Achieving your goals from Brian Tracy-- Brian Tracy Success: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
http://www.btisuccess.com/TBM/?p=10
Subject: VIDEO: Goal Setting by Brian Tracy
Hey,
Brian's people just uploaded another video about setting goals.
If you are like me, you know goal setting is important, but need
a clear process for picking and setting goals. Brian spells it out
for us in this great little video. You will like this one.
Here is the link:
http://www.btisuccess.com/TBM/?p=10
Thanks,
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Social Media & Your Business: Getting Started | LegalZoom
Social Media & Your Business: Getting Started | LegalZoom: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Positioning as an Authority for Marketing Success
Positioning as an Authority for Marketing Success
Online users are searching the Internet for information, products, and services every minute of every day. With the intense competition and wealth of information available on the Internet, people do not want to spend their time visiting a site that they do not believe is high quality, credible, and worthy of their time. They’ll allow you 8 seconds to grab their attention and that starts the beginning of a relationship – or breaks it.
Proven marketing tactics become increasingly valuable today with the increased competition and skepticism of many web users. If visitors do not perceive a site is high integrity, they quickly click their heels and scamper to another website because they know there are many more.
But people who believe your site has something valuable to offer and that is highly credible will stay around long enough to learn more. They’ll search your content for more information and as they become more intrigued by the content they begin to trust you and what you have to say. If you’ve deployed a marketing tactic that establishes your credibility, you are ahead of the race.
Think about your own buying patterns. If you do not believe you can trust a business, you are most likely to avoid stopping by to browse the products. It doesn’t matter if the business is offline or online. You want to know that you are talking to an expert in the niche.
And that’s how online web users feel too.
There are too many credible resources for them to waste their time on a site that does not meet their expectations of quality and credibility.
So, exactly how do you increase your credibility and attract a wider audience?
First of all, you must position yourself as an authority and as someone who truly understands what the customer needs. You must quickly develop a sense of authority by including valuable information, data, statistics, and compelling content on your website. It’s not just about the product you have to offer, but it’s about your own ability to respond to their needs and questions.
And it’s about your personal experience with the particular niche.
Having credentials related to a particular field can go a long way towards increasing credibility.
But so can experience and connections through a network of similar experts. Many marketers fear the mention of other experts in their field because they assume they will lose business to them. But people appreciate a marketer who is confident enough to talk about others who offer solutions. It actually increases your credibility and helps build a sense of loyalty.
When people know they can come to you for answers and that you will also redirect them to other credible resources, they are most likely to see you as a partner. Having relevant links to reputable websites that also offers information and solutions on a particular niche actually increases your credibility as an expert in the field.
In today’s world of technology, people have a vast array of resources available to them through the Internet. They don’t have to settle for one product or service anymore. They have freedom and flexibility to shop around and if they do not believe your site or products are credible, they will do exactly that.
Before you lose another customer to the click of a mouse, check your own content and information to see if it exudes confidence and credibility. If not, it’s time for an over-haul of marketing tactics that position you as an expert in the field.
Marketing tactics that include positioning yourself as an authority are more likely to land you at the finish line as the winner.
Online users are searching the Internet for information, products, and services every minute of every day. With the intense competition and wealth of information available on the Internet, people do not want to spend their time visiting a site that they do not believe is high quality, credible, and worthy of their time. They’ll allow you 8 seconds to grab their attention and that starts the beginning of a relationship – or breaks it.
Proven marketing tactics become increasingly valuable today with the increased competition and skepticism of many web users. If visitors do not perceive a site is high integrity, they quickly click their heels and scamper to another website because they know there are many more.
But people who believe your site has something valuable to offer and that is highly credible will stay around long enough to learn more. They’ll search your content for more information and as they become more intrigued by the content they begin to trust you and what you have to say. If you’ve deployed a marketing tactic that establishes your credibility, you are ahead of the race.
Think about your own buying patterns. If you do not believe you can trust a business, you are most likely to avoid stopping by to browse the products. It doesn’t matter if the business is offline or online. You want to know that you are talking to an expert in the niche.
And that’s how online web users feel too.
There are too many credible resources for them to waste their time on a site that does not meet their expectations of quality and credibility.
So, exactly how do you increase your credibility and attract a wider audience?
First of all, you must position yourself as an authority and as someone who truly understands what the customer needs. You must quickly develop a sense of authority by including valuable information, data, statistics, and compelling content on your website. It’s not just about the product you have to offer, but it’s about your own ability to respond to their needs and questions.
And it’s about your personal experience with the particular niche.
Having credentials related to a particular field can go a long way towards increasing credibility.
But so can experience and connections through a network of similar experts. Many marketers fear the mention of other experts in their field because they assume they will lose business to them. But people appreciate a marketer who is confident enough to talk about others who offer solutions. It actually increases your credibility and helps build a sense of loyalty.
When people know they can come to you for answers and that you will also redirect them to other credible resources, they are most likely to see you as a partner. Having relevant links to reputable websites that also offers information and solutions on a particular niche actually increases your credibility as an expert in the field.
In today’s world of technology, people have a vast array of resources available to them through the Internet. They don’t have to settle for one product or service anymore. They have freedom and flexibility to shop around and if they do not believe your site or products are credible, they will do exactly that.
Before you lose another customer to the click of a mouse, check your own content and information to see if it exudes confidence and credibility. If not, it’s time for an over-haul of marketing tactics that position you as an expert in the field.
Marketing tactics that include positioning yourself as an authority are more likely to land you at the finish line as the winner.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Design Your Recognition
Design Your Recognition: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
About Design Your Recognition
Innovation is everywhere. It's not limited to Apple, Steve Jobs and businesses launched by twenty-somethings from dorm rooms. Sometimes it comes in well-established categories, like when a plastics salesperson named Howard Schultz had a vision for a coffeehouse that would change the way that Americans buy coffee forever. It also created a $20 billion dollar company in Starbucks.
Over the last 25 years, the founders of Design Your Recognition have repeatedly identified well-established industries and product categories ready for change and built successful businesses around them.
In 1999, they founded PaperDirect, Inc. by injecting their brand of innovation into the paper business.
By leveraging the growth of home laser printers and strategic alliances with HP, Apple and Microsoft, the amassed over 1 million customers and built a $100 million specialty paper business.
The big idea for their next business came from a small place.
Seeking inspiration for a gourmet popcorn business, they traveled to Popcorn, Indiana, a tiny farming community near Bloomington.
Invigorated by the image of a pure and simple town dedicated to corn, they founded Dale & Thomas and Popcorn, Indiana in 2004.
By reinventing the stale, ready-to-eat popcorn category, Popcorn, Indiana quickly became the first national, premium kettle-cooked popcorn brand.
Today, Dale & Thomas and Popcorn, Indiana products are sold in over 150,000 retail locations today.
Design Your Recognition is a great illustration that need is often the mother of invention. While putting together an annual charity basketball tournament, one of Design Your Recognition's founders spent the better part of a week procuring personalized awards for the winning teams. Design Your Recognition was inspired by his frustrating experience. Then that same year, the founder asked his assistant to purchase ten plaques for the annual company dinner. To say the least, the assistant wasted a lot of time going back and forth with the company's promotional product company.
Today, though a significant investment in people, technology, creativity and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, Design Your Recognition is changing the way the recognition products are merchandised, created and sold.
Once limited to the province of the local awards shop, buying recognition products could be a challenging.
Not only does Design Your Recognition make it super easy, it makes products that are both meaningful and relevant, making them more appreciated by the person being recognized. The founders often refer to the products produced by Design Your Recognition as "Recognition Art".
Copyright © 2010
About Design Your Recognition
Innovation is everywhere. It's not limited to Apple, Steve Jobs and businesses launched by twenty-somethings from dorm rooms. Sometimes it comes in well-established categories, like when a plastics salesperson named Howard Schultz had a vision for a coffeehouse that would change the way that Americans buy coffee forever. It also created a $20 billion dollar company in Starbucks.
Over the last 25 years, the founders of Design Your Recognition have repeatedly identified well-established industries and product categories ready for change and built successful businesses around them.
In 1999, they founded PaperDirect, Inc. by injecting their brand of innovation into the paper business.
By leveraging the growth of home laser printers and strategic alliances with HP, Apple and Microsoft, the amassed over 1 million customers and built a $100 million specialty paper business.
The big idea for their next business came from a small place.
Seeking inspiration for a gourmet popcorn business, they traveled to Popcorn, Indiana, a tiny farming community near Bloomington.
Invigorated by the image of a pure and simple town dedicated to corn, they founded Dale & Thomas and Popcorn, Indiana in 2004.
By reinventing the stale, ready-to-eat popcorn category, Popcorn, Indiana quickly became the first national, premium kettle-cooked popcorn brand.
Today, Dale & Thomas and Popcorn, Indiana products are sold in over 150,000 retail locations today.
Design Your Recognition is a great illustration that need is often the mother of invention. While putting together an annual charity basketball tournament, one of Design Your Recognition's founders spent the better part of a week procuring personalized awards for the winning teams. Design Your Recognition was inspired by his frustrating experience. Then that same year, the founder asked his assistant to purchase ten plaques for the annual company dinner. To say the least, the assistant wasted a lot of time going back and forth with the company's promotional product company.
Today, though a significant investment in people, technology, creativity and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, Design Your Recognition is changing the way the recognition products are merchandised, created and sold.
Once limited to the province of the local awards shop, buying recognition products could be a challenging.
Not only does Design Your Recognition make it super easy, it makes products that are both meaningful and relevant, making them more appreciated by the person being recognized. The founders often refer to the products produced by Design Your Recognition as "Recognition Art".
Copyright © 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
The case for Relationship Marketing and Selling
9 Tactics to Create Strong Customer Relationships-
There is ONE absolute in the world of marketing. No matter if it is in traditional, web or social media. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for taking care of your customers. Your goal should not be to satisfy your customers, but to AMAZE them. If you do that one thing exceptionally well, every other marketing, sales, or promotional activity will yield efficient and effective results. Offline or Online users are always searching for something of value to them. Whether it’s information, products, or services, they are looking for an answer to a question or a problem. Online marketing tactics are especially important with the increase in competition across the world wide web.
One of the most important aspects of building any business is to create a business that values and appreciates customers and potential customers. This means marketing tactics that build a strong, trusting relationship with customers are important. Building trust starts with the first encounter with your receptionist, greeter and website and continues with every single subsequent interaction.
According to Nobel Prize-winning scientist Daniel Kahneman, we experience approximately 20,000 moments each and every day. A moment is the few seconds it takes for the brain to evaluate and record an experience. These experiences can be either positive or negative and your website, headlines, content, or responses can make a huge difference in how people record the experience – and their reaction also determines what people do next.
When people visit your web site, they quickly scan the headline to see if they want to read more. They continue reading if they are engaged and intrigued and they want to learn more about what you have to say. This is a great place to start building a relationship with customers. Be sure that you say what you have to offer and do not make false promises or you’ll lose customers quickly.
It’s important to build this connection with customers and website visitors to gain their commitment and loyalty. They will also become tremendous assets as their trust grows and they promote and advertise your website to their friends, colleagues, and social network.
Relationship marketing is a valuable marketing tactic for online entrepreneurs. It has been an important part of sales in the off-line world for decades and now it has found its way to the Internet.
But building a relationship online is different than having a face-to-face discussion and opportunity to persuade potential customers to make a purchase.
Some of the most effective tips and methods deployed to begin building a positive relationship include:
1. Make every customer interaction count.
2. Follow-through on commitments and claims about products or services.
3. Offer benefits and product value that responds to the customer’s desires.
4. Treat customers as individuals who are respected and valued.
5. Listen to customers – even complaints can be a gift if handled properly and quickly.
6. Be available and accessible when customers have questions, concerns, or comments.
7. Surround your customers with valuable information by using emails, website content, social media, and other methods of outreach – but do not be invasive.
8. Make your website user-friendly and easy to navigate for new and existing customers.
9. Create a blog about your business where discussion is more casual and inviting.
Relationship-marketing is not just a fad. It’s here to stay and people want to know that they are valued and appreciated as an individual. Creating long-lasting relationships helps to ensure long-lasting customers and repeat sales. It also encourages existing customers to refer their colleagues, friends, and others to your website.
Don’t take a single customer for granted. Each and every interaction with a customer is a gift and should be valued. If it weren’t already a great “life principal”, treating people well and respecting them would be the best thing you could invent to do, to ensure marketing and sales results
There is ONE absolute in the world of marketing. No matter if it is in traditional, web or social media. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for taking care of your customers. Your goal should not be to satisfy your customers, but to AMAZE them. If you do that one thing exceptionally well, every other marketing, sales, or promotional activity will yield efficient and effective results. Offline or Online users are always searching for something of value to them. Whether it’s information, products, or services, they are looking for an answer to a question or a problem. Online marketing tactics are especially important with the increase in competition across the world wide web.
One of the most important aspects of building any business is to create a business that values and appreciates customers and potential customers. This means marketing tactics that build a strong, trusting relationship with customers are important. Building trust starts with the first encounter with your receptionist, greeter and website and continues with every single subsequent interaction.
According to Nobel Prize-winning scientist Daniel Kahneman, we experience approximately 20,000 moments each and every day. A moment is the few seconds it takes for the brain to evaluate and record an experience. These experiences can be either positive or negative and your website, headlines, content, or responses can make a huge difference in how people record the experience – and their reaction also determines what people do next.
When people visit your web site, they quickly scan the headline to see if they want to read more. They continue reading if they are engaged and intrigued and they want to learn more about what you have to say. This is a great place to start building a relationship with customers. Be sure that you say what you have to offer and do not make false promises or you’ll lose customers quickly.
It’s important to build this connection with customers and website visitors to gain their commitment and loyalty. They will also become tremendous assets as their trust grows and they promote and advertise your website to their friends, colleagues, and social network.
Relationship marketing is a valuable marketing tactic for online entrepreneurs. It has been an important part of sales in the off-line world for decades and now it has found its way to the Internet.
But building a relationship online is different than having a face-to-face discussion and opportunity to persuade potential customers to make a purchase.
Some of the most effective tips and methods deployed to begin building a positive relationship include:
1. Make every customer interaction count.
2. Follow-through on commitments and claims about products or services.
3. Offer benefits and product value that responds to the customer’s desires.
4. Treat customers as individuals who are respected and valued.
5. Listen to customers – even complaints can be a gift if handled properly and quickly.
6. Be available and accessible when customers have questions, concerns, or comments.
7. Surround your customers with valuable information by using emails, website content, social media, and other methods of outreach – but do not be invasive.
8. Make your website user-friendly and easy to navigate for new and existing customers.
9. Create a blog about your business where discussion is more casual and inviting.
Relationship-marketing is not just a fad. It’s here to stay and people want to know that they are valued and appreciated as an individual. Creating long-lasting relationships helps to ensure long-lasting customers and repeat sales. It also encourages existing customers to refer their colleagues, friends, and others to your website.
Don’t take a single customer for granted. Each and every interaction with a customer is a gift and should be valued. If it weren’t already a great “life principal”, treating people well and respecting them would be the best thing you could invent to do, to ensure marketing and sales results
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
An Introduction to Keyword Research
An Introduction to Keyword Research.
If you’re reading this article, then you probably already know you want to set up your own online business. But it can be difficult (and a little overwhelming) to know where to start. In fact, once you start doing your own research on where to begin, you may come across advice that could seem contradictory.
The fact that there is so much advice out there (some of which is sometimes contradictory) shouldn’t be surprising. Keyword research is as much an art as it is a science, and the Internet search engines that use keywords have very complicated (and proprietary) processes for determining which web pages show up in search results, and in which orders.
Although some of the inner workings of search engines are not made public (which leads to a number of different “experts” claiming that they have discovered the secrets), it’s generally accepted that one of the immutable truths for search engine success is the importance of keyword research. And despite the cacophony of viewpoints, keyword research, and the entire keyword optimization process, is a skill (or ability, depending on how you look at it) that anyone can learn.
Key Components of Keyword Research
Keyword research is ultimately designed to help you find highly targeted traffic, position yourself well in search engine results, and find a niche market that you can build your business around. Key components of keyword research include understanding:
* The definition of keywords and keyword phrases in the context of Internet search engines
* How Internet search engines use keyword phrases to provide the search results to their users
* The concept of “targeted visitors”, and how this is an essential part of your keyword research process
* Finding a niche market to focus your keyword research efforts
* The concept of competition for search engine traffic
* The various tools that you can use to perform quick, accurate, and generally free research
* Promoting your business and website by using the basic keyword concepts
Keyword research means your prospects will be able to find you when they’re searching for your valuable information. The search engines will position you in the top pages of their results. Your competition will be sidestepped, and eventually shoved aside, and you’ll be able to build a profitable business from the get go instead of struggling, throwing the metaphorical spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and losing money along the way.
Keyword research, when conducted with a specific strategy, can lead you to a online business that sells. It doesn’t matter what your business model is, what you’re marketing or who your audience is, you and your business will profit when you integrate keyword research into your business building strategy from day one.
If you’re reading this article, then you probably already know you want to set up your own online business. But it can be difficult (and a little overwhelming) to know where to start. In fact, once you start doing your own research on where to begin, you may come across advice that could seem contradictory.
The fact that there is so much advice out there (some of which is sometimes contradictory) shouldn’t be surprising. Keyword research is as much an art as it is a science, and the Internet search engines that use keywords have very complicated (and proprietary) processes for determining which web pages show up in search results, and in which orders.
Although some of the inner workings of search engines are not made public (which leads to a number of different “experts” claiming that they have discovered the secrets), it’s generally accepted that one of the immutable truths for search engine success is the importance of keyword research. And despite the cacophony of viewpoints, keyword research, and the entire keyword optimization process, is a skill (or ability, depending on how you look at it) that anyone can learn.
Key Components of Keyword Research
Keyword research is ultimately designed to help you find highly targeted traffic, position yourself well in search engine results, and find a niche market that you can build your business around. Key components of keyword research include understanding:
* The definition of keywords and keyword phrases in the context of Internet search engines
* How Internet search engines use keyword phrases to provide the search results to their users
* The concept of “targeted visitors”, and how this is an essential part of your keyword research process
* Finding a niche market to focus your keyword research efforts
* The concept of competition for search engine traffic
* The various tools that you can use to perform quick, accurate, and generally free research
* Promoting your business and website by using the basic keyword concepts
Keyword research means your prospects will be able to find you when they’re searching for your valuable information. The search engines will position you in the top pages of their results. Your competition will be sidestepped, and eventually shoved aside, and you’ll be able to build a profitable business from the get go instead of struggling, throwing the metaphorical spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and losing money along the way.
Keyword research, when conducted with a specific strategy, can lead you to a online business that sells. It doesn’t matter what your business model is, what you’re marketing or who your audience is, you and your business will profit when you integrate keyword research into your business building strategy from day one.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
A “KISS” for Profits and Cash Flow
A “KISS” for Profits and Cash Flow
Simple Marketing Tactics that Drive Sales
The “K.I.S.S.” method has been a tried and true rule forever in many areas in life and business. For this article, The KISS method stands for: Keep It Simple for Sales!
Marketing tactics can be extremely complex or quite simple. Ironically, the simple tactics are the ones that are most effective and successful. Value-added headlines, informative content, and visual appeal are simple tactics that can drive conversions and sales.
For example, one simple tactic is to make it quick and easy for web visitors and customers to view information on your website. Allowing adequate white space, creating short sentences, and keeping enough space between words, sentences, and paragraphs will make your site more appealing.
In addition, the strategic use of keywords and keyword phrases will attract search engines and keep site visitors scanning your content. Words that demonstrate how your product adds value will capture attention and focus the reader on “what’s in it for them”.
And these are also valuable search engine optimization techniques that will drive visitors to your website.
Simple marketing tactics
A very important tactic is to make everything simple. Some recommended options include:
1. Bulleted or numbered lists (like this one)
2. Use of bold to highlight keywords or important benefits (use sparingly to ensure emphasis without over-use)
3. Subheadings to create a logical flow and to break large blocks of content
4. Titles and subheadings in ‘sentence case’ since capitalizing most words tends to break attention span and create confusion
5. Graphics or pictures that are clearly relevant to the product and that showcase benefits and value
6. Highlighting unique information, benefits and value by using ‘call out boxes’, ‘pull quotes’ and other design elements
7. Since people tend to scan web pages rather than read them, snippets or short phrases with important information become vital for website content. People need to get the message quickly without having to think hard about what is being presented. Making sentences overly long or complex tends to be a distraction and you’ll lose the site visitor’s attention quickly.
These are just some of the recommended options when creating website content.
Not only is it important to integrate many of the basic and advanced marketing tactics into your marketing plan, it is also vital to include methods of testing their effectiveness. Watching and monitoring statistics that indicate how long visitors remain on your pages, among other measures of success, will help you refine marketing tactics and improve your marketing strategy.
Once you deploy some of the more advanced marketing tactics that are proven effective you will begin to see conversions increase quickly. And increased conversion rates lead to higher sales and repeat business.
Advanced marketing tactics include options such as the use of powerful copy that attracts readers, inclusion of questions that help you lead customers toward sales, and using authority positioning to increase site integrity and credibility.
If you’re searching for ways to grow your business, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to evaluate marketing tactics that will put you on the super-highway to success. Evaluate what others have already tested and proven successful. Create the winning formula for your website and enjoy the success that comes from hard work and vision.
Simple Marketing Tactics that Drive Sales
The “K.I.S.S.” method has been a tried and true rule forever in many areas in life and business. For this article, The KISS method stands for: Keep It Simple for Sales!
Marketing tactics can be extremely complex or quite simple. Ironically, the simple tactics are the ones that are most effective and successful. Value-added headlines, informative content, and visual appeal are simple tactics that can drive conversions and sales.
For example, one simple tactic is to make it quick and easy for web visitors and customers to view information on your website. Allowing adequate white space, creating short sentences, and keeping enough space between words, sentences, and paragraphs will make your site more appealing.
In addition, the strategic use of keywords and keyword phrases will attract search engines and keep site visitors scanning your content. Words that demonstrate how your product adds value will capture attention and focus the reader on “what’s in it for them”.
And these are also valuable search engine optimization techniques that will drive visitors to your website.
Simple marketing tactics
A very important tactic is to make everything simple. Some recommended options include:
1. Bulleted or numbered lists (like this one)
2. Use of bold to highlight keywords or important benefits (use sparingly to ensure emphasis without over-use)
3. Subheadings to create a logical flow and to break large blocks of content
4. Titles and subheadings in ‘sentence case’ since capitalizing most words tends to break attention span and create confusion
5. Graphics or pictures that are clearly relevant to the product and that showcase benefits and value
6. Highlighting unique information, benefits and value by using ‘call out boxes’, ‘pull quotes’ and other design elements
7. Since people tend to scan web pages rather than read them, snippets or short phrases with important information become vital for website content. People need to get the message quickly without having to think hard about what is being presented. Making sentences overly long or complex tends to be a distraction and you’ll lose the site visitor’s attention quickly.
These are just some of the recommended options when creating website content.
Not only is it important to integrate many of the basic and advanced marketing tactics into your marketing plan, it is also vital to include methods of testing their effectiveness. Watching and monitoring statistics that indicate how long visitors remain on your pages, among other measures of success, will help you refine marketing tactics and improve your marketing strategy.
Once you deploy some of the more advanced marketing tactics that are proven effective you will begin to see conversions increase quickly. And increased conversion rates lead to higher sales and repeat business.
Advanced marketing tactics include options such as the use of powerful copy that attracts readers, inclusion of questions that help you lead customers toward sales, and using authority positioning to increase site integrity and credibility.
If you’re searching for ways to grow your business, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to evaluate marketing tactics that will put you on the super-highway to success. Evaluate what others have already tested and proven successful. Create the winning formula for your website and enjoy the success that comes from hard work and vision.
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