Veronicle Blog

It was a great plan. A company will employ a sales force of satisfied customers that will in turn recommend a product to their friends and family. For doing so, they will be compensated with a discount in price or receive a commission for the products that the people in their “network” purchase, based on their “marketing” efforts.

It was a win-win for everyone. The customer won because he received a discount on a quality product that he was already using. Plus he was paid for recommending these products to his friends. The company won because it did not have to spend countless dollars on monstrous ad campaigns. It did not have the headache of maintaining a salaried sales force. And finally paid money AFTER a sale was made. It sounded like the perfect system.

But then along came the charlatans and scammers that gave the industry a black eye. These people and companies tarnished the promise of network marketing, turning mlm into a four letter word.

Now the entire industry is topsy turvey. Companies and senior uplines simply focus on recruiting. They tell you that it is all a numbers game and that you just have to plug more people into the system. It is all about your warm market and your warm market’s warm market. Leaders sit in training meeting and conferences telling you to find more people. “Go wide.” “Go Deep.” There is a huge focus on building your network… but what about the marketing.

Ignoring the marketing aspect of your business is like lifting weights with your right arm while ignoring your left. It just doesn’t make sense. It creates an imbalance, and this misalignment in network marketing’s Feng-Shui, I’m convinced, is the reason that most people are failing in this industry. This strategy violates the motivations that created the industry and just does not make common sense.

You must market you product. If you represent a product that you would not buy if there wasn’t some financial compensation tied to it… find a new product! Then market the hell out of it. Find customers that are happy with the product. This will accomplish two things. It will put money in your pocket quickly (the reason you got into business in the first place). And it will provide you with a happy customer that will be more than willing to introduce this product to his friends and family. This person will be more open to becoming part of your downline, thus providing you with residual income (which is why we chose network marketing as our business)

I am not saying that you should ignore the recruiting aspect of your business. I am telling you to balance the scales. Thus, you will have achieved harmony in the yin-yang of your network marketing universe. With a evenhanded approach you will have more upfront income, from your marketing efforts. And with happy customers instead of “perpetual opportunity seekers” in your downline, they are more likely to stay in the business instead of hoping into the next big opportunity.

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A big challenge for every small business owner is the need to ‘find time’ for marketing.

I can relate. None of us are full time marketers. We’re all providing services to clients. And when you’re serving clients too, it’s hard to fit in sales calls and marketing activity. It’s hard to maintain momentum.

One thing is for sure, whatever shape our business is in right now, we all have the same 365 days in 2006.

Will you use that time to create a structure that supports you and brings in clients automatically, or will you still be complaining about ‘lack of time’ when 2007 rolls around?

Despite being one of the most disorganised people on the planet, and someone who was earning all my income from selling my time just 18 months ago, I have managed to create an ‘autopilot’ marketing machine, generate passive streams of income, and I now earn more than I ever have, whilst working less hours. I truly believe that you can do the same, so in this article I want to share with you a few ideas that may help if you’ve been having trouble ‘finding time’.

1. If you don’t enjoy it, you’ll never ‘find the time’

If the idea of marketing and selling your services leaves you with a yucky feeling in the pit of your stomach, then let me assure you, you’ll never ‘find time’. As long as you feel like this, there will always be a more attractive activity pulling your attention. Even if your fairy godmother gifted you with two whole weeks, you’d still find ways to avoid marketing and selling. It’s called ‘Creative Avoidance’.
Is your problem is really a ‘lack of time’ or are you creatively avoiding marketing and selling?

2. If your business isn’t structured properly, you’ll never find the time

If meeting your revenue goals is dependent upon you working with clients 4-5 days a week, then it’s going to be really hard to find time for marketing. You may need to take a closer look at your pricing structures and put together a business plan that includes time for marketing, administration, rest, and time to reinvest in yourself. E-Myth author Michael Gerber calls this working ‘on’ the business, not just ‘in’ the business. My own experience was that I had to simultaneously increase my prices whilst slashing overheads to create a situation where I did have time to work on my business.

If you’re working flat out just to keep afloat, then you definitely need to take a closer look at what you are charging.

3. If your only way of generating income is by selling your time, then you’ll never ‘find the time for marketing.’

Somehow you need to break this catch 22, and the way to do that is by ‘productising’ your services. Sharing your expertise through a book, an audio package.

I know, I know! You’re too busy working with clients to have the time to create products. The good news is, there is a way to create revenue producing products that does not have to take hours of your time.

The first product I ever created was simply a recording of a day long seminar that I ran. That product brought in £7,000 additional profit over the next 12 months, with no extra work on my part. Be creative. Is it possible to package material and information that you already have in a way that creates value for your clients and customers? A little bit of effort right now could be repaying you over and over for the next twelve months.

4. If you aren’t clear on what the next action is, you’ll never ‘find the time for marketing’.

Think about an area of your marketing that you’re struggling to find time for. I’m willing to bet that you’re thinking of it as a project as opposed to a single action: ‘Sorting out my website’, ‘rewriting my sales letter’, ‘building my opt-in list’. These are projects, the success of which depends on a series of actions plus knowledge. It’s hard to move projects along when you think of them in this way. It’s your thinking that needs to change, not time!

I learned this technique from time management guru David Allen. He says ‘often the simplest things are stuck because we haven’t made a final decision yet about the next action.’ What can happen is we think about the project and some part of us thinks, ‘I don’t have all the pieces between here and there’. We know something is missing, but we’re not sure what it is exactly, so we quit. Or rather we don’t quit, but we leave the project stuck on our psychological radar, for us to feel a little bit worse about every time we think of it.

Take an area of your marketing where you feel a bit stuck and ask yourself ‘What’s the next action?’ So ‘I need to sort out my website’ may become ‘I need to create a website which attracts visitors and converts them into customers’ which may become ‘I need to find 3 role models of successful business producing websites in my industry’ may become ‘I need to spend 30 minutes online researching websites’. It’s much easier to find 30 minutes to take the next action than it is to find time to ’sort out your website’.

In summary, you deserve to have a successful business and I promise you that whatever myths you’ve been fed, you can create that business without struggle, sacrifice or hours of extra work. If ‘finding time’ has been a problem for you, maybe it’s your thinking that needs to change rather than your ‘time management.’

(c) Bernadette Doyle, 2006. Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as the article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links made live.

Bernadette Doyle is dedicated to helping self-employed and small businesses become Client Magnets. Get her FREE report “7 Secrets of Becoming A Client Magnet and Attracting All the Clients You Want” by visiting http://www.clientmagnets.com

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“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t
matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
-Dr. Suess.

Oooh, good quote, and it sums up the thrust of this article.

People buy from people that they know, like and trust.
How will they get to know you, to like you, to trust you?

Not by putting up a website the same as everyone else’s, that’s for sure.
And not by hiding your light under a bushel either.

One of the paradoxes of the internet is that although it is one of the most
miraculous developments in communication we have ever seen, people
are afraid to be themselves.

Most people think that they have to appeal to everyone, that any opinion
will alienate potential customers.

Yes, your opinion will indeed alienate some people, but these are not the
people you want to do business with anyway.

Being yourself will attract as many people as you might push away, so
the theory just doesn’t stand up.

This particularly applies if you publish a newsletter.
Let people know what is going on in your life.
People will come to know all about your life, which is great, because they
will also like you and trust you.

And what will people do if they know, like and trust you?
They will believe what you say if you recommend a product, because they
have faith in your integrity.

Who do you seek out on the internet? Who do you listen to, and enjoy
reading?
Is it someone who expresses his or her opinion freely, tells you how it is?
Or is it someone who you have no idea what they think?
Well it’s the person who already agrees with what I’m writing here, of
course!

So, any formula you come across, any recipe for success, whether online
or offline, don’t forget to add your personality and stir 3 times - it’s just
about the best free resource you can get, and it comes in unlimited supply!

About the Author

****************************************
Gordon Bryan’s new book, ‘Transform Your Life in 21 Days!
has been described as ‘a must read’, ‘awesome’, and
‘a true gem’.
If you liked this article, see the book for yourself at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
****************************************

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Do you have a detailed plan in place to market your home-based Internet business? How about a strategy that will work for your budget? Do you know where to start?

If not, read on. This article is an Internet marketing resource that you will find invaluable. It is a free Internet marketing guide.

Five questions you need to ask yourself:
1) Who is my target customer?
2) What is my budget?
3) Where will I find my customers?
4) Why do they need my product or service?
5) How quickly do I want results?

Your budget will probably be the most significant factor in determining your Internet marketing program.

Organic marketing is definitely the cheapest. Organic marketing is getting people to your site to purchase without paying for advertising. It is; however, more time consuming and takes longer to see results. This strategy will be discussed in more detail in my next article.

If your budget is more extensive, you can obtain results quickly through strategies, such as Pay Per Click, which will also be discussed at a later date.

Get your groundwork done first…whatever way you choose to market! First, determine the customer you want to attract. Who are they? Focusing on a certain “kind” of customer will greatly improve your chances of exposing them to your business. You have to know where your potential customer is looking so you can be there too…staring them in the face.

Next, give thought to why someone would require your service or product. That will give you clues about what keywords they will enter and what sites they hang out on. Then you can decide, for example, if you’d like to advertise on those sites. You can also make your website keyword rich.

Whoever puts forth the most effort in planning and executing their Internet marketing campaign WINS! It’s just that easy. The businesses that are most visible get the most paying customers. We witness the same concept with successful “brick and mortar” businesses who are marketing geniuses. Why would an Internet business be any different?

Answer the 5 questions above and join me next week as I discuss organic marketing as an option to paid advertising. It promises to be gooood!

Copyright 2005 Glen Snethun

Glen Snethun is a full-time Internet businessman: stock trader, author and coach. Glen dedicates his time to showing others how to create multiple streams of income using the Internet. Get ideas from Glen at http://www.glensnethun.org

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Press releases, sometimes also known as news releases, are used to announce your business or organization and its activities to the media. The purpose is to catch the attention of editors and journalists who work for newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations with the result being a story about your organization.

While newspapers charge for ad space, if they produce a news story you will get much more coverage than you would with ad space and it will be free. The public naturally trusts and listens to news stories more than they do advertisements so this increases the perceived level of credibility of your organization.

Find Specific Media Outlets:

Many businesses would like to generate publicity in thier local city or regional area. Contact local media outlets such as television, newspapers and local radio stations. Their websites will often provide information about submitting press releases online. Many will accept press releases via email, but it is best to find out which method they prefer.

Online Press Release Distribution Services:

Online press release services will get your news item out to the widest possible audience. Some services charge a yearly fee and others per press release. However, there are several good sites that will let you submit your press release for free or a very low cost.

Bonus Online Publicity

When you submit a press release online your website and business will get extra publicity. How? Press release services automatically send their submissions to many websites including Google News and Yahoo News.

Widely distributing your press releases has several benefits:

* Gaining the interest of regional or national news media

* Getting incoming links to your organization’s website

* Further increasing your business’s profile and credibility

* Reach web surfers on sites such as Google News who may be interested in your cause - these could be potential donors or organizations with whom you can partner in the future

About the Author:

Sandra Sims coaches non profit organizations with issues such as fundraising, volunteer management and administration. She offers a variety of hands on resources on her website http://stepbystepfundraising.com including more resources for generating publicity from your website.

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With research suggesting that around 90% of all e-commerce purchases coming as a result of a search engine enquiry, the potential selling power that having a significant presence on the main search engines can confer is slowly beginning to dawn on those responsible for marketing and selling everything from Alphabet soup to Zebra floor mats.

Search Engine Marketers have in recent times set up their tents in one of two different camps.

One would have clients believe that the only value to be gained from search engine marketing is the long term value that organic search engine listings can achieve.

The camp on the opposite side of the river would have their clients sold on the belief that Pay Per Click advertising (PPC) from companies such as Google, Overture and Miva offered the swiftest returns on investment and the quickest routes into the lands of honey and gold.

The reality of the situation is that a truly successful Search Engine Marketing campaign lies somewhere in-between.

The advent of the fabled Google “Sandbox” now means that for the majority of new and redesigned websites an artificial time delay of at least six months is now being imposed on their sites making onto the pages returned for a relevant keyword search.

This is a consequence of Google’s attempts to rid its index of sites designed to manipulate the listings rather than to provide real and valuable content.

The consequence of this action is that whilst new sites can still (at the time of writing) quickly gain organic listings on MSN and Yahoo through the optimisation of their websites, those seeking to place their products or services in front of the massive Goggle audience need to invest time and money in establishing a brand presence on Google through the usage of PPC advertising.

Recent research has shown that PPC click adverts are only perceived to have been paid for by fewer than 40% of those using search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Additionally having PPC adverts that mention a brand name on page listings relating to a particular subject or product actually increases brand awareness in subsequent recall tests by over 25%, whether the advert was clicked upon or not.

No-one can argue that over time organic listings represent the greatest potential for Return On Investment (ROI).

However the fact that organic listings are increasingly becoming harder to achieve, particularly for new websites, means that integrated Search Engine Marketing solutions that take account of organic and PPC listings represent the true and only means of establishing a strong and profitable position on the main search engines.

Ivor Conway is the Managing Director of Neuchi, UK Search Engine Marketing and UK Search Engine Optimisation company that promotes the matching of UK client’s products to interested and ready to buy online customers.

Please vistit us at http://www.neuchi.co.uk to learn how we can help your UK based company increase sales and turnover.

Please feel free to reproduce this article but please publish in its entirety and with the resource box and all live links included.

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Everything you may have heard about website traffic and
promotion might be true.

But this article will show you some amazing ways to EXPLODE your
website traffic by getting others to work for you.

If you’ve been looking for a quick and easy way to get thunder
storm of visitors rushing to your site all day long, this
article will show you exactly how to do the same.

One of the most difficult and time consuming tasks in this ebiz
game is to get traffic to your site on a continuous basis. And
that’s not cheap.

Therefore it makes perfect sense to put in some efforts and put
a viral marketing strategy in place that will motivate your
existing traffic to work for you, to get MORE traffic to your
website.

There has never been a better time for you to skyrocket your
traffic counter, than it is today!

Lets get started…

STEP 1 - Provide Free Valuable Service.

Allow people to provide your free online service to their web
site visitors or e-zine subscribers. They could be free e-mail,
e-mail consulting, search engine submissions, etc.

STEP 2 - Pass on Free Software with Ads.

Allow people to give away your free software. Just include your
business advertisement inside the software program.

STEP 3 - Provide Free Graphics.

Allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts,
templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people
to link directly to your web site.

STEP 4 - Create Viral Brandable eBooks.

Allow people to place an advertisement in your free ebook if, in
exchange, they give away the ebook to their web visitors or
e-zine subscribers.

STEP 5 - Provide Free Resell & Distribution Rights to Your eBook.

Allow people to give away your free ebook to their visitors.
Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just
continue to spread your ad all over the internet.

If you want to get hoards of targeted traffic to your website
without spending a dime, then make sure you apply the 5 step
system laid down in this article.

If you want to increase your website traffic without putting in
any additional efforts after you have given some initial push,
then I urge you to read this article — immediately.

If you’re sick and tired of getting low traffic and sales
pouring into your site and you are hunting for some
life-changing solution, then make sure you take action and put
this amazing viral marketing system in place.

Now you are aware of some of the proven viral marketing secrets
and NOW you can cash-in on one of the greatest website promotion
strategy online.

Viral Marketing is allowing people to giveaway and use your free
product or service in order to multiply your marketing quickly
over the internet.

The idea behind viral marketing is that you include your ad with
the freebie people giveaway or use.

Just apply some creativity and use this tactic instantly. There
has never been a better time for you to explode your website
traffic, than it is today.

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