15 Internet Predictions That Will Revolutionize Your Business!
"FutureConsumer.com," a book by renowned futurist Frank Feather, takes a fascinating and sometimes frightening look at the world in 2010.
Feather predicts that by then, "the Internet will gobble up 31% of consumer spending, leaving most brick-and-mortar retailers in rubble."
His message for your business? Adapt or die.
Here are 15 ways the "Webolution" will affect your business – and your lifestyle.
1/ By 2010, 40% of the North American workforce will work from home -
either for themselves or someone else.
2/ "By 2005, people will spend twice as much time with their PCs as with
their TVs." – Andrew Grove, chairman Intel Corporation
3/ Of the 115 million North American households in 2010, 83% will have at
least one computer, 79% will be online and 66% (or 76 million
households) will actively shop and buy online.
4/ There will be 500 million Internet users world-wide by 2010.
5/ The number of automobiles purchased completely online in 2010:
5 million.
6/ By 2020, "fifty percent of everything we read will be in electronic form."
- Dick Brass, Microsoft’s Vice-President of Technology Development
7/ By 2018, newspapers will stop publishing paper editions.
8/ Online learning will replace schools as education takes place at home.
9/ "Greeting cards will become museum curiosities" as sending electronic
greetings become the norm.
10/ A "Webphone" – part cell phone, part palmtop computer – will replace
everything you now carry in your wallet. Coins, cash, checks and credit
cards will become obsolete.
11/ By 2010, 92 million North American households will bank online.
12/ Your digital refrigerator will automatically reorder your groceries for you,
via the Web, when you run low.
13/ By 2010, tele-medicine, where patients and doctors interact online, will
be a routine part of daily life and health maintenance.
14/ By 2010, all software will be downloaded – or rented on a pay-per-use
basis.
15/ Mass advertising will become a thing of the past. Instead, e-marketers
will pay consumers to receive their advertising messages.
Think about how these changes will influence your life and your business. Then, modify your marketing strategies accordingly to prepare for what lies ahead. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
To read more of Frank Feather’s insights, get his book "FutureConsumer.com" by going here:
www.amazon.com
Tags: niche marketing, Jonathan Hook, affiliate marketing, internet marketing, article marketing
How to drive free traffic to your blog
The word traffic is something that all bloggers love to hear, as having constant traffic coming into a blog is an essential part of being able to earn any consistent money from it. If you are a beginning blogger or a professional blogger looking to drum up some traffic for one of your blogs keep reading to find out how to do just that without having to spend any money.
You can easily put yourself in a position to drive tons of traffic to your blog without having to spend any money. All you need to do is register with all of the websites listed below and the traffic will start coming your way.
BlogSearch.com is an incredible resource for those that are looking to increase the amount of traffic that your blog is getting.
LinkRefferal.com is another great advertising website for blogs. They will provide advertisement for your blog at no out of pocket costs and all they ask in return is to be able to visit the blogs of five other members every day.
BlogCatalog.com is one of the most popular advertising sites for blogs. Sign up with them a your blog will be broadcasted for the entire world wide web to see.
Nairaland.com is a wonderful online forum for those that are looking to jumpstart the traffic to their blog. It is very simple to join and will provide consistent streams of traffic.
There you go, if you sign up for all of these great websites and you will see a big jump in he traffic coming to your blog in no time at all.
Tags: article marketing, website optimization, niche marketing, Jonathan Hook, affiliate marketing
10 Great Ideas For Your Small Business!
Jane Applegate, in her book "201 Great Ideas For Your Small Business," gives dozens of tips and tricks for the entrepreneur – 201 in fact. 
The book consists of 10 chapters chock-full of smart and savvy ideas on every topic from people to products – from marketing to management.
It’s written in a breezy style with lots of numbers and bullets for easy reading. As Jane herself puts it:
"This book, in its handy format, is meant to be read on the run. Read it
front-to-back or back-to-front; it doesn’t matter. But read it cover-to-
cover, and tell your friends about it. I guarantee you won’t be bored."
Below, I’ve chosen 10 of the more creative ideas – one from each chapter.
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Chapter 1 – Management Strategies
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Idea #11: Find A Mentor
Here Jane discusses the importance of connecting with someone you admire – and who admires you.
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Chapter 2 – Money Matters
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Idea #53: Collect The Money People Owe You
It’s true. A client that owes you money will never give you more business. Here, you’ll find tips for writing a collections letter and hiring the right collection agency.
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Chapter 3 – Marketing Strategies
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Idea #81: Use Coupons To Attract Customers
In this section, Jane explains how she learned that coupons are a "low-cost way to attract new and repeat customers."
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Chapter 4 – Developing And Launching Products
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Idea #114: Create A Fad
Jane reveals the amazing story of Dave Kapell whose invention, the Magnetic Poetry kit, hit the big time when it appeared on The Jerry Seinfeld Show.
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Chapter 5 – People
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Idea #145: Find Out How Disney Does It
In this chapter, Jane tells how Walt Disney started his company in a garage, with next to no capital, and created an empire. And how you can learn from his success.
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Chapter 6 – Time Management
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Idea #161: Beat Your Deadlines
This simple technique will "set you apart from the rest of the business world."
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Chapter 7 – Technology And Telecommunications
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Idea #169: Make The Most Of Voicemail
Here, Jane talks about how businesses lose millions of dollars in sales every year by failing to take full advantage of their voicemail system.
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Chapter 8 – Customer Service
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Idea #180: Hire A Mystery Shopper
This section deals with an easy way to get a fair and objective assessment of your business from your customers’ point of view.
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Chapter 9 – Going Global =========================================================
Idea #193: Translate Your Marketing Materials
Here, Jane tells the story of how Chevrolet marketed their Chevy Nova to Mexico only to learn too late that "no va" in Spanish means "no go."
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Chapter 10 – Great Ideas From VIPs
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Idea #201: Lillian Vernon: Take Some Advice From The Mail-Order Queen
Jane interviews Lillian Vernon who started her legendary specialty catalog company in 1951 with a small ad in Seventeen Magazine.
For 191 more practical solutions to your small business woes, get Jane Applegate’s book "201 Great Ideas For Your Small Business" by going here:
http://www.amazon.com
Tags: niche marketing, affiliate marketing, internet marketing tips, website optimization, Jonathan Hook
Why Should You Blog?
Blogs have become amazingly popular over the last several years but what exactly is a blog? A simple definition of a blog is that it a website that is maintained usually by one person.
A blog is consistently updated with information such as commentaries, reviews of products or services or even photos or videos clips. The entries that are made in a blog are most commonly displayed in reverse order. The term blog can also be used as a verb. For example if you are blogging you are adding new content to your blog.
Most people that maintain a blog do so to have a platform to discuss personal issues. Although lately there are more and more savvy internet entrepreneurs that are taking advantage of all the benefits that a blog will give them in regards to promoting their business and generating traffic to their website.
Blogging is a fantastic way to drive lots of traffic to your blog. You will be especially successful in doing this if you update the content on your blog each and every day. At the very least you should be updating your blog with new content every other day.
Something important that you should remember when you are creating posts for your blog is keywords. Since the search engines are most likely to pick up on the first couple lines of a blog post you need to make sure that you are using niche related keywords in the titles of all your blog posts. This will help you be able to achieve a great ranking for your blog in the search engines.
Adding an opt-in form to your blog and offering your readers either a free newsletter or an ebook is an excellent way to be able to start list building. Developing a list of targeted consumers should be the goal of all online business people no matter what niche you happen to be targeting.
To be successful with your list building you need to make sure that you are creating quality informational posts. This way you are providing interesting content that will make your readers want to return to your blog and sign up for your newsletter or whatever else you happen to be giving away.
If your blog posts are no good then people are not going to be interested in subscribing to your email list because they are not going to see any value in the content that you are providing.
So to build a successful blog you need to keep your content updated at least every other day. You need to create useful and interesting content for your readers and be sure to include keywords in the titles of your blog posts. Follow this formula and you will be well on your way to having a successful blog in no time at all.
Tags: website optimization, article marketing, internet marketing, internet marketing tips, affiliate marketing
7 Tips For Getting Past The Gatekeeper Without Lying!
"How To Get Clients" by Jeff Slutsky is a "survival manual for executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs."
Written mainly for those selling services, the book promises to teach you:
- How to target profitable clients – and avoid the time-wasters
- How to discover your unique market niche – your key to higher fees
- How and when to advertise – and do it for less
And more.
As Slutsky himself puts it:
"Most professionals are highly trained and expert in their field, yet have
little marketing expertise in the complex and confusing area of selling
services to new prospective buyers."
He continues:
"If you need paying clients to pay the bills, you need this book."
The advice in Slutsky’s section on making an effective first contact is invaluable. He explains that in order to reach the decision maker in an organization, it’s often necessary to go through their assistant, sometimes referred to as ‘the gatekeeper.’
Slutsky uses a football analogy to describe 7 techniques for getting past the gatekeeper without lying about yourself or your company. I’ve presented these 7 techniques below:
1/ The Run Up The Middle:
This is the most direct approach. Here, Slutsky shows how to respond to
a question with a minimum of information and then to follow up with a
command.
2/ The End Run:
Slutsky outlines two techniques for working around the gatekeeper when
you can’t get through.
3/ The Reversal:
Here is a way to reach the decision maker by first calling someone higher
up in the organization.
4/ The Quarterback Sneak:
Slutsky reveals how to call at off-peak hours (like at lunchtime or 7:00
AM) when the gatekeeper is not at his desk and the decision maker is
more likely to answer her own phone.
5/ The Bomb:
As a last-ditch effort, when all else has failed, try selling the gatekeeper.
6/ The Punt:
As Slutsky says, "There is a time to be persistent and then there is a time
to say ‘forget it’ and go on to the next prospect."
7/ The Screen Pass:
This final tip will show you how to deal with the "Decision Influencer" who
is a different type of gatekeeper.
To find out more about getting past the gatekeeper, get Jeff Slutsky’s book "How To Get Clients" by going here:
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=wwwrandyruggl-20&path=tg/detail/-/0446393150/qid=1038546377/sr=1-1">slutsky:getclients</A>
Tags: internet marketing, Jonathan Hook, article marketing, niche marketing, website optimization
5 Ways To Promote Yourself!
P.T. Barnum said, "Without promotion something terrible happens – nothing!"
It’s true. Even if you build a better mousetrap, the world will not beat a path to your door if they don’t know where to find your door.
In her book, "101 Ways To Promote Yourself’" Raleigh Pinsky reveals how to generate leads, cultivate referrals, develop your image, market effectively on the Internet and more.
The book is written in question-and-answer format, which makes it fun and easy to read. There is also a list of resources at the end of each chapter.
Known as the "Visibility Expert," Pinsky says:
"If you don’t ask, you don’t get."
Here are 5 ideas from the book that I personally have used to grow my coupon book business.
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Idea #7 – Audio Brochures
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Printed brochures often hit the circular file before they ever even reach your prospect. But a cassette or CD has an inherent value that most people just can’t throw away.
An audio brochure need not be expensive. A friend recorded mine for $30. Then, I duplicate the CDs myself, using my computer, for less than one dollar each.
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Idea #20 – Give An Award
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I got involved in giving an award as more a way to solve a problem than to generate publicity.
My company publishes a coupon book called The Best Value Savings Guide. I found during my market research that coupon book buyers often feel mistreated by businesses when they redeem a coupon. So, I developed a method to virtually guarantee my customers would receive extra-special treatment.
Customers would vote (using a mail-in survey inside the coupon book) on which business they felt gave the "best value." Value was defined as superior quality and service as well as price.
I then custom-made a simple award for $50 called "The Best Value Award of Excellence." I presented the award at a Chamber of Commerce meeting to the business with the most votes.
As a side benefit, the local media covered the award ceremony, generating much more than $50 worth of publicity for my company.
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Idea #22 – Create A Contest
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To launch my coupon book, I held a contest at an annual festival in my city. Everyone who bought a book filled out a ballot for a chance to win $100 cash.
Then, two weeks later, I awarded the money to one lucky winner LIVE on television. It was a great way to boost sales and generate some excitement about my coupon book.
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Idea #66 – Broadcast Fax
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This technique never fails to produce big profits fast.
I created a simple, one-page sales letter on my computer. Then using fax software and a modem, I sent hundreds of faxes to my list of fellow Chamber of Commerce members.
I would punch the phone numbers into the computer before I went to bed and let it fax all night. When I’d wake up, there’d be tons of orders and requests on my answering machine.
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Idea #80 – Coupons
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Since I own a coupon book business, using coupons to promote my book was a no-brainer.
First, I print coupons on my computer offering a 25% discount off the cover price of my coupon book. Then when someone buys a book, I give them one of these coupons. The coupon is valid on their next purchase.
This generates repeat business when my customers buy books as a gift for their friends and family.
These are just 5 of the ideas I have used from Raleigh Pinsky’s book "101 Ways To Promote Yourself." To see 96 more, get her book by going here:
http://www.amazon.com
Tags: article marketing, internet marketing tips, niche marketing, internet marketing, website optimization
