atmosphere for continual business from repeat customers who will be eager to purchase your products. MySpace provides similar benefits as well.

Any online entrepreneur can buy targeted traffic for quick results, but using the four aforementioned services costs nothing and will provide the opportunity for increased web site traffic. As the online business continues to expand with a quality customer base, the web site owner can use these services at no cost - what a great benefit! Don't hesitate to use these techniques to grow your business accordingly.

Select an earth friendly product good for your health good for the environment

Our earth is everyone’s responsibility. We all want to have a healthy environment to pass on to our children, but it can often seem like eco-friendly behavior is difficult to attain. Environmentally conscious consumers will be happy to hear that more and more earth friendly product lines are being developed to make healthy living simple and convenient.

Living an earth loving life is not just good for the environment in the long run, it is also good for your health immediately. The chemical products that have become so ubiquitous in our society’s day to day life are making people very sick. Research is now linking chemicals found in everyday household products to a prevalence of allergic reactions, occurrences of asthmatic attacks, and even the rise of cancer. An earth friendly product provides a healthy alternative that will work great and not make people sick.

There are many harmful aspects of our homes that we have little control over. It is unfortunate, but many of us live in homes that were built in ways that are not ecologically friendly. Although many people are not aware of it, their homes are filled with pollutants in the form of paint, fabrics, and the very building materials that hold up the roof. These products emit fumes and gases that actually cause the air inside a house to be more polluted than the air outside.

Although homeowners tend to start in an environmental deficit, this does not mean that they cannot make their houses healthy over time. Natural home products have been developed for all aspects of life, including home building materials, chemical free cleaning products, organic foods, natural beauty products, and environmentally friendly fabrics. By always selecting an earth friendly product, consumers can ensure that everything new entering the house will contribute to the overall good of the family’s health and the environment’s future.

There is now no excuse for using chemical based products. First, it is easy to find retailers that carry natural products. Shoppers no longer have to go to specialty stores because the earth friendly product they desire is likely stocked on their local store’s shelf and can even be found online. Second, as the products gain strong fan bases, clear favorites are starting to stand out. Next time you are out shopping, look to see which products most people are reaching for. Finally, unlike before, natural products are very competitively priced, making them affordable for all budgets.