10 Tips for Setting Goals in 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2019!

Hi there.  Perhaps you have yet to wrap up business from the old year as you now look to make new plans for the new.  Here is a great article on wrapping up business to complete the last year and you have a video from a great business leader, John Lee, with his 10 tips for setting goals in 2019.  A powerful way to start the new year.  Let me know what you think with a comment below.

Wrapping up Business at Year End

By: Melody Campbell

If you're a small independent business owner it could serve you well to take a birds eye view of your entire money making process for your business.

1. Looking at this year's activity and make sure you've identified your most profitable customer - profile the characteristics that help you identify similar customers in the marketplace so that you develop your message specifically to target the customers with the characteristics you've identified as those of your most profitable customer.

In my promotional products business I want relational customers vs. transactional customers. All of my marketing and sales efforts are designed to attract the client that is looking for a trustworthy, reliable promotional products distributor with great ideas. The customer that wants a cheap transaction with no loyalty on either side of the table is probably not my customer and I'm not offended when they don't want to buy from me. As I've been doing business over the last 15 years I've identified the transactional customer as a time waster for me. I end up doing a lot of research and servicing of an account with very little profit.

2. Establish or fine tune the marketing message to the prospect you've identified with your profile as most likely to be your most profitable customer. Look at everything you are doing, saying and printing about and for your business - Is your message clearly spoken to the target customer?

3. Identify the most effective activity to reach your prospects and schedule that activity so that it happens consistently. If you bring customers in by running ads in your local newspaper then schedule them for the entire year. You get a better rate if you contract for a years worth of advertising. 

If the activity that brings you business is your weekly email newsletter then sit down and plan your editorial calendar for the year and begin to write the articles now. You can always edit or add to them before you send them out for those written far in advance. By using autoresponders you can schedule the email newsletter well in advance.

If the activity that builds your customer base is face to face selling then you need to be sure that you are calling on customers to schedule appointments. You should identify how many prospects you need to call to get appointments, and how many appointments you need to create sales for your product.

4. Understand your sales cycle. Whether or not you are running ads, sending email or scheduling appointments you need to understand what happens and how long it takes to finally close the sale. The rule of thumb is "the more costly the investment the longer the sales cycle." No matter what you sales cycle is you need to plan your most productive activity to steadily continue to draw in new prospects while you're finalizing sales for other customers.

I have a few small business owners who ask if they should take the time to do this kind of review of their business plan every year. YES, in fact, do a mini version of this every week to be sure that you're on track and making money consistently. Your income will be consistent if you've

·         Identified your customer

·         Established your most effective message

·         Identified the most productive activity

·         Understand your sales cycle

Take the time to do this review before the end of this year and give yourself the gift of more business next year.

Author Bio
Melody Campbell is The Small Business Guru. You can view more Small Business Owner Resources at The Small Business Guru website. Educate yourself for Success in the Core Competencies to becoming a Master Small Business Owner. New monthly membership trial for only $1 for the first 30 days! www.thesmallbusinessguru.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

Source: By Melody Campbell

http://www.articlegeek.com/business/small_business/business_wrap_up_year_end.htm

Master Affiliate Marketing - 7 Ways To Take Your Earnings To The Next Level

Are you using these tips in your affiliate marketing? Even if you are making money from affiliate marketing check out these tips to see if you could be leaving money on the table.  I’d love to hear how useful you find this article.  Leave a comment below.

Master Affiliate Marketing - 7 Ways To Take Your Earnings To The Next Level

By: James Simpson

It's a fact that affiliate marketing is one of the quickest ways to get a web business up and running. After all, you don't need a website, you don't need a list and you can start advertising someone else's product just 5 minutes from now.

And the great thing is you really can make money by doing it. But the truth is, if you are making money from a particular product you're promoting in this fashion, you're almost certainly leaving money on the table.

To explain why, we need to look at your average affiliate marketing strategy:

-- Pick a product to promote with a high affiliate payout ($50 or more)

-- Set up a pay-per-click campaign to promote your affiliate link

That's it! Those two steps are what the vast majority of affiliate marketers do. And that's why 95% of all affiliate payouts are made to just 5% of the people doing the marketing... because those top 5% are doing far more to earn their commissions than just a simple PPC campaign.

You need to understand that if you're fortunate enough to be making money from the product you're promoting just by doing those 2 basic steps, then it's almost a racing certainty that you're missing out on a mass of additional income.

Let's look at how you could increase your commissions and future related sales on just one product you're already making money from:

1. Build a 'name squeeze' page to capture your prospect's name and email address. It's a fact that virtually all product sales are made after the customer's fifth visit to the website.

If you're not capturing your prospect's details, how are you going to make sure they go back to the sales page using your affiliate link? To greatly improve the chances of this you can set up a 7-series autoresponder to automatically send your lead additional information and reminders about the product they're interested in. This approach will keep the product fresh in their mind.

2. Build a website reviewing the product you're promoting, including a newsletter to catch your prospect's details. You can give full details about how the product will solve your prospect's problems, giving an impartial review of the features and benefits with some real-life results.

The newsletter will allow you to keep in touch with your prospects in the same way as the name squeeze page method.

3. Offer additional bonuses for buying through your affiliate link. This gives your prospect a reason to buy from you, especially if they know you're going to make a commission from the sale.

The important thing here is that your bonus products are related to the product you're selling. I mean, there's no point advertising a bonus book on 'how to make your parrot talk' if your initial product is about training dogs to perform tricks.

4. Create video tutorials on how to use the product you're promoting. This works especially well when you're promoting a software product. You can show people how to get started as quickly as possible without them having to read the manual.

The vast majority of people learn visually, so they're much more likely to use your videos than read the manual supplied with the software. You can even tie this in with option 3; give your prospect free training videos if they buy through your affiliate link.

5. Make your own product to cross-promote. It can be an add-on to the product you're promoting as an affiliate. Again, you could easily offer it for free or at a discounted price if they buy through your affiliate link.

6. Promote related products via email. This works by creating an 'A ' Grade list out of your newsletter and squeeze page sign-ups, i.e. the people who have actually gone on to buy the product you're promoting.

It's a known fact that people who have a proven track record of buying online are more likely to buy from you again. You can easily recommend to them a related product that will further enhance their original purchase, resulting in more affiliate commissions for you.

7. Tie all of the above together. You don't have to use just one of the methods above. Use all of them.

Create a name squeeze page, build a review website with newsletter, add some bonuses to your affiliate link, make some video tutorials, develop your own related product and promote other affiliate products via email to the lists you've built with your name squeeze page and newsletter.

But before you do any of this, make sure you're promoting a product that sells. After all, spending your time doing all of the above for a product that is poorly supported, doesn't work properly or has a high refund rate is going to be time wasted.

Author Bio
James Simpson is an internet marketer and product developer. Currently he is producing 'how to' videos, showing how to properly use and benefit from XSitePro, over at www.xsitepro-videos.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

Source: by James Simpson

http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/affiliate_articles/master_affiliate_marketing_strategy.htm

Is Your B2B Website Falling Flat? Try These 7 Website Design Tips – Part 3

Want some tips to stand out from the competition?  Read on for these 7 website design tips in 3 parts.  Following on from yesterday, today in part 3 this article looks at tips 5, 6 and 7.  Let me know what you think with a comment below.

Is Your B2B Website Falling Flat? Try These 7 Website Design Tips – Part 3

There are more than 1.5 billion websites on the internet today. So for you as a B2B business owner, guess what this means? One word: competition.

You should do everything you can to stand out. And one great way to do this is through an effective website.

But if you’re not a designer, it can be hard to know how to optimize your site. That’s why we put together this guide for you with 7 tips for B2B website design.

Read them below!

5. Be Clear: Another B2B Website Tip

Your site should clearly outline your company’s value proposition. This is what you offer people. It’s information about your product or service and how it stands out from the rest of the market.

Keep in mind, however, that people don’t want to just read about the features of your product. They want to know how it will benefit them.

So be sure to include information about how your product or service will solve problems your prospects are dealing with.

6. Include Understandable Pricing Information

B2C products typically have a simple pricing model. B2B products or services, on the other hand, are usually more complicated in their pricing structure.

It’s common to have single products priced out, as well as various bundles or packages. And people who buy through an integrated partner or referral system sometimes get a discount.

In other situations, there are additional add-ons or customizations available which also change the pricing.

To avoid confusion, you should be as clear as possible on your site. Have your bundles displayed with comparison charts displaying the differences between the various options.

If your pricing is more complex than bundles, consider including a worksheet where people can pick and choose the products they want and a running total is calculated for them right then and there.

7. Provide Valuable Resources and Content

Not every visitor to your B2B website is ready to buy. Often, the purchase process is much longer. In these cases, you should provide educational content to these visitors.

This will allow you to still cultivate a relationship with these prospects even though they haven’t purchased anything yet. And when you offer valuable content, you’re developing trust with them as well.

Be sure to offer this content in exchange for an email address. That way, you can follow up with them through an email series which is aimed to prepare them for a future purchase.

Some great content options your team could create include:

·         Webinars

·         eBooks

·         Whitepapers

·         Downloadable guides

·         Quizzes

·         Video series

·         More detailed pricing guides

And these are just the beginning. There are so many options for downloadable content out there to improve your content marketing strategy.

Once you have all these content pieces created, they’re also great content to promote on social media as well.

Final Thoughts

Well, there you have it: 7 tips to improve your B2B website design. Now that you’ve gone through all of these options, it’s time to pick the ones that will work best for your situation right now.

Then start implementing them! You’ll be so glad you did once you start seeing the results.

Source:  By Dale Harris

https://www.articlecity.com/blog/is-your-b2b-website-falling-flat-try-these-7-website-design-tips/

Affiliate Marketing Success Secrets Revealed – Part 2

Welcome back to day 2 of Balraj BaalLee’s article.  As promised, here are his secrets 5-8.

Have you found this article valuable?  Let me know with a comment below.

Affiliate Marketing Success Secrets Revealed – Part 2

Secret #5: Create quality Ads

This task requires a lot of involvement and innovation on your part. First you have to choose how to advertise your product. PPC advertising is the best bet as your Ads are seen by only targeted visitors. Few points you should keep in mind for while writing your Ads are:

1. AdWords allow a limited amount of text in Ads. Hence ‘brevity’ is the keyword.

2. The only way to stand out from the rest is to be different.

3. Always pre-sell your product with your pitch page. 

4. Instill some sort of urgency in your prospects for buying in some limited time.

5. Always bring out free offers if any.

Secret #6: Capture Leads First 

Fewer than 5% of the people those see your Ads will buy the product on the first visit. So what happens to the 95% or more who don’t buy? 

Another big mistake that people generally make is spending time and money on advertising and send buyers directly to a product owner’s website. 

The truth is...If you aren’t capturing your visitor’s name and email address, you’re wasting your money on advertising.

For long-term success in affiliate marketing, you must build an opt-in list of buyers...people who trust you and purchase the products you recommend. You can sell multiple products to the same prospects and maximize your advertising efforts. All you need is a simple pitch page to capture leads and an autoresponder.

Secret #7: Offer a Strong Incentive 

If you want people to opt in to your list, you have to give them a strong incentive. If you can create a PDF report on a high-demand topic that’s actually good enough to sell and then give it away, people will like to download it. But how much information you should give away in your free product. Give your customers just sufficient information to make them want more and then recommend a product that fulfills their needs. 

Secret #8: Track Your Ads

Tracking is critical for determining how well you're converting visitors to leads and leads to sales. Sometimes you just need to tweak your ad copy and run the ad again for better results. You may also like to disable the keywords which are not converting.

You need to know how many visitors, leads and sales you get for each ad you place so you can determine whether or not you want to keep using that traffic source or discard it.

Author Bio

I am in internet marketing business for about a year now and have considerable success and experience in affiliate programs. I am also maintaining my site at www.10by10guide.com

Source: By: Balraj BaaLee

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/affiliate_articles/5620-affiliatemarket.htm

Do you know the secrets of attraction marketing?  How would your business look with the secret ingredients of attraction in your marketing formula.  David Pineda has written a great article on the subject.

How To Attract Prospects To Your Business Magnetically

By: David Pineda

A magnet has the properties to attract certain metals, and a magnetic person has the qualities, talents, or skills to attract others in a magnetic like manner.

In the world of network marketing, how can someone acquire that type of personality, how can someone become a magnetic sponsor, and develop a large base of customers using magnetic like attributes?

Before I answer that question, read this quote:

"Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes - NOT information about drills!" - Perry Marshall

There is a lot of meaning behing this quote, but in a few words it contains the secret to becoming a highly successfull magnetic sponsor.

Would you rather spend $200 bucks on a drill, or first get free or inexpensive information to learn how to operate that drill properly and effectively? If you are like me, I am sure you would first learn more about how you can make a good hole with this tool before making that kind of purchase.

Would you rather buy from a salesperson who insists that his/her drill is the best tool for what you want to do? I wouldn't. Because I don't like to be sold, and I don't like people to pitch their sales number on me.

Would you rather buy from a person who gave you free information or inexpensive information on how to properly operate, and get the best results from that tool, and who did not try to pitch a drill on you?

Again, if you are like me, you would buy from a person who first took the time to educate you on how to make that hole proper. In your mind, this person is an expert in his/her field, he/she knows what he/she is talking about. So you sell yourself on buying that drill from him/her.

This is what many network marketers keep doing, they keep pitching their opportunities on their family, friends, relatives, and get all hyped up on the net, on their ads, and every one they encounter. But guess what? People do not care about your business opportunity, what they care about is a solution to their problems. In other words, you did not buy a business opportunity (drill) because you wanted one. You wanted a solution (hole) for more free time to spend with your family, be your own boss, earn a living online, or get rich, etc..

So, what you need to do instead of pitching your opportunity to your prospects, is to sell them inexpensive or give away free information that shows how to solve problems - how to drill that "hole."

If you can show them how to make that "hole", your prospects will come to the conclusion on their own without you pounding hard on them that they need a drill from you. Why? Because you gave them free knowledge or inexpensive information on how to accomplish their goal, and therefore earning their trust in you.

This is one of the main principles that will allow you to become magnetic and attract your prospects to come to you, instead of you chasing after them.

Author Bio
David Pineda is an active affiliate of Magnetic Sponsoring and of Turn Words Into Traffic. To request the complete free 10 day boot camp training course send an email to: networkmagnetism@sbcglobal.net or go to: www.davidhpineda.ws

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

http://www.articlegeek.com/business/marketing/attract_business_prospects.htm