What We Need Is Targeted Web Traffic To Increase Business Growth

To get the best from your website, you need to get highly targeted web traffic. This is the best form of traffic because the visitor is more likely to be looking for what you have to offer them. There is no point in getting traffic to your site just for the sake of it. It’s far more important to get 10 targeted visitors who want what you are offering than 100 non-targeted visitors who will come and go quickly without buying anything or signing up to your email list according to your marketing requirements.

We are all in business to make money so it’s important to distinguish between just getting traffic to your site and getting buying traffic to your site.

In order to get targeted traffic to your website you need an understanding of the demographics and the market that you want to reach.  This is one of the most important things you need to do and will take some time and research. Taking the time to do your research now will actually save you time and money in the long term.

When advertising, always place advertisements on other websites that are specific to the audience you want to reach.  Be really selective with the placements of your ads so that you are paying for advertising that is only being shown to people that are interested in your niche.  If you are selective with your ad placement it’s possible that the traffic coming to your site will reduce, but because it’s highly targeted, you will find that your sales will increase.

When wording your ads take great care.  Simple changes to the words or phrases in your ad can make a big difference to the type of traffic you get.  Use specific content that will target those who are interested in your product but will be of no interest to those people who are 'non-buyers'.  Give details of the product so that you are telling your customers exactly what you are offering. Be sure to be intriguing and leave the reader with the desire to find out more and go to your offer.

Relevance is key - place your advertisements on sites that are content based and have content that is relevant to your niche.  People viewing the site are people that will be interested in your product so will click on your ad when they see it.  Remember to be specific with the ad content details.

When you are advertising try using different forms of the keywords and phrases and different people will search for the same information by using different words.  By targeting an expanded range of keywords and phrases you are gaining rankings for multiple terms which will increase your traffic.

When creating your ads, think like the customer. If you can think of what makes you click on an ad, and then it’s more likely you will ‘get the click’. When you start thinking like a customer you really increase your targeted audience and your sales.  If it means that you need to change your advertising approach completely then do it, you need to do whatever it takes to increase your sales.

Vary your technique when placing your ads. The most important thing to do is to track. Tracking your ads will tell you how effective they are and you can then tweak them to get better results. Those ads that don’t work in one place may work in another. Tracking will tell you all of this and then you can find your own formula to successful ads and more conversions and sales.

Targeted web traffic is vital to your business, so think of it and adopt something in your everyday routine.

To the future

Barrie Evans

What Is Blog Commenting And Why Is It Good For SEO?

Some have asked me what is blog commenting? Blog commenting is a method that can be used to get relevant backlinks to your website.

With this in mind you should consider this - there are 2 things that will help you create success in online marketing.

1. Getting more people to your website

2. People trusting you

To be able to start to create and develop relationships with your prospects you need to get your brand noticed. If you are online and you are in network marketing / MLM, the brand is YOU. Because of this you need to get people to your website so you can entice them to join your list and you can develop the relationship from there.

When you develop the relationship with the people on your list, you build trust in you and then you are in a position to sell your opportunity or product. This is because people buy from people who they like and trust.

There are many online marketing methods that will help you get more visitors and build trust, but one of the most interesting is Blog Commenting.

As with your own website content, when you comment on a relevant blog that is closely related to your niche, you can get a link to your site from that comment.

So How Does Blog Commenting Work?

Blog commenting is simple.  It involves adding comments on blog posts related to your products or opportunity, that other bloggers have published, and joining in the discussions that take place.

Doing this not only helps you build trust and expert-status among the other readers, but it spreads your website link with every comment!

You write a comment that is relevant and interesting, and you include your website link in the "Website" box provided, underneath your name and email address.

TIP: adding your website link into the comment itself will likely result in your comment NOT being approved by the blog owner. Always use the box provided. If allowed by the site owner, try to get a useful anchor link (relevant keyword of phrase) linking to your site, but check the terms and conditions of commenting before you do this or contact the site owner / administrator to see if it’s acceptable if it’s not obvious because others are doing that.

Now when people read your comments they will be able to click your name to check out your website.  Congratulations.  You just attracted yourself a prospect!

Why Is Blog Commenting Good For SEO?

If another website links to your website, good things happen.  It's called a "backlink" when someone else posts a link to you online, and generally the more backlinks you have the higher your site will be listed in search engines.

This means blog commenting has an effect far greater than just the trust your comments can build for you among the blog readers.  Every comment is a potential link for Google to find, and rank your site higher.

This is what makes blog commenting such an interesting online marketing strategy.  One simple action can result in two very different benefits - reputation building, and search engine ranking.

What Is The Best Kind Of Backlink Is Best When Blog Commenting?

There are 2 different kinds of backlinks. Do Follow, and No Follow.

A NO FOLLOW backlink works for the interested readers who then click the link, but generally won't help your site rank better in search results.

A DO FOLLOW backlink is the best kind.  This means the readers can click your link, AND because the search engine “spider” can follow the relevant link to your site you get the search engine ranking benefits.

A good tool for finding blogs to comment on is Comment Kahuna. The software is free and you can get it here.

So next time you ask yourself what is blog commenting? REMEMBER: This process is about building your online reputation, so make your comments useful, relevant and interesting!

To the future,

Barrie Evans

The Definition Of Call To Action And The Importance Of Use In Your Marketing Strategy

So, what is the definition of Call To Action? Basically it’s what you use to get the decision from your website visitor to find out more about what you are offering. The whole reason for your marketing should be based around getting the visitor to buy from you or going to find out more about your opportunity. It’s important that you provide valuable information in your content, but the ultimate aim is to entice the click on the relevant button or link you have on your page. This could be something like "Add to Shopping Cart", "Buy Now" or "Subscribe to Newsletter".

 It is often seen that blue underlined text is clicked on more by website visitors when given a choice because these have been the default standard for many years.  It is also believed that the blue text is associated with calming and trust so it more likely to be clicked.

Having described what a call to action is, then it’s important to understand it’s relevance and importance to your business. If you have a blog, then a simple web form that offers something of great value and enables people to enter their information can be put in the site’s sidebar. When this is present, according to the platform and/or theme you are using, it is on every page of the site including the article pages.

It’s important that you include calls to action in several places on each page. Don’t waste the opportunity to get your visitor’s information wherever it’s possible. Whatever your article subject, get a call to action at the end of the main article. This could be in the form of a P.S after the main article that asks a simple question if the reader wants to find out more about how to solve a particular problem you have highlighted in the article and leads to a product you have or are affiliated to.

You can also make use of the images as links to the same capture page you are linking to at the end in the P.S section, Don’t waste the chance to get more links to the capture page by leaving the default link that just goes to the image, put in the capture page link in its place. Find as many ways as you can to lead the visitor to where you can convert to a sale or free product offering so that you can get the “click” and their information so you can build the relationship.

Many studies have shown that if a visitor to a website doesn’t find what they are looking for in 3 seconds, they will leave. Content is the key – relevant and valuable content. The objective of the content is to make the sale and offer more value to the visitor that is relevant to what they are searching for. If the relevance and value is good, the call to action is more likely to be taken. Tracking is vital so that you know where you get the best results.

There are many SEO experts who will only focus on getting a website into the top few results but there should also be focus on the overall online marketing strategy. To get the best from your website, you need to focus on the content, the enticement to click the call to action as well as the search engine optimization aspect of your site.

Both SEO and the marketing are important. Great SEO strategy and implementation will get you visitors, but thinking of the “3 second rule” it is important to know that selling the websites product or service and using calls to action to get visitors through your conversion path is of equal importance to the overall SEO plan.

When you have a well thought out call to action strategy that is relevant to your content, then it’s likely this will provide you with more sales, lead generation and more successful results.

To the future

Barrie Evans

Recruiting For MLM? What Is The Most Effective Way - Online Or Offline?

If you have a new opportunity and are looking to be recruiting for MLM business, then you will most likely be trained in the “old school” methods of offline marketing to friends and family.

There is no real answer except to do what you find WORKS. So what IS the best way to recruit for MLM – offline or online.

Many people in the home based business arena these days have the opinion that the Internet is the greatest recruiting tool ever invented. Why?

The Internet allows near-instantaneous communication with vast numbers of people... for free.  There is no recruiting method to rival this. When promoting your business opportunity online you can grow your business day or night, and have people coming to you from all over the world. With the right skills you can also target your locality, which is easier than trying to “go global”.

Based on the traditional training methods, what do most network marketers do?  They tend to ignore the Internet entirely, and spend all of their effort handing out business cards to people who don't want them, and hassling their friends and family who will soon stop answering their phone calls.

The whole secret to getting people to join you in your new business is to find those who are looking for what you have to offer them.

So, what do we need to focus on……

Farming Vs Hunting

Don’t spend hours of your precious time chasing after people who don't have any interest in your business. Instead you can use the Internet to bring prequalified prospects directly to you and then spend your time training them.

To use a metaphor, traditional MLM recruiting methods are like hunting. You have been to your company training, which is usually a good foundation, and then you are sent out having been encouraged to speak to everyone you know and get them to come to see you so that you can “pitch” them with your new business. We are not in the business to “persuade” people to join us, more to have people join us who WANT to. Yes, you are excited and want to grow your business quickly, but we need to ask questions and find out what each person we speak to is looking for. Then we can help them with a solution.

The most successful people in MLM these days are those with a “farming” mindset. Instead of chasing after people, you plant your seeds (in this case online) and you let people come to you. Your recruiting is far easier this way, and much less aggressive.

The Opportunity Is Now Here For More Effective Recruiting For MLM!

Below are some tools you can start using almost immediately, to get your online recruiting systems set up!

1. Start a Blog

A blog is essentially a website that allows you to publish articles, videos and information about your business.  All your blog posts are listed in categories and by date written / posted. Because Google loves a blog because of the inclusion of relevant and new content connected to you particular niche, each post will be “findable”.

Running a blog can be easy.  The most important thing to remember is to offer valuable information and to build trust. Eventually you will get comments and you can interact with your readers and build relationships.

2. Build Your Website

You need to make sure all the information about you and your business is online. Branding yourself is the key because people join people (who are leaders) and not necessarily the business. So think of it this way - Your website is your Online Destination, so make sure you also own a domain name to promote and create your blog using that domain to be found online. Then you can link from your blog to your company’s videos and generic website.

3. Article Marketing

Publishing quality content online is vital to your business building efforts.  The thing to do is write (or hire someone to write) some articles with information on your business opportunity or your products, then you can publish them on websites like Squidoo and Hub Pages or Article Directories like Ezine Articles. Remember to offer good tips and advice and provide solutions to problems that people may have. This will build trust in you and your content.

4. Twitter

Twitter arrived on the scene suddenly a short time ago. Its growth has led to great popularity and is one of the “places to be”. It seems that almost every celebrity and business has a Twitter account as well as millions of ordinary people. Get yourself an account and share your content and build your popularity from there.

5. Facebook

Facebook has grown into the King of All Social Networks. With millions and millions of members and more joining every day, this makes it the number one site on the web for connecting with new people - a potential recruiters dream.

You can start groups, join groups, and find like-minded people (from all over the world) who will want to join your business.

You can get lots of people you approach offline to connect with you on Facebook too, giving you more opportunities to build relationships and gain trust.

What You Must Not Forget...

The above strategies are great for bringing people to you, but just like in the offline real-world it all comes down to you connecting with other people personally.

As soon as you have their attention, you need to make the whole process about them and not about you.

What do they hope to get from your business opportunity?  What are their goals?  What are their worries?

Provide value and useful advice on how to solve the problems your prospects have. Lead them in the right direction to solve these problems and you will attract some great people to you. Teach them to do the same and you will have replication and leverage in your business and you will be on the way to the next great success story.

Whether you go for offline or online methods, you need to attract people to you by helping them with their problems. Ask the right questions to find out more about the problems and offer the best advice you have learned that is making you money and provide the solution. This will enable you to be like a magnet to attract new prospects and build your business. Provide value and build relationships.

Use the Internet for lead generation when recruiting for MLM, but remember that personal connection can never be beaten!

To the future

Barrie Evans

Want More Success In MLM Business? You Need A Funded Proposal..

Do you want more success in MLM? Have you thought about how you can do this? Consider….

Why is it that lots of people quit MLM business? There are two simple reasons – they are not earning enough money or are spending too much on advertising and marketing materials. Spending too much usually means they are not covering their costs so they quit before they really give the business a chance and see a profit.

So, if you could solve the problem of not earning enough money and spending too much, then you would see greater retention of people in your business and then your business would grow faster and profit would increase also. The reason for more retention of people would be because you would be able to teach others to do what you can do.

So, what is this magical method?

INTRODUCING: The Funded Proposal

The concept of a funded proposal has been developed and made popular by Mike Dillard, of the Magnetic Sponsoring marketing course. A funded proposal is a system where you offer products, either as an affiliate or by making your own product, which you can sell to your prospects.  This has tremendous impact on your profitability. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to build relationships and to prequalify prospects who will be far more likely to join your business than "cold" marketing leads!

A funded proposal works by getting people who you have on your email list to purchase valuable and helpful products or services that cost less than your main product or business opportunity, but still closely related. You can then funnel the customers into your larger purchases. The sales of the small product will help fund your marketing efforts, and, because the product you have sold will help your prospect with their problem, will brand you as an expert who they like and trust to help them.

You could write (or hire someone to write) a short e-book guide about your industry or product niche, remembering to aggravate a problem they could be experiencing and provide a solution to it. This could then lead into delivering your MLM marketing message to the customers.  The leads you'll get through this approach have proven themselves as interested in information regarding your niche, and have shown they are willing to spend money when necessary to solve problems they have that your product can help them with.

The perfect prospect!

Recruiting Network Marketers

Another potential for the funded proposal is that of recruiting existing network marketers into your business.

Think about it... they already understand MLM, you don't need to convince them of the benefits of owning their own business, and most important of all... they know what it takes to build an MLM business!

You can use the funded proposal to not only fund your marketing efforts, but to also build your reputation. If you can help other network marketers to solve a problem and teach them to do what you do, it’s highly possible your pre-qualified leads will gravitate to you and your opportunity. It's about demonstrating higher value to your potential recruits.

As thousands of other network marketers have already shown, it’s possible to flood your business with high-quality pre-qualified leads that already have an interest in your business opportunity. Read that last line again.  It is incredibly powerful! If you can successfully adopt the Funded Proposal, your business will never be the same again!

So What Now?

There are several ways to get started right now.  Ultimately what you need is a product to sell that is related to your main business (like a guide on weight loss, or working from home, etc) and here are 2 ways to get set up for your funded proposal campaign.

1.       Join affiliate programs and promote related products to your list.

You can join Clickbank or Paydotcom and promote the products listed on their sites that are relevant. Make sure you check out these products for yourself because you don’t really want to promote a product that doesn’t work and gets you a bad reputation. These programs allow you to sell thousands of niche products for profit, and you also get the name and email address of every customer you sell to. 

This is a great way to get started. You don't need to write a single product, you don't need to provide customer service, you just collect the check.

You'll find many products related to your niche, and you can even use social networking sites like Squidoo or Twitter to promote the products in between promoting your business. As I said earlier, make sure that the product is relevant and will provide the value that YOU are looking for yourself. That way your prospects will thank you for the information and not criticise.

2.       Develop your own product. 

Create your own product or report. This is not necessarily as hard as it sounds. If you've read this far you likely know more about your company than 99% of distributors - the rest don't do their research!  You could write a guide called "17 questions you MUST ask before joining Company XYZ". Also, when you have learned something new it’s likely you know more than the vast majority of other people. This makes you an expert. If you know how to install a blog and then write an article, how many people do you know who can do the same? Because you know how and somebody else doesn’t, you can create a step by step instruction video or ebook to help someone do what you can do.

It doesn’t matter which system you use, if you provide value and helpful products for your prospects, you will be positioning yourself as the expert. Because you are seen as the expert, your prospects will come to you for advice and you will be benefiting from making a little money from selling the guide you have made. This will lead to more of your prospects joining you in your opportunity – WHY? – Because they will want to be close to you so that they can have the same success. Not everyone will join your opportunity, but it’s likely some will buy from you as long as you provide the value and advice they need to be successful in whatever they do. It’s a Win - Win situation.

If you want more success in MLM, then simply implement the idea of a Funded Proposal properly and plan it into your marketing strategy, especially online, then you can be ready for more success.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Develop A Winning Mindset, Success Will Follow

If you can develop a winning mindset, success will follow.

During a conversation with one of my mentors today, I was disturbed to hear that I was saying some relatively negative things. I was told that I was talking about saying what I can’t do for most of the time. Not that I believe that I can’t because I know I am capable and have the skill to do whatever I want to, but the psychology is such that your subconscious will feed off that “I can’t” negativity.

I remember my Grandmother always used to say “there’s no such word as can’t”, which is correct. One of the most important things we have to do is to banish such thoughts from our minds. Being creatures of habit, we humans tend to say lots of things habitually. My ex wife used to utter “can’t do this” all the time as do my sons sometimes. This really annoys me and I constantly tell them that they can (then they do), but I guess hearing this negativity around me for so long has led to the habit of saying can’t when really I was not aware of it.

The point I am making here is that “I can’t” creates a negative mindset and winning and being successful at what we do needs positive action and positive thought, leading to greater belief and the “I can” mindset.

I have learned from reading Tony Robbins that we need to think about the positive things in our lives and the values we have that empower us to greater things. If we concentrate on negative things that make us feel pain, we spend all of our time concentrating on how to avoid this pain. Quite a lot of people tend to be negative in this way without thinking about it. There is one thing that springs to mind from Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within and it’s this “Most of us have created numerous ways to feel bad, and only a few ways to truly feel good”.

If we base our beliefs and values around positive action and the knowledge that we can do the things we have always thought we can’t, then we will be on the way to a winning mindset and success will be inevitable.

The Law of Attraction is based on positive thinking and attracting what you want because you believe it will happen. Some people think it’s just a “pipe dream”, but I’m not so sure. Those who have the negative attitude and repeatedly say “I can’t” will not succeed, but those who believe in their ability and develop the “I can” philosophy will ultimately succeed because they will be able to do the consistent things that will lead to their success.

Good business requires a solid and consistent mindset that helps to develop the winning formula. How we do this is down to us as individuals. Try to change your language away from negative psychology to the positive “I can” and act on that. Don’t stop to look back, move on and DO more. This will make it easier and you will wonder why you ever thought in such a negative way in the first place.

When working your business, work towards the positives. Even when somebody says no to you, think of it as a “no for now”. We all get knocked back, but we need to move on to the next one. Remember that the highest earners in the online world of business have probably had more people say no than yes, but their belief and positivity has kept them moving forward and left those who say no behind to do what they believe is the best for them, even though they complain all the time about how bad things are.

Think things through and develop your very own winning mindset and success will follow.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Find Long Tail Keywords Targeted For More Success

To target more success you need to find long tail keywords. Long tail keywords basically keyword phrases that are made up of 3 or more words and are based around your major keyword. So what makes these easier to target? If you do your research you will see that you can get good search numbers for keyword phrases and yet the competition is not as severe. If you target a highly competitive keyword that has millions of websites competing for that keyword then you are unlikely to get your site seen, unless you are an expert or are willing to spend a lot of money. If you target the “long tail” keyword / phrase then the competition is less and you will stand a better chance of making your site a success.

An example of a simple keyphrase that is easier to rank for could be "cheap golf balls", but to rank for the term "golf balls" would be much harder. The longer term has good searches, but less competition for that term so you are more likely to rank for the longer phrase.

Don't get misled by the huge amounts of monthly searches some keywords get. If they are getting hundreds of thousands of searches each month you can bet that there are millions of competitors all fighting over the terms.

Fact is, it’s reasonably easy to get a list of long tail keywords together that you can target and get ranked for. If you can compile a list that could get you a good average of over 1500 searches a month, then there is no reason why you can’t rank for most or all of the phrases that are on your list.

Just ranking high for one of those keywords might not get you a lot of traffic, but what if you had a list of 20 long tailed keywords, each receiving about 1,500 searches a month and you were able to rank high for all of them? That is a lot of traffic, traffic that you just wouldn't get if you tried to rank for the much more competitive keywords.

You can use the Google Keyword Tool, which is free, or many other online versions which are not, to find a great list of keywords associated with your niche market. Just start off by using a fairly broad term and then burrowing down to find a nice long list of highly targeted keywords that consist of 3 or more words.  Another great resource that offers a free version is Market Samurai. The paid version offers so much more. The great thing is there is some great training available for free on how to use the software to get the best from it and maximise your results.

When you have your keyword list you can then use those keywords for many things such as article marketing and on site search engine optimization (SEO).  This will allow your website or your articles to show up high on the first page of Google for a particular keyword. That means you could get a lot of highly targeted traffic to your website... all for free.

One of the most important things to note; you need to make sure that the keywords you choose not only have a decent number of monthly searches, and that they aren't too  competitive, but also that they are highly relevant to the content of your website.  This is why the research is vital in getting your marketing on track

Relevance of the keywords to your site is the major key to getting traffic to your site from the search engines. If the keywords that you are targeting do not relate really closely to your website you won't rank as high for that keyword. This is not a hard thing to do, you need to review and remove the words on your list that don't relate directly to your website.

Finding the best long tail keyword phrases for your online marketing is a very important step to take to assure your online success.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

What Is Residual Income? Is It Better Than Traditional Income?

"Profits are better than wages. Wages will make you a living, profits make you a fortune. It's difficult to get rich on wages, but anybody can get rich on profits" – Jim Rohn

I have had many people ask me when talking to them about my business – what is residual income? Is it better than traditional income? In this article I will go through the differences and you can then decide whether residual income is better than traditional income.

So I have a question for you - How much do you get paid if you stop working? If you're like most people, your answer is probably "nothing". For most, if not all wealthy people, the answer is very different. The vast majority of wealthy people have learned how to make money when they're not working, when they are taking a break for a few days or weeks and even when they're sleeping.

The type of income that enables you to earn while you are asleep or when you are on a break from working is called "Residual Income".

In simple terms, residual income is money that keeps getting paid to you month after month, whether you work or not. You earn money no matter what you're doing, because you have done a good job ONCE. If you were to develop yourself a residual income of, say 2000 a month in whatever currency you have in your country, then you would earn that 2000 every month WITHOUT doing any more work. You could go to the shops, go to the swimming pool, play golf every day if you wanted to and you would still be paid the same.

This is the kind of income that is earned by successful network marketers generally and lots have become wealthy. By leveraging others’ efforts and teaching them to do the same as they have done their residual income can increase even though they do nothing.

A good example of this was a person I know who had run his business successfully for 4 to 5 years decided to take a long break from work. In fact he took early retirement in his 30’s. He started to work his business again after 5 years and his income had doubled! (Sorry, I can’t disclose who he is by name because I don’t have his permission)

The wealthy people who have built their businesses in this way are earning money 24/7 and you can too.

Most of the time, the only residual income most people will ever earn is the measly interest on their savings account with their bank. Imagine what it would be like if your residual income was large enough for you to quit your job, or even quit working altogether...

TRADITIONAL INCOME:

So you have just got yourself a new job at the local store. Your new boss has told you the rate of pay, whether there is any overtime and how many hours you will do each week and when. They will likely tell you whether you will get paid weekly, 2 weekly or monthly however THEIR system works.

What happens when you go home? Your income for that day stops. It's hard to make a decent living and get financial freedom when you work this way because you are governed by others and the system they tell you to work. Also because you have a limited amount of hours each day to work and generate income, you will have a fixed income unless you work more hours. Similarly, if you don't turn up to work one day due to illness or something unavoidable, you won’t earn any money.

Why do most people choose this as their main method of earning money? Simply because they don't

RESIDUAL INCOME:

When you develop a business that pays you a residual income you will earn the money day in, day out whether you are working or not. It depends on the system of residual income as there are a couple. There is a one tier type residual income, an example is where you earn money from those who directly buy a membership to a training facility to which you are affiliated and as long as they are a member you get recurring commission. Then there is the residual you can get from a network marketing opportunity, which is more than one level and is more leveraged because you earn from those who you signed up directly and then a further commission from those they have signed up.

Working consistently to build your team will help your income to grow. When your direct referrals build their team your income grows more and you have only taught your direct referrals how to do what you did and they then do the same. Can you see the power of the system?

The power is more evident when you go away for a week and when you come home you have had a pay rise and you were fishing or doing something you really enjoy. Cool eh?

Do you think your boss would keep on paying you every month if you didn’t turn up? You would more likely lose your job. With your own business and your new residual income, you are in complete control, and nobody is allowed to say how much you are allowed to earn and when you can earn it. You could start working on your Residual Income today!

Don't let ANYONE tell you how much you're worth.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Tips To Get More Leads For Your MLM Business

Have you run out of your “warm market” and now need to get more leads for your MLM business? Have you done your best and gone through the friends and family list and you are frustrated because you don’t know what to do next? Don’t worry, this is quite common, but fortunately there are solutions if you know where to look for them. As with any business, leads are the lifeblood of it, MLM business is useless without them. How can you build a business without new prospects who are looking to run a home based business and want what you have to offer them? 

Are you wondering how the successful MLM business entrepreneurs manage to get their leads? It’s quite simple really, they make use of tried and tested techniques. With tested being the operative word. So you need to get to know the right approach. Take a look at the tips below and apply them in your own business.

Create Good Content

If you can create good content that offers great value and tips that you have followed that bring you success, you are a good way to being on the path to lead generation. A good, well optimised website about you and your business can be more helpful if you feature not only your products but other marketing tips, business opportunities, free tools, free articles, and any other information that talks about the solutions you can offer to the problems faced by potential visitors. When you do so, more people will be engaged to visit your website and you can increase the chances of convincing them to purchase your products as well.

Entice The Visitor 

Dangle the carrot. When you have got some visitors to your site who have been impressed with the quality and value of your free content, you need to entice them into giving you their information. This will give you the opportunity to follow up on them and eventually offer them your products. The carrot here refers to a special but free report about email marketing, an e-book on how to create and manage a website, a newsletter, or an e-course that is basically designed to provide the solution to them finding their very own dream business. Just be certain that the free product you are going to send them is directly related to what they originally searched for in your website. When you have their contact details, you have generated a lead!

 Offer An Email Course

Offer a special email course. You can become an MLM expert in an instant by offering potential clients an email course. You can do this through multiple auto responders. You can always get a copywriter if you think that you can't write things on your own. Once you have gained the interest and the course is coming to its conclusion, you are in a position to offer your business, products and other valuable information that you may be selling to the readers of your course. Always provide the best value you can. Don’t be afraid to give away some of your best tips in order to get the sale, but make sure that the value you offer is consistent and then people will come back for more.

Build Popularity And Ranking

Be sure to rank high. There are ways to do this by both paid means and for free. If you want to go down the free route, then you need to make sure you understand about Search Engine Optimisation. There are courses out there to help you to gain the basic skills you need, but you should also consider paid techniques too. Using pay per click is a good way to get traffic to your site quickly, but again you need to know how to do this right to avoid it costing you too much money. Again there are courses out there, so be prudent and learn what you can.

Another way of getting more visitors is by researching relevant keywords and key phrases to use so that your website will be search-able. You could also write a newsletter that is full of valuable tips and tricks that you have learned, and maybe you can invite guest writers to give some value to your newsletter. This is another way to grow your reputation and potentially increase sales.

Purchase Leads 

There are lots of companies who generate leads for you to buy but it can be very expensive. However, you can be assured that your investment will be rewarded if you are certain that your lead source is really the best one. If it is the other way around, then most probably, you are just going to waste your money for nothing. The key is to research each company and email them to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to do this as it can save you a lot of money. If someone doesn’t answer your questions or email you back, do you think you can trust them?

Brand Yourself

Establish a name in the industry. You can find moments to discuss your business with the right people. However, there are those who don’t really care for your business and are happy in what they already do, so don’t push yourself on these people because it will annoy them.

The best way to get some interest from those who are not interested in your business is to find out what problems they have and offer a solution to help them to be rid of those problems. When you do this you are positioning yourself as an expert and you will attract more people to you. Always work towards positioning yourself as an expert. In order to attract the right people to you to join you in your business, you need to provide solutions to their problems and be there for them when they falter. Lead them to the best way to make their business a success and eventually they will join you so that they can be close to you and get your best tips and strategies for free.

You can join forums and social networking sites to build rapport with those you meet there. It’s a good way to brand yourself more and position yourself as an expert in your field and attract those who want to learn more from you to come to you. 

Multi level marketing business will be successful when you can generate leads consistently. By adopting these techniques, you should be able to do this successfully and then share your success with others around you.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Thinking Of A Home Business? Some Things To Consider

If you are looking to start a home business then it’s likely you have done a lot of research into this venture.  Starting a home business can be very profitable in more ways than one.  A lot of people believe that they have thought about everything that goes into a home business, only to find out that they have forgotten some very important aspects.  Here are a few things you need to consider and get right in order for you to be able to start a home based business and be successful with it.

1. Working at home is completely different than working in an office.  Many people forget that there are a lot of distractions that go along with working from home.  When you are running a home business you will have to contend with distractions such as the television and radio.  You will also have to be able to deal with any other family members that are going to be home with you.  Your kids may not be able to tell the difference between work time and play time.  This presents a lot of problems to people that run a home business.  What you need to do is set aside a place to work and tell everybody when you need to have this time to concentrate on your business. Focus for 30 minutes, and then take a short break. Because the human brain focuses well for 30 minutes, use each of your sessions wisely.

2. If you run a home business you are going to need to have a lot of self discipline.  You are going to be your only boss, which means that there will be nobody looking over your shoulder telling you what to do.  Without this sort of supervision many people end up slacking off. If you want to run a successful home business you need to be able to stay on track day in and day out. Set out a daily plan of action and stick to it. Consistency is the key to success.

3. When you run a home business you are responsible for all of your supplies.  Many people forget to budget for this.  Remember, if your computer crashes it is your responsibility to get it fixed.  You know longer have an IT team that you can call to help out.  You will also be responsible for buying your own supplies when you need them.

4. As a home business owner you are in charge of every facet of your business.  This means that you will not only have to make sales and take care of marketing, but you will also be in charge of accounts payable and accounts receivable.

5. Home business owners are in charge of their own taxes.  When you run a home business there are no taxes being deducted from your wages every month.  Make sure you keep your accounts in order and also make sure you budget for your expected tax bill at the end of your financial year. A good way to do this is to open a savings account and place your tax money in that account. Should you have enough from what you earn throughout the year to pay your tax without taking from your savings account, then all the better, but you have it there to cover any situation.

This could be too much for a home business owner to handle alone, if this is the case you will have to hire a professional to assist you.

A home business can be very profitable, but make sure that you know exactly what you are getting into before you start.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Guaranteed Website Traffic - A Basic Guide

One of the common mistakes that new online marketers make is to first create the site and then think of ways to get guaranteed website traffic to it. This is not the best way to start out. The first thing to do is to develop or think of the product you are promoting, know the market and then do the necessary analysis of the competition, then develop your website around good visitor numbers, good keywords targeted to your product, but most importantly WITHOUT too much competition.

When you have carried out the analysis, then you are ready to build your site around your keywords and phrases. This will be part of your initial Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which is one of the key things you need to be able to get organic traffic from the search engines. If you do this the right way, then there is no reason why you can’t see traffic almost straight away.

SEO is comprised of two elements: relevant keywords and backlinks or, as some people refer to them, incoming links. Before you develop your website, you will need to have an idea of the keywords that you want to target and make sure that they are included in the website's content in order to get guaranteed web traffic. It's generally recommended that when you first start out, you should go for the lower-search volume keyword phrases, rather than the more competitive general terms.  The last thing you want is to be lost in the thousands of sites that are competing for high ranked keywords, when targeting keywords that are relevant to your product, are longer phrases and have less competition. That way you are more likely to be successful and make money more quickly.

Here is a simple example of keyword choice:

Say your business focuses on jewellery, you might want to identify a more specific keyword like "costume jewellery" or even more narrow, like "costume jewellery earrings". The keywords that you will include on your website should be the exact terms that people are looking for when they do a search online. And you can find these keywords very easily by using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool which is completely free of charge or my making use of another great resource, Market Samurai that you can use free or take the paid option for even more features.

Each of these tools give you keywords that are relevant to your business and also provides information about how competitive the keywords are, how often they are searched for, and how much people are bidding on them for PPC ads. You want to locate the lower-searched terms that have less competition. Identify three to five that you can use early on in your website or blog.

In general, each keyword should be used once in some sort of important position in your site or on your blog (like the title or page header) in the first five words of any description following the title or heading, and in the last sentence of the content. In the body of your content, it should be used no more than three percent of the time. Before you start looking for backlinks, you want to have at least five articles (of about 500 words) on your blog or at least five pages of your website.

Then you can start working on getting backlinks to your site. You can do this by submitting articles about your business to article directories, Squiddoo, HubPages, or article directories and linking them back to your website, making sure you use the keyword or phrase as an anchortext (the text you use to make the link to your site) that is relevant to your content. Use different anchortext wherever you can to get more relevance back to your site. Another good way is comment on blogs and forums that are related to your industry, and include your link in your comments. The higher the page rank of the site you link to your site from the better.

This has been a simple and basic guide to getting guaranteed website traffic. The better the quality site that links to your site, the better your site’s authority will seem to the search engines, the better you will rank and the more visitors you will get to your site.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

So You Want To Create Your Own Product.

Do you want to create your own product? Don’t know where to start?

You can create your own product from what you learn every day. Remember, what you learn from your training is important because it means that what you then know is usually more than your future prospects. As long as you take action on what you learn, you can write down what you put into practice, and if you have found what works for you, you can put this into a video product, ebook or an audio product that you can sell for 100% profit.

Write An Ebook

Don’t think you can write an ebook? Ok, think of it this way – Do you write articles regularly? Are the articles based around a similar subject and can be linked together somehow to make a logical step by step instruction? If so, you can develop your own ebook that way. Useful tips that offer a step by step solution to what your customer / prospect is looking to solve their problem.

Video

Do you have an idea for a video product? Do you feel more comfortable explaining things and showing people? Ok, you can set up an instructional video by using screen capture software (such as Cam Studio, which is free) and narrating over what you do step by step. An example is to show your customers how to set up and install a Wordpress blog. This could be a series of videos to make it easier to follow. You can show how to get the domain name first, and then get hosting and then to use the cpanel and install from there – you get the gist?

If you have something else in mind, you can set up a Power Point presentation and share that with narration.

Webinars

Similar to the video product, you could set up and run a webinar offering the training live for a small fee, recording the webinar and selling it as a video product for more than the live webinar. This would be relevant because you would edit the webinar video if you needed to. The magic of the paid webinar is that you can offer the recording to your live attendees for free as part of the deal offering more value to them.

Audio

If you are happy to explain your procedures that can be easily followed and executed by your customer, you can develop and record an information audio product. This product could also be made available, as can any of the above, as a physical product as well as a digital download so that customers have a choice of the format they prefer.

You can also mix up the above methods by having a complete package of ebook, video and audio product so that the customer can have access to the training materials wherever they are and on whatever media they want to use.

I hope this has been useful and given you some ideas to developing your own information products.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Generating Leads For Free - Hard Work But So Cool!

One of the coolest things you can do is to generate leads for free. Yes, it is hard work, but rewarding when you see the new people sign up to your list.

Of course, this is just the beginning. Next is the relationship building and getting to know what each new lead wants helping with. But getting the lead is the main thing you and I as home business owners need more than anything.

So, how have I done this? Basically it’s down to consistent work and the mindset that, no matter what, I will succeed. So when the first person who signs up to your list from your blog / website, consider the work you have done and think about the fact that it will no doubt be one of many sign ups you get as long as you continue to do the work you get used to doing.

So the free lead generation method was?

I do a blog post a day. Whether this is through written or by video content, I post once a day. Then the content has to be syndicated and shared to social media sites in order to get your content seen by others and therefore to get traffic to your site.

Before you start to put your post together, one of the first things you need to do is to think of a subject you are comfortable writing about. Then you will need to do some keyword research. Choose some relevant keywords or phrases and research them to see good search numbers with low competition from other sites. A great tool to achieve this is Market Samurai. There is a free version for you to try first, but the paid version gives you much more. The training for this software is good and is easy to understand as it goes through each part step by step. Make sure you include these keywords in your article, with the main one in the first sentence (in bold text) and the title of the article. Then include through the article where relevant. Put in some photos if you can making sure you use a keyword / phrase in the “alt tag” for the photo (this is the text that shows up when the photo isn’t visible).

Syndicate Your Content

Now you have your article published on your blog. It’s time to get it syndicated. You can do this several ways. One of the best ways is to share it on Posterous, which is a free service. You can use this service to share your content into several social media locations set up in your new account. You can also set up accounts with many other social media applications, but one of the best ways to do this just once is to join Only Wire. This is a service that will send your content out to lots more social media applications.

One of the best methods to syndicate your content and get it shared is to use a service called Tribe Pro. Again, this service is available free, but the monthly fee is not huge and well worth the fee to be able to “auto syndicate” your content.

Find Facebook Groups relevant to your niche. If you can find an open group all the better, but check out what others do first to prevent being banned. Also this is more ethical and you are more likely to be noticed in a good way if you do things right. These groups will be somewhere to share your content. Also, while on the subject of Facebook, get yourself a fan page set up and promote that. Then you can share your content there too.

Ok, so now you know some places to syndicate your content. This has worked for me and my traffic is growing and leads are starting to come in regularly. It has taken hard work and consistency to make sure this process is kept to each and every day, but it’s worth it. The next step is to get several leads a day and then…..

Good luck in your free lead generation efforts.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Leverage Your Business Methods And Watch Your Business Grow

If you want to see your business grow and be a resounding success, you need to leverage your business methods.

What do I mean by this?

It doesn’t matter what your business is, you need to adopt leverage in some form or another in order to get the best out of you efforts. Traditional business leverages employees’ work in order to make more money. If you have a home business, you need to develop leverage and here are some things you need to take advantage of in order to move your business on and grow.

Leverage Knowledge

In the home based business industry we need to be trained to work the system the right way. Whether you use the traditional methods, online methods or a mixture of the both, you need to leverage other people’s knowledge in order to learn and find the best way for you to run your marketing. This is the first and most important thing you need to do, but when you learn make sure you take action on what you have learned. Remember you will learn something new every day, so don’t wait around and over analyse stuff, take action on what you learn and move on to the next steps every time.

Leverage Other People’s Work Efforts

When you have learned from your mew business partners and you are finding some success, you can use your new found skill to teach others. You can learn how to develop your own products and then teach others to do the same. While they are learning, just like you did in the beginning, you can leverage their new skills by offering them a chance to promote your products as an affiliate. That way, when they sell one of your products, not only do they earn money, but you do too when you haven’t even tried. This is Leveraged Retail and you should look at this to help you get multiple streams of income.

Leveraged Residual

Another way to leverage other people’s work efforts is by training them when (perhaps I should say IF) they join you in your MLM business opportunity. Because you have signed up customers and new business builders into your personal organisation, you will have developed yourself a residual income. Because of the network and the possibility of being paid through several “levels” of the business, you can leverage your income more and increase your residual monthly payments. Other companies offer a leveraged residual income opportunity even though they are not a MLM company. A membership site may work on 2 levels, one is the residual income from the repeated monthly fee and a smaller commission from the second level member.

These are just a few ways to see how developing and promoting leverage can help your business to grow and help it to be a resounding success. If you adopt these methods and put them into your marketing plan, you will see the benefits they can produce for you.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Why Do So Many Home Based Businesses Fail?

Why DO so many Home Based Businesses fail?

If you have your own home based business, you may or may not be aware that a large percentage of home based businesses fail within twelve months. For many it can be a lot sooner. You may realise that the average successful home based business entrepreneur makes more money than the average employee. How do the successful entrepreneurs do it and why are they in the minority?

Quite simple really – EVERY business requires proper marketing. This will also include the process of selling. Do you personally enjoy selling? If the answer is No, then you're not alone. Just ask a few people around you if they enjoy selling, I’ll bet a great majority of them will say no. The basic fact is, most people dislike selling. This is quite natural, and there is absolutely no reason to feel inadequate if you want to own your own home based business, but hate sales.

Think of it this way – All of us buy stuff right? Lots of stuff. Because of this everything we buy requires a sales transaction. So if there is a valuable service that you want and you KNOW it will help you, you will buy it won’t you? If you want a new porch on your house for instance, you are most likely going to contact a company who install porches.

Who are you likely to meet? A sales rep from the companies you have contacted in order to get your new porch. Your decision as to which company to employ will be based on what? Would it be based on just price or the value for money of the quality of the product you wish to purchase? Maybe it will be a mixture of the both. In other words, you will look for the best VALUE for your money.

So the more value you can provide, the better the opportunity of you being able to succeed. Also you need to consider the fact that the most successful sales people and sales organizations spend lots of time and money on self improvement, because they know that their personal development is directly proportionate to their sales success. Just ask any highly successful sales professional what or who they turn to for personal development, imitate them, and you will have opened your mind to an entire new way of thinking. Make it a routine to take in personal development material on a daily basis, apply it to your home based business. The odds are that you will join the elite minority that succeed in a home based business.

That should take care of the sales process when talking to prospects for your business. Take full advantage of the expert training you should be able to get from your sponsor and team members. This will help your personal development and help you in your business and marketing plan.

Develop this technique and use it to get new business partners into your team. Then you are using another thing that every home business owner needs to adopt – Leverage. Leverage in business means, very simply, that you get someone or something else to duplicate your efforts. You may have products you want to sell, so why not leverage other people’s sales skills and set up an affiliate program. That way you earn from other’s marketing and sales efforts too by leveraging their efforts to make you money.

When setting out your business plan, don’t be afraid of the sales process. If you can adopt some good marketing skills and attract people to you or your product by developing great value, you will be on the right track to being very successful.

To The Future,

Barrie Evans

Attraction Marketing - Some Dos And Don'ts

I have read some different things recently about Attraction Marketing and the principles involved in adopting attraction marketing into your business plan. I have seen thoughts portrayed about what attraction marketing is and some people’s concepts of it.

Basically, attraction marketing is what it says it is – the marketer works to ATTRACT people to them so they can sell their products in order to help people or get them to join their business.

Based on what I’ve learned over time, here are some basic dos and don’ts that I believe you should follow:

DON’T go to a prospect and bombard them with your business opportunity and tell them how great it is. Remember they are human beings with their own opinions and there is nothing ruder than having someone “pitching” at you.

This is the case when using social network sites, especially Facebook and Twitter. If you just go out and just pitch, pitch, pitch and expect people to take notice you will be disappointed.

If you can make friends, then don’t think you have their permission to do this type of marketing to them. Personally, I tend to ignore people who constantly post links to their opportunity without knowing them.

Also, don’t assume that everybody wants what you want. This is rarely the case in today’s society. It would be the easiest thing in the world to recruit someone if everybody wanted the same as you. This is not realistic, so think before you speak or write.

Yes, you may be excited and want everyone to know about what you do and how great it is, but there is a better way, so……

DO ask questions and engage in conversation. This is true for all types of business, whether online or offline. Having recently adopted what I have learned in an offline business situation it was so refreshing and really exciting to get a much better reaction to what I was doing than ever before.

Find out what your potential prospect does and lead the conversation into finding out what their problems are. Encourage them to talk about what they do and when they ask you what you do, tell them but keep it simple. Build a relationship and leave them wanting more.

Position yourself in their eyes as someone who can help them find the solution they are looking for in their life at the moment. You can only do this by building a relationship with your prospect. They may be completely happy in their own business, but not happy with the support of their upline. Each of us has different experiences and each of us is unique. If you can provide a solution to help them progress in what THEY want to do by offering them a product you have developed or can recommend to them.

You can be a leader for them in the sense that you have led them to some great training that has helped them to benefit and grow their business. Do you think that this could lead to them wanting more from you? Of course. You never know, they may want to work with you and join you in your business.

So, thinking about these simple dos and don’ts. One vital thing I always consider is the old saying of “treat people as you want to be treated”. If this is the base value you adopt, then think of what annoys you when people contact you and DON’T do the same. Adopt the methods you would like to see when you are approached. Would they be similar to the dos or don’ts?

What do you think is best for you?

To The Future,

Barrie Evans

How I Adopted The Attraction Marketing Technique To An Offline Business

Check out this 5 minute video explaining how I used the attraction marketing technique in an offline business situation. This system is powerful and I was amazed how easy it was to apply my philosophy and gain the trust of someone I had just met. Yes, I was referred to her by a mutual friend, but still by answering her questions truthfully and simply so she could understand, not baffling her with technical stuff, and then offering the service of basic instruction to get the best out of the new system, I gained her trust and confidence.

Needless to say, I now have an electrical heating job to do - something I rarely do these days, but I have committed to it because that's the way I work. I like to see that people have value and I have helped to solve their problems.

This is vital in the online community when trying to build your business.

Hope you enjoy what I share with you in this video.

Here’s the Link:

To The Future,

Barrie Evans

Having Difficulty With Article Writing? 3 Steps To Help You Get Started

Do you have trouble getting started writing an article? One of the main obstacles when article writing is actually starting the whole process and consistently posting good content. It doesn’t matter how many articles we write, it is something we want to avoid because we sometimes don’t know where to start.

Article writing has become an integral part of the marketing process these days and is accepted as a great wasy to provide useful tips and loads of value. If you are having trouble getting the inspiration to write articles consistently, take a note of these useful tips and adopt them as part of your routine.

Create an Outline for your article

Creating an outline is one of the best methods to use when writing an article. Having an outline provides a foundation of your article. In other words an outline gives you a starting point from which you can build into a story. An outline will make the article writing process easier and faster.

There are a few ways you can form a good outline to create your article

1.     Brainstorm

Think of your subject and write down your ideas. Set yourself a good 15 minute time frame and write freely. Don’t go too much over this because the human brain can concentrate and focus for at best 30 minutes before you need a break. Make the best of your focus time try not to over analyse when you are writing down your ideas. This process does not have to be formal so write freely. Think of some ideas you would like to cover and supporting points for that idea. Review your notes and now organize your outline.

2.     Organize The Outline of Your New Article

When you organize the outline you should identify the purpose of your article. The purpose of the article and the message you want to portray should help you figure out the introduction of your article. Then identify key points of your article. Now that you have a frame for that article, you need to come up with ideas supporting those key points. As you come up with more supporting material your outline will build and you’ll have an expectation of the length of the article.

After this organization process, you should have an outline of all of your paragraphs (i.e. the body of the article). You now need to outline a conclusion. The conclusion outline should be similar to the introduction of the outline and supportive of all the main points of the outline. The ultimate aim of your article should be to leave the reader wanting to find out more so you can P.S them with a “call to action” to take up an offer you may have.

3.     Create the Draft

When you have completed writing you notes and creating the outline as described, you should have enough detail to write a draft copy. Your draft should be a similar process to your brainstorm. Just write. Don’t worry about being perfect. Think of it this way, no one will read your first draft. Plus, you will be reviewing the draft into a finished article. As you move through this process, you will see the article form.

Refer to your outline notes so that you stay focused on the point of your article. You can add little things that can lighten the mood of the piece, but the underlying message should be consistent. It’s easy to get carried away and move away from the purpose of your article. The outline you have set up will help you to stay on track and keep to the purpose of your article, as long you use it.

A good outline does not only provide a plan for your article, it serves as a way to get started with writing the article. If you develop you skill in setting out a good outline, your skill at writing articles will develop with those skills and you will improve. Each article you write will become easier to do and you will be happy that you can now be more productive and confident in your ability to provide good, valuable content quickly and effectively.

To The Future,

Barrie Evans

5 Tips For Goal Setting That Work

Do you remember when you were young? Were you always goal setting for your future? I know that my friends and I always had an aspiration to do something, whether it was to work as a doctor or policeman or many other things. As we grow older our goals become more specific and can very from simple things achieving something with a hobby we do, owning and running our own business and earning 5000 a month by the time we are 30. Goal setting has been with us constantly. Is thinking up and dreaming about the goals we want to achieve all there is to it? Not really, it’s much more than that…..

When we set our goals we set out what we want to achieve from whatever we are doing. This will give us the target, drive and determination to succeed. Timescale is important and making yourself accountable for your actions to achieve your specific goal.

Here are 5 useful tips that you should always consider when setting your goals.

1. Write down your goal and make a daily action plan.

Writing down your goal and setting out a daily action plan will help to hold yourself to account. If you don’t write the goal down you can lose direction or be seriously sidetracked and then make it harder to achieve. Goal setting works best if we write down the things and events we want to happen, so that we can frequently keep track and check if we are still on the right path. Get creative with your goal setting list. Place them were you see them often so you'll never forget. Write down your progress and update your targets each week to keep to your action plan schedule.

2. Your goal should be what YOU want, not what others think you to do…

Be true to yourself. Goal setting does not work if are merely doing what you do for the pleasure and awe of others. Your goal should be tailored around something that makes you happy and benefits YOU. It’s your goal your working towards, not your friends or family’s.

3. Base you goals around your circumstances. Be realistic.

The most important thing when setting your goals is to make progress. This doesn’t mean that you should set a goal you have no chance of reaching or something that will jeopardise your everyday life. Don’t base you goal around spending money you don’t have UNLESS you know that you can achieve it. It’s much better to achieve the goal slightly slower and be able to grow than to rush and make things worse!

You might be tempted into “gambling without certainty” and going for something that you don’t know is going to at least break even. Learn from successful entrepreneurs, because they invest in something they expect to earn from at a profit, but know they will break even and not lose anything. With this in mind, make sure you set your goals based on what you can truly work with.

4. Try to be specific when setting your goals.

This will help you identify your next move more easily. An example of this is that you can set a goal of running a paid solo ad for x amount to build your list at the end of the month, which is more specific than run a solo ad at the end of the month. Doing this will make it easier to focus on and you will know what you need to do.

The non-specific way could lead to you not being able to achieve this because your money target hasn’t been met in order for you to achieve this. Also the more specific the goal, the less confusing and you won’t have any “what if” thoughts along the way.

5. Set your goals and STICK to them.

If you have a goal to build your list by 10 a day by the time you have worked the system you have learned for 3 weeks, take the action you are required to take to achieve this. Don’t think one day “I can’t do this because of…. (something unknown)”, do your daily task NO MATTER WHAT. Consistency is key.

Make your goals more ambitious as you move on. What’s the point in settling for a Second Hand car when your goal is own a new one? You may want a top of the range computer and yet you settle for a lot less… why?

Raise the bar and your work ethic will grow with it and you will achieve your new target. Develop the sort of mindset that “you won’t be beaten” and you will be able to achieve more.

The keys to effective goal setting are consistency and discipline. In short, know exactly what you want, to be able get exactly what you want and more. If you always keep these goal setting tips in mind, you never know, your dreams could become reality sooner than you ever thought possible!

To the future

Barrie Evans

The proof of the pudding... is in the e-mail

Why is the “proof of the pudding” in the email? It’s not just in the email, but because emails are sent every day and used to market to us, it’s the most likely place to see it.

Have you received emails that promise to make you a millionaire in a few short months? A lot of these really do make me laugh. Why? Because they offer no social proof most of the time and also it’s not something that we would normally feel is credible. Perhaps they have the numbers for the next big lottery win - not!!!

I have received many of these emails and should really have taken the time to reply. I know a friend of mine did and it’s not surprising that he got no reply to his most important question. Having received an email promising to make him a millionaire, he felt compelled to reply to the email to find out more details and got an initial reply that said “I can make you a millionaire in just TWO months, we have to meet to discuss this” – that was it!

The next question was the important one. My friend replied asking “Have you made this money yourself?” Guess what? He had no reply – surprise surprise!!

Which brings me onto the point of proof...

Even though I have been taught some amazing things, If they haven’t yet worked for me, I can’t go out and tell people that it is working for me. When I have mastered the skill and it does work, then that’s the time to share results and provide the proof of success. How could anyone be seen a credible when they go out and say that “this works” without showing proof?

Proof is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that simply must be included in order to succeed...

For example, If you are working with someone at the moment who has developed a great product, One of the best ways to start out promoting this on a website could be to follow the headline with a customer testimonial, such as 'I had x problem until I found this amazing product that helped me to do y’.

Testimonials can offer something that is incredibly powerful, yet so simple.

What is an Entrepreneur?

Basically, an entrepreneur is someone that is prepared to invest money to make money, knowing that the worst case scenario is that they will get their initial investment back. The most important thing an entrepreneur does every day is to tame ACTION and make a step forward every day.

If you hadn’t researched your market properly, or found out typical prices for products in your niche, it’s highly likely you would be guessing most things – much like an average gambler does when he places a bet on a horse for instance,

If you knew everything you could about your niche however, you would be able to run tests of your own and be pretty sure that you cut out the guess work and gambling and be able to turn a small investment into a profit.

When you have discovered this system you would have more valuable proof to share with your prospects and business partners so that they can make the same choices and be a successful as you. This will help your credibility and enhance your reputation, which will attract more prospects to you.

If you were to be considered a gambler, it would be as a professional gambler who studies the form guides in depth and takes away the worst risk in order to make money instead of losing it.

So, when you email your list and have a story to tell, provide proof of the results. If they are not your own and you are sharing someone else’s product because you believe it valuable to your list, be truthful, open and honest with them. If you have achieved success through this system, provide the proof. If not, provide the proof of the person who developed the product you are sharing. Be trustworthy to gain trust from your prospects. Liars and cheats don’t prosper ultimately, but those who are honest have the most credibility and the more solid business in the end.

To the future,

Barrie Evans

Ten Simple Marketing Tips You Can Adopt Straight Away

Here are ten simple marketing tips that you can adopt straight away that will help you to improve your marketing and get better results:

Marketing Tips #1

Listen to what your prospects tell you and make notes. Also write down their questions so that you can deal with them immediately or get back to them with the relevant answer. All of these things give you clues to the problems you can help them solve. You can also use this information to help you find topics for your next article, talk and e-newsletter. Listening is a vital skill, so adopt this and prosper.

Marketing Tips #2

Plan and write out your strategy for the next meeting with a prospect. If you have a meeting scheduled with a hot prospect, write down the questions you will ask to find out their ambitions, the potential scope of their problem, what their budget is and how you'll ask them to take the right steps to move forward. Make sure they know you are there to HELP them at all times.

Marketing Tip #3

Keep up to date with your marketing by reading marketing articles and getting tips from other experts in the industry. Most people don't go out of their way to read about marketing. This is a relatively easy task to do and enables you to stay up to date and stay motivated to reach your personal goals. Try to do this at least once a week or more is you can. Go through the content I have here, I’m sure you will find some of it valuable to you.

Marketing Tip #4

Always pay attention to the marketing messages all around you. Try to pick out the WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) and the “call-to-action” (what they want you to do). Practice this every day and you will start thinking like a marketer.

Marketing Tip #5

Support your team. If a new member of your team has set up a meeting with a prospect, go with them and help. This helps to cement your position as a leader and also keeps you fresh and demonstrates your commitment to your team and their prospects. It also indicates that there's more to your organization than a single point of contact.

Marketing Tip #6

Pass on a copy of this article and get your team members to come up with new ideas for the next team meeting. If you can get each team member to commit one new idea that can be worked on, there is a greater chance of success. Follow this up with progress reports so that you are all accountable to see what works. Rinse and repeat this procedure to find out the best methods.

Marketing Tip #7

You can draft a 3 or 4-question survey that you can do online or even to do short, conversational telephone interviews with your target audience to find out what they struggle with...what's on their wish list...what they want from you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you send out an email to your list. Typical subject being “I need your help” and then put a link to the short survey in the email.

Do NOT ask them if they want to buy anything from you. This is a relationship-building task, NOT a recruitment message. That comes much later. Ask other members of your team to do the same. Compare notes and discuss your findings.

Marketing Tip #8

Think of solutions that you can offer to important problems, even if they are small ones. The key is to keep things simple. It's less intimidating for your customer to "sample" you and makes it easy for them to take a first step.

Marketing Tip #9

As yourself questions every day and provide honest answers. A good one is “what can I share today that will make someone have a better day?” Develop a personal “Mission Statement” and repeat it to yourself regularly. You can use the question I just gave you an example of if you like. If it motivates you to offer more value, then you are on the right track.

Marketing Tip #10

Make all of these things part of your routine. Imagine yourself reaching your goals by doing any one of these things successfully and believe in your own ability. Really - it's what professional athletes, speakers, performers, and successful people do all the time. Visualize it, and it will be so.

If somebody tells you they don’t know how to market, point out these tips and you can prove them wrong.

To The Future,

Barrie Evans

What Is The Best Email Marketing Strategy For Today's Market?

One of the most vital things needed these days in an internet marketing campaign is an email list. To be able to successfully adopt an email marketing strategy, you need to send out emails to potential prospects / customers automatically, but avoiding spamming people because you don’t have their permission to contact them. That is why you need an autoresponder service.

For some time now there has been an argument that we need to use the “double opt in” method. Using double opt in means that anyone who is on your list has clicked a link in an email they received from you verifying that they want to get emails from you. This was initially designed to protect you from spam complaints, but testing by some has proved that lots don’t “double opt in” because they have already given their permission to contact them by giving out their information in the first place and therefore don’t finish the subscription. It is a requirement to offer the chance to opt out so why double opt in? You choose the best method for you.

The companies who have developed autoresponders have all the systems in place to deal with opt in and opt out so we don’t have to worry about that part of the process. There are several companies online that offer this service for a small monthly fee; some offer the service for free up to a certain number of subscribers.

The system works this way:

1. Do your research and find the best autoresponder service for you and sign up. The first thing to do is to go through the training offered to set up your first list. This will then enable you to create what is called a web form and place it on your site to capture the information of those who want to find out more about you and your product or opportunity.

2. If you have attracted the interest of your website visitor they will hopefully leave you their information in your web form and opt in to your new email list. This will trigger the autoresponder to start sending out emails in the order you've set up. Everyone on your list will get one email after another in order as soon as they opt in. Remember that people’s interest is at its highest in the first few days so send the first message immediately and then no longer than 1 day later for each subsequent message.

What is the best way to get people to opt in?

Specifically it’s quite simple. The best way is to offer them something valuable for free. This could be a free report that helps to accentuate the problem they have and then show them there is a solution. Your capture page should also specifically ask the question around the problem that requires a solution and then entice the sign up by offering the solution.

Remember that VALUE is the key. It doesn’t matter whether your report cost you anything to produce, but if it gives value to the recipient, they are more likely to stay with you.

You may often see the phrase “the money is in the list”. This is the email list so taking the time and effort to build that list and build rapport and good relationships with the people on your list in the correct way; it’s like money in the bank.

Treat them right and that list can make you money with the push of a button for years to come. But just what do you have to do to treat them right? It's more about what you don't do than what you do.

For example, even though they've opted into your email list and agreed that they will receive emails from you, that doesn't mean they want you to send them one sales pitch after another or keep hounding them to join you in your business (if you are in network marketing).

Send them quality information that can help them achieve their goals on a daily basis and they will get to like and trust you. If they trust you and consider you to give great value, they will be more likely to join you in your business and buy your own products or affiliate products. This will be because they now see you as a leader who can mentor them to be successful themselves. It’s a good idea to send out two mails each day. One tells a story and has something you can share that offers the great value (always the first one), and a second that offers a product that will help your list to solve their problems. Don’t worry if some do opt out, it’s the ones who stay with you who are the most important to you because they want what you have to offer.

The best email marketing strategy is always to provide value and to treat the people on your list like highly appreciated customers. The old saying of “give and you will receive” is more than relevant when you have a large email list. Do things the right way and it's a win /win.

To the future

Barrie Evans