For an Internet marketer, the biggest reason for setting up a paid membership site can be summed up very easily - recurring income. A small amount paid monthly by every member can quickly add up to either valuable extra income or even a full-time income if you have several membership sites and if you have a higher priced membership fee, you can quickly earn a very substantial annual income.
People will buy information that they could probably find on the Internet themselves if they had time and knew where to look, but often there is a higher perceived value when they have paid for it.
The challenge then is to find customers and then provide them with such good value that they will retain their membership month after month and hopefully also recommend your site to others because you pay them a generous affiliate fee.
There are four main criteria you need to consider to achieve this and they are:
1. Your site must be in an established membership type market.
2. You must provide excellent value content or service
3. You need to use software that will password-protect your site so that non-paying members cannot get the content for free.
4. A marketing system to attract new subscribers and retain them once they sign up.
Criteria 1 - Your Membership-Site Market
In assessing your potential membership-site market, consider both online and off-line habits. Ask yourself whether people with an interest in this subject would buy monthly magazines, belong to a club or organization about it and perhaps whether there are books on the subject on Amazon's best popular seller lists. Online, check if there are eBooks that sell well, blogs, forums or other on-line communities about this subject.
The topic must be popular enough to have many potential subscribers or you will be wasting your time. It is worth offering some free material, perhaps an ebook on your subject to see how many people have an interest it it. Another strategy to test your market is to set up a simple survey, asking what issues people have. You can offer free membership to your new site as an incentive for people to reply; the answers you receive will guide you as to what kind of concerns people have on this subject.
The information most in demand on-line is that which solves someone's immediate problem, so it is worth considering whether your content or service solves just a one-time problem or whether there could be an ongoing or related issues that you can address.
An example of a one-off problem would perhaps be a remedy for snoring and for an ongoing problem, think of new parents, who have many worries and sleepless nights when their baby cries, perhaps in the middle of the night and there is no-one they can ask for advice. A membership site that contains suggested solutions for the numerous problems new parents face would be a valuable resource for them.
Criteria 2 - Quality Content
The four main types of content are: written, audio, video and web-based software solutions. Naturally, the media type you use will depend on your site topic as some will be more relevant that others. Most sites will include a significant percentage of written material as this is still the primary method of sharing information on the Internet, but audio recordings are increasing popular because people can download them and listen when they are walking, driving, exercising or away from their computer for any other reason.
Video content is preferred when the information you are providing is instructional; "how-to" in pictures or a video can make a process very easy to understand compared with following a written list of instructions.
Another situation where pictures are helpful is showing symptoms of something. For example, for the new parent site mentioned above, there could be photos of the types of spots or rashes a small child might have on their body if they have caught any of the various common childhood complaints such as measles, chickenpox or have been bitten by an insect.
There are many sources of good content apart from writing your own if you are qualified to do so. Your own material is obviously the cheapest, but will take the longest to prepare and you need to know enough about your topic to keep providing fresh material on a regular basis.
Use other people's material by utilizing royalty free articles from article directories such as ezinearticles.com and free content sites, free to use videos from YouTube, metacafe.com or ehow.com or good quality PLR (private label rights).
Outsourcing is another option that will be less time-consuming although you will have costs for the ghost-writer or freelancer you contract to produce your work. Apart from the well-known elance.com & rentacoder.com, there are hundreds of other sources as a simple web search on "outsourcing" will reveal. If you plan to outsource on a regular basis, it is worth the time and effort to find a freelancer and develop a relationship with them, rather than going through a ghost-writing service provider.
Interviews with experts are something you can do yourself with basic equipment. Prepare a list of open-ended questions before the interview and send a copy to the person you will be interviewing two or three days beforehand. Any sooner and they might forget about it and any later doesn't give them time to prepare.
The following are some suggestions for interview questions that will give an expert the opportunity to give you excellent material for your membership site:
1. What is so good about .........?
2. How did you get involved in .........?
3. What do you consider the top 3 things someone should know about ......?
4. What would you suggest would be the best way to get started?
5. How long would it take to be proficient at ..........?
An hour is a good length for a value interview but you may want to go longer and edit the script later. This is easily done even with a free audio editor such as audacity.
Criteria 3 - membership site software to protect your subscriber's investment and save you time
If you can, invest in a specialized memberships-site software package or script. There are quite a number of good choices of varying prices, for example Membergate, Memberspeed, & Wordpress plugins like Wordpress Wishlist, Digital Access Pass (DAP), YourMember & aMember. The advantages of using one of these is that so many of the member functions are done automatically, for example:
1. Membership levels
2. Membership types
3. RSS Feed encryption so that non-paying members cannot access your content through the RSS feed
4. Sequential delivery so that someone cannot sign up and download all the material & then unsubscribe - the longer a person is a member, the more content they have access to
5. Payment gateways - preferably more than just Paypal
6. Training and Support
7. A good strong guarantee
Criteria 4 - Strategies for Recruiting & retaining members
1. Instead of focusing on trying to sell memberships, focus on how how one particular article of your content can solve a specific problem a person might have so that you are providing a solution to that problem and also giving one month's membership to the site for free.
2. Use free advertising by writing & submitting articles & reports, posting on blogs & forums, make squidoo lenses, hubs & other web pages.
3. Buy Pay per Click advertising and banner ads etc
4. List your membership site on Clickbank, Paydotcom etc
5. Email your list & if you don't have one, form a joint venture partnership with someone who does & pay them a generous affiliate commission.
There are many other marketing tactics that have been written about at great length and can be found in a web search.
In summary, if you can address the four main criteria of using an established membership type market, providing premium value content, using appropriate membership software and attracting subscribers, a paid membership site can become a very profitable business model.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Five Obstacles To Achieving Success In Internet Business
A lot have been said and written about the obstacles to achieving all round success in Internet Business but this article is to submit additional five obstacles to the ones that had already been proferred by other authors.
A. Get Rich Quickly Syndrome
The major obstacle is the mad rush to get rich quickly without recourse to patience. Whatever business you find yourself requires hard work, capital and patience. No matter the promises made by an Internet venture, one still need to come on board with capital and time you can invest. But most people believe this money is there already to be collected with ease.
This is wrong, Internet Business is something that needs enough time and efforts to set in motion and once it starts nobody can stop it! Rome they say was not built in a day.
B. Inadequate Experience
Another obstacle is that most Internet business men and women do not have the requisite experience to successfully run an Internet business. Experience they say is the best teacher. Your ability to use a computer/laptop and browse the internet do not necessarily make you a guru in internet business.
Regardless of internet business experience you may have possessed before venturing into it, you still need to do alot of research on the business and carry out extensive plan. Above all, you need to be mentored by an expert in internet business to succeed in the business.
C. Inadequate Working Materials
No reasonable person goes to the farm without the needed working tools like cutlas, hoe, shovel etc to work when you get there. This is one of the obstacles to achieving success in internet business because alot of people enter into the business without the necessary tools. A would be internet business man or woman needs to equip himself or herself with a very good computer/laptop, internet connection and electricity supply. In the case of developing countries like Nigeria where the supply of electricity is epileptic, you need a good electricity generating set as a back-up in case of power failure. So these working tools are very critical to achieving success in internet business.
D. Information Overload
The Internet is the cheapest source of information and because of this, people send different kind of information to your mail bordering on internet business. The volume of information sent is so much that you may become confused and frusstrated even to the point of abandoning genuine ones that would have been of help to you. The best way to get quality information that would be relevant to you is to search reputable and well tested Forums relevant to your line of business instead of going through heaps of irrelevant information.
E. Prevalence of Fraudulent Internet People
The Internet is a breeding ground for Internet Fraudsters of different sizes and shapes. These set of people have succeeded in duping alot of people of their hard earned living thereby frusrating them out of internet business. The best approach to solving this problem is to stop believing everything you are told in the internet. Infact, skeptism should be your watchword. Seek expert advise from mentors on internet issues and above all run away from people that promised to make you become multi-millionaire overnight, they are fraudulent people.
So as stated on the opening paragraph, alot had already been said and written about this topic and that this one is additional five obstacles to achieving success in internet business that have not been said or written before.
A. Get Rich Quickly Syndrome
The major obstacle is the mad rush to get rich quickly without recourse to patience. Whatever business you find yourself requires hard work, capital and patience. No matter the promises made by an Internet venture, one still need to come on board with capital and time you can invest. But most people believe this money is there already to be collected with ease.
This is wrong, Internet Business is something that needs enough time and efforts to set in motion and once it starts nobody can stop it! Rome they say was not built in a day.
B. Inadequate Experience
Another obstacle is that most Internet business men and women do not have the requisite experience to successfully run an Internet business. Experience they say is the best teacher. Your ability to use a computer/laptop and browse the internet do not necessarily make you a guru in internet business.
Regardless of internet business experience you may have possessed before venturing into it, you still need to do alot of research on the business and carry out extensive plan. Above all, you need to be mentored by an expert in internet business to succeed in the business.
C. Inadequate Working Materials
No reasonable person goes to the farm without the needed working tools like cutlas, hoe, shovel etc to work when you get there. This is one of the obstacles to achieving success in internet business because alot of people enter into the business without the necessary tools. A would be internet business man or woman needs to equip himself or herself with a very good computer/laptop, internet connection and electricity supply. In the case of developing countries like Nigeria where the supply of electricity is epileptic, you need a good electricity generating set as a back-up in case of power failure. So these working tools are very critical to achieving success in internet business.
D. Information Overload
The Internet is the cheapest source of information and because of this, people send different kind of information to your mail bordering on internet business. The volume of information sent is so much that you may become confused and frusstrated even to the point of abandoning genuine ones that would have been of help to you. The best way to get quality information that would be relevant to you is to search reputable and well tested Forums relevant to your line of business instead of going through heaps of irrelevant information.
E. Prevalence of Fraudulent Internet People
The Internet is a breeding ground for Internet Fraudsters of different sizes and shapes. These set of people have succeeded in duping alot of people of their hard earned living thereby frusrating them out of internet business. The best approach to solving this problem is to stop believing everything you are told in the internet. Infact, skeptism should be your watchword. Seek expert advise from mentors on internet issues and above all run away from people that promised to make you become multi-millionaire overnight, they are fraudulent people.
So as stated on the opening paragraph, alot had already been said and written about this topic and that this one is additional five obstacles to achieving success in internet business that have not been said or written before.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Integrate Twitter With Your Word Press Blog
Twitter is a micro blogging platform that has caught the attention of the main stream media. You share your thoughts, insights, knowledge, tips, and interesting article sources using 140 characters or less with your followers in Twitter.
It is not a marketing platform but you can effectively use it to establish your brand and promote your products and services indirectly.
If you are planning to spam your Twitter followers with your blog post URLs and affiliate links, you will not go anywhere. Your followers will un-follow you quickly. You will not get new followers.
Twitter is like any other social media site. If you share information and insights about your niche by filtering them from hundreds of blog posts published every day, you will provide value to your followers.
If you find valuable information in your niche, share them with your followers and their number will increase.
You can also use Twitter to post latest news, hot trends in your niche, links to funny pictures, humorous video links, and other interesting things.
You have to post almost every day, preferably couple of times a day, to keep the number of followers growing rapidly.
If you are using WordPress blog platform for your blog, there are few tools you can use to automate your Twitter activities. These tools will help you use Twitter for promoting your brand.
First, you need to integrate the Twitter feed into your blog and encourage your blog readers to tweet your blog posts in their accounts.
Use TweetThis WordPress plug-in to encourage your visitors to tweet your blog post. TweetThis adds a Twitter link in every blog post you create. If needed, this plug-in will also shorten your blog post URL to fit the 140-character limit.
WPTwitp-ID plug-in adds a Twitter field to your WordPress blog comment form. When users posts comments, they can enter their Twitter user ids and the plug-in will create links to follow them in Twitter. You will be providing a service to increase the number of Twitter followers of people who leave comments in your blog.
Another WordPress plug-in called Twitter Tools integrates your blog with Twitter by pulling all your tweets into the side bar of your blog. You can also post new tweets from inside your WordPress blog.
TweetMeme Button helps retweet your post through out the Tweeter network. It also shows a count of how many times your blog post has been retweeted.
Tweeter Updater tool will send a Twitter status update to your account when you publish a post in WordPress.
You can find the web sites for these WordPress plug-ins by doing a search in Google. If you're not using Twiteer as a brand building platform, you should sign up for a Twiteer account immediately.
It is not a marketing platform but you can effectively use it to establish your brand and promote your products and services indirectly.
If you are planning to spam your Twitter followers with your blog post URLs and affiliate links, you will not go anywhere. Your followers will un-follow you quickly. You will not get new followers.
Twitter is like any other social media site. If you share information and insights about your niche by filtering them from hundreds of blog posts published every day, you will provide value to your followers.
If you find valuable information in your niche, share them with your followers and their number will increase.
You can also use Twitter to post latest news, hot trends in your niche, links to funny pictures, humorous video links, and other interesting things.
You have to post almost every day, preferably couple of times a day, to keep the number of followers growing rapidly.
If you are using WordPress blog platform for your blog, there are few tools you can use to automate your Twitter activities. These tools will help you use Twitter for promoting your brand.
First, you need to integrate the Twitter feed into your blog and encourage your blog readers to tweet your blog posts in their accounts.
Use TweetThis WordPress plug-in to encourage your visitors to tweet your blog post. TweetThis adds a Twitter link in every blog post you create. If needed, this plug-in will also shorten your blog post URL to fit the 140-character limit.
WPTwitp-ID plug-in adds a Twitter field to your WordPress blog comment form. When users posts comments, they can enter their Twitter user ids and the plug-in will create links to follow them in Twitter. You will be providing a service to increase the number of Twitter followers of people who leave comments in your blog.
Another WordPress plug-in called Twitter Tools integrates your blog with Twitter by pulling all your tweets into the side bar of your blog. You can also post new tweets from inside your WordPress blog.
TweetMeme Button helps retweet your post through out the Tweeter network. It also shows a count of how many times your blog post has been retweeted.
Tweeter Updater tool will send a Twitter status update to your account when you publish a post in WordPress.
You can find the web sites for these WordPress plug-ins by doing a search in Google. If you're not using Twiteer as a brand building platform, you should sign up for a Twiteer account immediately.
Five Obstacles To Achieving Success In Internet Business
A lot have been said and written about the obstacles to achieving all round success in Internet Business but this article is to submit additional five obstacles to the ones that had already been proferred by other authors.
A. Get Rich Quickly Syndrome
The major obstacle is the mad rush to get rich quickly without recourse to patience. Whatever business you find yourself requires hard work, capital and patience. No matter the promises made by an Internet venture, one still need to come on board with capital and time you can invest. But most people believe this money is there already to be collected with ease.
This is wrong, Internet Business is something that needs enough time and efforts to set in motion and once it starts nobody can stop it! Rome they say was not built in a day.
B. Inadequate Experience
Another obstacle is that most Internet business men and women do not have the requisite experience to successfully run an Internet business. Experience they say is the best teacher. Your ability to use a computer/laptop and browse the internet do not necessarily make you a guru in internet business.
Regardless of internet business experience you may have possessed before venturing into it, you still need to do alot of research on the business and carry out extensive plan. Above all, you need to be mentored by an expert in internet business to succeed in the business.
C. Inadequate Working Materials
No reasonable person goes to the farm without the needed working tools like cutlas, hoe, shovel etc to work when you get there. This is one of the obstacles to achieving success in internet business because alot of people enter into the business without the necessary tools. A would be internet business man or woman needs to equip himself or herself with a very good computer/laptop, internet connection and electricity supply. In the case of developing countries like Nigeria where the supply of electricity is epileptic, you need a good electricity generating set as a back-up in case of power failure. So these working tools are very critical to achieving success in internet business.
D. Information Overload
The Internet is the cheapest source of information and because of this, people send different kind of information to your mail bordering on internet business. The volume of information sent is so much that you may become confused and frusstrated even to the point of abandoning genuine ones that would have been of help to you. The best way to get quality information that would be relevant to you is to search reputable and well tested Forums relevant to your line of business instead of going through heaps of irrelevant information.
E. Prevalence of Fraudulent Internet People
The Internet is a breeding ground for Internet Fraudsters of different sizes and shapes. These set of people have succeeded in duping alot of people of their hard earned living thereby frusrating them out of internet business. The best approach to solving this problem is to stop believing everything you are told in the internet. Infact, skeptism should be your watchword. Seek expert advise from mentors on internet issues and above all run away from people that promised to make you become multi-millionaire overnight, they are fraudulent people.
So as stated on the opening paragraph, alot had already been said and written about this topic and that this one is additional five obstacles to achieving success in internet business that have not been said or written before.
A. Get Rich Quickly Syndrome
The major obstacle is the mad rush to get rich quickly without recourse to patience. Whatever business you find yourself requires hard work, capital and patience. No matter the promises made by an Internet venture, one still need to come on board with capital and time you can invest. But most people believe this money is there already to be collected with ease.
This is wrong, Internet Business is something that needs enough time and efforts to set in motion and once it starts nobody can stop it! Rome they say was not built in a day.
B. Inadequate Experience
Another obstacle is that most Internet business men and women do not have the requisite experience to successfully run an Internet business. Experience they say is the best teacher. Your ability to use a computer/laptop and browse the internet do not necessarily make you a guru in internet business.
Regardless of internet business experience you may have possessed before venturing into it, you still need to do alot of research on the business and carry out extensive plan. Above all, you need to be mentored by an expert in internet business to succeed in the business.
C. Inadequate Working Materials
No reasonable person goes to the farm without the needed working tools like cutlas, hoe, shovel etc to work when you get there. This is one of the obstacles to achieving success in internet business because alot of people enter into the business without the necessary tools. A would be internet business man or woman needs to equip himself or herself with a very good computer/laptop, internet connection and electricity supply. In the case of developing countries like Nigeria where the supply of electricity is epileptic, you need a good electricity generating set as a back-up in case of power failure. So these working tools are very critical to achieving success in internet business.
D. Information Overload
The Internet is the cheapest source of information and because of this, people send different kind of information to your mail bordering on internet business. The volume of information sent is so much that you may become confused and frusstrated even to the point of abandoning genuine ones that would have been of help to you. The best way to get quality information that would be relevant to you is to search reputable and well tested Forums relevant to your line of business instead of going through heaps of irrelevant information.
E. Prevalence of Fraudulent Internet People
The Internet is a breeding ground for Internet Fraudsters of different sizes and shapes. These set of people have succeeded in duping alot of people of their hard earned living thereby frusrating them out of internet business. The best approach to solving this problem is to stop believing everything you are told in the internet. Infact, skeptism should be your watchword. Seek expert advise from mentors on internet issues and above all run away from people that promised to make you become multi-millionaire overnight, they are fraudulent people.
So as stated on the opening paragraph, alot had already been said and written about this topic and that this one is additional five obstacles to achieving success in internet business that have not been said or written before.
Positivity in Business and Life
When life hands you something that you don't naturally agree with, or when you seem to be having all sorts of problems, it can seem all too easy to get down about it and to get upset and negative. However, there are many reasons that you should always attempt to be as positive as you can – whether you are dealing with the stresses of family, of your job, or of your life in general. Being positive is going to help you make sure that you never need to worry about anything else.
There are always times where it seems like it is tough to look on the bright side of things. It can be that you have too little time on your hands and too much to get done, or that you have stresses that you simply cannot combat no matter where you go. However, usually, with some practice, you can learn to see the positives in these things as well, and you can learn to train yourself to always look on the positive side.
The first step to staying positive is to be able to step back from the issues at hand and to learn how to look at everything as a big picture. This is very important because it means that you are going to be able to look at everything put together as a whole, and you won't need to worry about all of the small details. As you begin to pull away and look at the big picture, you are going to see the positives that are there – you might have very well behaved children generally, who are very smart and strong – and suddenly the spilled soda on the floor doesn't seem so bad. You might have a great career with a boss that you respect, and suddenly the issue with one project doesn't seem as important or as huge as before. If you can learn to pull yourself away and look at the big picture, chances are good that you will learn how to start to look more positively at your entire life.
Studies have shown that when you are able to focus on the positive, you are going to be able to attract even more positive energy to yourself. People who are more positive are more attractive, more comfortable with themselves, and are in better spirits – and these things attract only good things and opportunities as well. Therefore, the more positive that you can be about the world in general, and about your life, the more positive aspects you will be able to attract to yourself.
Whether you are dealing with a business, your home life, or with anything else that might be going on with you, you are going to find that there are lots of great things for you to consider about each of the parts of your life. And, the more that you focus on these positive and great aspects, the better you are going to feel about your life in general.
There are always times where it seems like it is tough to look on the bright side of things. It can be that you have too little time on your hands and too much to get done, or that you have stresses that you simply cannot combat no matter where you go. However, usually, with some practice, you can learn to see the positives in these things as well, and you can learn to train yourself to always look on the positive side.
The first step to staying positive is to be able to step back from the issues at hand and to learn how to look at everything as a big picture. This is very important because it means that you are going to be able to look at everything put together as a whole, and you won't need to worry about all of the small details. As you begin to pull away and look at the big picture, you are going to see the positives that are there – you might have very well behaved children generally, who are very smart and strong – and suddenly the spilled soda on the floor doesn't seem so bad. You might have a great career with a boss that you respect, and suddenly the issue with one project doesn't seem as important or as huge as before. If you can learn to pull yourself away and look at the big picture, chances are good that you will learn how to start to look more positively at your entire life.
Studies have shown that when you are able to focus on the positive, you are going to be able to attract even more positive energy to yourself. People who are more positive are more attractive, more comfortable with themselves, and are in better spirits – and these things attract only good things and opportunities as well. Therefore, the more positive that you can be about the world in general, and about your life, the more positive aspects you will be able to attract to yourself.
Whether you are dealing with a business, your home life, or with anything else that might be going on with you, you are going to find that there are lots of great things for you to consider about each of the parts of your life. And, the more that you focus on these positive and great aspects, the better you are going to feel about your life in general.
Wake Up Big Corporations, These Are Your Customers Speaking
Have you ever felt really peeved when a supermarket decides not to sell an item that you’ve tried from their store, liked it, and then incorporated it into your general shopping requirements? Or perhaps an own-brand item from a pharmacy that is not only cheaper than anything else on the market but also does the job so much better, and then the pharmacy decide to withdraw that product? Or maybe you’ve put yourself out to support a local farm shop and buy much of their produce which isn’t particularly competitive but nice quality and their home cured ham is exceptional, well worth the 20 mile trip every now and again, and then that shop replaces their home cured ham with ordinary supermarket ham at the same price?
If the answer to any of the above questions is YES then you will be among many thousands of shoppers who feel they have been let down by a company that they have supported.
Many big companies especially seem to have lost touch with their customers and actually treat their customers with contempt and really couldn’t care less about individual customers; the bottom line profit figure is the only thing that counts.
If a supermarket takes off its shelves an own-brand item that is popular with the local community because it is not producing as much profit as a well known brand, it will start to alienate its customer base; particularly in the supermarket business, there is a lot of competition around, and it only takes a few customers to become disenchanted with a supermarket they use and start trying out one or more other supermarkets, before the profits start to fall from the original supermarket. They will tell their friends about another supermarket and before long a small trickle of exiting customers becomes a stream.
A similar sort of thing has happened whereby big corporations have thought that they were being so clever by saving a lot of money by outsourcing certain services, for example call centers, to countries with cheaper wage bills; in the short term this policy does appear to be good, but what about the customers?
Pretty well anyone that you talk to will say that they get confused and frustrated when dealing with foreign call centers, not for any racist reasons but purely because most people at the foreign call centers may be able to speak their language pretty well but they still have a difficult-to-understand accent and they are not aware of the way of speaking, mannerisms, humor, etc in a particular country. It is pretty well universally agreed that people in call centers should be brought up and educated in the same country as the people they are supporting. Many banks in the UK are finally waking up to public reaction to call centers.
So these corporations using foreign call centers will eventually become losers, big time, when one or more of their competitors realize that satisfied customers are the corner stone of their business and that if their business is built on a shaky foundation of bottom-line profits, then a small tremor in public feeling and awareness could bring their whole corporation down.
If the answer to any of the above questions is YES then you will be among many thousands of shoppers who feel they have been let down by a company that they have supported.
Many big companies especially seem to have lost touch with their customers and actually treat their customers with contempt and really couldn’t care less about individual customers; the bottom line profit figure is the only thing that counts.
If a supermarket takes off its shelves an own-brand item that is popular with the local community because it is not producing as much profit as a well known brand, it will start to alienate its customer base; particularly in the supermarket business, there is a lot of competition around, and it only takes a few customers to become disenchanted with a supermarket they use and start trying out one or more other supermarkets, before the profits start to fall from the original supermarket. They will tell their friends about another supermarket and before long a small trickle of exiting customers becomes a stream.
A similar sort of thing has happened whereby big corporations have thought that they were being so clever by saving a lot of money by outsourcing certain services, for example call centers, to countries with cheaper wage bills; in the short term this policy does appear to be good, but what about the customers?
Pretty well anyone that you talk to will say that they get confused and frustrated when dealing with foreign call centers, not for any racist reasons but purely because most people at the foreign call centers may be able to speak their language pretty well but they still have a difficult-to-understand accent and they are not aware of the way of speaking, mannerisms, humor, etc in a particular country. It is pretty well universally agreed that people in call centers should be brought up and educated in the same country as the people they are supporting. Many banks in the UK are finally waking up to public reaction to call centers.
So these corporations using foreign call centers will eventually become losers, big time, when one or more of their competitors realize that satisfied customers are the corner stone of their business and that if their business is built on a shaky foundation of bottom-line profits, then a small tremor in public feeling and awareness could bring their whole corporation down.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
MLM Internet Business Opportunity-Careful with Timing!
Many opportunity seekers are looking to generate passive income from a legitimate mlm internet business opportunity, work from home business opportunity, etc. They desire to become successful and make money from home so the current economic conditions won't seriously effect them.
However, before rushing to sign up for any business opportunity, whether it be some sort of internet affiliate program, multi-level marketing opportunity, direct sales opportunity, etc., the would be entrepreneur needs to always ask this crucial question. The question is, "Has the company I am considering passed the "early failure timeline?"
You see, any new home based income opportunity should be able to past the two year test. Why is this? It is because 99% of those new "ground floor" opportunities and start up companies don't last for two years. Therefore, it would not make good business sense to waste time and effort building something that will evaporate after a few years. So, there should be no rush for potential reps to get in a "ground floor" opportunity. After all, if a company is good today, they should be great tomorrow. It is important to not fall for all the hype that abounds on the internet. One needs to learn to see clearly through all the smoke and mirrors before decisions are made.
In addition, distributors should consider that profits usually come after two years. Most new companies do not make a lot of money the first two years due to "pre-launch" start-up issues.
On the other hand, it is good to avoid a network marketing opportunity or any company that has gone way past their momentum phase and are now household names. This is important to consider since the potential for big growth is long gone.
Another important point to consider with any online business opportunity, including a mlm business internet opportunity, is to never join a company with zero profit margin! For example, if a distributor joins a company whose products can be found in Wal-Mart for 50% less than what the company sells them for, the rep is set up to doomed to fail from the start!
There are many home business opportunities for people to choose from now days on the internet. It is crucial to consider the "timing in the company, timing in the industry" issues and if the company has passed the "early failure timeline". This will save all years of failure and frustration who are seeking to have a very successful mlm internet business opportunity or any other type of home business.
However, before rushing to sign up for any business opportunity, whether it be some sort of internet affiliate program, multi-level marketing opportunity, direct sales opportunity, etc., the would be entrepreneur needs to always ask this crucial question. The question is, "Has the company I am considering passed the "early failure timeline?"
You see, any new home based income opportunity should be able to past the two year test. Why is this? It is because 99% of those new "ground floor" opportunities and start up companies don't last for two years. Therefore, it would not make good business sense to waste time and effort building something that will evaporate after a few years. So, there should be no rush for potential reps to get in a "ground floor" opportunity. After all, if a company is good today, they should be great tomorrow. It is important to not fall for all the hype that abounds on the internet. One needs to learn to see clearly through all the smoke and mirrors before decisions are made.
In addition, distributors should consider that profits usually come after two years. Most new companies do not make a lot of money the first two years due to "pre-launch" start-up issues.
On the other hand, it is good to avoid a network marketing opportunity or any company that has gone way past their momentum phase and are now household names. This is important to consider since the potential for big growth is long gone.
Another important point to consider with any online business opportunity, including a mlm business internet opportunity, is to never join a company with zero profit margin! For example, if a distributor joins a company whose products can be found in Wal-Mart for 50% less than what the company sells them for, the rep is set up to doomed to fail from the start!
There are many home business opportunities for people to choose from now days on the internet. It is crucial to consider the "timing in the company, timing in the industry" issues and if the company has passed the "early failure timeline". This will save all years of failure and frustration who are seeking to have a very successful mlm internet business opportunity or any other type of home business.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Change Is Not Always A Good Thing
It's easy sometimes when trying to develop a successful Internet business tactics to become dissatisfied with the results of your current efforts. When there are so many people talking about how easy it is to do so well, it's not hard to have doubts if you are still getting your bearings.
The only reason you are considering changing your Internet marketing tactics is because you do not think it's working for you. The only reason it would not work for you is if you have not been executing your tactics well, whatever that tactic might be. It makes no difference if you are trying to get ad revenue, sell content, or even sell a specific product. There is an effective way to do any Internet marketing, but you are not going to discover it overnight and it's not going to work unless you put forth the effort.
If somebody who's just starting out is sharing wild success stories, there are two possible things happening. One is beginners luck, yeah, right. The other is extensive preparation. If they aren't lucky, and they probably aren't, they did their homework, their due diligence, which means they started sticking with their tactics before they even carried out it.
By preparing, and then sticking with your Internet business model, you will ultimately begin to understand the ins and outs of your field, and how to make your marketing tactics an effective and profitable one. The rewards of experience can be priceless. Sticking with your tactics, and looking for ways to improve what you are doing without tossing the baby out with the bath water is only going to lead to long term success.
And all that experience is just another reason you do not want to try to jump horses mid race. These horses may not trample you, but the lost profit potential could be just as bad. If you've taken the time and energy to get your Internet business going why would you throw away that entire investment just because it has not instantly made you rich, Rich, RICH?
The truth is, making good money on the Internet is entirely feasible, but it is most certainly not effortless. Sure you can work from home in your pajamas if you want, but you are still going to have to do the work. From producing content, to answering customer questions, to receiving and fulfilling orders, you are going to have to work. Making money on the Internet is so easy anybody can do it, but that doesn't mean they are going to do it without putting in the required effort.
If you are struggling with your Internet business, try to locate some business forums and see if you can get tips and tactics from successful online marketers to help you improve your results. Look for the tools that will help empower you to enhance your tactics with more efficiency and greater success. But the last thing you want to do, especially if you are serious about succeeding, is starting completely over with some other Internet marketing venture. Do your due diligence first, find a reputable and honest business, stick with it, and work the business until you do become rich, Rich, RICH.
The only reason you are considering changing your Internet marketing tactics is because you do not think it's working for you. The only reason it would not work for you is if you have not been executing your tactics well, whatever that tactic might be. It makes no difference if you are trying to get ad revenue, sell content, or even sell a specific product. There is an effective way to do any Internet marketing, but you are not going to discover it overnight and it's not going to work unless you put forth the effort.
If somebody who's just starting out is sharing wild success stories, there are two possible things happening. One is beginners luck, yeah, right. The other is extensive preparation. If they aren't lucky, and they probably aren't, they did their homework, their due diligence, which means they started sticking with their tactics before they even carried out it.
By preparing, and then sticking with your Internet business model, you will ultimately begin to understand the ins and outs of your field, and how to make your marketing tactics an effective and profitable one. The rewards of experience can be priceless. Sticking with your tactics, and looking for ways to improve what you are doing without tossing the baby out with the bath water is only going to lead to long term success.
And all that experience is just another reason you do not want to try to jump horses mid race. These horses may not trample you, but the lost profit potential could be just as bad. If you've taken the time and energy to get your Internet business going why would you throw away that entire investment just because it has not instantly made you rich, Rich, RICH?
The truth is, making good money on the Internet is entirely feasible, but it is most certainly not effortless. Sure you can work from home in your pajamas if you want, but you are still going to have to do the work. From producing content, to answering customer questions, to receiving and fulfilling orders, you are going to have to work. Making money on the Internet is so easy anybody can do it, but that doesn't mean they are going to do it without putting in the required effort.
If you are struggling with your Internet business, try to locate some business forums and see if you can get tips and tactics from successful online marketers to help you improve your results. Look for the tools that will help empower you to enhance your tactics with more efficiency and greater success. But the last thing you want to do, especially if you are serious about succeeding, is starting completely over with some other Internet marketing venture. Do your due diligence first, find a reputable and honest business, stick with it, and work the business until you do become rich, Rich, RICH.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
What are Your Web Site Marketing Objectives?
Frequently small business owners spend hard earned cash for a web site and they get little return on the investment.
The first step in designing or redesigning your web site is to clarify the goals you want the web site to achieve. What is the purpose of your web site? What do you want your web site to do?
One of the goals of your web site should be to attract the attention of your target market. Most small business web sites fail to do this. Typically, these web sites are filled with information on the firm's services, products and credentials.
These types of web sites do little to attract new customers, simply because they are "me" oriented. In other words, they don't offer what the customer is looking for.
Most users of the Web are searching for information and solutions to problems. If your web site doesn't provide easily found solutions the customer will quickly leave for other options.
Is your target market searching for the content you have on your web site?
Many small businesses have web sites in order to establish credibility. The mere presence of a web site is not going to convince prospects you can help them. To establish trust you need to demonstrate your expertise and qualifications.
One method for establishing credibility is by featuring testimonials. Comments from others are perceived with greater credibility than descriptions of your features and benefits. This will help differentiate your business from the competition.
What are you doing to differentiate your web site and build credibility?
Generating leads is one of the most important objectives for a small business web site. If people come to your web site for solutions, you want as many of them as possible to contact you.
It is also desirable for your web site to differentiate people who are not ready to buy from people who are ready to make a purchase.
Visitors to you web site need to be given direction and incentives.
Does your web site prompt people to supply contact information and contact you? Is there motivation for them to give you their contact information?
Of course the most important goal of your web site should be to help make you money. If you sell services and products it should be easy for prospects to find them, along with comprehensive information about each product.
Ideally, you will want individual sell pages for each product or service. Again, you will want the content to discuss solutions to customers' problems.
Is your web site helping you sell more of your products and services?
It is your customers' problems that maintains your business. You need both customer problems and solutions to keep your business operating.
Customer problems are the fuel that provides the power to your marketing engine. Fueling your marketing engine requires a constant focus on customer problems. The better you can address customer problems the more powerful your marketing engine.
What are the concerns of your target market? What problems do they have that you can solve? What problems do they want solved?
Prospects want to see themselves and their concerns clearly identified in order to feel confident that you understand their needs. Don't start talking about features and benefits until you have identified the problems that the prospects want to solved.
Switch to using your prospects problems as the core to your marketing message and you'll be amazed at how quickly your marketing will accelerate your business.
The first step in designing or redesigning your web site is to clarify the goals you want the web site to achieve. What is the purpose of your web site? What do you want your web site to do?
One of the goals of your web site should be to attract the attention of your target market. Most small business web sites fail to do this. Typically, these web sites are filled with information on the firm's services, products and credentials.
These types of web sites do little to attract new customers, simply because they are "me" oriented. In other words, they don't offer what the customer is looking for.
Most users of the Web are searching for information and solutions to problems. If your web site doesn't provide easily found solutions the customer will quickly leave for other options.
Is your target market searching for the content you have on your web site?
Many small businesses have web sites in order to establish credibility. The mere presence of a web site is not going to convince prospects you can help them. To establish trust you need to demonstrate your expertise and qualifications.
One method for establishing credibility is by featuring testimonials. Comments from others are perceived with greater credibility than descriptions of your features and benefits. This will help differentiate your business from the competition.
What are you doing to differentiate your web site and build credibility?
Generating leads is one of the most important objectives for a small business web site. If people come to your web site for solutions, you want as many of them as possible to contact you.
It is also desirable for your web site to differentiate people who are not ready to buy from people who are ready to make a purchase.
Visitors to you web site need to be given direction and incentives.
Does your web site prompt people to supply contact information and contact you? Is there motivation for them to give you their contact information?
Of course the most important goal of your web site should be to help make you money. If you sell services and products it should be easy for prospects to find them, along with comprehensive information about each product.
Ideally, you will want individual sell pages for each product or service. Again, you will want the content to discuss solutions to customers' problems.
Is your web site helping you sell more of your products and services?
It is your customers' problems that maintains your business. You need both customer problems and solutions to keep your business operating.
Customer problems are the fuel that provides the power to your marketing engine. Fueling your marketing engine requires a constant focus on customer problems. The better you can address customer problems the more powerful your marketing engine.
What are the concerns of your target market? What problems do they have that you can solve? What problems do they want solved?
Prospects want to see themselves and their concerns clearly identified in order to feel confident that you understand their needs. Don't start talking about features and benefits until you have identified the problems that the prospects want to solved.
Switch to using your prospects problems as the core to your marketing message and you'll be amazed at how quickly your marketing will accelerate your business.
Monday, June 1, 2009
All you need to know Start Blog Marketing
Whether you are new to blogging or not we always want more ideas to drive readers to our blog pages. Marketing your blog the right way will give you the results that you are looking for. You are going to find that you can not just make a blog, post in it a couple of times, and then expect for the world to find you. That just will not happen how much you wish for it. However, you can market your blog effectively, and get the results that you are looking for.
To begin blog marketing you first need a blog. The next step is to ensure that your blog is updated frequently. Post content in your blog regularly for the best results. Some will post once a day and others once a week. Whichever it is, be consistent with it and know that it will pay off to continue posting as you should. This is a great way to get started with blog marketing. You wont have a blog to market if you do not post in it regularly.
While most free blogs all look the same, you can make sure that your blog design stands out. You don’t want your blog to look and feel like everyone else’s, so make it different. Having your own look is a huge plus in the blog marketing world. You will find that most blogs all look the same and you can have your own look by just using HTML and adjusting the code to suit your taste. You are going to see that this will truly make a difference with your blog as well as your readers. Try to get a theme that is going to match the market that you are promoting in your blog. Doing so will make it look even more professional. You don’t want your readers to confuse your blog with others do you? If this is something that you are concerned about, you will definitely want to make sure that you change yours to make more personable. However, if you are not worried about it or concerned about it in the least, you can leave the design as one of the free templates that you see so frequently used.
Something else that will help you with your blog marketing is exchanging links with authority blogs and websites that are in your same market is another great way to get the word out about your blog. The authority sites are going to have a higher page rank, and will also be listed high in Google’s search results. So do some searches and check those out and see if they are up to exchanging links. If they are not, you could always just add those into your blog roll. You do not need permission to do that if they are not into linking. However, in the world of blogs, most blog owners are thankful for all links, and are willing to return the favor. This is a great way to market your blog that some do not think about or use. If you use this technique to get your blog seen, you will not be sorry. It is a trick you can even use to market your website.
To begin blog marketing you first need a blog. The next step is to ensure that your blog is updated frequently. Post content in your blog regularly for the best results. Some will post once a day and others once a week. Whichever it is, be consistent with it and know that it will pay off to continue posting as you should. This is a great way to get started with blog marketing. You wont have a blog to market if you do not post in it regularly.
While most free blogs all look the same, you can make sure that your blog design stands out. You don’t want your blog to look and feel like everyone else’s, so make it different. Having your own look is a huge plus in the blog marketing world. You will find that most blogs all look the same and you can have your own look by just using HTML and adjusting the code to suit your taste. You are going to see that this will truly make a difference with your blog as well as your readers. Try to get a theme that is going to match the market that you are promoting in your blog. Doing so will make it look even more professional. You don’t want your readers to confuse your blog with others do you? If this is something that you are concerned about, you will definitely want to make sure that you change yours to make more personable. However, if you are not worried about it or concerned about it in the least, you can leave the design as one of the free templates that you see so frequently used.
Something else that will help you with your blog marketing is exchanging links with authority blogs and websites that are in your same market is another great way to get the word out about your blog. The authority sites are going to have a higher page rank, and will also be listed high in Google’s search results. So do some searches and check those out and see if they are up to exchanging links. If they are not, you could always just add those into your blog roll. You do not need permission to do that if they are not into linking. However, in the world of blogs, most blog owners are thankful for all links, and are willing to return the favor. This is a great way to market your blog that some do not think about or use. If you use this technique to get your blog seen, you will not be sorry. It is a trick you can even use to market your website.
Web Site Usability - What is it?
The primary thing that makes a web site usable is how well it enables someone to achieve what they want to do. To achieve this goal a web designer needs two things. First, you need to understand the basic principles of usability. Secondly, you need to understand the users of the web site and design the site with them in mind.
The International Organization for Standards (ISO) has a definition for usability:
...the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a particular environment (ISO Standard 9241).
However, everyone has their own definition of usability, "If I cannot use it, it is not user friendly."
Usability expert, Jakob Nielson lists ten general principles for user interface design.
1. Visibility of system status - Always keep the user informed about what is going on.
2. Match between system and the real world - The system should speak the users' language.
3. User control and freedom - Support undo and redo.
4. Consistency and standards - Users should not have to wonder if different words or actions mean the same thing.
5. Error prevention - Eliminate error prone conditions
6. Recognition rather than recall - There should be no need to remember information.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use - Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design - Extra information competes with relevant units of information.
9. Easy error recovery - Error messages should be in plain language.
10. Help and documentation - Easy to search.
You may be eager to jump right into the designing of your web site. You are excited about your ideas. While your ideas may be very good, you need to stop and take time to get feedback from others.
Before you can consider design solutions you need to have a solid understanding of the problems you are trying to solve, the business requirements, and the user needs. If you do not have this information you should not be considering design solutions.
Depending upon the purpose of the web site these initial steps can be determined very quickly or they may require significant input from business associates and end users. Extensive task analysis and scenarios may be needed. Personas can be developed to help facilitate this process.
It may be helpful to involve end users in the research phase of the design, depending upon the purpose of the web site. It is much better to have their involvement at the early stages as it will save you heartache later.
As the web site is designed, it is important to have usability reviews. As a designer, you must not think of these reviews as critiques of your design. The objective of the usability review is to make the web site design even better. Your budge may determine the extent of the usability review. But even with a minimal budget, a review by a few end users will be very helpful.
After your web site is online and live you still need to keep working on usability. Small improvements in the web site usability can result in significant increases in your desired results from the web site. If your desired results are measurable, you need to test if changes on the web site can improve performance.
The International Organization for Standards (ISO) has a definition for usability:
...the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a particular environment (ISO Standard 9241).
However, everyone has their own definition of usability, "If I cannot use it, it is not user friendly."
Usability expert, Jakob Nielson lists ten general principles for user interface design.
1. Visibility of system status - Always keep the user informed about what is going on.
2. Match between system and the real world - The system should speak the users' language.
3. User control and freedom - Support undo and redo.
4. Consistency and standards - Users should not have to wonder if different words or actions mean the same thing.
5. Error prevention - Eliminate error prone conditions
6. Recognition rather than recall - There should be no need to remember information.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use - Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design - Extra information competes with relevant units of information.
9. Easy error recovery - Error messages should be in plain language.
10. Help and documentation - Easy to search.
You may be eager to jump right into the designing of your web site. You are excited about your ideas. While your ideas may be very good, you need to stop and take time to get feedback from others.
Before you can consider design solutions you need to have a solid understanding of the problems you are trying to solve, the business requirements, and the user needs. If you do not have this information you should not be considering design solutions.
Depending upon the purpose of the web site these initial steps can be determined very quickly or they may require significant input from business associates and end users. Extensive task analysis and scenarios may be needed. Personas can be developed to help facilitate this process.
It may be helpful to involve end users in the research phase of the design, depending upon the purpose of the web site. It is much better to have their involvement at the early stages as it will save you heartache later.
As the web site is designed, it is important to have usability reviews. As a designer, you must not think of these reviews as critiques of your design. The objective of the usability review is to make the web site design even better. Your budge may determine the extent of the usability review. But even with a minimal budget, a review by a few end users will be very helpful.
After your web site is online and live you still need to keep working on usability. Small improvements in the web site usability can result in significant increases in your desired results from the web site. If your desired results are measurable, you need to test if changes on the web site can improve performance.
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