Gene Minor's Blog

If you have an Internet business consider yourself extremely lucky. I should say consider yourself lucky if you are running it like a real business. Sadly most people are not.

Here are a few tips to follow if you want to have a real business and not a hobby.

1. Real businesses do whatever it takes to keep their doors open. Let me give you an example.

I recently ran an offer to enroll some new distributors into my network marketing business. This was a special offer I chose to run exclusively for new people who were not already in my business.

I simply wanted to help my wife and I get to the next level in the compensation plan. We offered to help any new person get paid members in the following month so the actual cost of opening their own network marketing business would quickly be recouped.

We did this to entice new people to get off the fence and join us. Real businesses run special offers all of the time to increase sales.

I was surprised that I had existing distributors email me and complain that the same offer wasn’t available to them. Some of them had even joined our mlm business five months ago and never enrolled even one person into their own business.

If you went and bought a big screen TV three months ago for certain price, and the retail outlet now had it on sale for a lower price today, you would not be able to call them and complain about the price you paid.

A real business runs specials at different time of the year for their own reasons. The same thing should be true for your online business.

2. Real businesses budget a certain percentage of their gross for advertising and marketing. Most online business owners cut corners on Internet promotion and many hope to be successful by doing nothing more than 100% free advertising.

This may have worked in the past, but today there are too many competitors in each niche to expect to run a profitable online business without spending any money on advertising. If you are not spending money on marketing your online business you can expect it to fail.

3. Real businesses have set hours that their front doors are open and they work hard to run a profitable business. Most Internet business owners work whenever they feel like it and often times they do not even work when they think they are working.

It’s very easy to fall in the trap of being online and thinking you are working when in reality you are not. Surfing the Internet, downloading iTunes, looking for new opportunities, changing the color of your website, and so on, is not really working your business.

In the end only you can decide if you want to run your Internet business like a real business. The profits for an Internet business are many, but only for those who decide to treat their online business seriously.

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Jeff Schuman invites you to visit his make money online website, for paid survey training with a free survey list to join and take your first survey in 5 minutes or less, to see the top network marketing business with vertical acceleration, and to order articles from his content writer service.

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Copyright © 2009 Riley West

With the economic climate the way it is there is even more interest in making money online than there ever was! It doesn’t surprise me, I saw it coming.

Unemployed persons are definitely interested in earning money and people with jobs are interested in something better for themselves. There are a million reasons and, it seems, more every day.

What is it that’s so good about the idea of making money online? Well, several things come to mind. There’s the idea that you can sleep in and get up when you want. You can dress the way you want. There’s a LOT of freedom.

And you can choose your own way of making money because there are many ways to go. And…when you start making money online, it’s fun!

It’s incredible, really, if you have a computer and an internet connection, you have the equipment that you need to potentially make thousands of dollars. There’s really never been anything remotely like it.

Making money online this way is possible for almost anyone willing to put out the effort, stick with a good plan, and stay on task.

But that isn’t the only thing necessary to make it in internet marketing. You need a plan, a proven plan. Fortunately, these plans are easy to find. There’s thousands of them!

Unfortunately, it seems that many of these “plans” are missing some important ingredients. It’s sort of looks like the originators of the plan don’t want to actually reveal their methods!

Is it possible they don’t really have a complete plan? Maybe it’s just an easily marketed plan but not a plan anyone could actually bring forward all the way to earnings.

Let’s take a look at what determines your success in Internet Marketing and also have a look at what you can do to succeed yourself.

The reason for most failures at online marketing is that the person just isn’t doing things the right way. They hear about the possible riches and giddily pursue one angle after another, thinking there must be an easier, faster way.

The faster, easier way is the way YOU already know! Not somebody else’s internet marketing plan that you don’t know!

Just putting in the time isn’t all you need. Buying this earnings plan and that marketing plan isn’t enough.

An awful lot of time can be wasted away doing this. But time put in diligently pursuing a proven plan and getting things done will get you there.

A proven internet marketing plan of ACTION is what makes the difference between successful internet marketers and the legions of unsuccessful people who aren’t really “marketing” at all.

That’s the “secret” to making money online. You have to have a proven plan of action.

Now, we know that there are many so called “plans” for making money out there. But the plan I like the best is a plan that will show you…

1. How and where to start.

2. How to get going.

3. How to get up and running.

4. How to earn some money.

5. Plus… how to fine tune that for better results.

See….that’s what I mean when I think of learning to market online!

How would you like to see a simple plan that has worked for many people over and over?

Here is the “essence” of ALL Internet Marketing.

All you need to do is present an offer to a person who might be interested in that offer.

There it is. The “secret” is really just common sense.

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Riley West has been telling folks about the idea of simplified affiliate marketing for some time now. The formula is Web Page with Offer + Traffic = Sales. But you need a place to put your offer! This is explained at Affiliate Marketing With Squidoo and don’t miss out on the unique description of a simplified affiliate marketing plan at One Week Marketing.

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Do you have a blog besides a Web site to promote your brand, book or business?

A blog adds something valuable to a Web site if you post articles several times a week – fresh content to let the search engines know your Web site is active.

Yet blog posts done well can also add to the attraction human visitors find when they visit your Web site. And if you’re blogging to support your business goals, then there are two important elements:

- Your blog posts should relate to those business goals.

- Your blog posts should be easily read.

The second point covers the need for short paragraphs, black type on light background, and boldface subtitles for long posts along with an illustration if possible.

I’d like to address the first point here:

Do your blog posts relate to the business goals of your Web site on which the blog is located or links to?

Many of us have various interests – some professional, some personal. And these interests may not fit so well within the format of the same blog.

People who regularly follow your business blog will probably not be pleased to read an entire blog post about your Thanksgiving meal with your family. At least not unless the meal triggered an incredible business application that you’re willing to share in the same blog post.

Your report on your Thanksgiving meal may warrant a status update on Facebook. Or, if you want to write a long report, email it to your best friends and family members. But don’t expect your business blog readers to be enthralled by what you ate.

That said, it’s actually a good idea to add personal information in business blog posts in order to indicate that you’re a person and not a robot. But these personal tidbits should fit within the framework of an overall business blog post; they should not be the focus of the post.

Another possibility is to have numerous blogs. Then when you are hit with the inspiration to write on a specific topic, the question becomes on which blog does this post best fit? While there may be post topics that could fit with more than one of your blogs, it is still a good idea to consider the topic consistency on each blog before deciding where to publish that specific post.

As you create your online presence for your business, you want to always be aware of how you are presenting yourself and your brand. You want to be careful not to turn people off because you have forgetten which hat you’re wearing when you write a new blog post.

Bottom line: Share valuable and theme-related information on your business blog to establish that blog as the go-to blog for that particular information.

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Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is an Internet business consultant. If you liked this article, you’ll love her free report on “Power Marketing’s Top 3 Internet Marketing Tips” – claim your report now from www.millermosaicllc.com/free-report

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Working from home ways are virtually endless today. What was once mainly possible for people only looking at multi level marketing (MLM) or stuffing envelopes has right away turn into a huge industry with thousands of possibilities.

A lot of people today are not only surviving at working a business from home but are thriving! The reason for this is largely due to the internet.

It has opened the doors to many opportunities in a lot of ways. A business can be grown larger and quicker due to the worldwide network offered.

If you have a computer and an un-used corner of a room you have the potential for your own office, to run your own business. But what will you do?

After researching the a lot of and varied businesses out there it typically should come down to this: What do you enjoy doing? What products are you familiar with and can you sell enthusiastically? What services can you provide with a high level of expertise?

many people have turned their hobbies into huge internet mail order successes. That may include food products, sewing-type businesses, or selling products that you love and know very well.

There are also those who may not have a certain skill or hobby to turn to but enjoy working with people. Perhaps a MLM home based business is ideal for you.

There are hundreds if not thousands of these to consider so pick one with a product or service you enjoy. With the internet as your ally you can enlist business partners throughout the world in a fraction of the time it took pre-internet.

Since you are most likely pursuing a home business for income reasons you definitely need to consider the investment needing made to get started and the potential once you get it going. What is the risk/reward? The more you have to invest the better potential you may have for riches.

However some of the low-investment opportunities- through hard work and team building- can also become gold mines.

One more creative idea may be this. If you currently have a job with a company have you considered discussing with your boss the idea of working at home?

many companies are immediately doing this to save costs in a lot of ways. You may be surprised to discover the answer you get and that will save you on gas and the headache of traffic.

Whatever your goals and aspirations are for a business or job working from home it more than likely can be met today. Do your research, talk to those with experience, and get going immediately. It’s a great time to get started!

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Mal Keenan is a professional internet marketer that has successfully helped thousands of people work at home. Visit his work at home ideas website and blog to learn more about you can get started making money with him today!

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One of the biggest challenges for opportunity seekers in building an online internet marketing business today is getting good leads.

There are many sites available that offer leads. However it can be confusing trying to figure out where to start. What works best? Who can you trust? Which are the most effective?

You can think about buying mlm opportunity seeker leads or those known as genealogy leads. List brokers are a possibility as is investing in an ad campaign and finding your own leads.

However before you get started with anything it’s best to do a little research, perhaps by contacting those who have already had some success. What follows is some abbreviated advice from those who have been there.

Genealogy leads are those of people who have some previous network marketing experience. They are still in a data base and many of these leads have incorrect information.

The names and email addresses may not be accurate and phone numbers old. In fact the leads may be very old and may be of people who really did little or nothing with internet marketing.

In other words you are taking a risk with these. It may take hundreds of leads to just find a few who have a genuine interest in yours or any internet business.

Opportunity leads presents different types of challenges. To have luck with these you will need to take the time to call them and utilize relationship building skills you have. It is possible to get leads this way but will probably take time and skills to do so.

First you may spend anywhere from $2 to $10 per lead. Not bad if they were guaranteed but they’re not. Many of these really have very little interest in network marketing.

Many opportunity seekers would prefer a job as opposed to building a business. They may need a little extra to pay bills, or they may be broke.

If you can effectively get a phone conversation going you may be able to show them how they can make money quickly with your program. Hopefully they won’t have to spend much- if any- money to get started.

You may have to realize it will take effort and time to get quality leads. If you’re in your business for the long haul that should be your attitude anyway.

Perhaps create your own website offering your own tips on how to create income from home. Then work at getting visitors to that site.

You will then begin to build your own data base. You will also begin to develop a relationship with your readers- and this is the key

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Louis Martel is the owner of one of the most popular mlm business opportunity websites online today. To learn secrets most business home mlm opportunity seekers will never know visit it right now.

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When the “Internet” became a household word, people who wanted to be present on the Internet were concerned about the expense and effort of building a website. Whether fun or money was the goal, in order to be listed on the Net, having a website was the only option in those times. Amateur ones were less costly, but were not terribly appealing to the visitor. The blog was invented to be a “working man’s website” whereby you could leave your footprints on the World Wide Web minus the need to have a full-fledged website. From one mans blog to the other the blog spot became a great method for folks to get together on the World Wide Web. It was free even though it was a little drab; but change was coming.

Before long the modest blog spot offered the ability of posting photographs, change of fonts, and all the other stuff that normally came with websites. Very soon web enthusiast had the ability to have their own blogs to talk about various issues and sometimes to generate revenue. Compared to a website, a blog was less difficult to start – and very soon blogs began to spring up everywhere you look and on every topic you can think of.

Anyone can start blogging. This includes YOU – whether or not you have any Internet expertise. You can begin doing it as a hobby.

Pick a blog that appeals to you and begin leaving comments. This will teach you how to use the commands and the basics of blogging. As your skill level improves, start your own blog and I guarantee that you will find a world of entertainment. Also you can use it to supplement your income if that interests you.

You will be more likely to succeed if you’re blogging on a topic of interest to you. Prior to setting up the blog,make certain you pick a topic you love. One man’s diversion for example, can make blogging a fun and rewarding endeavor.

You can initially talk about some personal experiences. As you progress, you can begin networking, making some friends, start adding additional types of content, and hold some exhibits through your blog spot. There are lots of other people who would love to forge friendships with those who share their passions and blogging provides the perfect way to do so. You will learn a great deal and achieve immense enjoyment in the process.

Once you feel ready, you can begin earning some income by monetizing your blog. At this point there will be several admirers who will broaden your associations.

The simplest way is to include Google Adsense on your blog, thereby automating the monetization. If you’d like to go a bit beyond you can begin promoting products with your blog. The blog spot that you created for entertainment could wind up earning you a real good sum of money by the end of the day.

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Jim Eastman writes about lots of different subject matters. To get you very own blog spot just search for “free blog” and you can create a blot like http://www.blogspotone.com/

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To benefit from your marketing efforts on a long term basis you need to develop backlinks to your website. There are many ways to do this, but one of the most effective is search engine optimization.

In this article we will look at link building and SEO and why it is a great long term strategy for marketing your business.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, can be define as the process of optimizing a website to get better results in search engines. It is a process because it involves several steps.

The most important thing you can do is target relevant keyword phrases so search engines can determine what you are trying to tell them. Whether you are doing article marketing, blogging, or building web pages, hyperlinking keyword phrases in your marketing efforts are extremely important.

There are many ways you can develop links to your business by using keyword phrases that the search engines like. One example of this would be hyperlinking a keyword phrase in the signature file of your discussion forum profile.

When a search engine sees a hyperlinked phrase leading to a web page optimized around those keywords, it determines this to be relevant and worthy of a searcher seeing. If you do this enough times not only will you get traffic from the discussion forum, but you will begin to rank high on a search engine for that keyword phrase.

This is one of the best ways to get long term traffic using SEO and link building. Most discussion forums archive their threads so you never know when a post you’re making could bring you traffic for many years to come.

The same thing is definitely true with article marketing. You can hyperlink keyword phrases in the resource box of your article and benefit from traffic from that article for a long time.

You can also target specific keyword phrases in the article itself. When you do this you are using proper search engine optimization and this can lead to potential back links and traffic that way.

Blogging is a great way to build backlinks and optimize your articles for search engines. Today many bloggers will target longtail keyword phrases in the title and in the body of their blog post.

Many search engines look specifically to blogs for fresh content for their searchers to view. This is a great opportunity for you to rank highly with the search engines and at the same time get traffic from your blog.

These are all ideas on why SEO and link building is the best long term marketing strategy. Any link you are getting back to your website, that benefits you long after you have gotten it, is an excellent long term strategy for advertising your Internet business.

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Suzanne Morrison is the owner of a higher search engine ranking website that show average people how to achieve higher rankings in here SEO eBook. Visit it here today to see how she can help you!

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Membership sites are Internet web sites offering a product or service that can only be accessed by those that have signed up to become a member.

Sometimes this requires a fee upfront before allowing you access to any of the material on the site and other times certain pages and topics will be available to anyone who signs up but they will also offer a paid upgrade. This paid upgrade gives the member access to any additional information in the form of videos, forums (to interact with other members), interviews and any other medium that offers extra value.

In days past, starting a membership site required the purchase of a membership script or software designed especially for this purpose. As membership sites started to explode on the Internet, various plug-ins were created that allowed bloggers to turn their blog (such as a WordPress blog) into a membership site.

Membership sites have been around for a long time. Think about it, physical products have often been offered through joining a membership site. Sometimes these physical products were offered at a discount for anyone who joined and paid a monthly or yearly fee and some even offered a onetime/lifetime payment.

The same principle has been applied to the Internet as infopreneurs realized the value of the information they were freely giving away and membership sites started cropping up in every conceivable topic/niche. They remain one of the hottest formats on the Internet for offering valuable information.

The benefits of a membership site are obvious:

1) It is the perfect work at home solution with very little overhead to get started. Basically all that is needed is a computer, chair, good/reliable Internet connection and a membership script, software or plug-in. How many brick and mortar business’ can you start with so few dollars?

2) A membership website is the perfect platform for promoting your affiliate products. You have a captive audience. Make sure they are closely related to your membership site topic. These will be your back-end sales.

3) There are no extra expenses such as transportation costs, manufacturing costs and warehouse rentals to store your goods because you deal in digital information. The costs associated will be minimal and will include items such as web-hosting and auto-responders.

I have seen membership sites online charging anywhere from $4.00 a month upwards to $1,800 a month. So, there is something for everyone’s budget.

In order to retain your excitement and enthusiasm it is always best to stay within a passion of yours. Writing on a topic that is really of no interest to you will eventually take its toll as your enthusiasm wanes and your writing suffers.

In order to retain members your content must be unique, of high value and not easily found elsewhere for free.

The Internet is changing how people access information. More and more people are discovering that joining a membership site that offers the information they are seeking, can actually save them precious time and energy that can better be put to use towards their own dreams and ambitions.

We have always paid for information in the past without a second thought. Whether it be newspapers, schooling, magazines, journals…or expanded television choices. The Internet is no different. Soon what was once freely accessed will only be available behind closed doors as the information highway becomes a toll road.

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Kathy Dobson is a free spirited business owner and entrepreneur dedicated to helping others achieve financial and personal freedom through Internet marketing with an emphasis on membership sites.
Learn more about membership sites please visit:
http://www.crazycashmembershipsites.com
For further tips and resources visit:
http://www.kathydobson.com

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The #1 most important tool that is critical to your success, is a squeeze page with a unique, compelling offer for your prospects. Your primary objective as an Internet marketer is to get people onto a list so you can build a relationship and sell more products.

If you just send your prospects to an affiliate page – then the person who’s selling the product ends up getting all those leads – and gets to sell other products to them – and they’re lost to you forever. So what you want to do is create your own list so that you can continuously make money – day after day, month after month.

The entire purpose of your squeeze page is to promote your free report or audio or video – and to collect the visitor’s name and email address. It’s called a squeeze page because the visitor can only take one course of action – to provide their information.

Competition can be a major problem whether you run an online or offline business – but doing business online has gotten increasingly more complicated – especially in the Internet marketing niche. Here are three tips to make your lead magnet stand out from the crowd and get more optins.

Tip #1: Be Unique

A few years ago, offering someone a free report for signing up at your squeeze page was brand new and worked like gangbusters. Then everybody jumped on the bandwagon and as it became a regular “offer” it started losing its effectiveness. Then audio files were hot. These days it’s videos. Who knows what it will be tomorrow?

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t offer free e-books, audio files or videos – they’re still effective methods for encouraging people to sign up for your newsletter or other offer. What I am telling you is that whatever your offer is, you need to position it so that it’s different from the rest of your competitors. Otherwise, you’re going to look like everyone else, and your prospects are going to pass you right by.

Tip #2: Offer REAL Value

Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to make money online. But you need to offer good incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your list. You need to give away high-quality content such as software, online videos, access to exclusive services and other freebies that are perceived as helpful and valuable to your prospects.

Tip #3: Use a Simple Design

My best-converting squeeze pages are super basic with no graphics. You just need a headline, a few bullet points and a call to action. Don’t over complicate things with fancy graphics or long copy. If you split-test your pages, you’ll find that short copy with a great offer will win every time.

I hope you take this advice to heart and start building a list that will make you money for years to come. Any time you need cash, just take a few minutes to craft an email and then click the “Send” button. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can have money in your bank almost on demand!

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Get FREE Internet Marketing Advice that Other People are Trying to Sell => http://derrickvandyke.com

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If you have an online business, you already know you need good Internet marketing information in order to succeed. Unfortunately, if you are just getting started, it can be difficult to sort through all the online clutter to find information that is genuine, reliable and most importantly, profitable.

Finding solid Internet marketing information is important because it can greatly reduce your learning curve. It can help you become profitable a whole lot faster. For example, when launching your business, you need good advice on how to choose the right niche and the right product or service. You also need to know how to develop a great web site and how to rank well in the search engines. In reality, these points are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of what you will need to know in order to be successful long term. Finding good Internet marketing information early on can shave months, or even years, off this process.

Of course, the Internet is a constantly evolving medium. A product or strategy that was all the rage a few months ago may now be out of favor as new ideas appear on the scene. Amidst this backdrop, it is very difficult to distinguish between what is genuine and what is unreliable. Therefore, you need to evaluate any Internet marketing information you find very carefully before investing your hard-earned money or even more valuable time in pursuing it.

When evaluating the validity of any Internet marketing information you find, it is very important to first consider its source.

Some questions you might consider include:

- Is the source reputable? A quick online search is a great way to find any obvious red flags.

- Is the author successfully using his advice in his own business? (Hint: the Internet is full of so-called gurus who have never made a dime by practicing what they preach).

- Can she provide proof in the form of testimonials or endorsements to support her claims?

- Is there an active community surrounding this individual? Does he have a forum? If so, are the conversations going on there focused on the ‘right’ way to do things (vs. sneaky tricks to game the system?) One of the best ways to determine the real deal is to hang back and study what is going on around their little corner of the Internet.

Once you find a reputable source, you then need to be sure the recommended strategies and tips will work in your case. Before accepting and making use of any Internet marketing information you find, make sure it is applicable to your particular business model. In other words, if someone is making a fortune selling information products to an international audience and you are running a dry cleaning service in Topeka, Kansas – you might want to look for advice more relevant to your own situation.

This is where good old-fashioned common sense comes into play.First, find someone who is already successful doing what you want to do. Then, do your research and make sure he or she is legit. Finally, start with the basics and build from there. You will find the tried-and-true fundamentals don’t change nearly as rapidly as the latest fads do. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to building a profitable and sustainable long-term business online.

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Trish Lindemood is an entrepreneur, marketing consultant, and professional web writer who specializes in creating search engine optimized web copy and content. She also teaches other online entrepreneurs how to build and grow their business with effective content creation and promotion. Want to learn how to use Content Marketing to build your business? Be sure to visit WebcopyResults.com today!

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