Category: General Article

You Have A Facebook Business Page, Now What?

You’ve set up your Facebook business page and now you need to make the most of it. The key to any small business social media marketing plan is to be active on your Facebook page. In order to attract fans, get more Facebook likes, and keep them engaging with you, you have to give them a reason to do so.

Social media marketing is an ongoing process. Your Facebook business page is your chance to show off your brand, and let people know what you are all about. It is more than just promoting yourself. You need to inform, entertain, and engage your followers.

Content will always be important so be sure to keep it relevant. You wouldn’t go into a bakery to buy your steak, and your fans won’t come to your page to hear about things that have nothing to do with your industry. People want to be “in the know” and to do that, they need to have current, relevant information. Whether you are running a contest, having a sale or other event, or have some interesting industry news, keep your fans informed.

Another way to engage your followers is to entertain them. Post a video or funny pic and challenge your fans to caption it. Run a contest and encourage your fans to share and invite friends. Get them to help spread the word about you. Be sure to reward them with a prize. Prizes don’t have to be extravagant. Make them relevant. People follow you because they are interested in your product or service, so why not reward them with something free from you.

Finally, ask questions and start conversations. What better way to give your fans a voice, than to ask them something. Let them know that their feedback is important to you. Nothing is appreciated more than feeling like you are being heard and included.

Small business marketing doesn’t have to be bland and boring. Remember to be informative, relevant, and bring some fun into it. Get fans interacting with your brand and they will share it. Everyone loves to be part of a good conversation and contests are a great way to keep people motivated to stay engaged with your brand. Be active on your page. There’s nothing worse for a fan than liking a page that never has anything to interact with. There was a reason they “liked” your page in the beginning and you need to give them a reason to keep coming back. One last thing to remember is the importance of keeping the “social” in your social media marketing!…

The Easy Way to Put Your Time to the Fullest – Article Marketing Automation

The only drawback is that it requires the merchant to dedicate more of his time to it. This makes the merchants to juggle his hours in order to also devote some of his hours to his family and at the same time to enjoy his leisure hours. There are also instances where an individual is still tied up in a current employment and waiting for the right time to tender his resignation. The easiest way to put your time to the fullest and getting a lot of things done is through Article Marketing Automation.

Putting your articles in an adequate amount of locations to get it to the spotlight is the most time-consuming and wearisome part of marketing your article for your online business to take off. It requires just a small budget and is simple to do although the required time in grabbing the spotlight (so you get to be read) in the appropriate locations can occupy much of your time. Article Marketing Automation gives you the opportunity to have the easy way of putting your time to the fullest.

The role of Article Marketing Automation is primarily to assist you. To get you introduced to it, it is a conglomeration of self-regulating sites and blogs with the aim of handing out articles for the different members of Article Marketing Automation set-up.

What is good about article marketing automation? You get a good amount of sites where blogs can lead you to a bigger connection for your own site. The network keeps on growing and currently has more than 2,000 members.

Growing logically, it is the best cost efficient and time efficient method of writing articles for marketing. In just a matter of 3 weeks, it can help you land on the first page and as a matter of fact, trainings on this aspect are given out. Aside from giving you pertinent substance for the websites and blogs that you own, it also issues your articles extensively.

Article Marketing Automation works this way. You write an article or ask someone to do it for you, and then present it to the network of article marketing automation. It is trouble free and very straightforward. Once presented to the network, you article is allocated to different but applicable sites enabling you to have more publicity, connections and creating your influence and traffic.

It assists in giving you the proper training to use the network effectively and to get the results from your own hardships. By just a period of 2 – 3 months, this mechanization will push you to the top. To attain success in the field of article marketing is their aim and that is why they will give you the needed support you need.

It may be new to your ears but it is a fact that article marketing is the new and easiest method to pierce through Internet Marketing. It can assure you to …

Strategic Business Partnerships Grow Small Businesses

Developing strategic business partnerships should be part of every small business owner’s growth plan for the company. A strategic business partnership has several benefits for the companies involved including: access to existing customers, quick penetration into new markets, enhanced branding, and others that may not be so apparent such as cost reduction benefits from utilizing a partners employee base or getting price breaks from suppliers due to an increase in orders to fulfill new demand. The best business executives and small business owners understand that it is very difficult to execute growth plans alone and aligning with other companies that have mutual interests and a shared target demographic is the right solution. Building a successful business partnership has its difficulties and limitations as well, but the time spent in researching, negotiating, and finally implementing a new strategic business partnership can result in a tremendous return of investment that would rival any internal efforts in the same amount of time.

Find New Customers in Target Markets

The cost of acquiring a new customer is never cheap. However; by aligning with the right partners that can deliver clients a small business can then focus on providing a high level of customer service and getting the most out of what strategic business relationships provide. After a company’s executives have decided that forming business partnerships is the right path for the business, it’s important to research and identify a strategic business partner that can either lead you to many future business partners or has a large existing customer base in the area you intend to service. Just because a company has a large number of customers and they’re in a similar industry does not always mean they will be the right choice. The potential new customers need to be in a geographic location that you can easily service unless the partner is willing to take on additional roles and responsibilities, which could range from sales calls to product delivery to customer service.

Strengthen Brand and Marketing Capabilities

The right strategic business partner should elevate the business’s brand and reputation in the industry that it services. When researching and identifying a partner make sure to take note of how the other company is viewed by its customers, competitors, and the market in general as any positive or negatives will rub off on your brand due to the execution of a business partnership. This can be the quickest way for a small business to achieve name recognition within its industry, by developing a relationship with a large business that already commands respect and is known for delivery high quality products and services with excellent customer care. It is critical during negotiations to fight for co-branding, which may be difficult depending on the nature of the business relationship. If a major concern is being overshadowed by a partner in marketing due to their size and resources than it’s important to make those concerns known prior to moving forward. However, for many …

New Business: Tips That Will Help Pt 1

Whether you are thinking about starting a new business or have in fact started a new business, there are many things you can do both right and wrong that will either help or hinder your progress. It is very easy to do the wrong things and suddenly find yourself back at square one again with a failed business behind you. However, it is just as easy to learn the right things and steps to do, to make your business a winner and stick in the hearts and minds of your customers.

Below are ten tips that have proven to be effective with helping in business, some learnt through interactions with others, some learnt the old fashioned hard way.

Expectation management. If you set expectations correctly with your customers and then exceed them you’ll always be the hero, even if these were set very low to start with. Think EasyJet.

Don’t be scared to say ‘no’ to customers when they ask for credit or extended terms. Cash flow is the life blood of all SME businesses so, keep control, pay suppliers on time and don’t let customers steal extra credit days.

3Hs: Hardworking, Helpful and Honest creates good working relationships throughout.

People like to know they are being thought of. Immediately after a meeting (the same day ) find contacts on Twitter and LinkedIn and connect to them and you will stick in their memory for longer.

Focus on what you do best. Every business person has their strengths and weaknesses. Great sales people are not always the best at paperwork and administration. Recognise your weaknesses and think about how you can outsource those tasks.

Invest in your employees. A happy work force is a productive work force. Staff need to be kept motivated. Clearly define their role in the business and make them feel part of a team.

Cash is king, keep it flowing. More businesses fail because of poor cash flow management than any other reason.

By all means, utilise the web for e-marketing, budget the balance right. Your Twitter and Facebook fans and followers don’t want to see lots of similar updates from you in a small space of time.

Don’t complain about competition. Use it as a way to guide your business ahead. In particular, in the technology area, don’t stand still. Constantly learn new skills and techniques and use these to create new products and services that your rivals are too slow to master.

Instead of having a seminar that sells someone something, educate them on a subject that is relevant. Improving someone’s knowledge is a more powerful tool than trying to sell them a product.…

Trusted Authority – Why You Need Clarity and Commitment

Being committed to a goal means more than keeping it in mind. It means being committed to doing what it takes to get there and to improving what you have to improve to help yourself along the way. There are something’s you can do to determine whether or not you’re on the right path and, if you’re not, to correct that so that you multiply your success.

Your Situation

Part of being committed to achieving a goal is making an accurate self-assessment. If you’re committed to being the trusted authority but you’re not there yet, you have to figure out why that is the case. Maybe you haven’t been in business that long and that, of course, may be part of the reason, but it can also become an excuse.

If you take a look at Richard Branson, you’ll see someone who is widely regarded as the authority in airlines. Remember that this is a field that, more often than not, has been marked by raging failures more than it has by inspiring success stories. Branson, however, became the authority by showing that he knew how to make an airline work. His passengers are happy, he’s happy and people who have invested in his companies are most certainly happy. This makes him a trusted authority.

Now, you have to ask yourself how he got there. How do you benefit from the Branson Effect that catapulted him to the top. First, remember that he wasn’t catapulted and, if he was, he built the catapult that got him there!

Being the Trusted Authority

It starts with commitment. You have to be utterly and completely committed to your goal. This doesn’t mean steam-rolling over every part of your life that isn’t directly related to your business goals. In fact, successful entrepreneurs usually have a lot more time to enjoy their lives outside of work. On top of that, they typically love what they do for a living and that makes it a winning situation all around. One of the things that you’ll be committing yourself to is a happy, fulfilling existence, which shouldn’t be hard for anyone to do!

If you’re not fully committed, you’re entering the world of entrepreneurship at a significant disadvantage. Being realistic helps you to be committed. As an example, you cannot commit to never being held back; some things will try to hold you back. What you can commit to, however, is taking on every challenge and making sure that you overcome them.

When you’re clear on your goals, you’re committed to realizing them and when you’re true to yourself, you have the basic formula for success. Getting there is sometimes hard, but it starts by recognizing when you’re going astray and making sure that you take measures to keep your goals in sight and making sure that you don’t let the occasional struggle overwhelm you. Commit to keeping your focus on where you want to go and, chances …

Home improvement could be the solution for you if your home or change something that is already there. You can accomplish many things with minimal skills and at a low cost. Read these guidelines on to find some ideas that will get started. You will get a good idea of what projects you can do.

If you intend to launch a big home improvement project, then employ an architect to draw up your plans. A professional designer can create meaningful plans that will meet building codes and will add value to your home.

Build an original additional to your home for sophistication and class. A wine cellar or library brimming with shelves are wonderful spaces in any home. This will certainly impress guests and have an elegant place to live.

Work on the most visually obvious things in your home improvements. If you plan to sell the home, potential buyers can only judge the house by the things they see.While true that may improvements are not usually the most obvious ones, you must focus on the ones that are if you’re selling your home.

A good place to start your home renovations is in the kitchen.This solution will help you get rid of stains and a lot of the old paint.

Invest in a drain snake for your drains.It will not be necessary for you to purchase drain cleaners as often. Drain snakes are not for the completely inexperienced, so you might need a plumber to show you how it is used for the first time.Snakes come in a variety of sizes and lengths so measure your pipe.

Consider installing motion lights on or near your home’s entrance. You can save on your electric bill by using the lights only turn on when necessary. Motion detectors can detect thieves at bay.

Tie or snip extra cord hanging from your blinds. It is possible for kids and strangled in these cords. Leave enough cord so that you will be able to manipulate the blinds, but make sure you remove or otherwise secure any excess. Tie it up or cut it off before there is a terrible accident.

A repainted garage door can add curb appeal to any home. Garage doors are regularly exposed to the elements, so a fresh coat of paint is a simple solution. A new coat of paint helps make your house look new and more valuable.

You can accentuate the best elements of your lawn and paths with some accent lighting. Place them in a tree to simulate natural light. You can use this magnificent lighting effect to highlight lawn furniture or statues.

An unattractive air conditioner is a necessary evil in many places around the U.S.It is easy to hide it with latticework or any other feature. You can use a large plant like Pampas grass as a disguise, but make sure to leave one foot between the plant and the unit.

We hope these tips have set you on the road to DYI home improvement …

Why Marketing Your Home Business With Article Distribution Works

Home business owners have a unique opportunity as well as a unique dilemma: figuring out how to market your product or service. In terms of exposure and drawing new customers, article distribution is one of the best tools available for the home business owner. Here are some tips and tools to get started with your online campaign.

Online Marketing

Reaching customers online is the best way to gain mass exposure. Gone are the days of figuring out how to reach local customers. Online marketing allows for an amazingly wide reach and businesses find they can become national or international much more easily if they choose to. A mix of passive and interactive options makes up the world of online marketing strategy. It goes beyond creating a website and the old banner and button ads on other sites. Article distribution is one of the least costly and most effective ways to market your business on the internet.

Article Marketing Strategy

The basis of article marketing is creating original content and exposing potential customers to your expertise of the products or services you provide. Submit articles to online publishers or use an article distribution service to help you choose the best, most effective places to publish your work. The ideal marketing campaign is multifaceted. One of the best things about creating a great article marketing strategy is the way it allows you to reach your target audience directly. Traditional marketing strategies can be frustrating when time is wasted exposing your product or service to consumers who are not interested.

When you use article distribution to publish original content online, you reach consumers who are already looking for you through keyword searches and links from websites with related content. Article distribution allows you to reach potential customers who are already in the market for your product or service. A consumer types a keyword into a search engine, finds your article, and reads about what you know. This gives them confidence in your ability as a home business owner and expert in your field. Gaining a consumer’s trust before they even click over to your website to shop is an amazing advantage. By sharing your knowledge and expertise, you give customers confidence that you are the right person to buy from.

Social Networking

Another great advantage to marketing your home business online is the ease at which you can gain exposure using social networking sites. By utilizing accounts on sites like Twitter and Facebook to promote links to articles you’ve had published, you can get information about special promotions and other aspects of your business to customers who are already ‘fans’ interested in what you are doing. It takes less than a minute to publish a link that is feeding directly into your niche market.

Article Marketing Automation

Article marketing automation is a relatively new facet to article distribution that makes things even easier for the business owner. With article marketing automation, you can utilize …

How To Put Your Competition On Birth Control!

Here we go again…

Gotta love election years!

Why?

Because the goof-balls in Washington have nothing better to do than bicker over birth control.

The right says this…

The left says that…

Good grief.

It’s enough to give me one gigantic headache.

That said:

This got me thinking about something you can use to neutralize your competition so you can dominate your neighborhood.

Here’s what I did:

One year, I decided I was going to contact my local media sources and ask them if they’d let me write a regular column in their publication.

What kind of results did I get?

Not good.

In fact, at first nobody would take my call.

Then…

Once someone took my call they pooped-on my idea.

But:

I didn’t give up.

In fact, I invited all of my media contacts to events at my business. I put them all on my paper and ink newsletter list. I even sent them birthday cards.

This went on for some time, but…

When the opportunity came up, one publication let me write a column about my area of expertise.

And guess what happened?

I annihilated my competition!

It was like a walked up and stuck a DEPO SHOT in the arm of my competition.

Not only did I get tons of new business from my column.

But, I also positioned myself as “the expert” in my field which is something that practically turned my competition into infertile turtles.

Who can argue with someone who writes a column in the local newspaper?

And since we’re on the topic…

Think you need to write like Steven King before you try to snag a writing gig from your local media?

Well, you’re wrong. A lot of time you don’t need to write the piece at all. In fact, all you need to be is an “advisor” to the reporter who is in charge of writing the column.

Sure…

That’s not as good as you writing the column yourself so your picture and website information is included in the blurb. But hey, a lot of times the reporter will willingly plug you since you helped him or her write the piece.

The ultimate point is this:

Don’t count yourself out.

You know a lot about a particular area of expertise.

And it’s this area that the reporter is interested in since it’s more than likely something their readers would like to know more about too.

So keep consistent with this idea.

And reap the rewards of dominating your niche.…

Article Marketing Automation – What You Need to Know About Your Automated Article Marketing Business

Promotion and marketing of the website is one such department of business that needs constant attention for a business to grow and profit. The task however is tedious. Nevertheless, thanks to Article Marketing Automation, the process is automated and business owners can now heave a sigh of relief.

Article marketing is the least expensive yet the most effective SEO tool. However, it requires effort and time to write, submit and distribute articles in a bid to generate links and direct traffic to your website. The task has now been made easier by AMA, which is an article distribution service based on monthly membership and provides the following additional services:

Link building

Free content provider

Marketing tool

Benefits of Article Marketing Automation over other Tools

1. Link building tool: in the world of blogging, links matter the most. Google too, considers the blogs and articles that have many links pointing to them, as highly popular and important and hence puts these blogs and articles higher in its search results. As a link building tool, AMA provides three distinct advantages over the traditional article directories:

It allows three links to be embedded anywhere in the article body, which is unlike the article directories, which allow the links to be put at the end of the article, in the signature box.

It distributes articles to blogs that are related to the topic of the article. Thus, an article on insurance is distributed to a blog on insurance and not to a blog on pets.

It distributes the articles with altered content and that too slowly into the system without raising an alarm for the search engines like Google to consider them as spam.

2. Free content provider: since blogs require unique content from time-to-time, AMA with its unique capability can spin articles and provide fresh and unique content each time they are submitted. Thus, updating blogs is automated and the blog owners are happy with fresh content with three links pointing to the affiliate program or the author’s site.

3. Marketing tool: the Article Marketing Automation does away with the problem of the same article available at different article directories. Since manual submission would mean the same article at various directories, automation by the Article Marketing Automation ensures that different content made out from the original article is distributed to sites that are related to the content of the article.

Thus, we see that Article Marketing Automation is an ideal article distribution service that cuts out the time and effort required for the task. Moreover, it also provides links and generates traffic for a website. The larger the number of people that visit your site through the articles, the greater is the amount of money made.…

Smarter Business Marketing – Turn One Idea Into Multiple Streams of Income

Most entrepreneurs have new ideas springing up like popcorn. Problem is, they don’t know how to systematically transform those ideas into income, leaving them overwhelmed, disillusioned or with a scattered brand that’s the same as no brand at all.

The solution is both simple and profitable: turn one idea into multiple streams of income. This concept is especially easy if you’re a creative type because of your natural ability to see many possibilities. You just need to know how to harness your creativity so it’s working for you, instead of against you.

The beauty of this strategy is it channels your creativity into a direction that has high payoff value, thus opening the door to creating the six and high-six figure business you want.

That’s what I just coached my private intensive client, Bria Simpson to do. The result is a business model and plan that will easily turn her frustrating five-figure business into high six figures in less than one year. All Bria needs to do is implement according to the detailed marketing calendar we mapped out.

So, here are 3 easy tips on how you can turn one idea into multiple streams of income. Remember that this simple shift in your business model will make a huge shift in your income!

Tip #1 Use The “Rinse And Repeat” Strategy

Every time I teach a client how to turn one idea into multiple streams of income, they always protest, saying, “But Kendall, I can’t offer the same information more than I?” The short answer is yes, you can. In fact, that’s where the power of this strategy comes from: offering the same information in a variety of formats. This is how you build a powerful brand, simplify your life and quickly create multiple streams of income.

So rather than burn yourself out trying to create tons of new content, focus instead on repeating your core information in different learning modalities, such as teleseminars, articles, workshops, private 1-day intensives, etc. The more intimately clients get to work with you, the more personalized and advanced you can customize your information.

Tip #2 Listen To Your Clients For Your Next Big Idea

When I created my best-selling home study course, it was an instant hit. Why? Because I listened to my clients, who kept asking me for help with “how to charge what they were worth.” Bingo! That became the title of a best-selling info product that became the foundation for my 7-figure business.

Moral of the story is, don’t waste time trying to get your clients to buy what you think they should have. Instead, listen to what they tell you they want, then create it for them.

Tip #3 Don’t Get Distracted With Multiple Ideas

Rather than creating different titles and topics to offer your clients, direct your creativity to designing different offers on the same topic. Afraid you’ll get bored? Trust me, you won’t. Once you see …