Internet tips and technology

Internet Business – Tips For Running a Successful One From Home

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:49:50 +0000

In today’s shifting economy, long-term job security can be difficult to obtain in nearly any professional. Whether you are looking to supplement your income with additional opportunities or want an alternative to a traditional career path, a home-based Internet business can open doors to exciting new income channels sooner than you imagine. The key to running a successful internet business from home is to make sure that you are focused on a specific market niche, and that you have mapped out your plan to market carefully.

Like any traditional business, Internet based ventures require attention to customer support, competitive pricing and quality offerings, whether you are selling products, services or helping to promote another company’s ideas.

What Interests You?

To start your home business, begin by focusing on those areas you know best. For example, if your professional work experience is in transportation, you may want to start a consulting business that sells training to businesses, transportation professionals and trucking companies. Based upon your experience in the field, you can offer your services as a consultant complete with on-site training, DVDs and training manuals. The best aspects of opening your own Internet business is that you can derive multiple streams of income through selling products, services and referrals to related services.
The Key is finding something you have a Passion for.

Marketing, Your Life Blood!

One of the key aspects of marketing your new online business is through search engines. Many professionals build high quality sites but fail to sufficiently market the new ventures to gain traction with consumers. Make sure your website is built taking account of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques.

Since you are focusing your home-based business in your area of expertise, always write authoritative, high quality content for your newsletters, site information and promotional materials – this will establish your new business as an authority source on the topic, and can help begin to generate buzz around your new idea. Writing and submitting original articles that provide real value is another way to generate free traffic to your website. In the early stages of your business, it may be beneficial to offer information and insights at no charge so that you can generate interest in your new product offerings.

Connecting with leaders in your industry and forging strategic relationships is crucial for the success of any Internet business, and making the right connections is a core part of your long-term marketing strategy. Personal Branding from the outset will catapult your earnings long term.

Plan For Success

Like all traditional businesses, you should write a business plan that tracks the growth potential of your home business. Sit down and estimate your costs, revenues and product offerings to determine how best to structure your new business venture. Many first time entrepreneurs launch businesses without stepping back to evaluate competitors, pricing strategies and alternative marketing strategies – you can save time and money by calibrating your strategy properly the very first time. Run your idea by those business partners and friends whom you trust most so that you can refine your service offering before a formal launch – testing your new service or product idea is a key element of getting each stage of the new offering right.

Final Thoughts

Starting a home-based business on the Internet can be exciting, challenging and rewarding, so always have a forward looking outlook to adjust to changes in the marketplace. The great thing about the internet is it doesn’t discriminate against you because of your back ground. If you undertake appropriate training and are passionate about your product or service there is nothing stopping you generating a recession proof income online.

Make sure your product or service is what the market place wants, rather than you creating something and then trying to find a market for it. Research is critical to your success as is Personal Branding and Outsourcing those areas you don’t have the expertise for.

Finding an Internet Mentor who can help steer you through the internet terrain will save time as well as you thousands in the bank and increase your chance of success.

By: Catherine Shanahan

Internet Marketing Tips – Making Your Banners Scream Click Me

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:46:32 +0000

Okay, I’m old. I admit it. I remember a time when banners were really cool. They came out and everybody was clicking on these things like crazy. There were some sites where you couldn’t afford to pay for a banner ad unless you were Donald Trump. Oh how I long for those days. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. People are, for the most part, immune to those shiny things and the click-thru rates have gone into the toilet. However, they don’t have to stay in the toilet. There are ways to get people to click on your banners again. You just have to be a little creative.

The first thing you have to do is get away from your standard square or rectangle banner. These are so dull that they just fall flat regardless of what you put on them. You need to start coming up with shapes and sizes that are a little different. Naturally, this will require some fancy design. If you can’t do this yourself, then hire somebody who can do the job for you. If they’re a specialist in the area of banners (they do exist) they’ll have some great shapes and sizes that will certainly catch your eye.

The next thing you have to do is start thinking outside the box when it comes to the wording you put on your banner. I’m not suggesting that you go the route of obnoxiousness and insult everybody, but be a little different. A banner with the headline “Make Money Online TODAY” is going to get you more yawns than a 1902 silent film, unless of course you’re a silent film buff. My suggestion is to take a page from the top copywriters of our time. Look at some of the great headlines that have produced massive sales over the years. Use them as inspiration. Modify them to fit your business. Finally, come up with a color scheme for your banner that isn’t the same old, same old. Put a big bulls-eye in the middle of it with red all around. Make it as outrageous as you can. Attracting attention, which is the hardest thing to do today, is the key. Once you’ve done that, getting them to click on your banner will then come down to your message.

Yes, banner advertising is a real challenge today. But with a little thought and tossing out the fear of being silly, or even downright stupid, you CAN come up with a banner that says “Click Me!”

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

Top 10 Internet Marketing Tips

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:49:37 +0000

I thought it would be a good idea to get this out of the way for those who like top 10 lists. What you will find is my top 10 list of things that you need to have in order to be successful online. To keep with the tradition of the game shows, I am revealing this list in reverse order. I hope you enjoy it and learn something from it.

10. Establishing A Routine – It is important that each day you wake up and treat your business like a business. If you treat it like a hobby, you will make hobby money. By having a routine, or a set of things that you force yourself to do each day, you give yourself the best chance of being successful simply because you’re treating your business like a business.

9. Back Up Your Work – Computers crash. Deal with it! Those who think that their computers are immune to this problem are living in a fool’s paradise. Back up your work any time you make a substantial change that is going to cost you hours to do over.

8. Time Management – It is critical that you manage your time. This means making a schedule and assigning a certain amount of time to each task. Don’t go over the time limit. If you do, things don’t get done. This is a great way to discipline yourself.

7. Testing And Tracking – You can’t run a business if you have no idea what ads and sales pages are working and not working. The only way to do this is to put trackers on all your ads and to test every change you make to your sales pages. Discard the things that aren’t working and keep the things that are. Otherwise, you are marketing in the dark.

6. Developing Communication Skills – When you are in business, you have to deal with people. If you don’t know how to communicate with your customers, you won’t have them for long. I think I made myself clear on this point.

5. Education – This was one of my biggest problems when I started. I didn’t know what I was doing. You must get an education on everything to do with Internet marketing. There is no way around this.

4. Advertising – You can have the best web site in the world. If nobody sees it, it’s worthless. The only way to get people to see it is by advertising. Use as many methods as you can afford. You can never have enough of this.

3. Planning – You can’t run a business by the seat of your pants. Everything must be planned out ahead of time, from the creation of your product, to launch, to follow up marketing. Failure to do this will spell certain disaster.

2. Honesty – If you lie to your customers, they will find out. Once they do, your reputation is shot. There is no repairing it once you are known as a liar. Please don’t forget this.

1. Customer Service – If you launch a product and there are problems and you don’t take care of them, guess what? You won’t have to worry about launching another product because you won’t get any buyers. Customer service can make or break a company.

If you keep these 10 tips in mind, you’ll give yourself the best chance of succeeding with your Internet business.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

Internet Marketing Tips – Are You Screaming to Be Heard?

admin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:55:32 +0000

In case you haven’t noticed, social networking, especially Twitter, is very big. There are people out there who have tens of thousands of followers. Maybe you’re one of them. But, I have to ask this question. Are you screaming to be heard? If you are, you’re going about things all wrong. There is a right way and a wrong way to be successful with social networks. I’m going to show you the right way. What you decide to do is up to you.

If you frequent Twitter for any length of time during the day, you’ll notice two kinds of people. Well, actually three. One will be successful, one will be so-so and the third will fail. If you don’t know which is which, I’m going to point them out under no uncertain terms.

Let’s start with the so-so guy. He’s the one who talks about what he ate for dinner, his latest golf conquest or maybe the TV show he’s currently watching. He just likes to chat. He doesn’t really offer anything in the way of useful info but he’s not intrusive. He’s certainly pleasant enough. And maybe, the rare occasion when he puts out a link to a product, he might make a sale…maybe. But he’s not very successful with using Twitter.

Then there is the guy who is just a total failure. Not only that, he’s the guy who usually ends up getting thrown out of the network altogether. He’ll do nothing but send links to products…all day and night. He’ll send direct messages with spam to everybody who follows him or even personal replies to people with that same spam. He has nothing useful to share. He’s just there to sell you stuff. He annoys everybody he comes in contact with. Yes, he is a total failure…not just as a marketer.

Then there is the successful person. He’s the one who shares important info…maybe a news item that people need to know or an article with important tips on doing something. He doesn’t chat a lot, but occasionally lets people see a social side for fun. He mixes it up but always provides value for the people following him. He’s subtle about his promotions, usually including them at the end of the articles he sends. He actually helps people when they have questions and problems.

So, which one are you? I know which one I am, and as a result, my blog readership has increased by over four times. See, you don’t have to scream to be heard. All you need to do is provide info that people need.

Yes, it’s REALLY that simple.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

Internet Home Security Camera Buying Tips

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:51:35 +0000

The internet home security camera is certainly becoming the way of the future for many home owners. The ease of installation is one of the big attractions however, this doesn’t take away from the level of security one has with these easy to install systems.

That’s the key…easy installation and even a novice can install these systems with just a little techincal know-how.

The internet home security camera is a great alternative for those who don’t have the budget to purchase the more elaborate wired systems. Here are some of the advantages:

- Easy to install

- All you need is a computer and an internet connection

- You can keep an eye on your home from an outside connection

- You have the ability to pan and tilt from an outside location

- Very versatile. You can place the cameras where you desire

- They can be set up to email you when motion is detected

- Can be plugged into your TV and VCR for recording purposes

Buying Online

There is no shortage of options to purchase the internet home security camera systems online. The only drawback with shopping online is getting after sales service. This is a moot point with many who shop online and it should be one of the first things you need to establish when browsing an online store.

There are many popular systems online worth taking a look at. One of the more popular models is the X10 security systems and for those watching their pennies, it’s certainly worth a look at. Affordable price doesn’t necessarily mean lack of performance.

Another popular system is the D-Link Wireless internet camera which again suits those looking for a well priced system offering plenty of “bells and whistles. It’s easy to install and comes with some solid tech support.

From a buyers perspective, sorting through the many systems available is tough, however, by setting a budget and then working within it should narrow down your selection process considerably.

Internet camera systems are on the improve all the time and one tip for shoppers who are budgeting is to wait until a new model is close to release and shop for the current model which in many cases will be lowered in price to accomodate it’s replacement.

By: Dean Caporella

Internet Marketing Tips – Making The Most Out Of Blogging

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:36:44 +0000

I’m surprised to see how many people really don’t know how to make the most out of blogging. Most will simply put up a blog, make a few entries and that’s it. They do no promotion and nothing else besides. Well, this article is going to give you just a few simple tips to turn your blog into a traffic generation machine. It won’t cost you any money to do any of these things and the time that you will spend will be minimal. So get out your pen and paper (or Word Doc) and take notes.

The first thing to do is get into the habit of updating your blog regularly. You don’t have to do this everyday, though it will certainly help if you do, but at least update your blog a couple of times a week. I personally have many blogs so it’s hard for me to do this, but I try to update each blog at least once a week. If all you have is one blog, this should be no trouble at all. The more you update, the more content you have, the higher up the search engine results you’ll go.

The second thing to do is to get into the habit of pinging your blog to the various directories each time you make an update. I use two services to do this. One is Pingomatic and the other is King Ping. The reason I use two is because every once in a while, one of them is down. There are many other services, but I find these two to be the most reliable and get the best results.

The next thing you need to do is actually go out and promote your blog. Don’t have any money? No problem. Just write some articles and submit them to article directories like Ezine Articles and put a link to your blog in the resource box. Make sure the article is related to the subject matter on your blog. Otherwise, readers are going to be a bit annoyed that they went to a blog that had nothing to do with the subject of the article.

Finally, go visit other blogs that are related to yours. Make posts to them in reply to some of the posts already made. Don’t forget to include in your signature a link to your own blog. You may not get many people to actually visit your blog from there, but the more of these backlinks you have at other blogs, the higher up the search rankings you’ll go.

These few simple tips can take your blog from a relative unknown to a force to be reckoned with.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

Internet Marketing Tips – Ideas Into Action

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:10:51 +0000

Did this ever happen to you? You’ve just finished a day’s work. You’re beat, exhausted and can’t do another thing. You’re about ready to call it a night when suddenly an idea for a new product pops into your head. You absolutely can’t do another thing or you’ll fall on your face, but you don’t want to lose this great idea. You know by morning you’re going to forget it. What do you do? This article is going to give you some basic things that I do t make sure I don’t forget those ideas over night, but more importantly, how to put those ideas into action. Keep reading to find out my secret to a five figure a month income.

The first thing I do, before I go to bed, should an idea pop into my head, is get a pad and a pen and write down the main idea itself. Then I write down a few bullet points underneath the main idea. These bullet points are there to highlight main actions that I know I’ll need to take in order to make my idea come to life. As you do this more and more, you’ll get a better feel for what those actions are. Let me give you a specific example of one idea I had and how I brought it into being.

I had an idea for a product that would be a comprehensive instructional package. It would be massive. But because of its scope, I also knew that I couldn’t release it all at one time or people would be overwhelmed. So I decided that I would break the package down into 12 monthly installments and at the same time, offer support for those 12 months so that if there were any questions or problems, I would be there to answer them. I had to decide how the product would be delivered and in what format. All these items I then jotted down under the main idea.

I then called it a night.

The next morning, looked at my list and started putting those ideas into action.

The first thing I did was start to put together the initial parts of the product that would be released right away. I then started to put together the system I was going to use to deliver the product over the next 12 months. As I completed each part of the project, I would check it off my list until every part was completed.

It’s a logical, step by step process. If you take it one step at a time and make sure you cover all your bases, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can put YOUR ideas into action.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

Internet Marketing Tips – Are You Really an Internet Marketer?

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:11:47 +0000

A lot of people say that Internet marketing is a business and that being an Internet marketer is a profession. This is such a misuse of the terminology that I don’t even know where to start in order to clear it up. But I’m sure going to try. In this article, I’m going to explain exactly what Internet marketing is, what an Internet marketer is, and why so many people aren’t what they say they are.

Let’s start with Internet marketing. Internet marketing is simply using the Internet as a means to market their goods and/or services online. An Internet marketer is somebody who does this. However, none of these two things is a business by itself UNLESS…well, I’ll get to the unless in a moment. Point is, these are just vehicles for getting your stuff from point A to point B.

For example, I sell many products online. I sell books on how to write articles, salescopy, make money and many other things. That doesn’t make me an Internet marketer. It makes me an information specialist. Chris Knight who owns EzineArticles is an article directory owner. The fact that he utilizes the Internet in order to get people to submit articles to his directory doesn’t make him an IMer. That is not a business in itself. It is just a way to sell your stuff.

Now, if your business happens to be getting traffic and prospects for other people in order for them to sell THEIR stuff, then you might be able to say that you are a marketing specialist…but that still doesn’t limit you to using the Internet. I could go on TV and do an infomercial about how I could help you sell your stuff online without ever actually creating an online presence. The vehicle has nothing to do with the business itself. I mean think about it. Do we call ourselves TV marketers or radio marketers? No, we’re just marketers, if that is in fact our main business…promoting the stuff that other people make. In that case, we might call ourselves affiliate marketers. But you can still do that online or offline. Again, the medium itself is just the vehicle.

I am not an Internet marketer. I may use the Internet, but that’s all I do. I sell informational products. I am an informational specialist, a copywriter, an article writer, a consultant and a coach.

I am not a…well, you get the picture.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

Internet Marketing Strategies Tips For the Newbie

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 08:09:25 +0000

Intro to Internet Marketing Strategies

This article will layout simple internet marketing strategies that will allow the newbie to find quick success online. With so much noise out there on the internet it’s difficult to determine what works and what doesn’t. Everyone is trying to scream louder than the others and of course everyone claims to have the best system, tool or method. When it comes to internet marketing strategies I am not going to boast about a certain product but what I hope to provide in this article is a simple formula that a newbie can put together and begin the process of taking their online business to a new level.

Below are 5 parts of a formula that when combined together make for a very powerful lead and sales conversion strategy.

Internet Marketing Strategies #1

BRAND YOURSELF

Branding yourself online is essential to internet marketing strategies. People buy from people or organizations they like. When you brand yourself you are creating a connection with your prospect. Once you prospect feels this connection they are more likely to buy from you. You can do this with a short story about yourself or even a video. This is not a sales pitch but a short auto-biography of who you are and what you do. This is a very powerful way to connect with your prospect and ultimately increase your sales.

Internet Marketing Strategies #2

LISTBUILDING

List building is the art of capturing a prospect’s information from your web page. When a prospect visits your web page you should provide an opt-in form for them to fill in. You can make them a special offer such as a free e-book or a subscription to your newsletter for filling in the form. This builds your database of potential customers and is an essential part of all internet marketing strategies.

Internet Marketing Strategies #3

MULTIPLE OFFERS

Many online businesses have a high end product. However not all people who visit your website will make a high end purchase. By offering lower cost supplemental products you can increase overall sales and cover much of your marketing costs. For example your main product might be an 8 set DVD business coaching course that retails for $995. Along side your high ticket item you could make a smaller offer for a downloadable e-book on “5 Steps To Increasing Your Leadership Skills” for $29.95. This will appeal to the person who is interested in your high ticket item but would like to find out a little more first before they jump in and buy the big ticket.

Internet Marketing Strategies #4

SALES FUNNEL

Once you have captured your prospects information you can begin a drip campaign through an email auto-responder also known as a “Sales Funnel”. As stated before building a list is an essential part of all internet marketing strategies and is extremely powerful. The wonderful thing about your sales funnel is it continues to work for you day in and day out when you are out to dinner, at the movies and even on vacation. The sales funnel becomes your sales robot and can automate the sales aspect of your business. The idea behind the sales funnel is to provide value to your subscribers and continue to make your product offer.

Internet Marketing Strategies #5

MONETIZING YOUR LIST

This is the final step in maximizing your sales online. Monetizing your list can make you a ton of income outside of your main business or product. A healthy list of around 10,000 subscribers can produce an easy $100,000 per year income when done properly. Many online marketing professionals do this through affiliate programs. Affiliate programs offer a wide range of products that appeal to just about everyone. For example you could become an Amazon.com affiliate and sell a book to your subscriber’s that pertains to the interest of your list. I am in the lead generating business and I often offer tools to my list that will help them generate more leads. The key is to make sure you provide quality content and offers. A list is to be valued and not abused.

These 5 steps are the formula or blueprint used by most professionals and can be adapted to just about every business. Hopefully this article has inspired you and offers you some direction to get your business off to a better start.

By: Scott Marvin

The Top 5 Internet Network Marketing Tips

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:42:33 +0000

There are a few key internet network marketing tips you need to employ if you want your internet network marketing business to be a success. The primary reason for promoting your network marketing business online is to attract prospects to your business funnel and avoid the effort and wasted time of trying to chase them down.

In other words it’s about learning to become the hunted instead of the hunter. The reality is when you learn to effectively market you won’t have to “prospect”.

The process of attraction marketing involves prospects positively responding to messages you have submitted carefully online. In attraction marketing prospects actually start looking for you to obtain further information. So,how does this work?

First a quick look at the old-school ways of prospecting. It typically begins with joining a network marketing company, then compiling a list, initiating contact with those on the list and inviting them to attend a meeting to review your opportunity. This process should be the beginning point for your business, but the truth is that method rarely results in massive success.

Internet Network Marketing Tips

I want to show you the simple process of attraction marketing and an improved method of attracting massive amounts of pre-sold prospects into your business funnel.

1. Learn to effectively use the internet. This could be thru the creation of a blog, a website, or the use of Web 2.0 properties. I recommended that you start with an effective blog.

2. Publish valuable content on your website that relates to your specific niche. It could be related to nutrition or property, but it’s important that it provides educational information to readers of your site rather than a sales pitch.

3. Once your site is operational then start your promotion campaign. Start writing some articles and submitting these to article directories. Add bookmarks to your pages, place comments on blogs that relate to your market, and submit RSS feeds.

4. Create a marketing campaign using web 2.0 sites like Hub Pages, Ning, Squidoo. Wetpaint, and Multiply, and create links back to your website. You need to remember that the content you submit to these websites needs to educate and inform and not give a sales pitch.

5. Then market your web 2.0 websites by using bookmarks and the submission of RSS feeds. What you are now doing is targeting your market using web 2 websites that involve the use of carefully selected keywords. Simply put, you are submitting your message to an audience that is seeking out the information and is eager to read it.

With regards to these 5 internet network marketing tips, this article provides a basic foundation of the attraction marketing process. If you don’t use it then you will not get your business off the ground and launch it into the new attraction internet network marketing age of extraordinary profits.

Most people still need help in connecting the dots & putting it all together. So… to get the help you need to grow YOUR internet network marketing business click here for step by step internet business training.

By: Warren Little