5 Great Reasons Why Local Business Should Have a Website

Every business should have its own website, but according to a recent study of small to medium businesses, not even half had websites. While it's true that not every business needs a website, here are 5 great reasons why having a website is a good, no great, idea.

The Yellow Pages is dying

Recent statistics show that nearly 90 percent of consumers go online to research products and services before purchasing. That's a lot. By not having a website, you're excluding up to 90 percent of potential customers and clients.

Selling yourself

Every business exists to solve a problem. Chances are many other people have that same problem, and are looking for a solution. With a website, you can let people know how you've solved the problem, and that you'll be more than happy to solve their problem too.

24/7 sales-team

Unless your website has been outsourced to servers hosted in a small village in India, your website will be up and running on the internet every second, minute, hour and day of the year. Having a website is like having a sales team with insomnia - it never sleeps.

Target your market

Having a website lets you target a specific market. Different things appeal to different people, and simple things such as the words, colours and images you use will determine who stays on your website and who doesn't.

The great thing about a website is you can also drive traffic to your site quite easily. Google's AdWords product will let you place ads and links to your site above Google's organic search results. This means you can be ranked at the very top without spending a lot of time trying to get there organically.

Because 50 percent don't

That's right - by just having a website you're putting yourself above 50 percent of your competitors. With numbers like that, having a website is a no-brainer. There really is no other marketing or advertising technique that'll push you above your competition as significantly as having a website.

If someone walked into your shop today and told you that for a small investment, he could automatically put you above half your competition, you'd be a fool not to take him seriously.

So there are 5 simple reasons for small and local businesses to get a website. There are countless other reasons too, but these five should have convinced you to get yourself and your local business a website.

The Truth About Becoming an Amazon Super-Affiliate

        In the world of affiliate marketing, one must give kudos where kudos is due-Amazon. Amazon practically pioneered affiliate marketing as we know it today with their associates program. The program has evolved substantially since the early days, but one thing has remained constant; it continues to pay millions of dollars a year to ordinary people like you and me, many of who have quit their regular day jobs as a result. This is the dream of anyone who works a grueling day-job; to either win the lottery or make enough money quit their job. Many relish the idea of becoming financially-free doing what they love. One avenue to financial freedom is becoming an Amazon super-affiliate. But the position of Amazon super-affiliate is highly coveted, not so much for the freedom it affords but for the insane income that affiliates realize. But how can one make more money a week than they make a whole year, as an Amazon affiliate?

Most people begin the process the wrong way

There is a substantial buzz surrounding the Amazon affiliate marketing and payout system right now. This has also been heightened by the recent economic uncertainties that have seen many lose trust in their jobs. Unfortunately, when considering becoming an affiliate for the Amazon store, many people have no clue how to begin, much less how to make the phenomenal profits they seek. This article was written with the assumption that you have a website and want to sell Amazon goods, both physical and electronic, from your website. In another article, I will cover the correct process of setting up an Amazon store.

Use specialized software to conduct your research and cut your work load

Abraham Lincoln said if he had six hours to cut a tree, he would spend the first four sharpening the axe. Preparation is essential if you are to succeed as a super-affiliate. Many website owners simply buy a domain name, set up a site, sign up for the Amazon associates program, slap some Amazon widgets on their site, then sit back and wait for the profits to roll in. After some time, they realize that no money is coming in and they quickly dismiss the entire program as a hoax.

The best way to start marketing Amazon products is to take the guesswork out of the entire equation and use specialized software made for Amazon research. Using special software can unearth the best products in their categories not to mention the best keywords for targeting those products. This cuts your work by almost 80% and gets you concentrating on marketing your site and getting content.

When it comes to keywords, there are thousands on Amazon that are virtually untouched and which have near-zero competition. These are the keywords you need to concentrate on. But as I have mentioned, you cannot uncover this goldmine unless you use special software.

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Less Than 20% of U.S. Households Earn $100,000 a Year!

     Did you know that less than 20 % of U.S. households earn $100,000 a year!?

This means that a much smaller percentage of women are creating six figure businesses. Why is this an important statement? Well, while most women claim that they want to earn lucrative incomes, only a few of them are willing to change their thinking and their habits to create the business breakthrough that they want. The truth is, you can't be maintain a "comfort mindset" and become a high-income entrepreneur. Sorry ladies, you must do more then this to actually succeed at breaking six-figures.

There is a secret ingredient that must be present in order for you to break this barrier.

A sense of urgency. There must be a sense of urgency so powerful within you that it pushes you forward to realizing your dreams. This can be having a huge mission - whereby you are so motivated to bring it into the world that you will do anything to make it happen. It could be a lifestyle motivator - like moving to a different part of the world. I had this one awhile back - the desire to move to California (from Canada), was so big inside me, that I did everything to make it happen. I was committed. For you it might even be to provide for your family. To contribute to your household in a powerful way - being able to give your children opportunities.

What I've found is there usually needs to be a financial commitment that goes along with your bigger purpose - to create an even bigger sense of urgency. It's unfortunate that it has to be this way, but unless you have a little skin in the game, it's very easy and I repeat very easy to keep that bigger vision as just that. Some day. Someday it will happen. When it feels comfortable. After all, when you're on the right path things flow easily right? Not. This used to trip me up. I thought if you were on the right path everything would flow easily. The opportunities do flow easily, they do. Meaning you make a decision to do something and the universe simultaneously provides the way to make it happen. BUT it's the inner work that makes it hard. We literally cannot see the opportunities the universe provides because we are too caught-up in our heads. We second-guess everything, our fear clouds our judgment, and we don't take action. It's this type of work - cleaning out those unconscious beliefs holding us back - that must happen. You have to be willing to dig this stuff out if you really want to have a huge impact in the world and realize your dreams. When you make a financial commitment to help you achieve this, all of a sudden you raise the bar. It forces you to take action. People take it seriously when they spend money. It solidifies the commitment that you are willing to do what you need to do - and BE who you need to BE - to do the things you really want to be doing.

I promise this isn't a sales pitch to have you invest in coaching. If that is something that calls to you, then do reach out. I share this with you to let you know what worked for me, and what helped me build a six-figure business. It was the investment in a mentor that helped me dig out the root cause of my fears (which were holding me back from being who I needed to be in my business to make it a success), and shifting those beliefs that were keeping me stuck. Are you the type of person that is willing to go for it? Your intuition will never tell you to play it safe. It's time to let it SHINE!
committed to your online success
smartearner

The Differences Between a Mobile Website and a Mobile Native Application

After talking with many small business owners, it occurred to me that many people are not aware that there is a significant difference between a Mobile Website and a Mobile App. A mobile website is simply the ability to have your website organized and be responsive for mobile viewers. A mobile native application, is an application program that has been developed for use on a particular platform or device. So what's the big deal? A lot!

First, when you're dealing with a mobile website, it is necessary to go to the specific domain of the website you're looking for. This alone can take up to a few minutes wasting your time, not to mention you better not mistype the domain otherwise your agony will continue. For a Mobile App, once you download the app from iTunes or Android, then you simply need to tap on the App Icon for access. Test this out and you will see a significant difference in speed.

Next is functionality. The single most important feature that a mobile native app offers is a push notification. With this feature you are able to send messages to your audience and even if the app is closed they will receive your message. You are not able to do this with a mobile website. The ability to communicate direct to your audience through mobile messages will give any business an advantage in keeping top of mind. With the progression of technology, new functionality has enabled a business to send custom images with custom messages for better engagement.

Other functions included in a native app that mobile websites cannot offer are loyalty programs. Similar to SpotOn and Belly reward systems, you can encourage your users rewards after so many returns to your business. There are three loyalty rewards available. GPS coupons, which will allow you to check in when you are near the business. QR scan code, customer scan a qr code for each visit. Last is the Punch card, this gives the business owner the possibility to give a customer an e-punch hole for each visit. Leveraging these programs within your app is a great way to build customer loyalty.

Finally you can integrate a shopping cart within your app. Giving your customers the chance to quickly shop using your app increasing the possibility of a return customers. It's extremely important that your mobile customer finds it easy to navigate your merchandise and to make purchases.

If you believe that a mobile website and a native mobile app  provide the same solution, I urge you to research further and see the significant differences. You will quickly learn how your business would greatly benefit in having a mobile app over a mobile website. Knowing the difference will give you the edge you're looking for over your competition.

An Expert's Guide on Designing a Banner That Works!

First of all, let me make one thing clear that banners are not dead. They still exist in the web world and they will remain around in the near future too.

They are doing good primarily thanks to their new home - Google AdWords. If you or your client is using Content Network for advertisement purpose and not embracing banner ads, then you are certainly overlooking the big elephant in the room.

In short, banner ads are still an inevitable part of your advertising campaign.

What makes it a good banner?

A good banner isn't the one that looks appealing, but it is the one that results in business for its owner. No matter if it is the poorest banner design in the world, if it works, it is a good banner.

Now, how will you decide whether your banner ad is working or not? All of the ads over the web have just one goal - to get clicks. So, if your ad has more than average CTR that means it is working, which in turn says it is a good banner ad.

You need not to bother about the admiration of the creativity or design of the ad. Instead all you seek is the measurable results in form of clicks.

Some most fundamental rules of creating a good banner design

You can go and visit the soon-to-be-placement of your banner ad, just scan the page and take the essential notes such as how many ads are there, which style other ads have followed, and how will your placement looks. The deeper you will go studying this, the better results you will harvest.

Check out the placement before you place - In case you are using an automatic placement facility of AdWords then it's not possible for you to check out where your ad will be placed over the internet. However, if you are keen to design a good banner ad, you must at least try to know where it is going to be displayed.

Use content that sells - Of course, I know it's a banner not a text ad, but still you need to make sure your ad contains outstanding, unique and interesting text. Focus mainly on the headline (as it accounts for 80% success). Don't forget to address the What, Why, How questions of the users, and embrace the powerful call to action.

Meaningful and Alluring graphics - This point is applicable if you are creating a graphical banner. By meaningful, I want to convey that your ad should draw in some useful information besides its attractive graphics.

Easily Readable font - You will find numerous banners over the internet that publishes fonts that are totally unreadable. Disaster contrast, blurred letters, or too-big or too-small letters can ruin your ad. The golden rule is, the font should be simple and sophisticated.

The Right Selection of Colors - Do you know every color has its own story to tell? Different cultures have different interpretation for colors. So, here it wise to first knows your targeted audience before you finalize the colors in your banner design. While it has been seen that mostly orange and blue works well, in flash banner design, which is mainly used for promotional stuff, you need to be careful on making selection from the color palettes.

Frame it simple! - We humans are used to see a great variety of frames in our real life, with paintings and pictures. So, whenever we see an ad with a frame, thanks to our subconscious mind's perception toward frame we overlook the frame and directly focus on what is inside the frame. Simply put, you can add a thin line around your banner ad and it will do!

8 Questions to Create a Successful Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is an essential tool for small businesses. It provides a blueprint of activities that support your business goals and objectives - many of which are focused on revenue and profit growth. It outlines what you will do and how you will do it. While not complicated, an effective marketing plan should answer the following questions.

Who are you trying to reach with your marketing activities? This is the group or target market you want to sell your products or services to. The more details, the better. Go beyond the 'who' and consider where you can find them, what is important to them, what they value or worry about and what they need right now. If you are unsure, do a little research - talk to them!

Who do you compete with and how do you compare? One of the best things you can do to uncover opportunities is to perform a SWOT analysis. Look at who is selling similar products and services. What do they do well and not so well? Now look at your own company. How do you measure up?

What makes you unique? Based on the analysis of your competition, industry trends and your personal strengths, what one thing can set you apart from others? What do you do so well that you could potentially guarantee it? Your unique selling proposition addresses why your ideal targets should choose you - so give it some thought. Remember you only need one thing to stand out.

What should you charge and why? Your marketing message should work with your pricing strategy as it relates directly to perceived value - a factor in purchase decisions. Don't ignore this when developing your marketing plan.

How will you reach your target market? This is the substance of your plan - and often where most small businesses start. Your promotional plan covers all your communication and dictates how you get the word out to prospects and current customers. Ideally it combines a variety of activities such as advertising, publicity and PR, direct sales, internet marketing, sales promotion, etc. Remember, quality and consistency matter - so start with 3-5 and execute well!

How much will you spend and on what? A marketing budget serves two purposes. It helps you determine what you can or cannot afford - and prioritize what you spend it on. Since many small businesses have limited marketing budgets, this is vital. And with technology today, some activities are more affordable than they were in the past. Do a little research, don't assume everything is out of reach.

What tasks do you need to complete to achieve your marketing goals? Most marketing activities require a series of steps to go from start to finish. An action list is a critical part of your plan - if you want to insure things get done! It works like the process you use to manage other daily tasks. It includes the end goal along with a series of tasks required to achieve the goal. For example, a direct mail campaign might include the following steps: clarify the objectives, determine type of direct mail, hire a designer to create the piece, write copy, develop mailing list, etc. Remember to include due dates for each step to keep you on track.

What results were achieved and how can we improve? Since you invested time and financial resources to help you grow, don't you want to know if your efforts paid off or how you can improve the results moving forward? Of course you do. So you need to track results. The metrics you select will depend on the marketing tactics you use but some common ones include new leads, website visits, response rates for your call to action, requests for quotes, new customers or transactions, etc. You don't need a lot, but make tracking part of your marketing activities.
5 More Tips to Get More From Your Marketing

Have clear business goals before you plan your marketing
Don't ignore current customers. Include activities in your plan to generate repeat business too!
Marketing take time, money or both. Nothing is truly free.
Mix it up. Integrating offline and online strategies is powerful way to get more bang for your bucks.
Avoid too many tactics. Focus on quality not quantity. Trying to do too many things at one time becomes overwhelming and more difficult to track.

Stream of incomes from ebooks

                   
Convert your Ideas into streams of multiple incomes

                Do you know you can convert your brilliant ideas into multiple incomes by writing a marketable e-book?

What is an e-book?

  Ebooks other wise known as electronic books are self written executable file of HTML.

This HTML may be a web site you have created or specifically converted into a downloadable .exe file for distribution. When it is downloaded, this file will self install on your clients’ desktop

    Ebooks are similar to other books but different in that it is in electronic form. If your website is on domain name, you write an ebook on buying and selling of domain name in the ebook.

    An ebook basically is an offline packaged website that allows the author a great deal of flexibility in presentation of content. It can be downloaded online and be read offline or printed into hard copies. Most ebooks contain video, animation and audio etc. This is why it is very important because of its level of interaction with the clients

  

Importance of having your own ebooks

1.Ebooks permit you to market other products and services

 The marketing department has taken the advantages of ebook as a veritable tool in driving sales. They explode their income by putting their idea for people to read.

The beauty of ebooks is that it permits you to market other product and services on it helping you to drive traffic to you site. The most important thing in ebook design is making sure you are creditable enough for you client to repose great confidence in you. This is done through sincerity, logical emphasis of the information you are driving home and the authenticity of the information.

 2. Ebooks are created with little or no cost

 Other benefit of ebook is in its low cost publishing. The cost involved when you use hard copy is extremely high and publishers are somewhat selective. Therefore, the numbers of authors that get their work published are extremely low.

Electronic publishing has remove most of the risk inherent in leaving you book in the hand of a publisher and the cost involved. So an author receives a high profit because of the low cost of publishing his/her book in electronics. Ebooks eliminate all shipping costs, taxes and   permit any one without a professional skill to be able to publish ebooks.

  3.Ebooks are published fast

 Ebooks could also be published fast. Unlike the conventional books in hard copies that can take up to two years before the manuscript will be reviewed, printed and circulated in the market. Ebooks can be published within few weeks and be offered for sale immediately.

4. Ebooks can be enhanced with multimedia

      Ebooks have this great advantage over the conventional books in hard copies because it can be enhanced with multimedia such as animation, video clips, musics, graphics, creative front size and audios. These elevate ebooks into a class of modern technology.

 5. Easy marketing of ebooks

     There are many opportunity available to advertise and market you ebooks. The internet has opened countless doors to marketers to push their product beyond limitation. They can now tap into the enormous world-wide markets via internet.

 I don’t know how to write a sellable ebook

   Ebooks have been selling online like hot cake. Interestingly, not all those who sell ebooks online are professional writers. In fact you coul hire a professional writer at a reasonable cost.  There are many of these writers at .www.fiverr.com who will help you write you ebook for as low as $5.00. What is important is to bring your belief, passion and knowledge into the subject. Although, it is very important to learn how to write your ebook yourself to reduce cost and to gain experience

  How to get started?

   Ebook deliver the opinion, ideas and knowledge of the writer instantly in a single and easy handled package.Creating ebook may not require prior knowledge but it does require careful planning and considerable groundwork .Ebook should be created to gain the trust and confidence of your clients.

  To be able to create a marketable ebook, it requires you to do a thorough research about the subject matter, writing the ebook and marketing the ebook.

 

How do I get a suitable topic to write on?

1.      You can write on any topic that pulls your interest.

        There are countless numbers of subjects you can write on such as: entertainment, health care, Internet business, art and craft, football, animals, music and lots more to educate your clients why still making money. You will need to go into research and acquire necessary materials on the subject matter before you put them into ebooks. Your main objective is to write on subject that has a log term appeal. It is therefore important that you write-up does not get outdated in a couple of months.

  The best way to choose a topic is to figure out what people are looking for mostly online. This can be done by analyzing top searches at search engines. Most search engines keep tract of the activity on their site for weeks and you can utilize this great opportunity to acquire this information.

   

    2. Cash in on other people’s idea

            It is quite possible to stumble on a particular ebook online that addresses the same subject you are trying to write on but has not made enough sales, you could learn how it is written for you to know how to go about with yours. I am not saying you should plagiarize their work otherwise you would be charged for copy write violation. I only said you could take advantage of how they write theirs for you to develop yours

2.      Join Online Message Board and Discussion Forum

           Online message board and discussion forum are platform that can permit you to gather adequate information about what interest people. You can join this forum and participate in their discussion in order to acquire the information you need to make the type of ebook that will address their problems for a token. Also, newgroups as well as ezines may be good platform to acquire information from.

3. Try and write instructional ebooks

    Instructional ebooks are those ebooks that give the reader a step-by-step approach to accomplishing a task. With so much information online, people are looking for an ebook that will show them a direct step to take to accomplish a task. For instance, an ebook that shows the process of monetizing your website with googleadsense will give instruction how to open a googleadsense account on the site and apply it to your site to monetize it will sell more than the one that just explain it in word only without a road map to achieving it.

5. List all your ideas

   It is important that you list your idea to organize it appropriately. Many people, most professional writers love to use long sentences to drive home there point. If you are a newbie in ebook marketing, you may need to use simple and correct sentences until you have gained a mastery of English to use complex one.

  These are few of the topics you may interest you:

  

1.      Complete guide to setting up a home office

2.      How to write to an unbeatable business proposal

3.      Internet home business

4.      Maintain good health of your children

5.      How to become a successful real estate investors

6.      Mastering the stock market

7.      Catfish business made easy

             Writing and publishing your profitable ebook

     

 1. This aspect requires you to put your ideas in written form for marketing.                                   This could be some how frustrating and tedious. It takes perseverance and dedication to be able to bring it into fruition.

   One thing that could very helpful at this point is to outline you points and run them in a chronological order. Once you have drafted your points, you will be more positioned to write the ebook. However, before you do that, you will need to get a captivating title for your ebook.. You can google search the topic to see which appropriate word people use for the similar topic on google

2. Get Captivating Title

      A shorter title is preferable to long title. So, make use of short title with captivating words. This title is part of your ebook front cover and should be attractive to customers. Most people buy a product because of its ebook cover.

 Do this when choosing a title:

1.      Include your solution in the title of your ebook

2.      Use a positive language and never a negative one

3.      Be outrageous in title

4.      Be compelling in your title

5.      let your title generate curiosity among the target audience

After the title, you can now play around with the design of ebook cover. Be creative in this regards knowing fully well that your ebook will be offered for sales. Try as much as possible to blend colours so that the front cover can be beautiful and captivating. You can use ebook creator soft ware for this. If you need one, you can leave your comment with your request and I will immediately show you how to go about getting your copy.

  Key aspects of writing an ebook

1.      You can use Microsoft word to type your character. Ensure you use a plain text and choose the right front size. You can play around with colours to make it look more beautiful.

2.       After writing your ebook, you will need to convert it to Adobe format. This is the format where the content of your ebook can be well preserved.

3.        Register your ebook with ISBN( International Standard Book Number).It is a 10 digit number that uniquely identifies your ebooks. It is especially useful when selling your ebooks online or to bookstore .

4.      Protect your ebooks: This is quite necessary if you don’t want your effort to be in futility. You must protect your ebooks from pirates.This can be done by using password to encrypt the ebook, copyright and insertion of disclaimer in the box as shown below:

Title Here  ISBN Number @2003 Company’s name.Inc   All rights reserved. NO part of this ebook should be reproduced, stored,    copied or transformed electronically by any other mean without the prior     knowledge of the writer.  In case you are found guilty of copyrighted violation, you stand a chance  to be prosecuted by the owner of the ebook because it will be ensured  to the fullest of the law Ensure you update your Ebooks    If your ebooks center on information that changes with time,you need to update this on a regular bases.Renewing the information of your ebooks will help keep your customers in good patronage and this will consequently increase your incomes.      Method of Delivering your ebooks:   Your ebooks could be delivered through a direct download, however several methods are quite available that prove promising for ebooks distributions. These methods include: 1.Emailing the ebooks 2.Selling the ebooks on the CD-ROM 3.Selling the ebooks on the DVD 4.Selling the ebooks on diskettes. A List of Places to Submit your Ebooks;    For your ebooks to attract good sale the is need for submission of your ebooks in place online that will enhance distribution and marketing.These places are: 1.ewriter 2.download safari 3.ebook broadcast 4.ebook directory 5.ebook news 6.adobe ebook You can check the site and get familiar with them.Submit your ebook and wait for stream of incomes in your bank account.If you are interested in an income generating ebook Click Here! If you find this information interesting and you have any question as to the information you have read you can drop your questions and they will be thoroughly attended to. Author: Arijeniwa Abiodun www.network-sites.com