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Local Advertising: Devising an Online Strategy That Suits You

By John V in Featured

Experts squawk about Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, designing websites, and a whole litany of online and social media possibilities, but not all of them make sense for every single business. When it comes to local advertising, small business owners must seriously consider how to concentrate their efforts. While we all must utilize the internet and social media to some extent, what will be most effective for one owner, may be a waste of time for another. By reflecting on some key issues, devising a successful local advertising strategy becomes less about what everyone else says and more about what you truly want and need.

Before you embark upon any online advertising initiatives, you must decide whether you are going to do it yourself, delegate someone in house, or out source it. All of these are perfectly valid options, but you need to consider whether you have the technical expertise, time, and money to support your decision, whatever it happens to be. Initially, it may be difficult for you to gauge your resources and exactly what this undertaking will require. Defining what you hope to achieve with your online presence may clarify things.

We are conditioned to believe expansion and growth is always the desired outcome, but local businesses can also remain a certain size and be quite successful. Are you focused on growing your business, maintaining your current client base, or both? Do want to provide basic information, foster interaction, launch a new but related enterprise, or all of the above? Take a moment to quantify the current state of your business and articulate your true feelings about it. Next, envision where you would like your business to be this time next year. If the tomorrow you dream about looks a lot like today, that is perfectly alright, but then you will fashion an online presence that supports that goal and not one that strives for something you do not want and cannot manage.

Before you establish your accounts, build your sites, and fill out profiles, explore your options by tooling around, and imagining how you would use it to bolster your business. What would you actually enjoy doing, and would your clients respond to it? Twitter is an excellent example of a social media tool that can be an amazing way to cultivate a relationship with new and existing clients. It requires a certain level of commitment, however, if you expect it to help your business. Are you willing to put the time in or would it simply be another chore? Would your tweets be purely professional and, if so, what would they say? Do you see your clients following you, responding, and retweeting your updates? If you can imagine a Twitter presence that adds to your professional life, by all means, tweet away. If, however, it seems extraneous or just does not seem like a good fit, then right now, Twitter is not for you and there are plenty of other online outlets for local advertising.

Some aspects of your business’s online presence are non-negotiable. At this point, every local business should have a website. How complex or sophisticated that website is, however, can vary. At the very least, it should provide critical details such as a description of your business and contact information. On the other end of the spectrum, your website could also host a blog, a library of information, links to other resources and articles, staff bios, and more. If it is exciting to you and makes sense for you business, then make it happen. A well-crafted online presence will pay off, but only if you care enough to invest in it properly.

Facebook is quickly becoming a non-negotiable component for small businesses, as well, in part because it is projected to have 1 billion users by August 2012. A large segment of those users are turning to Facebook instead of Google when searching for services and products. It also has taken the concept of word of mouth to another level. Everyone has a vast network of friends, family, and colleagues to either recommend or enquire about businesses. Just like with your website, however, your Facebook page can be as simple as you want, but keep in mind that local companies who make the most of what it has to offer are seeing results. By interacting with their current customer base, they are fostering a sense of community and loyalty. An active presence also means they are more likely to be noticed by familiar friends and new acquaintances alike.

Review sites are another part of the internet that you cannot opt out of, and you ignore at your own peril. Sites such as Yelp and Citysearch provide an independent space for your clients to submit feedback, both positive and negative. Since it is all user generated content, you cannot remove yourself from these sites, but they usually provide a forum for you to respond to reviews and report ones that violate the site’s guidelines. By being an active participant, you can monitor and manage your reputation. You can also gain valuable insight into your business that helps identify sources of professional pride and areas for improvement. Like Facebook, review sites are often a deciding factor when it comes to patronizing a business, and being highly rated and recommended can be a significant boon.

As you can see, you cannot escape local advertising through social media and the internet, and, if you are willing to invest the time and energy, you can make a tremendous difference in shaping your online presence. At the end of the day, however, small business owners should be focused on their business and not preoccupied with following every social media trend, especially those that are not right for them. Before you dedicate resources to a facet of online advertising, take a moment to carefully consider what makes sense for your business. After all, you know it best, and advertising should be a reflection of your business’s true nature and an investment in its future, whatever that might be.

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Article by John V. A successful local advertising strategy requires you to craft an online presence that reflects your business’s true nature regardless of social media trends. Learn more at http://www.wpromote.com

7 Ways to Keep Your Inbound Marketing in Check – A SPN Exclusive Article

By Nick Stamoulis in Featured

The three major components of inbound marketing are social media marketing, content marketing and SEO. Each of those campaigns requires hours of planning and implementation, constant monitoring and consistent progress. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of work that goes into a strong inbound marketing campaign, but that doesn’t mean you have to struggle to keep your head above the water. Here are 7 tips for keeping your inbound marketing campaign from running away from you:

Think twice before you post/tweet/update/share.

Nothing published on the Internet can ever really be deleted. Even supposedly private communications like internal emails can end up published somewhere. Before you share/post/tweet something take a few seconds and think about how it could potentially impact your brand. The beauty (and danger) of social networking sites is that a piece of information can travel around the world in less than a second, so your words/actions can’t be easily hidden or taken back. You might think a comment is funny, but sarcasm doesn’t really read well over the Internet, and someone might take offense. Think before you speak to avoid any nasty reputation management scenarios!

Create an editorial calendar and stick to it.

It’s too easy to push blogging to the back burner when your plate gets full. In order to make sure you are fulfilling your guest blogging agreements (you never want to burn those bridges!) create an editorial calendar for yourself each month and stick to it. Where do you contribute monthly as a guest author? When do those sites expect to see an article from you? Do you need to allow time for revisions? You can also build in time for your own business blogging efforts to ensure a steady stream of new content for your own content marketing strategy.

Develop a link building strategy.

The search engines like to see a slow and diversified approach to link building. While it may look great to your manager to show that you created 1,500 new links this month you have to remember it may raise a red flag with the search engines. In order to keep yourself from going overboard with your link building (and make sure you are building a diverse portfolio with numerous link sources) create a 12 month link building strategy before you begin your offsite SEO. This will help you stay focused and on track throughout your SEO campaign.

Minimize number of active profiles on social networking sites.

You do not need @CompanyCEO, @CompanyVP, @CompanyMarketing, @CompanySales, @CompanyEmployee23 (and so forth) to have a strong social media marketing campaign. Remember, every social profile you create for your brand is one more that you have to maintain and actively use to benefit from. The fewer social profiles you have the more consolidated your brand messaging will be and the easier it will be to connect with your target audience. If your company’s marketing director wants their own Twitter handle, let them create a personal profile and promote your content through it (in addition to whatever else they want to help build their own reputation), but keep the branded profiles to a minimum.

Find a niche and dominate it.

When it comes to SEO, you have to be honest with yourself. A small e-commerce site is not really competing with Amazon for business, even though you both sell similar products. Chances are your company just doesn’t have the money or the manpower to take on mega brands and rank first for broad keywords, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find and dominate your own niche. What unique value does your company offer that you can leverage to earn a bigger piece of the online market share? What targeted consumer can you reach better than everyone else? Don’t waste your time fighting an uphill battle you’re never going to win and focus on the real SEO progress your site can make.

Publish content consistently.

Publishing 4 blog posts today, three next week, and then nothing for a month and suddenly 6 posts all at once is not the best way to run a content marketing campaign. The key to a great content marketing campaign is consistency. You have to create a content marketing schedule for yourself that you can keep. Maybe that only means one blog post a week, maybe it means two a day—it’s whatever you can consistently stick to. The content you create is going to fuel your social media marketing strategy, as well as help you build a stronger online brand presence. The more consistent you can create that content the easier it is to keep everything else moving.

Limit who has access to social accounts.

In order to ensure brand and messaging consistency, it’s important to assign one person (or a small team) as the social media “voice” for your company. When too many people have access to your social accounts is easy to lose track of what is being published. You want to make sure that the tone and messaging of each social update is consistent across all social profiles. You also don’t want the wrong person sending out an inappropriate reply to something because they don’t know how they are supposed to respond.
These are just seven easy ways that marketers can keep their inbound marketing under control. The best inbound marketing campaigns incorporate all three elements equally, and you don’t want to forget about one because you are so focused on the other two.

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Nick Stamoulis is the President and Founder of Brick Marketing a Boston SEO and SEO consulting firm. With over 12 years of Internet marketing experience, Nick Stamoulis has created SEO strategies for small and large companies in almost every industry. In order to share his SEO knowledge, Nick Stamoulis regularly writes for the Brick Marketing Blog and publishes the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter, read by over 150,000 opt-in subscribers. Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 or nick@brickmarketing.com

New Rules for E-commerce – A SPN Exclusive Article Part 3

By Victor Arcuri in Featured

When the Internet was conceived, it was developed as an ‘information highway.’ It has evolved into an e-commerce solution that is a mandatory component for every business. However, the Rules of E-commerce have changed.

In this article we introduce the new rules and how they impact shopping cart developers.

• In Part 1, we discussed how the new rules impact consumers.
• In Part 2 we discussed how the new rules impact online merchants.
• In Part 4 we will discuss how the new rules impact smart phone application developers.
• In Part 5 we will discuss how the new rules impact smart phone application developers.
• In Part 6 we will discuss how the new rules impact smart phone banking applications.

How the PPOS Operates

The new PPOS is not a storage device, but rather a payment application. None of the data entered on the application is saved or stored within the application. All saved and stored data resides in a cloud computing service, which is usually owned and operated by the bank or the company that issued the credit cards.

Consumers concerned about identity theft need to know that the new digital wallets equipped with a PPOS are guaranteed to protect your identity. The safest place to store your credit card details is with the bank or institution that issues your credit card. The second safest place to store your profile and card data is in one of the cloud computing services designed specifically for that purpose. After all, they already have this information.

When the PPOS is initially launched, you are presented with data collection forms to create your profile and enter your card details. The submit function uploads the profile to the gateway server that encrypts the data, returns an unlock key, and then stores the encrypted file with the appropriate cloud. The returned unlock key is stored within the PPOS, along with a description of the card, but not the card details. For example, the stored description might read Capital One MC Platinum.
Shopping Cart Developers

The introduction of this new technology means that shopping cart developers will need to revise their applications. The new model of shopping carts provides merchants with an enhanced level of security. We have developed a complete set of API’s to satisfy all vendors. In summary, here is an overview of how the PPOS processes online purchases.

When the consumer selects the CQRpay button:

1. The shopping cart software generates and uploads to the processing gateway a file containing the merchant identification as well as the invoice details.
2. The shopping cart software receives confirmation from the gateway that the transaction was received, displays a transaction number, and then closes the invoice.

At this point the merchant has an open unpaid invoice with no knowledge of the consumer’s identity.

3. The consumer then opens the PPOS and retrieves the transaction number.
4. The PPOS displays the identity of the merchant, the invoice number and the invoice details as well as a number of payment options.
5. The consumer selects the payment option and processes the payment.

Once the transaction is processed:

6. The PPOS will display the authorization number and save a record of the transaction.
7. The gateway then sends the authorization to the merchant to complete the transaction.
8. The merchant then sends an e-mail confirmation to the consumer.

The same file, passed to the transaction processor, can also be read by smartphone applications specific to the needs of the merchant. The invoice file passed to the consumer at the time of purchase can include a variety of additional information, including the ability to alert the consumer of up coming events, specials, coupon offers, etc.

If you would like a copy of the developer’s API for shopping carts, click Cart Developers.

Other Requirements

As the PPOS gains acceptance, there will be a heavy demand from merchants for specific smartphone applications, which will allow merchants more detailed communication with the consumer. Interactive smartphone applications will become the norm.

The same file can then be tied to smartphone applications specific to the needs of the merchant. We believe the shopping cart suppliers will be the ideal developers of these new applications, and as such we have a separate API that may be built into these new applications.
Income Opportunities

Once we launch our PPOS application, shopping cart developers who install our API will have about a one year window of exclusivity before their competitors launch a competitive product.

Summary

The digital wallet will protect the cardholder’s identity and will provide a new and convenient way to make purchases, both online and on multiple hardware platforms.

The PPOS digital wallet will be a welcome solution for merchants who wish to save costs on card-not-present sales, chargebacks and fraud attempts. With its ease of implementation for merchants and the inherent acceptance by consumers, merchants will benefit by using CQRPay.

The CQRPay PPOS digital wallet will become the distinct leader and will set the standard in digital wallet technology by meeting the security needs of cardholders, merchants, and card issuers.

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Victor Arcuri is a Canadian businessman who, for greater than 10 years, has operated CQRPAY, Inc., a secure gateway for credit card processing for Internet-based merchants. Our independent gateway service is unique in that it is the only application that connects to every merchant account provider and every bank in Canada and the USA.

Our platform enables merchants to use the service regardless of any affiliation they may enjoy with a merchant account provider, bank, POS device supplier or shopping cart software developer.

We invite your questions by phone 403-234-0844 or e-mail.

For more information visit: CQRp@y.com.

FTC Seeks to Regulate Online Merchants With Proposed Changes to Mail Order Rule

By Chip Cooper in Featured

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing amendments to the Mail Order Rule that would result in its regulation of all sales made over the Internet regardless of how a buyer might initiate the purchase.

If you’re an online merchant, the ramifications are significant.

The Mail Order Rule

The Mail Order Rule (Rule), actually The Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, was issued in 1975 and later updated in 1993 for purposes of clarifying a merchant’s obligations regarding shipment of merchandise. The FTC passed the Rule to force merchants to consider and state the time of shipment, or at least to ship within 30 days. That’s why the Rule is often referred to as the “30-Day Rule.”

Under the current Rule, a merchant must have a reasonable basis to expect that they can ship merchandise within he time frame advertised, or at least within 30 days of the sale. If the merchant is not able to ship within the time frame originally promised, or within 30 days if no time frame is promised, the merchant is required to get the customer’s consent to a later ship date or refund the purchase price.

The Rule originally covered mail order and telephone sales. In the early days of the commercialization of the Internet the Rule arguably covered online sales because dial-up modems using telephone lines were construed to be telephone sales. Fast forward to today, and the widespread use of high-speed broadband connections has cast doubt on the applicability of the Rule to most online sales.

The Proposed Changes

Concerned that their regulatory authority over online sales has been compromised by changing technology, the FTC recently proposed 4 changes to the Rule by:

* explicitly stating that it covers all sales placed over the Internet regardless of how the purchaser accesses the Internet;

* allowing merchants to provide refund notices and refunds to purchasers “by any means at least as fast and reliable as first-class mail” which could include notices by courier or email and refunds by electronic funds transfer (the current rule requires that refund notices be sent by first class mail);

* expanding the list of covered payment methods to cover debit cards, prepaid gift cards, and online payment services in general; and

* shortening the maximum allowable refund time to 7 working days for third party credit card purchases, and 1 billing cycle for the merchant’s own credit card sales.

Conclusion

The FTC argues that the “proposed amendments are necessary to remedying unfair and deceptive acts or practices and ensuring that buyers receive timely delivery or timely refunds.”

If you’re an online merchant, it’s recommended that you review your shipping policies and procedures now to make sure they are meeting the proposed new requirements, particularly regarding refunds for credit card purchases to be made within the 7 day limitation.

This article is provided for educational and informative purposes only. This information does not constitute legal advice, and should not be construed as such.

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Protect your website and your business with near-custom Website Legal Documents. One size doesn’t fit all. Leading Internet and SaaS Attorney Chip Cooper’s “done for you” online legal documents service does all the work for you. No special knowledge required -
http://www.digicontracts.com/whichdocs/.

Google+ Is Serious About Business and Their Tools Show It

By Edwin S Huertas in Featured

The Analytics tools for Google+ have many excited about the new Google+ Business Pages.

Businesses know that when it comes to BI and decision making, data is king. Google has had years of experience building and honing its data gathering, analysis and reporting tools within the business framework, and it leverages this competitive advantage by integrating its leadership in search and API development to offer an easy and reliable way for businesses to measure the success of their online initiatives. This is a notable strength of the new social network’s business page features, because the Analytics component has been conceptualized and built from the very beginning. In stark contrast, Analytics and business intelligence seem to have been an afterthought for competing networks.

Search

It always makes sense for businesses to build on and extend their core competencies. Google is the dominant search engine in the online world so it’s no surprise that it brings its search expertise to the social networking table. Google+ Search focuses on allowing users to search through Google+ content, returning information from profiles, member posts and shared content from the Sparks engine.

You can narrow your search down to a specific area and -yes-it’s a great feature, but I’d be willing to bet that Google is tracking your search activities to subsequently provide data and insights that can help you (and others) analyze social business behavior.

Ripples

The new feature launched by Google+ was hardly noticed at first, but those who have used Ripples are astounded by the amount of data the feature can provide to users. The main interface is an interactive info-graphic that summarizes the ripple effect caused by content you produce, visually presenting who among your contacts has been sharing your content with their own circles.

This is an easy way for you to find out and track the “influencers” within your Circles, allowing you to focus on these people for future marketing campaigns and activities.

Social Analytics

How serious is Google about its social analytics? Its recent addition of real time data to Google Analytics and its acquisition last month of social analytics startup SocialGrapple seem to indicate that they are very serious indeed. Users can check out the new social engagement report on Google Analytics and monitor the behavior of users on their Google+ business pages.

Google’s strategy for social analytics also seems to indicate that the company is trying to eliminate the distinctions that currently set “search” users, traditionally identified as Google’s user base, apart from “social” users that are claimed by social networks such as Facebook. Google is instead aiming for a single massive-user population that reaches sites from a variety of sources using a variety of discovery tools.

Google seems to be making a strong push to attract business owners and if they continue to offer tools like these, you might see a shift in population among the top social media networks one day. This is a prize audience that Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are all vying for, and I’m pretty sure those guys are watching very, very closely. I can see them responding to many of the tools that Google creates in the near future.

API

Perhaps the most powerful feature within the Google+ Analytics framework is the newly available API, which currently allows users to readily access public and Hangouts data. Developers can create tools and objects that work with these data sources to provide dynamic interaction opportunities with end-users. It’s exciting to imagine and anticipate what these new data-driven apps and tools will look like, but these will certainly be game changers for online businesses and social networking.

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Article by Edwin S Huertas. At Isis Toolbox we have created our social media marketing tools with a lot of help from Google. We plan to incorporate any and all API tools that Google+ offers into our free tools to help marketers make the most of their social media marketing efforts.

If you know anything about online marketing, it is that SEO, video and social media channels are your best options for delivering high quality traffic to your Website.

That’s why we’ve put together a suite of tools that will allow you to not only improve your traffic, but also help you make the most out of the time you spend branding your business and communicating with leads and clients via social media platforms.

Check out Isis Toolbox at http://www.isistoolbox.com

Viral Marketing Buzz: How to Capture Your Market Online

By Adam Bauthues in Featured

Viral marketing is still one of the most prolific marketing tools you can use to grow your business. If you employ it in the correct manner, it has the power to take you from obscurity to the “talk of the town” in a matter of days. If you are not sure what viral marketing means, it is a real simple concept.

Viral means that it is something that gets passed from person to person and that spreads very quickly, much like a cold virus. Instead of making everyone sick though, you get your product or service spreading out everywhere instead. One perfect example of this concept is YouTube. How many times have you shared a funny video with someone? Videos can become extremely viral very quickly, but other
types of information can go viral as well.

Here are a few different viral marketing tools I have used to grow my business:

* Viral Video and Audio * Viral eBooks * Viral Workshops, seminars or online courses * Viral Reports

In fact, you can make just about anything viral in nature, as long as the tools you create are made to accomplish a few things. Since viral means passed from person to person, you need to think about the reasons why people share information with their friends and colleagues. Think about why you shared a video or an article with someone recently. It was likely that the information you chose had one or all of the characteristics below:

It Was Valuable…

Even though people have the whole world at their fingertips these days with the Internet, they still look for and hold on to valuable content and well written pieces of information. If information is informative and is created with the end user in mind it will get passed around due to it’s high value.

It Was Entertaining…

We all know laughter is the best medicine. If you can make people laugh they will want others to laugh and feel good too. Humor is an excellent way to capture a market. Think of all the commercials you have seen that have made you laugh. Don’t you remember the funny ones? I have seen commercials on television that I later went on YouTube to find so I could watch them again, and then I shared the
videos with friends and business associates. If you can make people laugh, you make them feel good. If you can do that while marketing your product, they will start to feel good about your product too. This is the power of association, and if you do it right, it will go viral as
well.

It Was Controversial…

Shocking or thought-provoking material gets people talking. You have to be careful with this method though, as it is very powerful. Controversial subjects will always draw a lot of attention, but it brings both good and bad attention at the same time. This method can easily backfire on you too, and there are ample examples of companies having controversial ad campaigns backfiring on them. You
need to walk a fine line with this one.

Those are just 3 examples of the kind of content that you want to produce so that people will be more apt to share it with others. Still, this is only the first stage of a viral marketing buzz campaign. How do you use this viral product to promote your business?

Every ad medium is different, but the end result you are looking for is the same. For instance, with audio or video you will be able to market your product or service directly in your content. This can be your website, your company name or your logo. With print media it is the same story. With an ebook or report you will want to include a link to your website, and some information about you or your company. You could also include a separate or full page ad for a product or service in your content, as well as a resources page. The possibilities are endless and it is really up to you how you wish to promote yourself or your company. Just make sure you make it very clear where people can go to get more information should they wish too.

Capturing your markets attention via viral marketing buzz can be a very powerful method of building your business and brand. If you can get your viral information into the hands of your target market, amazing things can happen. Just make sure that your content is placed where your target market hangs out! With the social networking revolution going on you should have no trouble getting your viral content into the correct hands, and having it spread far and wide across the Internet. As long as your content is valuable and entertaining (with maybe a little controversy thrown in) and engages your readers, your content will work hard for you.

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Article by Adam Bauthues. And now I would like to invite you to receive Free Instant Access to my viral marketing and niche marketing and advertising blog, The Project Marketer. It is your complete resource for absolute victory in marketing and advertising online: http://www.ProjectMarketer.com

Suitable Content for Membership Sites

By Margaret Winfrey in Featured

Many people use membership sites to make money online, but just as many fail to make anything at all. That is because members expect something in return for their monthly membership, and if they don’t believe they are getting that then they will cancel. Your member site, also known as a subscription site, must offer content that is useful to your members and that not only solves problems for them but also helps them make money.

Such content is not always easy to find or to generate, so how do you achieve that and keep your site fresh, month after month after month? Here are some ideas.

Membership Sites: Permanent Content

You membership site should contain both permanent content and content that changes monthly. The permanent content can include training files – written or video – on how to make the best of the membership. They should explain what the member gets from being a member, and how to use the site to their best advantage.

For example, if your site is a fishing niche, you could video yourself tying certain types of fly, and explain what fish they are designed to attract. Or maybe video your local lake and show the areas where your members are mostly likely to find carp. Perhaps write a short report on the best coarse fish for eating, and which are best for sport.

Articles

You could also include a number of informative articles. Each article you write can be added to the article folder – it won’t be long before you have a good number of useful articles on the site for your members to read through.

There is no need to delete content unless it is time-dependent, but simply add to it, building up a large portfolio of information that will keep members happy.

You could also search the internet for useful software – offer a mixture of free and commercial software, but make sure you have affiliate links for everything you sell on your site. Every cent your members spend on your subscription websites should bring you some income, whether it is their monthly membership payment or an affiliate commission.

Videos

Video courses are always handy, and it’s not difficult to make your videos these days. A webcam is all you need, and most digital cameras offer excellent video quality. Cell phone videos are OK, but tend to lack professionalism.

There is also good video software online that capture your screen and vocals as you show how to build websites, set up blogs and carry out many of the tasks involved in general internet marketing. Such videos are always useful, as are those dealing with specific niches if your membership sites are niche-oriented.

Temporary Content

Among the temporary content that gets changed every now and again are news items on the niche, perhaps RSS feeds that renew themselves, links to YouTube videos that your members might find interesting, and anything else you believe should be changed on a regular basis. Some products may also be offered on a temporary basis – discussed below.

Membership Sites: Products

In addition to the monthly membership fees, you can also make money selling products from your subscription sites. Some member site packages offer you products to sell which are regularly changed – generally picked from the most popular on Clickbank. However, these tend to focus on marketing products, but it’s not difficult to check out Clickbank for the newest and more popular of products on offer for your specific niche.

By offering good products relevant to your niche, your members will believe you to be offering them a good service. You should not continually push products, but have them available if your members want them. You can mention specific products in your on-site articles and offer a link but your site is not a sales site but an information hub for your members where they can also find help with any problems they have. You should give them confidence in your ability to help them out, and not just continually bombard them with requests to purchase products.

Membership Sites: Social Interaction

Good member site packages will enable you to run a blog or even a forum from your site. This is the type of social interaction with peers with the same interest that can make a membership site buzz. Although WordPress can be used to a run a membership site of a sort, you are better to use a professional subscription site package, and include a link to your WordPress blog on the site.

There are a few cheap or even free forum software packages available online, and if you can’t install it yourself your member site provider should be able to do it for you. A forum allows members to communicate with each other either on the forum itself or by private messaging. You could also include a ‘Support’ link so that members know that help is available if they need it.

If you include all, or even most of the above suggestions on your site, and work towards generating a different subscription site for each good niche you can find, then the income from your membership sites will rapidly increase and you may even be able to make money online sufficient for you to pack in the day job.

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Article by Margaret Winfrey. Without good content your membership websites will fail to retain its members. Check out Member Desk online at http://www.memberdesk.com for a subscription site package that allows complete customization and use of any content of your choosing.

How to Work with Your Web Designer to Get A Profitable Online Presence Even When You Are Time Starved

By Cathy Goodwin in Featured

Many business owners find themselves putting “website makeover” (or even “website development”) on the back burner because they just don’t have time – even though they know they are leaving money on the table. Others are too busy working with their current clients to develop their own compelling online presence.

The truth is, you don’t have to wait till you get some time freed up, which might not happen for another decade. And you don’t have to settle for a half-baked website that looks pretty but doesn’t bring you clients, sales and traffic. You can get a new website up fast, when you apply just 3 strategies for working with your website designer.

Strategy #1: Create your content – all your content – before you even think about developing your logo, color scheme or website layout.

Many business owners call a web designer or even a web development company as their very first step. After all, most of us are conscious of what a website looks like. We’re often taught to associate “website development” with “web design.”

My clients have been surprised to find how much time and money they can save by starting their website makeover by writing content, either as a DIY or by hiring a copywriter first. Here’s why.

You can lose your place in the designer’s queue if you do not have your content ready. Your web designer can’t complete your project without content. When your designer has to wait for your content, he or she moves on to other projects. When you finally call to say, “Content is here!” your designer may be in the middle of another project. She needs more time to re-learn your requirements and you probably will be charged for the extra time. Besides, she can’t stop work on her current project. You may wait a month or more to get your project going again.

Your designer relies on your content strategy to create a header graphic and choose the colors. Otherwise the design you choose will not support your message and may even clash with your USP (Unique selling Proposition). For example, I worked with a client who had paid for a high-end graphic of a relaxed beach scene. When we reviewed her niche, she realized she needed an image that was stark and strong. Mountain cliffs and stormy waves would have been more appropriate. My client was then faced with a choice to keep a graphic that didn’t fit her strategy or acknowledge that she had paid for an online presence that would be confusing rather than compelling?

Strategy #2: Work with a copywriter to help you communicate exactly how your audience will benefit

When it comes to websites, many business owners focus on eye-popping graphics and they agonize for hours over website colors and typefaces.

Yes, when you stand out from the crowd, you earn more revenue with a whole lot less effort. You can command higher fees because prospects realize you are unique. However, they won’t respond if you just LOOK unique. Your prospects and clients want to be sure you haven’t just taken an old brown cow and slapped on some purple paint.

That’s where expert copywriters make the difference as they can paint word pictures and introduce you as a 3-dimensional, standout professional. The truth is, your copywriter can set up the content so your designer can’t help developing a website that’s your own version of a purple cow.

Strategy #3: Put your players in the best position to win the profit game.

Often, business owners expect the web designer to win the whole online marketing game single-handedly with color, design, traffic and navigation.

The truth is, if your website were a football game, the content would be the quarterback and the design would be your offensive line.

On the football field the quarterback calls plays and makes sure the ball gets down the field to score points. The job of the offensive line is to make sure the quarterback gets through, unharmed, without interference.

On your website, your designer’s job is to make it easy for visitors to read your copy. Just as good linemen protect their quarterback, your web designer makes sure your graphics support your message and your site is easy to read.

Your copywriter calls the plays: How do you identify your niche so you know how to reach them easily (and motivate then to take action on your offer)? Which pages get featured on the main menu bar? What metaphors and stories will frame your content?

Once these critical decisions have been made, your web designer can implement the technical and visual components of your site. Some copywriters will even guide your designer and manage the entire project, just as a football quarterback is the coach on the field.

Now, Are You Ready to Work More Effectively with Your Web Designer So You Can Start Getting More Prospects and Clients?

The simple strategies I described in this article will multiply your marketing efforts, whether you are a beginner who’s trying to develop a website while creating a new company or a seasoned veteran who is busy seeing clients but desperately needs an upgraded website to keep prospects in the funnel. Now you can skip the hassle and time-consuming detours that many business associate with online marketing.

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Master Copywriter Cathy Goodwin helps time-starved entrepreneurs and owners of professional service firms create a profitable website presence fast, even when they are short on time. Now, she invites you to grab her FREE 5 Point Website Profits Checklist – that should be used as a guide as you complete the website development process. Get your checklist now at: http://www.CopywritingWithCathy.com

5 Ways Companies Benefit When Employees Work from Home – A SPN Exclusive Article

By Gayle Hawks in Featured

With the lagging economy today, companies are looking for ways to cut costs while continuing to provide the same level of services that they have in the past to their customers and their employees. For years, many companies have allowed employees to work from home. In return, these companies seem to enjoy a higher employee satisfaction rate and employee retention rate. The work from home scenario provides a win-win for both the company and the employee and it is becoming more and more popular. If your business model will allow you the ability to have employees work from home, here are a few reasons to consider implementing this feature into your company:

Reduction in Costs

Employees working from home saves on office space and parking as office space alone costs an estimated $10,000 per employee. Employees spend less in gas and maintenance on their vehicles due to reduced mileage driven. Lower costs for employees translates into happier employees since they are spending less money to get to work and will have the ability to use those funds as needed in other areas of their personal finances.

Reduction in Absenteeism

Many employees are off work when a child is ill or due to inclement, unsafe weather conditions that preclude them from driving to work. If they worked in the office they would have to take a personal or sick day to attend to a child who was ill. Offering the ability for employees to have what is commonly referred to as “flex time” will allow them to stay at home, tend to their sick loved one or stay safe at home due to weather conditions and still get things accomplished for your company.

Enhances Employee Productivity

Studies have shown that employees are more productive when working from home because there are fewer distractions or interruptions from meetings and less socializing with co-workers.

Balances Work/Family Life

It provides better balance between work and family life since much of an employee’s time is spent at work or traveling to and from work giving them less time with the family. By allowing them to work from home, you are giving them more time to provide attention to family by eliminating commute time.

Increases Employee Retention and Loyalty

Employees are happier when they are able to work from home without the added stress of commuting, dealing with rising fuel costs, expensive automotive repairs, etc. Employees who work from home tend to be more content with their jobs and thus more willing to work hard for your company.

Allowing employees to work from home, even for one day of their week, is something important to consider for your company. There are a lot of details that need to be worked out and discussed with your management team. However, if you’re able to do it, most experts say that you will see a rise in productivity and job performance will increase as well.

Do you currently allow employees to work from home? If so, let us know what your experience is with offering this to your employees. What kind of impact has it made on your business? Overall do you see it as being beneficial to your company? We look forward to hearing from you.

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Article By Gayle Hawks. Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Card websites. We’re eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Online Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding business cards design or business card management. Be part of the professional business cards company.

Starting a Lucrative Online Business for Financial Freedom Online

By Valerie Melton in Featured

When one starts their online business, generally speaking they cannot afford to spend a lot of money on PPC campaigns or pay for Google Sponsored Ads, especially when they don’t even know if their efforts will bring guaranteed success. So how do people start a successful campaign without an advertising budget to play with?

Well, you must’ve heard about Article Marketing. Most of us have heard about it but just feel it takes too much time and effort to do it. There must be an easier and quicker way to promote your business right? Wrong! Article Marketing has become one of the most risk free, popular, tried and tested online marketing strategies used to get more traffic and publicity for your online business, leading to more sales.

There are no shortcuts to building a lucrative online business. So the sooner you learn to accept that you will need to write your own articles for your online business or alternatively pay someone to write them for you, the better.

As they say; “the best things in life are generally free.” Well, it applies to article writing so aptly. You don’t need to know HTML coding or have any internet marketing experience or background to do it successfully. It is a tried and tested online marketing strategy; there is no escaping it.

You can reach global audiences, establish your business credibility, brand yourself, enhance the presence and visibility of your website online, sell any service or product you have, pre-sell your product, gain resell value for your brand and get niche-based international promotions for your business and products – and it can be done free (assuming you are willing to put in the time and effort). I guess it all boils down to, how badly do you want to make it online? How important is the success of your business to you? Are you really serious about gaining financial freedom online?

This article, and my personal website, is built around those who have a burning desire to make money on the internet by getting their businesses off the ground, leading to total online success, who need cheap, no cost or low cost ways to do it. It is for those who have a realistic understanding or acceptance that there is no quick get rich scheme or program online that can make you rich over night. All businesses take hours of sweat, tears and hard work to make them lucrative.

So how does one start? Here are some guidelines to help you in your Article Marketing efforts:

Your article should be theme based (based on the subject matter of your website, product or service).

It should be no less than 500 words.

Make sure your article has quality based content in it. Recycling useless information is simply not going to work – period! You should incorporate lots of useful tips and practical advice that the reader can follow, and substantiate what you are saying in your article.

Your article needs to be Search Engine friendly, ie. Search Engines will need the right set of keywords throughout your article so that they can easily index your articles on their search page. Think of the keywords relevant to your website, product or service. Keywords are the words that people are most likely to search for on Google, as well as keywords that are popular with your audience.

Make sure you have an end objective or a call to action at the end of your article, eg. – For more tips and tricks delivered to your inbox every week, join our Newsletter here.

Choose a captivating title for your article. This is one of the first things your reader sees. Your title will determine whether your reader will read your article or not. It either grabs their attention or not. Ensure your title also contains the relevant keywords. The title on your article actually determines its popularity or ranking online – so pay serious attention to it. Sometimes it is easier to write your article and then think of a fitting title for it. Keyword research can go a long way in helping you here.

Make sure your articles are unique and original. Don’t let your article or title be something everyone has already read about on all the scores of similar articles of recycled information available online. This will reduce your credibility and you will not be able to track your article online either.

Don’t use keywords in your title that have no relevance to your article or subject at hand. We all live in a fast paced world where no one has time to read stuff that is either obvious, redundant or unnecessary.

Don’t make the common mistake of putting your company’s name in the title – this is way too old and redundant. Don’t populate this limited space with unnecessary words like a company name. This title is to be seen as a one-way ticket to getting indexed on search engines.

Since time is precious to your readers and they don’t have time to scan your entire article to find out what is in it for them – try to put the benefits for them in your title.

Once you have completed your article, you will be required to fill in an Authors Biography. Sell yourself here. This needs to make a lasting impressing on the minds of the readers and will also enhance your credibility online. A Bio should highlight your skills, competencies, achievements and give the readers a glimpse of your experience and qualities. You really do need to make the most of this space too. Self flattery won’t work either. People need facts only. If possible, you should make a note of key milestones with dates in order to impress your readers, giving integrity to your work. Be sure, however, not to turn it into a fact sheet without personality or flavor. You need to devote time to creating your own impressive Author Biography.

Now you need to add the URL to your website, product, business or blog. Professional authors no longer use their real website name in the anchor text. They embed the link in a phrase that contains keywords. If you want to use your real website name in the link, consider doing it in conjunction with keywords, eg. “Website name – Your one stop book shop”, or something to that effect.

This phrase should be relevant to the audience you wish to attract and should contain keywords relevant to your site. This URL is the most crucial part of the Author Biography since this is what leads to better click through rates to your website. The Bio should only be one or two sentences long, so just mention things there that make you an authority on what you’ve written. These sentences must relate directly to your topic. You need to convince the reader that by clicking on your link, they will benefit somehow. You can even include a quote you like or aspire to which will assist the readers to connect with you on a more personal level. Selling is all about touching other people’s emotions and connecting with them. Start your Bio in the first person to give personal insight into your beliefs and values, shift a little later to the third person to give a more neutral and unbiased perspective to your authority on the subject matter.

Once you are finished, submit your article to one or two article directories ONLY and make sure you read the guidelines. This gives your article exclusivity. If your article appears in Google with a page rank based on the keywords you’ve written about, your site traffic will suddenly increase and you will make sales. Now repeat the same exercise at least once a week, preferably more, and you’ll start to succeed with your new business online. What did it cost? Well, if you did it yourself, it cost nothing! So maybe it is true: “the best things in life are free.”

Remember, article writing is a tried and tested online marketing strategy that will guarantee you free quality visitors to your website that will enable your financial freedom online. Better articles equal better PR (Page Rank), better PR equals better business. Invest time into building up your new online business and you are sure to make money online.

For more direction to build your lucrative online business and make a success of it, visit all the many wonderful and best marketing resources and articles on our website, which is filled with proven online marketing strategies that have been tried and tested. Also, bookmark it for guidance and help as you build up your business online.

You too, can gain financial freedom online by starting your own lucrative online business for financial freedom online through Article writing.

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Having been in the online marketing world for over 12 years, I have experienced first hand, the frustration of online marketers trying to make it online. I have finally come to the point of putting all that I’ve learned into easy-to-read and easy-to-follow articles, in an attempt to assist others in their online endeavors.

In order to assist new e-entrepreneurs online, Valerie has carefully studied online marketing to try to pin-point why the failure rate online is so high, and has put together guidelines for new online marketers to help them avoid the online marketing scenic route and gain faster financial freedom online. Her websites, free and paid online marketing tools, resources and articles can be accessed through this portal:http://just-visit.us/?i=185695/Article_SLOB-FFO

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