Working At Home Guide

Local Business Marketing is a form of marketing that has gathered huge momentum in the last two years.

For those who recognise the nature of the demand, it is an extremely lucrative way of making money whilst providing a valuable service to local businesses.

So what is local business marketing? Put simply, it is a way of helping local businesses market in such a way that enables them to get more leads and clients, with particular reference to using internet or online marketing.

To understand this in more depth, take a look at you latest yellow pages or local directory depending on which country you live in. Have you noticed how much it has shrink in size?

This is because of the huge shift in and convergence of internet technology and consumerism. More people are going online to source products and services, with an increasing trend towards doing so through their mobile device.

At least 70% of searches for products and services are conducted online and more so through a mobile device as opposed to a desk top.

Many local businesses are struggling to realign with this trend and are still using traditional forms of advertising. Whilst this is not entirely valid, they are struggling to align their marketing with the online trends that are prominent.

I am surprised at the number of small businesses that do not have an online presence, and have picked up two major clients on this alone. Many businesses are aware of their need for an online presence yet feel intimidated by the technology and work involved.

That is quite understandable given the work involved, and the fact that they want to give the majority of time to the core of their business rather than be tied to a computer for hours conducting online marketing.

This is where you can help if you are prepared to learn a little and apply. There are three basic phases you need to address.

Firstly they need a profile. After all if they are not online in the first place they cannot be found. Contrary to popular belief that does not necessarily mean they need a website to start with, though they do need one if they wish to be taken seriously.

You can start by registering them as a business in google places and google maps. Be sure to adhere to the guidelines though because if done incorrectly the account will be suspended.

Google places, google maps, social media profiles, and a website should be part of the initial profile design stage even if done in stages. You also need to consider developing a mobile friendly version of the site for reasons already discussed.

Secondly you need to think of developing presence. This is all about building and establishing relationships and value. That would involve database building, educational videos and social proof to name a few examples.

Thirdly there is the subject of getting increasing targeted traffic to the site through use of things like google adwords, press releases and link building.

You have three simple, yet very involved phases, which need to be done with care and attention if you are to have local businesses investing in your services.

The key is to get a few clients, and develop a local business marketing team you can employ to help you with the workload so that you can service more clients and work on your business rather than in it.

By building a local business marketing service in this way, you will be providing a very valuable service that local businesses are desperate for, and making a lucrative income in the process, a true win-win situation.

To Your Success

Anita and Clive

One blueprint for making money online is website flipping, a form of selling websites.

A bit like one property technique, it involves buying a website at a low price, decorating it so to speak, and then selling on for profit.

You don’t have to buy a website, you can build your own, but whichever option you choose there are some important principles you must pay attention to in order to have a profitable outcome.

Websites can sell from S100 to thousands on average, depending on a variety of factors.

The usual instructions on researching the topic or niche around which the website will be built, apply. The more in demand a particular topic is, that’s where you should supply.

There are many people looking for good quality websites to buy and build, who do not wish to start from scratch, so consider the fundamentals when building you website.

After picking a quality niche, pay attention to fresh, relevant content. Avoid the temptation to simply copy and paste something superficial. If you are using private label content, mix in your expertise and opinion, and make it unique.

Build value on the site by offering a newsletter and building a list. You do not have to have all the knowledge and expertise. You can introduce related experts to your chosen field, but the care and attention you give will be picked up, so do not do a rushed sloppy job.

When monetising the site with recommended offers give an independent review based on your experience, and share the pros and cons. If possible give an inside view of the product to enable someone to make a more informed buying choice.

Monetisation can involve your own products, other experts’ products or you can place adverts through google adsense. Again pay attention to the value of the content and selling, and try to achieve a balance, to keep people coming back.

All important is the traffic flow to your website, so start driving traffic through free means such as article submission, video content and blog submissions. Although this takes time, the end outcome will be worth it.

If budget allows combine your free traffic generation strategies with paid ones such as solo ads

Finally you do not need a site with flashy graphics. Sometimes that can distract from the content. A clean, simple outlay with an attractive design is fine.

Of course if you would prefer not to do the above, you can always buy a website that as the fundamentals, leaving you to concentrate on marketing it more to increase traffic and sales with a view to selling on for profit.

When you have built your site up go over to flippa. This is one of the better known website flipping sites recommended by many internet marketers.

Take a look round at what’s selling along with contributory factors. Whilst sites that have made some money tend to sell for more, this does not mean a website that has not sold anything will not sell.

As mentioned there are many factors that go into a sale and the best way to familiarise with that is to explore flippa and related web flipping sites.

If you want to find out more about website flipping you can download a free report from Ryan Moran or you can buy his course at lump sum profits.

Copywriting is a hub component to the success of any product you intend to sell, and it is as important as the product itself.

You can have an outstanding product but if the copywriting for the sales letter is average to poor then you will not get the results that your product deserves.

It is also somewhat unfortunate that bad products can be sold where there is a good sales letter arising from good copywriting skills.

Copywriting is a skill that involves getting the attention of the reader, keeping their interest, increasing desire and giving them a strong call to action.  You may be familiar with the AIDA process [attention, interest, desire, action]

With excellent copywriting skills you can experience huge success on the internet. However many get stuck with that skill, and it is time consuming to get it right, particularly as long form sales letters of ten pages plus is the recommendation.

This is reflected in the demand for good copywriters and the fees that copywriting commands. You can pay anything from $1000 to $25000 on average for a sales letter to be done for you.

For the average person, and indeed the internet newbie this is unfortunately out of their reach.

Even then there is no guarantee of good results, so there is a big risk involved.  Also the copywriter does not know you, or your product, other than what you convey to them in words, so there is a danger of the sales letter not reflecting you as a person, and appearing somewhat mechanical or generalist.

Many internet marketers have started to come out with software that enables you to create a decent sales letter in a

So what options exist for this situation:-

1. You could find a sales letter that you deem to be good and copy its style.  Again if the context or product is very different your sales copy might become disjointed and lose flow.  Many internet marketers recommend that you handwrite and copy a good sales letter several times to wire the brain toward good copy.

2. You could find a student who has excelled under the tutelage of a master copywriter and employ their services at a lower price, hence reducing the risk of outlay.

3. You could purchase software from well known copywriters.  This gives you the structure of a sales letter and you fill in the blanks.  Again you have to be careful that the sales letter does not come out reading disjointed or mechanical.

Two pieces of software you might wish to check out are wordpresssalesengine.  This software allows you to create more than the standard sales letter.  You can use it to create one time offers, squeeze pages, product download pages and joint venture pages.

The other one you might wish to look at that comes with sales copy for numerous different niches is sales letter titans saleslettertitans

This comprises 100 sales letters in 100 niches, and your part is to copy and paste and/or fill in the blanks.

4. You might consider doing a video sales letter or conducting a webinar instead.  This enables the person to hear and see you as close to real life as possible, and you can walk them through the benefits of your product and the problem that it solves.

Video and webinars are increasing in popularity on the internet and may provide a viable alternative to long form pages of mere text.

Wishing you success with your copywriting

Clive and Anita

The following article is bought to you by Michelle and Bill Pescosolido.

Facebook Timeline Fan Pages Is Mandatory on March 30, 2012

If you own a Facebook Fan Page and you are hearing the buzz about the new Facebook Timeline around your page know that on March 30, 2012 you will be converted.

Therefore, in order to help you get a jump start on how to navigate through your new layout, I have posted some important information below.

Facebook Timeline Cover Photo

Your new Facebook Timeline cover photo should be 815 x 315 px.  Facebook has implemented strict rules on what this Facebook Timeline cover photo can not consist of.  Make sure you are not in violation or you could get deactivated or deleted from the Facebook management team.

No promotions, coupons or advertisements should appear in your cover photo
You can not offer things like “40% off” or  ”download it from our website”
There should be no contact info, web address, or email addresses listed in your cover photo
You may not use Facebook’s terms in your cover photo such as “like” or  ”share”

You can always visit the help section of Facebook Timeline cover photos inside Facebook by visiting this link, CLICK HERE.

Messages This is a great new feature that Facebook Timeline Fan Pages users will now have.  As a business owner of your Fan Page you can choose from your admin panel whether you want to add the message button to your page so fans can contact you via the Facebook email system.

If you do not want to use this feature you can simply turn this feature off in the admin panel of your Facebook Fan Page.

Profile Picture  Facebook no longer has the ability to feature your profile picture as a long banner in the past.  Now your new profile picture must be 125 x 125 or 150 x 150.

Default Landing Tabs Default landing tabs are now a thing of the past.  The only way not for someone to see one of your tabs that you have created is to either use that particular URL of the landing tab in your advertising or you can also buy a domain and forward that domain to the URL of the landing tab.

Makes me wonder if Facebook wants to increase their revenue in advertising to force users to create ad in order to promote their landing tabs.

I would suggest though, not to give up on your landing tabs.  You just now have to be more creative in the pictures on the tab you are trying to promote.

Try creating a call to action like “Click HERE!” or “Check This Out” and use bright bold colors to make it stand out to your fans. The landing tab itself has now gone from 520 px to 810 px and the length seems to be able to go on forever.

Not sure why you would want 7000 px in length but just know there so far is no criteria in how long you can have your landing tab.

Admin Panel

The admin panel is a new addition to the Facebook Timeline Fan Pages.  In this panel you can view all notifications, who has “liked” your page, insights, and view your messages.

Posts

You now also have the ability to create a status update and pin it to the top of your Facebook Timeline Fan Pages or even highlight the post for a wide view.  This is a great enhancement to the new look and remember engaging with your fans are what keep your EdgeRank up.

While there are many new additions to the new Facebook Timeline Fan Pages there is no need to panic.  This is really good news and is actually more user friendly for the business owners who own Fan Pages.

To read the full article click here

Overwhelm is a common experience amongst many new and not so new internet marketers.

What many readers may not realise is that many of the self proclaimed successful internet marketers work around the clock on their business.

So whilst they may have money freedom, they do not necessarily have time freedom.  That’s a bit like winning a court case and then paying out huge costs which somewhat dilute the success achieved.

When you think about what is involved it is easy to see why many become slaves to their computers. You have to research and find a hungry market that reflects your interest and passion.

Then you have to create content that gives outstanding value, rather than some recycled stuff that is not new and current. You also have to repeat this for further products.

You have to drive traffic to it constantly through a variety of non paid and paid methods.  You have to track and tweak accordingly.

Add to that, that you need a proper customer support system, and the list gets exhausting.  If you are building a business on a part time basis, it becomes even more overwhelming.

Even if you choose to do affiliate marketing, there is still a lot of work to do, especially as you are competing against other affiliate marketers who are possibly promoting the same product.

Now that Social Media has taken off, there is an extra layer of marketing – tweets, likes, social bookmaking, and the list goes on

So how do you break this cycle?

1. Realise that as with any business, success will take time and nurturing. Adjust your view accordingly.

2. Whether you decide to build your own suite of products, or promote someone else’s products, it is important to develop or have a system to follow, otherwise you will get lost.

3. You need to decide what your core competencies are, and carry them out regularly.  Apportion regular time each day, but not hours.

4.  If there are tasks that can be automated, build this into your system.

5. Decide which things you are not so good at, and look to outsource them.  Never outsource your core competencies.

If you do the right things long enough you will succeed.  But how do you outsource certain tasks, and how do you find reliable people.

More and more offline businesses are outsourcing certain tasks abroad to places like India, because they can save time and money in the process.  However outsourcing can go horribly wrong in the wrong hands.

Even if you do find the right person or team, you still have to train them, and make sure they understand your instructions.  Cultural differences can impact communication. The whole process of recruitment can be time consuming.

One company that has taken this burden on board and come up with an outsourcing solution is Replace Myself.  The owner is John Jonas.

He has a webinar presentation which explains the whole outsourcing process, and the solution he has come up with to take the pain out of your research.

He not only answers common issues around cultural differences but has a system that takes care of training the staff you recruit.

You can listen to the webinar for free, and this might just be a solution to breaking the overwhelm you have been experiencing in internet marketing

To Your Success

Clive and Anita

There is no doubt that the internet has bought a world of opportunity to the doors of individuals all over the world.

At a time when many are talking about the current recession, the opportunities for a different lifestyle are there for the taking with the right knowledge and opportunity.

However whilst so many people are jumping on the internet marketing band wagon many are suffering frustration with their efforts, and some are burning away money, whilst unsure how to correct the losses.

There may be several reasons for this, and it is important to take stock of the reasons why, rather than just to hop onto the next opportunity.

If you found a good product to promote as an affiliate marketer, and you are not seeing any results, you need to ask yourself certain questions. For example:-

• Is the product a high converting one in marketing tests?
• Have you followed the instructions given by the owner?
• Did you carry out the required tasks correctly?
• Did you follow the action points consistently?
• Did you track adverts and results, and make adjustments as necessary?
• Did you seek help from the support desk when needed?

These questions are important because so many do not follow the correct process properly or do not do the right things quickly enough.

Many treat their internet marketing business like a hobby, yet expect to see business results. If they did work it like a business they would see results.

The other reason a person might struggle is if the product did not do what it says on the tin, resulting in high refunds, or that the affiliate was misled about the success of the product and the market.

Lack of support is another reason many struggle.  However you need to answer the questions above in order to determine which applies to you.

The same questions need applying if marketing your own product, but additional questions need to be asked about the systems you have set up to market your product, along with the sales copy, as the issues may lie here rather than with your product.

Many years ago it was easier to make money on the internet. But information is changing so quickly online that if you do not know what you are doing you can get burnt.

There is no such thing as get rich quick, and by now you should be avoiding anything that suggests you can make hundreds of thousands without much effort. It is a deception that the scammers are making money off.

So how do you avoid the various pitfalls mentioned above, whether they are within you or to do with the actions points?

The most successful people in business across history have always had a mentor and/or coach. This is someone who has demonstrated the success they seek after, and can teach you likewise, giving you maximum chance of success.

Always choose someone who has been around for many years and has ability to demonstrate repeated success.

For the average person coaching programmes may be too costly and out of their reach. However when you can you should invest in coaching, because the support is more personal and intensive.

The internet marketing center for example has a great track record for those wishing to start their own online business with their own products.  Corey Rudl was the original owner before he passed away.

One famous internet millionaire  I know is looking to take on affiliate marketing students for $1, and structures his programme in several phases to help people increment up. It’s called a 30 day challenge, and is being welcomed by many who would not be able to afford coaching.

Give it a try and see if it answers many of the challenges you have had up till now. Click here to enter the 30 day challenge.

To Your Success

Clive and Anita

The Power Of Joint Ventures

Marketing your own product is a great way to generate an online and offline income.

If you create a rock-solid product and do all of the right things in terms of promotion, you will generate sales.

When you find a hot area in the market, your product can become relatively successful.

However, if you want to maximise your success consider the power of joint venture partners. There’s no substitute for good partners when it comes to making big money.

How many more sales could you make if you had a team of seasoned internet marketing experts endorsing and promoting your product?

Can you imagine what would happen if you had some of these well-known forces backing your product? What if you could multiply the value and impact by teaming up with a group of top internet marketers?

Joint Ventures Revealed

If you have a product, you need an affiliate program. There’s no better way to encourage sales than to build an army of affiliates. However, a standard affiliate program isn’t necessarily going to take you to the next level.

You want to do more than attract a few other marketers to your cause. You want to build relationships with movers and shakers who can send your product to the top of the best-seller list.

Welcome to the world of joint ventures. There’s no better way to post sales than by creating joint ventures with top marketers.

If you’re serious about getting the most out of your product and your internet marketing business, joint ventures is an essential strategy.

Unfortunately, making those connections and setting up those joint ventures isn’t always easy. If you’re a relative unknown, it can be hard to get the attention of the major players.

Top marketers are constantly receiving requests for joint ventures. If you want to get things moving, you need a good JV proposal that will interest the kind of partners you need.

Too many marketers think of a joint venture partnership as nothing more than a slight variation on the standard affiliate program. That’s a huge mistake.

You can’t hope to build quality joint ventures unless you have a smart, specific plan. You need to approach joint venture relationship building the proper way.

Making Joint Ventures Work for You

Smart JVs require a few things. First, you need to identify prospective joint ventures within your niche, and build rapport with them.  Understand what would make a good joint venture for them.

You should also have a strong understanding of the different ways to structure a joint venture. The joint venture proposal should offer benefits to both parties.

A successful joint venture proposal will have a good value proposition, will explain the finer detail of how the proposal will work, and will have inbuilt organisation and implementation steps.

If you fall short on any front, you’re unlikely to experience optimal success.
Put simply, it is important to educate yourself in the world of joint ventures.

You could try to learn the ropes on your own, of course. Be prepared to experience at least a few failures before things get moving if you take that route. It only takes a small mistake to derail a seemingly solid joint venture plan.

That’s why you should seriously consider learning the details of joint venture construction and implementation from someone with extensive experience.

If there’s one part of internet marketing that screams for a quality, paid education, this is it. You should commit yourself to learning about joint ventures from someone who knows his or her stuff.

After you’ve learned the skills necessary to become a good joint venture broker, you’ll be able to reach your full profit potential.

Sohail Khan is one of the top three joint venture specialist in the world, and lays out seven steps to getting your first joint venture.  In summary his seven steps are:-

1. Research sites related to your niche via keywords and identify 15

2. Repeat process with different search engine

3. Write up excellent joint venture proposal

4. Offer 55-70% profits to joint venture partner

5. Send personalised email to joint venture partner

6. Reply to requests in timely fashion and offer free copy of your product

7. Maintain communication as above

You can read the full article by clicking here

To Your Success

Clive and Anita

If you want to build make money blogs, you’ll want to consider your personal passions.

If you think that seems a little sentimental for the dollars and cents world of marketing, think again.

Why should you really care about something as unquantifiable as your emotions? It’s really just about finding a good niche with the right numbers, right?

It’s a simple fact that marketers who feel passionate about their topics tend to earn more than others do. There are good reasons to choose a niche about which you feel passionate. Let’s look at a few of them.

Initially, those who love a niche are more likely to create quality content for their blogs. If you really know your topic, you’re less likely to supply inaccurate information. You’re also far more likely to create content that will connect with your blog’s readers. Passion for a topic makes you a better content provider, and that’s how to make money blogging.

Second, those who care about their niches are more likely to keep their blogs moving forward. Motivation is a critical part of internet marketing success and it’s much easier to find the motivation to work on a project that interests you than it is to labor on something that bores you to tears.

Blogging involves more than a one-time effort. Success relies on updates and ongoing attention. If you choose a niche that doesn’t match your passions, you’ll find it hard to keep things running–and making money.

Third, working with your passions can kick open doors to other moneymaking opportunities. If you’re working with your passions, you’re more likely to find ways to expand your operation in profitable directions.

If you’re not really interested in widgets, you’re not going to discover some great ways to maximize the value of your widget blog. You’ll miss great content ideas for your site.

You’ll miss opportunities. If you’re actually passionate about your niche, you’ll naturally discover new ideas and ways to improve your blogging business.

Last but not least, it’s fun. It’s just more enjoyable to work with your passions. We all want to start making money online with our blogging.

That doesn’t force us to think exclusively about monetary issues, however. There’s nothing better than actually enjoying both your work and the money it generates.

Remember to consider your feelings when you choose niches for blogging projects. Don’t just edit the most unbearable options from your list of choices, either.

Choose niches that really interest and excite you. Blogging about things you love is a great way to improve your business on multiple levels.

The Pros and Cons of WordPress

WordPress started as a handy platform for blog owners and is now a highly applauded content management system.

It is a freely available application that is able to change any person into an accomplished online author.

WordPress makes it simple to make online websites. It makes it easy to supply or change content and articles. It’s search engine oriented, wildly supported and is adaptable enough to take care of nearly any sort of endeavor.

As a result, its reputation is growing with a fast speed. It boasts many different themes, giving its end users the choice to develop websites with an infinite variety of appearances and components.

Although WordPress is amazing, it isn’t flawless. You can use it to do very nearly anything, some jobs are harder than others are. WordPress has not totally escaped its beginnings as a blogging platform.

As a result, many of the web sites individuals make with WordPress look much less like fixed web-sites and more like web logs.

That is really challenging for web entrepreneurs, who have many different specific desires that do not conveniently fit in the themes desired by most WordPress themes. That has brought about the generation of custom theme engines like the AuthorityPro Theme Engine.

Getting The Most Out Of WordPress

You will find many WordPress themes that copy the look and feel of static web sites. They will be an acceptable answer for many functions.

However, these themes really don’t possess the flexibility required to handle various online marketing needs. They might also lack the visual appeal you might expect from a top quality site.

That leaves web entrepreneurs who’d love to harness the power of WordPress with only a few choices. Either they might develop into skilled theme makers or they can utilize a strong theme creation engine to create the type of websites they need to get the greatest final results.

Learning the nuances of WordPress and coding doesn’t inspire most online marketers. They’re more excited about quickly building and deploying profitable undertakings.

They’re not necessarily interested in the idea of becoming designers or programmers. Only those people who already possess a tremendous amount of experience in these subjects will be enthusiastic about generating tailor made themes for ventures.

A theme engine makes more sense. A theme engine is a highly customizable WordPress theme that may be tweaked to serve a range of unique tasks.

A marketer may use a good engine to create themes with assorted website page layouts and styles, integrating critical applications.

If you’ve ever before attempted to design a engaging squeeze page with a standard WordPress theme, you know that it’s virtually impossible. Even some of the more versatile premium themes are unable to do the job.

A superior theme engine, however, can make it simple to create a effective squeeze page, a dazzling sales page, beautiful supporting internet pages, sign up forms and pretty much everything else required to transform a raw thought into a profit center.

The proper theme engine makes it easy to utilize sign up forms, online video media, audio and additional internet marketing elements, as well.

What Is The Best WordPress Theme?

The perfect WordPress theme is more than a single theme. It’s a tool that will make it possible for you to produce the internet websites you require to realize success.

A fantastic theme engine will offer you the ability to customize, top quality style and design components, versatility, full compatibility with essential tools, and fantastic ease of use.

The WordPress Authority Pro Theme Engine, by way of example, is able to do well on every one of these levels. It can make it possible for marketers to generate page styles by dragging and dropping personalized factors.

It incorporates collection of potent customized widgets, works well with almost all of the most popular internet marketing tools and keeps the ease-of-use newer WordPress users need.

To Your Success

Clive and Anita

Can You Buy Success?

There are many people trying to make money online with various degrees of success, or perhaps none at all.

When investing in internet marketing it is essential to spend wisely, otherwise you could end up burning money without direction and progress.

Internet marketing has become a double edged sword for so many people.  On the one hand the internet has made it possible for the ordinary man and woman to develop a global business.

On the other hand if you do not know what you are doing, you can end up losing out big time.  One of the challenges is ‘who do you listen to?’

Unfortunately there are all sorts out there, and in recent years many unscrupulous marketers have played to the person who is in desperate need of money quickly by offering push button solutions.

In reality they are selling the idea of wealth but the reality of nothing. Those that may be struggling get sucked in by the promise of quick money for little or no effort.

There are some tips that will serve you well if you wish to avoid these experiences whilst building a solid internet business.

Step 1 – Choose A Mentor

It is important to invest in your internet marketing education, once you have got clear about which area you wish to master.

The wealthiest people all had a mentor. So rather than reinventing the wheel, get yourself a mentor, someone who has been around the internet marketing world for a while and has a proven track record.

So if you wish to develop a five or six figure business for example make sure your mentor has achieved at least that.

Step 2 – Make A Commitment

Whichever mentor you have chosen, commit to their programme and treat it like a business rather than a hobby.  That way you are less likely to quit after a few weeks, and you are more likely to build the habits and practices that will reap success.

Step 3 – Consistent Action

Take consistent action.  Half an hour every day is better than 2 hours a week because the frequency of  focussed action will recondition you toward success.

Step 4 – Be Teachable and Coachable

Be willing to work the system as your mentor teaches and do not digress.  Take learning on board and make adjustments as necessary where mistakes happen.

Step 5 – Ask For Help

If you get stuck ask your mentor for help.  That’s what they are there for.  Do not let pride or ego get in the way of your progress because you view the need for help as a sign of weakness.

If you follow these steps you are less likely to keep looking for the missing piece that will shortcut the path to success.  You will be less likely to keep hitting the ‘buy now’ button, as you now have a plan and a focus.

You are less likely to hop around from one system after another with no success.

Remember there is a big difference between the person who’s staying on the cutting edge of new developments and the person who’s spending like a madman in hopes of finding a magical solution that will turn things around.

Any successful mentor will guide you round what to sell, how to sell, and when to sell, along with how to find the right buyers [targeted traffic]

To Your Success

Clive and Anita