starting an online business from scratch

Starting An Online Business From

Scratch

For Aspiring & Budding Entrepreneurs...

Buyer: Carina Parry ([email protected])Transaction ID: jg-n1hxudc7d1d7b94

Introduction

Since the inception of Ejunkie.info, the entire team has been relentlessly

working towards inspiring and motivating those who like us are awed by the

endless opportunities that the Internet has to offer. This is a blog for those

strive to make a mark for themselves by exploring numerous platforms that the

Internet has to offer. Our articles are aimed towards bringing information,

ideas, tips, examples, updates and changes that can help our readers can take a

calculative and wellinformed approach towards achieving their goal.

"Starting An Online Business From Scratch" eBook is one such attempt by E

junkie.info where we've brought together 11 authors to help you start your

online business from scratch.

Starting one's own business is no easy task. There are so many things that one

has to think about, like what type of business to start, how to go about doing it,

how to use the finances well, what sort of platform to choose and the toughest

part – promoting your business. This eBook is your very own guide on

entrepreneurship. Filled with insights and tips by experienced entrepreneurs

and experts.

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http://www.e-junkie.info/

We know how difficult a task it is to go about setting up one's own online

business. In order to make things easy we've divided the eBook into 4

categories:

• Ideas

• Finance

• Platforms

• Promotion

We sincerely hope that this eBook inspires you to finally get started on your

dream online business without worring about whattodonext. Because once

you're done reading this eBook we're sure that you'll be ready to take the

entrepreneurial plunge without any hesitation.

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Table Of Contents

Idea

1. Why Listening to Credible People Is Costing You 710

2. Why Your Blog Needs a Business Plan to Make Money 1115

3. Secrets of Big Breaks, Myths of Instant Success 1626

4. Should You Officially Register Your Online Business? 2734

5. 6 Timely Tips to Warm Up to Cold Calling! 3539

Finance

6. 3 Fresh Ideas For Monetizing Your Blog 4146

7. Tips On How To Handle The Financing Of Your Online Business Starting From Scratch

4750

8. Start As You Mean To Go On: Online Accounting For Your Online Business

5156

9. How a Joint Venture Partnership Scored Me Free Content

5762

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Platform

10. How To Choose The Best Platform For Your Online Business

6466

11. What Is The Best Platform For An Online Business? 6771

12. 5 Platforms To Create Online Communities 7276

Promotion

13. Promoting Your Online Store 7884

14. Are The Words You Choose Driving People Away 8589

15. Understanding The Very Basics Of Marketing For Small Businesses

9097

16. How To Be More Productive With Your Online Marketing Efforts

98103

17. Why Your Advertising Is Being Ignored 104107

18. Social Media Marketing Advice for Online Business Owners

108113

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Ideas

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Why Listening to Credible People Is Costing You

By Kenneth Vogt of Vera Claritas

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to no one.” ~William Shakespeare

When we find ourselves in need of business advice, guidance or even simply

information, we commonly seek out familiar confidants. We start with the

people we already know and trust. They might be someone we know on a

personal level. Or it could be we know them on a professional level or just know

of their reputation in a certain area of expertise.

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http://www.veraclaritas.com/

Their credibility in our eyes may be because of their experience or credentials,

or from referrals from other people who have credibility with us.

Credentials themselves are an interesting topic. We are trusting strangers

whom we believe to have expertise to designate who else has expertise in a

certain arena. For instance, we trust universities to vet doctors and engineers,

and government agencies to vet insurance agents and general contractors.

So far everything is fine. But where things go off the rails is when we start

seeing a targeted expert as a general expert or a trusted friend as a trusted

source on all topics. It's easiest to see when the areas of expertise are far apart.

If your web developer gives you advice on taxation, it may be obvious that this is

not his line. But when your web developer gives you advice on internet

marketing, you may be inclined to assume that he must have this expertise.

Alas, most computer science schools include very little or perhaps nothing at all

in their curricula about marketing.

I just made a direct statement about developers and marketing. Do you believe

me? If you do, it is because I have some standing credibility with you. But I got

out of computer school in 1979 long before the internet or even personal

computers. It may be that what I said is accurate. But basing your confidence in

my statement on unrelated credibility can get you into trouble.

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There is no area where this phenomena is more prevalent (and more damaging)

than when it comes to business advice. It seems that everybody will weigh in on

any business topic you like. They all have an opinion, often without a shred of

pertinent experience. But you listen and you trust. Why? Because they are

smart or they are a close friend or they are so confident or they are your beloved

uncle Billy Bob.

You don’t have to stop trusting them and of course you don’t have to stop loving

them. But do not be sucked in to believing they are an expert on all things

because of your fond relationship.

Just remember:

• Credibility has limits.

• Credibility has a shelf life.

• Credibility requires context.

Trust your doctor about your prescription. Trust your gramma about apple pie.

Trust your buddy about beer. Just be mindful of the limits of their business

expertise.

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Remember that past expertise may not be expertise any longer. “Back in my day

we didn’t worry about drinking what came out of the tap,” says Grampa. I love

you, Grampa, but it’s not back in your day anymore.

Just because I’ve “worked with computers” my whole career does not mean I

know anything at all about javascript or motherboards or embedded chips. I’m

not even sure what some of that stuff was that I just typed. The point is, the

context of my computer expertise is critical if you intend to listen to my counsel

in those areas.

So stop accepting the business advice of credible people who pontificate about

topics outside of their expertise. But when uncle Billy Bob is talking football,

you better listen and listen good.

Author the author: Kenneth Vogt helps expanding entrepreneurs make a wider

wake in the world. Come see how at Vera Claritas. (That's "True Clarity" for you

nonLatin speakers.)

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Why Your Blog Needs a Business Plan to Make Money

By Jennifer Brown Banks of Pen and Prosper

We spend countless hours conceptualizing clever posts, crafting attention

grabbing headlines, connecting with our community through comments, and

promoting content via social media sites.

But amidst all the madness, few of us take time to determine our direction, or

devise a plan that truly allows us to reap a return on our sweat equity.

Yet one of the most common questions on business related “bulletin boards” and

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http://penandprosper.blogspot.com/

popular howto sites is “How can I make money from my blog?”

Experts will tell you, there are various ways to earn pay for your say from

selling products, to affiliate programs, to accepting ad placements.

But to optimize your efforts, your blog should ultimately have a business plan.

Here are three of the most important reasons why.

1. A business plan is a decision making tool. It helps you to approach blogging

from a professional perspective that forces you to identify your short and long

term goals and your ideal “customer”. By putting it in writing, you break

through your “blog fog” and become more focused and forward thinking.

2. A business plan helps to determine your structure. Will you blog as a “sole

proprietor” or as part of a blogging team? Will you have multiple sites devoted

to different themes, or one site that addresses an array of topics? Selfhosted, or

will you blog through a free platform first, then convert? The more questions

you can tackle, the easier the battle, and the more strategic you become.

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3. A business plan prevents you from blogging blindly, or following gimmicks or

trends that may not be in the best interest of your business objectives or belief

system. Some examples might be “oversharing,” sponsoring “comments”

contests, giveaways, or embedding videos as blog posts.

Now that you know why, here’s what it should include.

WHO Who is your target audience? Readers or clients? In other words, will it

be businesses or other writers? Beginning bloggers? Stay at home moms?

Fiction fanatics? The answer to these questions will determine your “voice“,

language, formality, and level of content. It will also influence which blogs to

guest post to attract clients and potential followers.

WHAT What is your marketing plan? Will you promote your blog primarily

through guest posts at topdog sites? Hit people up through Twitter and other

social media forums? Engage in ad exchanges with other bloggers? How much

money is in your marketing budget? These are all valid issues worth assessing.

WHY What’s your purpose for being in the blogosphere? This may seem

simple, but in essence, it isn’t. For example, social service agencies may blog to

increase awareness of an important social cause, while celebrities may blog to

increase their fan base. Some writers blog to entertain, while others blog to

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educate. There are even those who use their platforms to vent. There is no right

or wrong reason. However, knowing why you blog shapes your expectations, and

helps you to stay committed during challenging times.

HOW How will advertisers benefit from advertising at your site? What are

your subscriber numbers? Your connections? Your influence? Your draw?

When I pitch to other businesses, I make sure to mention the fact that my blog

has won various awards/mentions, has had a Google Rank of 4, and is linked to

sites with much bigger followings like WritingWorld.com and Pocketchange

lifestyle blog. And if applicable, you should share your success stories too.

There are many ways to approach a business plan, depending upon your goals,

blogging personality, and personal preferences.

Just remember, that like any other money making “product,” your blog will be

much more progressive and profitable if a good business plan is factored into

the equation.

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About the author: Jennifer Brown Banks is a veteran freelance writer, ghost

writer, pro blogger and creative strategist. She coaches writers and businesses on

how to build a bigger “platform” and ultimately a bigger bottom line. Learn more

tips at her awardwinning site Pen and Prosper.

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Secrets of Big Breaks, Myths of Instant Success

By Gary Korisko of Reboot Authentic

So you’ve worked your tail off doing all the right things for your business, but

it’s still always a struggle – an uphill battle. And you don’t feel like you’re

getting the traction or the attention you deserve.

You know that feeling, right? It’s exasperating.

And over there is THAT guy who’s getting all the attention and all the breaks.

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http://rebootauthentic.com/

If only you had the same breaks, surely you could have had instant success just

like THAT guy did.

It’s easy to fall into that kind of thinking – but negative emotions like jealousy

and envy only serve one purpose: To keep you from achieving the level of

significance you’re capable of.

On top of being negative, that thinking is just plain old wrong – and I’ll tell

you why…

What Do The Boogie Man, The Tooth Fairy, and Instant Success Have In Common?

All three are fictitious creatures.

When someone bursts upon the scene in any industry and becomes successful

quickly, it’s easy to assume that they got a big break that lead to their “instant”

success.

What we often fail to realize is that big breaks come to those who have worked

their ass off for years laying the foundation for those opportunities. Let’s face it:

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the press doesn’t lavish attention upon a “nobody” doing all the right things.

The world only notices people when they begin to appear above the horizon.

And so we buy into the illusion of instant success.

Don’t believe it. It’s not a real thing.

The real secret of big breaks is ridiculously simple, and yet largely overlooked by

people in business. It’s something I call right work.

Right work is the one thing all the insanely successful people who I’ve ever

known have in common. Let’s talk about what that means.

Busy Work vs. Right Work

Being busy doing something doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. On the other

hand, being busy doing the right kind of things can lead to amazing

accomplishments.

I could keep you busy 12 hours a day sorting socks, but that doesn’t mean your

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day would have been well spent or that any of your activity would get you any

closer to achieving your goals.

You need to learn how to do right work. When you build a strong foundation

rooted in right work, you attract opportunities and big breaks. In fact, they

begin to appear seemingly out of nowhere.

Let me give you a couple examples of people whose ground work paved the way

for their apparent sudden success.

A Familiar Success Story

Firepole Marketing readers should recognize this graph…

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To the uninitiated, this graph might appear to tell the story of “some guy”

named Danny Iny who caught a lucky break in January of 2011 by getting a

guest post accepted on Copyblogger, right?

Hardly. If you’ve done any reading about Danny, you know that he has been

working like crazy as an entrepreneur since he was 15 years old. All that time –

learning, winning some, losing some, and making connections.

So, sure: Danny got a big break online by landing that post on Copyblogger. And

it very likely played a part in the eventual success of Firepole Marketing. But

I’d wager his success could more accurately be attributed to all the right work

he did for years before anyone online noticed him.

Another Insanely Successful Person

If you don’t know the name Mary Jaksch, you should. She’s a talented writer

and editor, a hugely successful blogger, and one of the highest quality humans

I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Mary is a Master of Mastery. In her life she has mastered music, psychotherapy,

Zen, martial arts, and is now a highlevel blogger and successful online

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http://www.firepolemarketing.com/2011/05/31/high-impact-entrepreneurship/

http://www.firepolemarketing.com/danny-iny/

entrepreneur.

Back in 2008 it appeared to many people online as if super blogger Leo Babuta

picked her randomly out of the crowd and brought her into his blog Write To

Done as a partner.

What all of us on the outside didn’t know is that Mary had been building the

foundation of success her entire life. Right work shone through in every single

field she mastered.

And when she decided to start blogging… heck, the blogosphere didn’t stand a

chance.

As a fan of Write to Done (and a skilled writer/editor) Mary began

corresponding with Leo – volunteering to help with the blog whenever Leo

needed it. Her volunteer work was quality work. So when Leo said yes to Mary’s

proposal to be partners, he may have provided her with a big break, but she

earned it years before by laying a foundation of right work.

So there are two examples: The first – a guy who is an amazing business mind

and has spent his entire adult life honing his expertise. The other – a Master of

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http://www.alistbloggingbootcamps.com/the-accidental-entrepreneur-marys-story/

Mastery who has successfully reinvented herself many times over.

Two very different people – but with something very important in common:

Right work.

So What Is Right Work?

There is a set of common characteristics among insanely successful people. I call

it right work because these are qualities that build coalitions, bring people

together, and push processes forward.

It’s amazingly simple to do right work – and it’s totally devoid of all the

metrics, conversion ratios, or other analytical details we all normally obsess

about.

What I refer to as right work is simply a combination of hard work, integrity,

and altruism – which is an unselfish concern for the welfare of others.

While the insanely successful people I keep referring to work extremely hard,

they all care about something bigger than themselves, their wealth, or their

personal status.

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The breaks enjoyed by insanely successful people are a direct byproduct of the way they live and work.

How To Do Right Work And Create Your Own Big Breaks

Right work is really just a very simple set of principles that successful people

intentionally live by. Check yourself – and see if you are following in their

footsteps.

1: Have An Intense Love Of What You Do

Do you go to sleep and wake up thinking about your work? Not in the “ache in

the pit of your stomach” way. I mean in the enthusiastic, energized, “can’t wait

for tomorrow” kind of way. If not, maybe you should think about that. Successful

people are so excited by what they do that at times they can’t tell if they’re

working or playing.

2: Cultivate A Passion For Learning

The insanely successful don’t stop learning when they graduate from school. In

fact, that’s usually when they accelerate their education. They’re in the position

to get big breaks because they’re always on the intellectual prowl.

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3: Spend Your Time On The Right Things

Successful people aren’t just busy – they’re busy doing the right things. They

spend their time on tasks that will get results – and delegate the other stuff.

4: Develop Confidence And Fortitude

Most people fold up the tent and quit too early. When things get tough and

you’re experiencing resistance, consider that you’re probably about to push

through to something really significant. The insanely successful have confidence

in their path and their plan. They push forward no matter what the obstacle is.

5: Live Without Hesitation

To hell with waiting for the perfect tool, the perfect conditions, or the perfect

timing. Do you know when the insanely successful execute their plans? Now.

Better to execute today and have some contingency plans than to sit and wait

for those perfect conditions that will never appear.

6: Practice Sincere Engagement

It’s appropriate that this post is appearing here on the home turf of the King of

Engagement. All of the insanely successful people I’ve ever known are experts

at engaging others. If you can’t make sincere connections with your customers,

your peers, your employees, and your partners – you have an uphill battle in

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http://www.engagementfromscratch.com/download.html

http://www.engagementfromscratch.com/download.html

front of you, my friend. No one gets there alone. Sincere engagement is key. But

it must be truly sincere. Engagement isn’t a tactic you can fake to get what you

want – it’s a way of living.

7: Help Those Who Deserve It: A Love of People

Lastly – every insanely successful person I know is generous with their time

and sincerely love helping talented people get ahead. Winners don’t have to

push other people down to succeed. When put in a position to help someone who

has laid the foundation and done right work, they usually step up and give the

deserving a hand.

If you already practice the seven principles of right work, good for you. You’re on

the right track. If not, take them to heart. Practice these principles in your life

and see if the world doesn’t start to look at you through a different lens.

Presently, I am on the hunt for someone who has done right work and laid the

foundation for their business to do something amazing. I have decided to hold a

Free Airfare Giveaway and fly one lucky person round trip to anywhere in the

Continental United States to do something positive for their business. I am

happy to extend an invitation to all Firepole Marketing readers to enter.

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http://rebootauthentic.com/airfare-giveaway/

http://www.firepolemarketing.com/2011/05/23/why-no-one-can-go-it-alone/

About the author: Gary Korisko writes about The Art of Genuine Influence on

his blog Reboot Authentic. Download his FREE eBook, How To Alienate All The

Right People a realworld guide to breaking away from the herd and doing

something special. This post was published on Firepole Marketing, a blog by

Danny Iny.

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http://www.firepolemarketing.com/2013/02/08/big-breaks-instant-success/

http://rebootauthentic.com/ej-aarp/



Should You Officially Register Your Online Business?

By Yuwanda Black of InkwellEditorial

I’ve owned quite a few businesses in my day – some I’ve registered; some not.

Each person and their situation is different. To this end, following are six things

to consider when trying to decide if officially registering your online business is

right for you.

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http://inkwelleditorial.com/

I. PAPERWORK

Any type of business you register is going to generate paperwork from good old

Uncle Sam (ie, the IRS). The reason I didn’t register some of the businesses I’ve

owned is that I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of filling out some

inane tax form because I made $7,000 last year.

Some things you will be forced to deal with: Filing annual and/or quarterly

taxes (no matter how much you made – or lost); paying business registration

fees; getting an EIN number, filing more complicated personal taxes; etc.

The paperwork – for even the simplest business – can be, at best,

annoying; and at worst, downright harrying. If you’re not adept at this,

don’t want to deal with it and/or can’t afford to hire an accountant to handle it,

then you might want to accept checks in your own name, instead of registering a

business (at least for a while; more on this below).

II. ABOUT YOUR IMAGE

This is one of the major reasons to register a business. It makes you appear

more professional. Although, I know plenty of longtime online businesss

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owners who accept payment in their own name. On the invoice, simply put:

“Make Payable to Yuwanda Black,*” for example.

This is especially true since the popularity of PayPal and other online payment

processors exploded. This is because you can invoice clients directly from your

PayPal account, which means all clients have to do is click a button to pay you.

“Who” they’re paying (eg, you or a company you’ve registered) doesn’t even come

up.

A note about sending paper invoices: If you have a website and the name of the

business listed on the site is, for example, The Writing Tavern, most clients

will automatically assume that’s how checks should be made out.

I’ve done both in my career – and really, once you secure a client, it hasn’t made

that much of a difference because by then, they will have the (great) quality of

your product/service work in front of them.

*Note: If you have to fill out W9 forms, you might want to consider getting an

EIN (Employer Identification Number). That way, you don’t’ have to give out

your social security number when you fill this form out. You’ll just input your

EIN. FYI, to get an EIN is free.

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http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/How-to-Apply-for-an-EIN

http://taxes.about.com/b/2008/01/27/whats-form-w-9.htm

III. REGISTERING THE RIGHT WAY

What I mean by this is, if you decide to register your business, take the time to

figure out which structure works best for you (eg, a sole proprietorship, a

Corporation (Subchapter S, Subchapter C, LLC)); etc.

Setting up the right structure is critical to getting the right tax breaks for you

and your financial situation. So, consult a professional and/or do some extensive

reading on it before you decide.

Following is my story to give you some perspective.

Registering My Business: My Story

When Inkwell Editorial, my company, was first started, my sister (the original

founder) set it up as a sole proprietorship.

Once I officially came on as a fullfledged partner, we reregistered it as a

partnership. When we opened the staffing division, we reregistered it yet

again, incorporating – first as a Subchapter C, then as a Subchapter S (once we

hired an accountant, he advised us that this was the best structure for us).

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While all the changes we made were based on the needs of the business at the

time, we could have registered as a Subchapter S right from the start and saved

all those filing fees and extra trips to the courthouse.

BECAUSE … oh yeah, every time you change the business structure, there

is a fee (gotta love the USA’s good ole Uncle Sam – he has his hand in every pie

you bake!). I’m sure there’s some kind of equivalent in every other country too.

IV. ABOUT LIABILITY

One of the main reasons to register a business is to protect personal assets. FYI,

not all business structures offer this protection (eg, sole proprietorships,

partnerships and even in some cases corporations).

People sue for any and everything these days. While you may be thinking,

“What could a I as an online business owner do to cause someone to

want to sue me,” you’d be surprised.

So if you’re starting the type of online business that opens you up to great

liability, you definitely want to consider registering your business so that your

personal assets are protected you’re your home, car, personal savings, etc.).

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V. CAREER UNCERTAINTY

What I’m getting at here is, are you sure this is a business you’re going to stick

with – at least for the next 2, 3, or 5 years. Why is this important?

In my opinion, you shouldn’t go through the expense of registering a business if

you’re not sure you’re going to stick with it for at least a couple of tax filings

(again, unless you’re in the type of business that opens you up to great liability).

While registering a business is not all that expensive, it sets into motion

a series of things that have to be taken care of if you decide to close up

shop, which brings me to my last point . . .

VI. CLOSING UP SHOP

If you register your online business, you can’t simply decide to quit and that’s it.

You have to file closing papers with the government. Otherwise, you will

continue to get bills from the IRS associated with your business – eg, quarterly

tax fillings, annual registration fees, etc.

I’ve owned three or four side businesses that I did not register for this

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very reason. They were hobby businesses that generated a few thousand

dollars a year. So, I just accepted payment in my own name and of course,

claimed it on my personal tax return.

Once I no longer wanted to do the business, there was no closing paperwork.

Now, did I get all the tax breaks I could have gotten had I registered them as a

business? Most probably not. But, I’ve been at this long enough to weigh the

headaches of having to file this form and that one for an official business, as

opposed to just quitting – and that’s it.

I abhor IRS paperwork – it’s like Chinese math to me. Not only that, it takes up

space in my head because I worry if I filed the right form, sent it to the right

department, calculated the right fee due, etc. I’d rather use that energy for

other, more productive things.

But, you may be a different personality type.

I did register my major businesses – Inkwell Editorial, and the now defunct,

EthnicHomeDécor.com (which was an online retailer of soft home goods). I put a

lot of money into these and wanted all the tax breaks associated with running

them from home and paying for supplies, materials, advertising, travel, etc.

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Final Thoughts: Should Officially Register Your Online Business

While it may seem that I’m against registering a business – I’m not at all. I’ve

just found that unless you’re going to be in this for the long haul, and plan to

take full advantage of the tax breaks a workfromhome career allows, you

might want to hold off on it.

You can register a business at any time. When you do, be sure to get the advice

of at least a trusted accountant and maybe business lawyer, depending on the

type of online business you open. They will be able to set you up right from the

beginning – and you’ll be well positioned to take full advantage of all the perks

associated with owning a home business.

About the Author: Yuwanda Black has been a freelance writer since 1993 and

is the webmaster of InkwellEditorial.com, a site that teaches others how to start

successful freelance writing careers. She also heads New Media Words, an SEO

writing company she founded in 2008. In 2007, she started earning $100

250+/day writing SEO content in less than three weeks. In 2009, she

developed an SEO copywriting course that teaches aspiring freelancers the skills

they need to do the same, right from the comfort of home. You can take the class

online or in person in Jamaica!

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http://www.seowritingjobs.com/seo-copywriting-training/

6 Timely Tips to Warm Up to Cold Calling!

By Jennifer Brown Banks of Pen and Prosper

Many businesses construct online sites with all the bells and whistles, expecting

it to be the equivalent of a lottery ticket to a better life, and a bigger profit

margin.

Though websites are great promotional tools, today’s savvy entrepreneur

recognizes that a website or blog should be used in tandem with other

marketing efforts for optimal results. Simply put, an attractive site may get

potential customers to your virtual doorstep, but may not necessarily convert

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them into paying clients.

This is where coldcalling can come in. This popular, ageold technique that’s

been used effectively to enhance sales by other industries for decades, can

increase an entrepreneur’s client base, confidence and bottom line.

In fact, many will discover that in this technological world, a small gesture like

a phone call can make a big difference. Why? It provides a personal touch, can

help establish immediate rapport, and increases efficiency.

For those who believe coldcalling puts them in the same category as “pesky

telemarketers,” it‘s time for a paradigm shift. In today’s tough economic climate,

one must employ every advantage to stay in the game and stay in the black.

According to Peter Bowerman, author of the Wellfed Writer series, “Assuming

you’re a competent, reliable writer, if you pursue this business, you’ll be a

professional marketing a valuable and needed professional service to other

professionals.”

Note: This year alone, I landed several major clients by simply dialing up

businesses that had advertised in our local community newspapers. And you

can too.

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Now that you know why, here are six savvy ways to warm up to coldcalling:

1. Believe in what you’re selling.

Are you a killer copywriter? An expert in SEO? Have you written an informative

selfhelp book that you’re convinced bookstore owners in your area should know

about? Ask any veteran salesman and he’ll tell you the better you feel about

your product or services, the easier it is to get “geeked” about it, and have others

feel good about it too.

2. Remember, practice makes perfect.

There’s no doubt about it: many writers and sole proprietors are rather shy by

nature. But, don’t let that stop you from closing the deal. Write out a script and

rehearse it. However, don’t recite it word for word, or it will sound “scripted”

when you’re communicating with others. The more you “pitch“, the easier it

becomes to score.

3. Work smarter, not harder.

Do a little background research on the companies you target. What are their

strengths? Who is their customer base? Go even further. Purchase “lead lists”

that specifically identify your ideal client . For example, a list can be bought

according to a preferred geographic area, income level or business type. Keep in

mind that a strategic approach increases your odds of success and prevents

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potential burnout.

4. Understand that there’s a psychology to selling.

Whether you’re peddling widgets or words, it‘s crucial to get into your potential

customer‘s head. What specific needs does your service or product address? How

can you help others to become more productive or profitable? Assess then

deliver.

5. Recognize that timing is everything.

To optimize your efforts, call when it’s likely you won’t be considered an

intrusion or inconvenience. For example, don’t make contact ten minutes before

closing time, or five minutes after the start of business hours. Always be polite

to “gate keepers”.

6. Mentally “suit up”.

Boxer, Muhammad Ali, used to chant “I’m the greatest” before entering the ring

with his opponents. And a similar preparation is needed before you do battle in

business! Preparation might be repeating positive affirmations, or listening to

your favorite motivational speaker on audio tape, or visualizing your success

first. Preparation helps to cushion the blows of rejection and equips you to go

the distance.

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Observe these six timely tips and you’ll discover that coldcalling can be another

effective way to “connect” with customers and build your business.

Suggested Resource: Successful Cold Call Selling by Lee Boyan

About the author: Jennifer Brown Banks is a veteran freelance writer, ghost

writer, pro blogger and creative strategist. She coaches writers and businesses on

how to build a bigger “platform” and ultimately a bigger bottom line. Learn more

tips at her awardwinning site Pen and Prosper.

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http://www.amazon.com/Successful-Cold-Call-Selling-Examples/dp/0814477186

Finance

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3 Fresh Ideas For Monetizing Your Blog

By Brankica Underwood

You’ve all the usual work on your blog when it comes to monetizing it, but it

doesn’t seem to be working.

You put the advertising in the sidebar, a very pretty banner you were sure will

get a lot of clicks. Nothing happened.

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http://brankicaunderwood.com/

Then you added Google Adsense to your posts, but they are making pennies.

You tried optimizing them, changing colors and sizes and still barely making it

to a dollar from time to time.

Well, it is time to step away from the common way of monetizing your blog and

use some creativity to try and make it work.

Spin on a product review

Instead of reviewing a product in your niche as everyone else does, try making a

“comparison” review instead.

Pick not one, but two great products and review them in the same post,

highlighting their qualities and comparing the features.

Sure, one of them will most likely be better than the other, but that doesn’t

mean they both won’t sell. You will be presenting the products as a user and not

everyone needs the same features so they will make a decision based on

comparison you made.

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You are actually making it much easier because they can see the two side by

side.

Just think of it as comparing an entry level Canon DSLR camera to the same

type Nikon camera. It is hard to decide which one is better, so the best you can

do to help your readers is give them the details in a comparison and let them

pick.

Solve problems for free

Every single market has its specific problems and as someone who creates

content in order to help people, this should be your main goal – helping them

solve specific problems.

Of course, if you give free solutions to problems that usually require some

money, you may think you are wasting your time and potential income.

However, there is still a way to continue giving people free solutions while

having the chance to make some money along the way.

Let’s say you are in a swimsuit industry. You create custom suits and sell them

$300 a piece (yes, this is a real example, I am a girl, trust me on this). For a lot

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of girls, this price is very high but they would love to have one of those pretty

suits.

How can you make money without actually selling the suits?

Create tutorials on how to make them, make videos with the main goal to be

helpful. You are giving your trade away for free. But you won’t really. Give a

general pattern for the suit, but charge to make one by exact measurements of

the girl. Include affiliate links to stores that sell the fabric or sewing machines

needed to make these suits.

Those that decide to use your free tutorials will often buy through your links –

more money for you. And a lot of them will try to make them and realize how

hard it is just to turn around and actually get the suit from you.

Yes, you will give a lot but when people recognize how much you give for free

they will try to pay it back somehow.

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Let the tips sell the tool

This is another spin on reviewing a tool. Instead of writing a regular review,

contact 5 to 10 people that are using it and ask them to share a tip on how to

get the most out of it.

For example, if you were in the bloggingmarketing niche, see which of the more

known bloggers are using a tool (for example Market Samurai for keyword

research) and ask them to share their best tip on how to use it.

If you are a mommy blogger, pick a book that is popular in your community and

ask several moms who have read it, how did they implement the tips from it in

their every day life.

The possibilities with this are endless.

Conclusion

You’ve heard it so many times, and I will repeat it again – think outside the box.

You don’t have to stick out as a sore thumb if that makes you feel uncomfortable

but having a unique idea or two can help move your blog forward towards more

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income.

About the author: Brankica Underwood loves to write about social media and

internet marketing and is addicted to internet. Working online full time and

sharing everything she learned along the way. Circle Brankica on Google Plus,

she loves a good conversation there.

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https://plus.google.com/118443829529347986211/about


Tips On How To Handle The Financing Of Your Online

Business Starting From Scratch

By Shaun Chatman

The Internet offers a global marketplace of opportunities, so creating an online

business makes a lot of sense. However it's a harsh reality that 90 percent of

online ventures fail in just five years. Read on discover how to generate the

financing you need for your business to buck the trends.

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https://plus.google.com/u/0/108669581696135088160

Calculate Your Costs

While online businesses have lower overheads than brickandmortar firms,

there are still many costs involved. The first key to handling your finances is to

be realistic about your needs.

Can you rely on your own skills, or do you need to outsource computer

programming, website design, bookkeeping, and other businessrelated tasks?

Consider what you have to work with. Do you have usable office space and a

reliable computer network, or do you need to invest in these too? Web hosting

and server fees, product inventory, office supplies, marketing materials, and

employee salaries are other items you may consider.

Once you've determined what you need to invest in, research how much these

products and services will cost. This is the base amount you need to launch your

business.

Create a Business Plan

Obtaining financing can be a bit like gambling, but creating a polished business

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plan can increase your odds. This document should present all aspects of your

online business and highlight how your venture fills a unique need. A concise

executive statement, comprehensive market research, financial reports for the

present and future, and marketing materials are all important elements.

If that all sounds like a lot of work, consider this: Studies show startups with

business plans raise twice the capital in their first year as those without this

vital document. The seed money alone will be worth an investment of your time.

Borrow from the Right Places

Unless you're independently wealthy, you'll probably need to borrow money to

kickstart your online business. Credit cards are an easy option, but they attract

high interest rates up to an average of 36 percent that will chip away at your

profits. Business loans available through local banks and credit unions are a

much smarter choice, as they incur interest of around seven percent. Remember

to apply with your business plan in hand and a slick visual presentation.

Hit Up Investors

Investors will provide the startup capital, typically in exchange for a share of

the profits. Your business plan will come in handy again when speaking to

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investors. You could meet potential stockholders at small business events in

your area, or find them online through an angel network. It's more effective to

target investors with a proven interest in your area of business rather than

hitting up everyone with a bulging wallet.

Apply for Grants

Many city and state councils offer grants to small businesses. Securing one is a

significant boon, as you can enjoy a financial boost without any strings

attached. Do your research and seek out grants tailored to your online business.

The national website http://grants.gov is a great place to start. Spend time

creating a compelling proposal that meets all the requirements listed in the

grant package.

The odds might be stacked against you, but by focusing on finance your online

business has the best chance of flourishing.

About the author: Shaun Chatman is a well published author on many

authority sites. He lives in Dunedin, FL, and spends his free time playing with

his kids or playing games on http://betway.com/.

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http://betway.com/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108669581696135088160

http://grants.gov/

Start As You Mean To Go On: Online Accounting For Your

Online Business

By Lucy Godwin of X ero

So you’re launching an online business – congratulations! Whether it’s going to

be your sole source of income or one of many projects, it’s vital that you take the

right steps to maximise your chances of financial success. Because your

business is based online, it makes sense for your finances to exist in the same

medium – enter online accounting.

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http://www.xero.com/


Your company deserves the best technology – it will enable you to work more

efficiently, intelligently and productively. One of the biggest boons in online

technology is cloud computing: a system that delivers a wide range of services

over the internet. The cloud is particularly helpful as a financial tool, as it can

easily be adapted to the vastly different needs of any business.

The advantages of online financial applications are numerous, and include (but

are not limited to):

Reduced cost

Minimising spend is at the top of the priority list for any new venture. Online

accounting allows for usagebased pricing, so you can pay via subscription with

no need to invest in desktop software or expensive hardware.

Another costeffective feature is that your provider can install updates from

their end, free of charge, so your software is always uptodate without you

having to worry about the effect an upgrade will have on your finances.

Most cloud services offer free trials of their software, so you can make sure to

pick applications that fit your business’s needs, without cutting into your

budget. Business2Community provides a fantastic list of tips to help you choose

which solution will work the best for you.

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http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/10-tips-to-select-business-apps-that-your-company-really-needs-0214981

Scalability

When you first open a business, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what your

software needs will be. Furthermore, depending on the growth and expansion of

your business, or changes in the market, it’s likely that you’ll need to scale up at

some point.

With the cloud, online accounting resources can be upgraded (or downgraded)

seamlessly and painlessly – which means your accounting software can be

tailored to reflect your financial needs as they change, so you’ll never waste

money on systems you’re not using.

Accessibility

Because your data is stored online, it can be accessed from any device with an

internet connection, anywhere in the world, by any authorized user. Unlike most

desktop packages, you can set an unlimited amount of users without having to

pay extra.

And because you’re working in real time, several people can work on documents,

spreadsheets or presentations without having to be in the same room. You can

create a virtual meeting with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services such

as Skype, which offers basic services for free, with additional paid features if

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you decide you want them.

Furthermore, in online business, the majority of communication is going to take

place in an online channel – so customers, suppliers, business partners and

anyone else you have contact with will be grateful if you maximise your

accessibility.

Remote working

Software that can be accessed from anywhere paves the way for a remote

workforce, which, if you choose to embrace it, can be an incredible tool. By using

software located in the cloud, organizations suddenly have a global workforce at

their fingertips. With access to services and talent no longer restricted by time

zones, schedules or geographical boundaries, it’s much easier for teams to work

together from anywhere in the city, the country, or even the world.

Working like this gives you the flexibility you need for oneoff occasions like

working from home, while looking after a sick kid, waiting for the cable repair

guy or when you have a 4am meeting with someone in another time zone.

If you still need convincing, read about the increasing number of businesses

raving about the success of remote working, reporting that employees are more

productive, engaged and committed.

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http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865561701/Remote-possibilities-The-curious-case-of-remote-workers-who-work-better-than-office-workers.html?pg=all

Security

Using the cloud means your financial data is extremely secure. Think of it like a

tool you probably already use: internet banking. Companies who supply cloud

software ensure their service employs the most uptodate security technology –

so the average desktop is in fact a lot easier to hack than their service!

On top of this, your data will remain safely in the cloud in spite of any external

events such as theft, lost property, or broken equipment.

Integration

If you’re working in the cloud, you’ll be able to manage all aspects of your

business online. This means your CRM, inventory management, pointofsale,

time tracking, payroll, bookkeeping software, invoicing and other addons can

share data and be customised to suit the specific needs of your business. Even

paper documents like receipts can be scanned and shared within your network.

Because your various cloud applications are in sync with one another, they’ll

function in ‘realtime’ so your data is always available and uptodate. For

example, if you or another user make a changes in your online accounting

system, you can continue working on the most current version.

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With all your financial apps working together, you’ll have plenty of time to focus

on the core function of your business – hurray!

Remember

You can have the most amazing online business in the history of the internet,

but if you haven’t got your financial systems running smoothly, you’re likely to

end up out of your depth. But when all of your financial applications are

working together harmoniously from an accessible, secure platform, you’ve

taken a huge step towards giving yourself the very best chance at success.

About the author: Lucy Godwin is an Outreach Writer at Xero, a provider of

online accounting software for small business and personal finance. She lives in

Wellington, New Zealand, and advises startups and small businesses on cloud

computing, online marketing and finance. Connect with her on Twitter

@LucyJaneGodwin.

Ejunkie.info56



http://www.xero.com/accounting-software/online-accounting/


How a Joint Venture Partnership Scored Me Free Content

By John Shea

So I’ve recently started to utilize a great joint venture partnership with

someone who simply shares a similar common interest as me. I wanted to write

a blog about this and give some examples of how powerful this can be, you can

use this for just about any business, website or blog you choose if done properly.

Back in April of 2012 I started my own WordPress site based around a niche

idea of promoting music video content for a specific genre of metal music. Since

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http://john-shea.net/

this was a growing community and bands are emerging left and right, I knew

this would be a great idea for a website if done properly. I researched themes for

WordPress, found a good domain I liked and got started. My website was never

really intended to contain a lot of actual content besides videos but I was open

to possibly writing reviews, I never really had the motivation or a great drive to

really write quality posts about a specific album or new bands.

I started my own Facebook fan page and I put up a main Facebook fan page

‘Like’ button widget on my sidebar. So I slowly began to get followers here and

there from website traffic, I didn’t want to put any money into Facebook ads or

really go crazy with promotional strategies. My website was already averaging

50100 hits a day from simply Embedding YouTube videos. I decided to start

looking into ways I could get more traffic and maybe even find my first joint

venture partnership.

How searching for people with common interests landed me my first joint venture partnership

Since this subgenre of metal was getting bigger, I decided to start seeking out

Facebook fan pages that might promote this kind of music. I found a page with

around 8000 followers. I sent them a very straight forward message letting

them know about my site and what I’ve been doing. Here would be an example

of what I would say if you are looking to introduce yourself:

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“Hey, how’s it going? I saw you run this page and promote Metalcore music. I

personally run a website that promotes Metalcore Music videos. Do you have

any interest in possibly working together to promote this music?”

Now in my case, I found out it was a single person that was running the page as

opposed to multiple people and he was a huge fan of this music, he also wanted

to help spread the word to other people. This was perfect!

So for months I had a form on my site that allowed people to submit an inquiry

to me if they wanted to participate by helping out on the site to submit content.

Every once in a while I’d get an email, with most people I’d spend a lot of time

going out of my way to show them over Skype/screen share or even talk on the

phone to guide them on how to get started. One guy I even did a screen share

with and he refused to chat over the phone, so I typed out the instructions over

Facebook chat to get him started. What a time consuming nightmare this was!

Come to find out he writes 2 paragraphs and never even published a single

article.

I couldn’t find any solid people that would put in a real effort into doing

anything, even if I showed them how to do it they never took action and did

anything with the opportunity.

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http://www.metalcorekingdom.com/

How benefiting others in a joint venture partnership will

bring you results

Since Andrew, the owner of this Facebook fan page actually had an interest in

working with me he also spent the time with me to talk over the phone, spend

over an hour on a screen share with me and learn about what I was doing and

how he could help me. In exchange I decided to offer to promote his fan page on

the main page of my website http://www.metalcorekingdom.com

Over a span of about 45 months, Andrew’s fan page grew from 8000~ fans to

over 10,000 fans. Considering I average 50100 visitors a day there is a high

chance a lot of fans discovered his page when they were browsing my site. When

Andrew hit 10,000 fans he decided to make 5 YouTube videos talking about his

story and how he got into this music in the first place. He asked me to simply

share his story on the site. I decided to not only share it, but feature it on the

main slider of the home page front and center for any new visitors.

The joint venture partnership free content promotion

Simply asking Andrew for a favor at this point was mutual, I helped him not

only promoting his fan page but even featuring his story on my site.

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http://www.metalcorekingdom.com/

I sent him a message asking if he could write to his Facebook fan page of 11,000

people to see if anyone is simply interested in submitting content to the page,

the last thing I expected was to receive near 25 emails from people that wanted

to help, some to go as far as viewing the application like they were submitting a

resume asking for specific qualifications.

I was blown away! To think I was struggling to find people that were willing to

work on my site and now I’ve got people wondering if they are even good enough

to work with me!

I decided to setup a training series with detailed instructions, it took me about

2 hours to create and all I had to do was simply send all the interested people

the howto setup. Within a few days I had people submitting music videos and

content.

Hopefully you enjoyed this post about my joint venture partnership with

Andrew, If you are thinking twice about finding others to work with or to

promote your blog, website, or business reconsider the long term benefits!

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http://www.metalcorekingdom.com/metalcore-kingdom-review-training/

About the author: John Shea is the host of the online show The Testimonial

Technique where he interviews successful online marketers and bloggers. John

focuses on providing value to the marketing world both with written content and

interviews.

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Platforms

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How To Choose The Best Platform For Your Online

Business

By Ejunkie.info

Now that you know what type of business you want to start, you have set

staright all your business plans and designs and planned your finances well,

the most important task infront of you is to choose the best platform for you

online business.

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Just like you need a solid foundation for your house, the same way you need a

solid foundation for your business's website and that's why you need to choose

the best platform.

There are nnumber of platforms available like Blogger, WordPress, Drupal,

Joomla or other CMS system. I know with too much of options, one gets easily

confused. And often people come up with different suggestion; use this, use

that, this is more better, this is outdated. But always remember, it's your

business and you're the king. It's you who has to decide!

So how do you decide?

The decision is made on the basis of what your website will provide and

something that can you yourself can change.

For example, Sandy owns a homebased business. While setting up her website,

she asked her friend, Jordon to help her out. Jordon did everything, he chose

the platform and made the website. Now it's Christmas and Sandy wants to add

a temporaray tab on her wesbite just for the holiday season. She calls up Jordon

but he's out of town for the holidays. Sandy is sad, she dosn't want to miss out

on the extra sales that happens during the holiday season. She asked another

friend to help her out but buy the time she got the new tab added, the holiday

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season was almost gone!

Do you know what Sandy did wrong?

She wasn't the incharge of her website. She didn't choose the platform and she

wasn't much aquainted with the existing platform for her website. Therefore,

she faced a lot of trouble in order to make an occasional change.

So the lesson that we all learn here is that, while choosing the platform for your

website it's you who needs to be in the driver seat and don't go for a platform

which is complex. Use a platform that you can yourself change; from

upradations to occasional changes. And everything should happen in a snap!

Bottomline Avoid being in a situation where you can't update your own

website whenever you want to.

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What Is The Best Platform For An Online Business?

By Andrew Rondeau of We Build Your Blog

More and more people are starting their own small business and in today’s

world having a web site is a ‘must have’ step to take…if you want to be taken

seriously.

But before you go off and start to build your new website, you have a crucial

decision to make…

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http://www.webuildyourblog.com/

What Platform Is Best?

As you would expect there are quite a few to choose from.

And there are better platforms than others and choosing the right platform

for your online business is crucial.

You have two choices.

A free platform or one that costs you money!

The decision is entirely yours but if you are serious about your online business,

the one that costs money is the one to use.

You see, the free platforms would host your website for you on their own

platform and that means you don’t really own the website…they do!

Plus the free platforms provide very limited options as far as showcasing

your individuality or creativity is concerned as they have standard design

options.

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Another major concern…

If you opt for a free website platform at the beginning of your small business

journey and then later on decide to upgrade to your own personalized hosting

account, it could cost you dearly.

If your small business takes off and you experience a lot of visitors and clients

and you then decide to transfer to your own hosting account, you will have to

start all over again.

You will not be able to take your free domain name with you.

If you did find yourself in this position, you could tell everyone you are moving

to a new domain name and online platform and some will follow you but there is

one major, major company who won’t and that’s Google.

Google could love your free platform website but once you move to your own

hosted account and domain name, Google treats it as entirely new and in their

eyes, you are starting again.

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So…always, always, always go for your own domain and hosting account.

By having your own hosting account, you can use the most popular website

platform, WordPress.org.

(Note this is different from WordPress.com. WordPress.com is the WordPress

hosted version while WordPress.org is the website software you can install on

your own domain and hosting account.)

Below are just some of the benefits of using WordPress.org:

• Free: You just have to pay for the domain name registration and hosting

• User Friendly: WordPress is easy to install and use. Within a few hours

you’ll be able to build your own website or if you are not too technically

minded – easily find someone who can do it for you.

• Themes: The templates used with WordPress.org are called Themes and

there are hundreds to choose from. You are spoilt for choice and you will

be able to design a website in almost any layout you wish.

• Plugins: WordPress plugins (software addons) add extra functionality to

your website…from security to selling to social bookmarking.

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http://wordpress.org/

• SEO Friendly: Google loves WordPress. There are some best practise

SEO settings but once set up, Google will quickly crawl and rank your

site.

• Support: Across the world there are millions of websites that use

WordPress as their chosen platform which means there is also a lot of

support. If you have any problems with WordPress, a quick Google search

will get you an answer.

• Updates: WordPress is regularly updated providing extra functionality

and security enhancements.

If you are just starting out with your very own small business and are looking

for the best website platform, you can do no better than choose WordPress.org.

About the author: Andrew is a fulltime Internet Marketing Specialist and

blogger from the UK. At his blog he shares all his knowledge and experience on

how to make a blog.

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http://www.webuildyourblog.com/blog/

5 Platforms To Create Online Communities

By Ejunkie.info

Online Communities have for the score of years are slowly becoming an

inevitable trend. Ever wondered how this phenomena has unfolded?

Building an online community is the key to promoting any business, no matter

the industry you cater to. Online communities serve you leave a imprint

digitally that cannot be undone by any competitor. It is similar to the colors

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painted once on a canvass cannot be undone but cetainly mixed and matched to

alter the look of the painting. Likewise, online communities grow in leaps and

bounds to establish a circle of business to unfold.

The catch word we are looking for here is "Networking" and "technology". How

are these two terms related to the building of online communities?

For starts we all know Internet and its tools have spawned a technological

revolution on an unprecedented scale over the decades. This innovation has

been rightly utilized by the business fraternity to capitalize gains. If we take a

closer look at the nature of these networkbased communities, many of them

owe their success to this technological advance too.

However, when it comes to taking a deeper look at these communities, an

eminent expert on the topic, Dion Hinchcliffe opines that "too many online

communities today exhibit worst practices such as lack of sustained community

management, a tendency to use communities for "push marketing", cross wiring

business and consumer motivations, and lastly, starting with the technology

first".

The problem today is there are too many of them which are mismanaged. One

can always call it the "social media" overdose. Starting a community is easy

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since there is no shortfall of launch platorms. The hard part is maintaining

standards through content and audience interaction that makes all the

difference.

Another issue that businesses find frustrating is which platform to choose? How

do they judge its compatibility?

Communities are built as much on technologies as on the human factor that

goes into making it a successful platform. But technology per say should not be

the mechanism for selection nor the popular ratings. Communities do not

become popular overnight but are made so through quality content and

discussions.

Here is a list of platforms that provide a balanced entry into the art of creating

online communities:

1. Joomla

Joomla is probably the most well known CMS and community platform with

roughly 3700 listed members. Based on PHP, it hosts useful discussions, polls

and has a authentic blog besides allowing 3rd party plugins to function

smoothly.

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http://www.joomla.org/

2. Drupal

Drupal.org is an open source community with more than 913,000 members, both

developers and lay users. It offers active forums, mailing lists and discussion

groups. The best part is its granular security module and the multilingual

support, offered in over 30 national communities.

3. Lithium

This is the first SaaS based community platform that specializes in social

customer management. The platform takes after social media phenomena and

provides a mix of forums, blogs live chats for a robust online customer

interaction to happen. Moreover, they are totally open to customer feedbacks in

the form of ranks, badges and kudos counts that keeps the community lively.

4. Jive Software

Off late, this community has been in the limelight. More than 15% Fortune 500

crowd is active on this platform. Since the crux of the community is hardcore

enterprising giants, the focal strength of Jive lies in its effective enteprising

issues, security concerns, customizxability and intraplatform integrations.

5. SharePoint

This platform, launched by Microsoft has a record of having the fastest revenue

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http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-sharepoint-collaboration-software-FX103479517.aspx

http://www.jivesoftware.com/

http://lithium.com/

https://drupal.org/

growth in Microsoft's history. Launched in 2001, Sharepoint is probably a

veteran in our list. In fact, evrey 2 out of 3 enterprise worker uses Sharepoint

due to the extensive provision of intranet , extranet and portal creation for

document management, with special focus on enterprises.

Having listed some of the trending platforms that you can consider, it is

important to take note of the growth of SaaS technologies. The technology is

providing an alternate mix of software packages for an improved commercial

success. These online communities also owe a lot to the "crowd" that is

enhancing the landscape of discussions and operations. In the real sense of the

term, such platforms cater to building communities of common interest for the

common good.

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Promotion

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Promoting Your Online Store

By Rob Toledo

Your product descriptions are flawless. You’ve worked tirelessly to streamline

your user experience, making sure that checkouts will be speedy and secure.

Your client feedback suggests that your customers can’t wait for you to make the

bold move forward into the world of eCommerce. You are ready to go live and

take the eCommerce world by storm!

And then…virtual crickets. Where are all the customers?… Perhaps you had an

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http://www.stentontoledo.com/

initial flurry of interest in your online store when you launched which has since

tapered off, or perhaps you are still awaiting that flurry of interest. Regardless,

if your online store isn’t performing in the way you’d hoped, it is bound to be a

frustrating and disappointing experience. Luckily, there have never been more

options or tools available to help you succeed in your eCommerce endeavors. The

first step in promoting your online store is to develop a killer strategy to get

your store out in front of the right people. So let’s get started:

1. Understand Your Audience

You probably already know a lot about your customers: they like luxury travel

but with an ecofriendly twist, or they are home brewers with some serious DIY

attitudes. It’s crucial to put this knowledge to work for you as you develop your

marketing strategies. Winnowing your market down from the whole, vast

internet to a small niche of interested customers is the first step you can take to

most efficiently promote your online store. Once you know who your customers

are, it is just a quick step to understanding how to reach them.

All the widgets and addons and social media metrics won’t help you promote

your online store effectively if you are trying to reach the wrong people in the

wrong way. (Or even the right people in the wrong way!)

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http://socialmediatoday.com/jvocell/914271/5-social-media-metrics-you-should-be-monitoring

Consider the following: What are your customer’s needs? What are their beliefs?

What type of information is likely to appeal to them? Where do they hang out

online? How social media savvy are they? Spending time to explore and

understand what gets your audience going (and buying) is the first step in

developing a targeted and personalized marketing strategy for your online store.

2. Create a Dynamite Business Blog

Now that you understand exactly who your audience is, you are left with a

smaller group of people, but they are people who really care about what you

have to say. This means that they are likely to be more passionate and receptive

to your message. This is a very good thing.

Now that you know what your customers are likely to respond to, the next step

is to create great content to drive people to your site. There are many ways to do

this, but creating a blog is a particularly useful way to engage with your

community. A blog is cost efficient and versatile, which makes it the perfect tool

to help you drive traffic to your store.

Ideally, your blog will not just be a longform advertisement for your products.

An example here might help: Let’s say you sell top end makeup brushes. A blog

post that waxes on about how much better your brushes are than the brushes

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http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/

they sell at the drugstore is not likely to wow your customers. They are likely to

smell an obvious sales pitch and click away.

Instead of hard selling in your blog posts, give readers something they will find

useful. For example, post a video entry showing useful tricks for blending eye

makeup, or create a structured ToDo list that teaches readers how to pick the

perfect foundation. Creating useful content keeps you relevant to your

customers and can create a sense of community around your brand or products.

ProTip: Many beginning bloggers worry about running out of things to write

about. However, blogging is an incredibly rich platform for communicating

ideas. You needn’t always work in text alone – try your hand at a photo centric

post or foray into the world of guest blogging for variety.

3. Develop an Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing is one of the most efficient ways to foster an engaged and

committed community around your brand. Done the right way, a great email

strategy will keep your brand or product fresh in the minds of your customers

and can be a great way to drive new or repeat traffic to your online store.

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http://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-top-5-benefits-of-guest-blogging/62256/

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/30-amazing-photoblogs-and-few-tips-for_b234

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/30-amazing-photoblogs-and-few-tips-for_b234

It is wise to consult an email marketing guide before you dive head first into the

world of email marketing because all email marketing campaigns are not

created equal.

A good email marketing campaign provides readers with something as a reward

for opening your mail. Contests, insider information, white papers, and early

product previews are examples of the types of information that will keep people

subscribed. Thinly veiled or too frequent sales pitches will have your emails

sent to the trash and your list members ticking "unsubscribe."

ProTip: Ensure you email ethically by following these tips for permission based

email marketing.

4. Harness the Power of Social Media

Perhaps the most important reason to advertise on one or more of the big social

media outlets is that your customers are already there. If you don’t bring your

message to them on Facebook or Twitter or Reddit, someone else certainly will.

Each social media site has different guidelines for advertising, so you will need

to spend some time researching where you want to put your time and your

advertising dollars.

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http://www.pcworld.com/article/2030779/how-to-advertise-on-social-media-step-by-step-on-4-networks.html

http://marketingland.com/study-27-of-time-online-in-the-us-is-spent-on-social-networking-40269

http://www.microsoft.com/business/en-us/resources/marketing/online-marketing/small-business-email-marketing.aspx?fbid=on3gKD03R6R

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34099/The-Anatomy-of-an-Awful-Marketing-Email.aspx

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34099/The-Anatomy-of-an-Awful-Marketing-Email.aspx

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/email-marketing-guide/

ProTip: Consider opening up an account on every social media site you can find.

You do not need to advertise on each and every site. Listening to what your

target customers have to say is invaluable. So lurk away!

5. Invest in Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads

Managing a strong and cost efficient paid search campaign can be

overwhelming to even the most seasoned eCommerce gurus. However, done

right, PPC is an extremely effective way to get your brand and your message in

front of your target audience. PPC should probably not replace any of the other

marketing strategies we discuss here, but it is an excellent way to put what you

know about your customers into practice.

PPC works like this: Advertisers place bids on keywords that resonate with

their target audience. (For example, keywords for brides could include:

engagement ring, wedding dress, wedding venues, etc.) When a web user enters

a search query that matches those terms, the sponsored ad may appear.

The benefits of PPC marketing are that your ads only appear to users who have

expressed interest in a topic related to what you are selling. In this targeted

way, even very small companies can get the exposure they need without

breaking the bank.

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http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2230325/are-you-following-ppc-best-practices

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2230325/are-you-following-ppc-best-practices

http://socialmediatoday.com/node/195917

ProTip: Selecting the right geographic location is important to your PPC

results. Avoid selecting "all locations worldwide" when you go to place an ad,

since all keywords are not equally relevant everywhere.

6. The Takeaway

It is certainly a brave new world out there in eCommerce land. Developing a

strategy to promote your online store can take time, but the most important

first step you can take is to really commit to a strategy. As a business owner,

you are used to hard work and planning. So, do your research, prepare to take a

lot of notes, and get ready to get your name out there!

About the author: R ob Toledo is a Seattleite who matches the usual

stereotypes. Loves coffee, the rain, and prefers dogs to cats. When not rambling

about marketing and web design, he can be found in the mountains either

climbing or hiking.

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Are The Words You Choose Driving People Away

By Kenneth Vogt of Vera Claritas

“Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.” ~David

Packard, cofounder of HewlettPackard Company

I remember as a child when the biggest brands looked and sounded like this:

“New! Improved! BUY! NOW!” Their words shouted figuratively and their

announcers shouted literally.

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But the world has gotten emphasis fatigue. We’re all sick of it. So the best

brands are now turning down the volume. They are being more subtle. They are

inviting us rather than ordering us.

It’s easier to yell, so that’s what new, inexperienced and poor marketers do.

Even in everyday life, shrieking gets the wrong kind of attention. Raise the

alarm too many times and people will just consider your communications to be

noise. Nobody likes noise.

Consider the difference between these two messages:

• "A pure expression of performance and luxury — Jaguar."

• "We’re going crazy down here at Loco Joe’s Discount Car Emporium!"

There is a reason why Jaguar is getting $60,000 for their cars but Loco Joe is

only getting $6,000 for his.

It is harder to come up with subtle language than to just use brute force. But

herein lies the rub: subtlety is powerful but shouting is merely forceful. Power

wins every time.

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Being harder does not mean it is not worth the effort. Come on, would you

rather be driving one of Loco Joe’s clunkers or a sleek new Jaguar? (Say

“Jaguar” to yourself with a British accent to get in the proper frame of mind...)

The emphasis isn’t always inflicted with caps, italics or exclamation points.

Sometimes the words themselves do the shouting. There is a whole

"marketingspeak" vocabulary out there and we all recognize it. The words in

this lexicon didn’t use to have a marketing connotation but they have been

taken over so that the rest of us good folks can no longer use them without

getting their marketing stink on us.

There are words that have become nothing less than toxic. I have my own

(growing) list. Right at the top is “secrets”.

It blows me away when someone, in broadcasted advertising, claims they are

going to tell me a secret. Aren’t secrets supposed to be private? If I told you a

secret and you then blabbed about it on Facebook, I would be none too happy.

But if you ran it in an ad on Facebook, I would be flipped out. Broadcasting

“secrets” is silly at best and disingenuous at worst. Don’t do it.

Another ignoble word is “insiders”. You can’t claim exclusivity when you

broadcast to anyone who is willing to pony up $37. It just isn’t that inside. In

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fact, what does the outside even look like?

The list of words to avoid is a moving target. Those who coin such words or are

the first to bring them to a marketing purpose are geniuses. But these words

have a shelf life for any particular use. “Guerilla” was genius back in the day.

“Masters” and “gurus” were once enticing new concepts. What gave them value

was two things: they had a known meaning and it was being put in a new

context. If it is no longer new, the power is gone.

Many of us are not experienced marketers so we do what everybody tells us to

do: model the best. The problem is currency matters in the marketing realm.

Tony Robbins can get away with still calling his training program Mastery

University because he said it first and he said it big. If I try to use Mastery

Academy or Mastery Formula or some such to model the form, it will not have

the same power. In fact, it may have no power at all as the most powerful word

gets tuned out by those who have heard it too often.

Marketing is communication. Communication is a fundamental means of

connection. Connection is a base requirement for human vitality. So when you

write that headline, title or subject line, don’t get lazy and just say the stale

words that are echoing in your head from their constant overuse. Don’t worry

that you aren’t some kind of master copywriter. Genuineness comes through.

Sincerity shines like a beacon. Love conquers all. So love your customer or

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better your prospect by making the effort to use language that is fresh and

alluring. It will be worth the effort.

Author the author: Kenneth Vogt helps expanding entrepreneurs make a wider

wake in the world. Come see how at Vera Claritas. (That's "True Clarity" for you

nonLatin speakers.)

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Understanding The Very Basics Of Marketing For Small

Businesses

By Ryan Barton of The Smart Marketing Blog

This is Julie.

Julie's a beautician, and a good one at that. Right now, she's creating a

Facebook checkin deal for her salon.

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http://www.thesmartmarketingblog.com/

She clicks “Save,” looks up from her desk and taps her fingers, expecting new

customers to come pouring in.

Where is everybody??

And this is Sam. Sam just heard the first advertisement for his restaurant on

the radio. He looks down at his phone, waiting for it to ring.

This IS pluggedin, right?

Then there's you.

You just launched your first product. To promote it, you launched an AdWords

campaign, you deployed a crafty email blast, you scheduled tweets, wrote blog

posts, and organized affiliate campaigns and now, impatiently, you stare at your

analytics dashboard waiting for a single click to come through.

Where's my first sale??

The problem here — the assumption — is that marketing is a light switch.

Something you can flip on whenever it's needed.

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It's not.

You can't put coins in the marketing machine today and expect to suddenly see

results next week.

That's not how marketing works.

But if you faithfully feed the machine, if you create a consistent brand voice, if

you keep the marketing light switch “on” long enough, eventually Julie will

probably see new faces in her salon, Sam's phone will probably start ringing,

and you'll likely experience the joy of that first sale.

WHAT MARKETING REALLY IS

You see, at its core, marketing is an exercise of repetition, fueling message

resonation.

The more your prospects hear your message, the more likely they'll take notice

of it, and the more likely they are to act on it.

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Resonation creates an organic sense of momentum, fueling you to innovate, and

fueling prospects to take notice.

MARKETING YOURSELF ONLINE

Simply having a website isn't enough — you can't afford to just wait for

somebody to discover you.

You need to give people a path to your site, telling them along the way why

you're different from anybody else, and what great things they'll come away

with after reading.

Then once on your site, you can't assume readers know what you want them to

do.

So tell them; give them actions — read another article, subscribe, buy a course,

etc. — and measure the performance of those actions.

The more prospects that see a call to action to subscribe to your blog at the close

of an article, the higher likelihood they'll actually do so.

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Socially, the more prospects that see retweets of satisfied customers, the more

likely they are to consider buying themselves.

I found this to be true when I published my first book.

The more I shared with my tribe the good things people had to say, the larger

each day's sales figures were — like a snowball rolling down a hill, collecting

momentum.

MARKETING WITH TOO MUCH FREQUENCY

The one caveat to effective marketing through repetition, is moderation.

Everybody can appreciate the occasional sales message.

But you need to balance retail messaging with other content — value

propositions, sharing other authors' articles, and personal anecdotes.

Too many buffered tweets will make you seem robotic and unwilling to engage.

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And seeing too many visitors click out of a popup window will quickly yield a

higher bounce rate and lower return visits.

Too much of any one marketing tactic will always have an inverse effect. So

whatever you employ, do so in moderation.

TEST, AND TEST OFTEN

These marketing tactics are unique. What works for me, may not work for you.

You have a responsibility — you owe it to your business — to innovate.

Your audience is likely changing the way they behave and your marketing needs

to mirror this change. And mirror it by testing new ways of reaching your

market.

Maybe even considering some tactics that were once thought forbidden by polite

marketers (remember, the balance of being polite versus growing revenue).

Personally, I found that a popup call to action to signup for daily marketing

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tips instantly increased premium subscribers 27% without negatively impacting

my blog bounce rate.

It was a test; now it's standard until I test again.

But you could do the same and receive vile comments from readers.

Another example...

I tested a shortterm promoted tweets campaign in support of my newest book

resulting in a really high impression share, but low conversion rate (what really

matters).

You might launch a similar campaign and find your followers are more

responsive to this type of marketing.

But that's what marketing is.

It's identifying plausible channels and tactics specific to your business, testing

them relentlessly, and repeating those that yield quantifiable results.

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TAKING MARKETING SERIOUSLY

If you're serious about marketing, it means doing more than simply tweeting

out links whenever you publish a new post.

That's lazy.

No, marketing means being proactive and forwardthinking.

It means recognizing you're actually going to have to invest some cash. And

time. And getting your hands dirty. And capitalizing on your newfound

personal drive and radical initiative.

So get to it.

About the author: Ryan Barton is a husband, dad, small business marketing

consultant and author of Smart Marketing, Small Business Marketing 101, and

The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Checklist. Follow him on Twitter. He

lives in Los Angeles with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

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http://www.twitter.com/RyanBarton


How To Be More Productive With Your Online Marketing Efforts

By John Shea

Hopefully if you are reading this post you are looking for more ways to learn

how to be more productive both in general and with marketing online. I’m

going to use this post as a way to describe many useful strategies I have used to

help me stay more productive and consistent with everything I am working on,

both with personal tasks and online marketing.

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http://www.famousbloggers.net/bloggers-kit-online-marketing.html


How To Be More Productive By Setting Goals

Goals in my opinion are going to be the #1 way to setting yourself up to have a

clear idea in mind of exactly what it is you need to get done. I use a very simple

straight forward list that is split into two categories.

The first category is weekend goals that are things that can be done over and

over again each weekend, an example of some of these goals are a combination

of personal and marketing based goals. Some personal examples would be doing

laundry, cleaning my desk of papers, trash etc, vacuuming common areas. Some

marketing examples would be checking a specific website, cleaning up my email

inbox etc.

The 2nd category would be long term goals. I typically split these out into two

subcategories, general long term goals or specific tasks I would like to get done

for my blog. I’ve made it a point to setup my goals without a specific set due

date as I find I’m not as pressured to get things done and most of these tasks

can be done at my leisure so long as I am getting the work done. Since I work a

95 full time job and have a long commute it’s more common that I’m spending a

lot more time on my weekends working on all of these goals. I start with the

basic weekend goals first and then move into my long term goals.

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How To Be More Productive with Evernote

Evernote is a free application that you can use to organize notes and documents

between multiple platforms. This application has been my savior when it comes

to setting goals and staying organized online. Evernote allows you to sync all of

your work between each of your devices, so for example I could be at home and

add multiple documents or notes to my Evernote account, I could then go to

work and pull up the same information from my work PC or even on my mobile

device. I find having it on my mobile device helps for grocery shopping and

quick note ideas.

For online marketing I have setup my Evernote account in such a way that I

split everything into specific categories.

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For example, my main workbook categories are as follows:

• Goals & Daily Tasks: This is split between my long term goals and short term goals as I explained earlier.

• Resources: Website links, useful blog posts, basic template notes for various programs. General ‘copy and paste’ templates I use on a regular basis.

• Training Resources: Various notes for online marketing and blogging courses I have gone through.

• Blog Notes: Specific notes related to my personal blog

• Niche Site: Another notebook used for resources that specifically relate to content I use for a niche site I run.

You can check out my Evernote Review here for more details on how Evernote

can show you how to be more productive.

Getting your mind flowing and thinking about how to be more productive online

I suggest two major strategies to get you thinking more positively about your

goals and actions among staying consistent with your marketing and

productivity.

1. Personal development books – The typical recommendation I hear is

to read 10 minutes or 10 pages a day. Check out T he Magic Of Thinking

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671646788/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0671646788&linkCode=as2&tag=famoublogg-20


http://john-shea.net/evernote-review/

B ig , The Slight Edge, Think & Grow Rich, and How To Win Friends &

Influence People just to name some of my favorites. All of these can be

found on Amazon very cheap.

2. Daily Audio – I run a niche site that revolves around music and I love

going to concerts, my 30 mile commute to and from work generally was

“my time” to listen to that new CD or listen to music. Making a sacrifice

to use this time in your day maybe on the commute in the car to work, the

train, and in your free time to listen to audio will really get your mind

flowing with ideas. I personally recommend the Smart Passive Income

Podcast with Pat Flynn. I made a decision to listen to all 60+ episodes

before turning my car ride back into a music hall. I’ve managed to listen

to over 20 Episodes in about 2 ½ weeks. Because of this I have more ideas

for my online business and I’m thinking more positively about taking

action and staying dedicated to my goals.

Staying focused on a specific strategy or course of action

When it comes to online marketing, there is a wealth of information out there.

Spending time on most marketing forums will make your head spin. Try to find

a specific niche or focus you wish to pursue and then take action. There are

many ways to create positive results, staying focused on a specific strategy will

help you get there.

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http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/category/podcast/



hhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671027034/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0671027034&linkCode=as2&tag=famoublogg-20

hhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671027034/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0671027034&linkCode=as2&tag=famoublogg-20


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193594486X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=193594486X&linkCode=as2&tag=famoublogg-20




My suggestion is to find a mentor, someone that you confide in and believe in

what they are doing. If you can find someone that consistently provides value

then spend more time reading their content, listening to their advice and taking

action on what they teach you. There are many different strategies that can

help you find success, find a strategy you like and stick to it.

I am particularly intrigued by the content and wealth of information that

bloggers like Derek Halpern of SocialTriggers.com and Pat Flynn of

SmartPassiveIncome.com share with their readers.

Hopefully this post will help you get started with some ideas on how to be more

productive and stay committed to your goals.

About the author: John Shea is the host of the online show The Testimonial

Technique where he interviews successful online marketers and bloggers. John

focuses on providing value to the marketing world both with written content and

interviews.

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http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/

http://www.socialtriggers.com/

Why Your Advertising Is Being Ignored

By Ryan Barton of The Smart Marketing Blog

Your advertising efforts are being ignored because they're ineffective.

They're boring and predictable.

Your 'best' is simply recycling the old with a different logo. It's no longer a

surprise.

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When you already know what to expect, there's no point in pausing to take

notice, is there?

WHY TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING FAILS

Over the years, you've grown numb to traditional advertising.

While reading the newspaper you ignore the columns of ad space and focus on

your article. You've even become smart enough to ignore the ads that try to look

like a legitimate article.

Watching TV, you fast forward through the ads or walk away from the television

completely.

Online, you now focus your visual attention inside the site's wire design, away

from the banner ads that surround it.

You turn the channel and lower the volume if you still listen to broadcast radio,

and you drive past hundreds of billboards without giving them a second's

attention.

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WHY SOCIAL MEDIA ISN'T THE CURE

The same is true when it comes to social media.

Instead of ignoring an advertisement, you're now programming yourself to

ignore corporate logo avatars.

Moving through your Twitter and Facebook feeds, you move past the corporate

logos, looking for familiar personal faces you recognize. Because that's

where the real content is the real experiences.

Sure, social media may try to relate to consumers on a personal level, but their

angle is ultimately still the same to grow revenue, to grow their list, to grow

market share.

And you recognize this, ignoring it.

HOW TO GET CONSUMERS TO TAKE NOTICE

I preach differentiation often. But differentiation doesn't only refer to your

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product or advertising.

Any two businesses can sell an orange. It's how they sell that orange that

matters.

It's in the experience the unique, small details of that memory that bring

consumers back for more. And it's that same special experience that makes it

worth talking about.

When you stop taking your customers and their time with you for granted, and

start focusing on making that experience something special and unique and

something to share, that's when consumers will take notice.

And when it something to notice, it's hard to ignore.

About the author: Ryan Barton is a husband, dad, small business marketing

consultant and author of Smart Marketing, Small Business Marketing 101, and

The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Checklist. Follow him on Twitter. He

lives in Los Angeles with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

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http://www.twitter.com/RyanBarton


Social Media Marketing Advice for Online Business Owners

By Yuwanda Black of InkwellEditorial

If you’re starting an online business, there are a multitude of ways to get sales

and leads. In fact, there are so many that it can be downright confusing as to

where to start. One of the easiest to come down the pike in the last few years is

social media. It’s grown by leaps and bounds, with no slowdown in sight.

I’ve owned several online businesses – long before social media became so

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popular. Now it’s an integral part of my marketing arsenal. Following is some

firsthand insight into how to use it to get the most out of it.

Some Pros and Cons of Using Social Media to Promote Your Online Business

Six of the most popular social media sites as of this writing are Twitter,

LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube (and yes, YouTube is a

social media site, although most don’t think of it that way).

Pro: The best thing about social media is that it’s free. All you have to do is set

up an account and start interacting.

Con: It’s time consuming. Social media is about interacting; building a

community. So, you can’t just set up an account and send out notices about your

business. The idea is to dispense information that is helpful to your target

audience.

How to Combat this Con: Finding and/or creating content takes time. So, the

best way to get the most out of this medium is to develop a plan.

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FYI, here’s an excellent, stepbystep tutorial on how to create an effective social

media strategy; one you can measure the results of in 90 days.

Con: Doesn’t lead to immediate sales. In fact, this has been an ongoing knock

against this way of marketing online. Many business owners report that they

either don’t get sales and/or they don’t know how to quantify the sales they may

be getting.

How to Combat this Con: In order to combat this, you need to first decide what

your objective will be before diving into social media marketing. For example, is

it to increase site traffic; create brand awareness; generate more leads (eg,

newsletter sign ups); etc. Once you know what your end goal is, then it’s easier

to figure out how to get there.

FYI, this is why it’s important to create a social media strategy. As you can see

from the link above, determining what your goals are is the first thing you have

to address when devising a strategy.

Pro: You can reach out to a lot of people quickly. For example, currently, my

main Twitter account has over 11,000 followers and I have four more that total

just over 4,000 as of this writing.

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http://twitter.com/inkwelleditor

http://socialmediatoday.com/rachel-strella/679466/how-create-social-media-strategy

http://socialmediatoday.com/rachel-strella/679466/how-create-social-media-strategy

Right there, that’s almost 15,000 “marketing touches” that I ostensibly make

every time I send out a tweet (if I post to all five accounts). And these numbers

are small!

There are social media gurus with tens of thousands of followers and fans. This

is the power of social media – if you know how to leverage it.

Pro: You can get instantaneous feedback on a product/service.

Pro: You can use auto tools like SocialOomph.com and HootSuite.com to pre

schedule posts to go out. This cuts down on the amount of time you have to

spend interacting in real time.

ALTHOUGH … be mindful of the fact that the emphasis in social media

marketing is always on the “social” aspect of it. So while auto tools are great,

they are no substitute for engaging with your audience in real time. It’s how you

become connected to your community – and build a trusted brand that

cultivates loyal customers.

How to Decide Which Social Media Sites(s) Is Best for Your Online Business

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There are hundreds of social media sites. And it seems like every day a new one

is popping up. But you don’t have to jump on the bandwagon of every one – not

even the most popular ones.

The best way to decide which social media site is right for you is to look at the

demographics of your target audience, and interact on the site(s) whose metrics

match them.

As you can see from the chart below, not all social media sites are the same.

Some appeal more to women, some more to professionals; some more to

minorities; etc.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

You want to be where your prospective clients are. So, choose those social media

sites and start interacting in earnest. Ask questions; post links to informative

content; answer questions from your followers; etc. In time, it’ll pay off – big!

Conclusion: Social Media Marketing

Social media is here to stay; it’s not going anywhere. If you’re not investing in it,

you can bet your competition is. And where will that leave your online business

in one, three or five years if you haven’t?

About the Author: Yuwanda Black has been a freelance writer since 1993 and

is the webmaster of InkwellEditorial.com, a site that teaches others how to start

successful freelance writing careers. She also heads New Media Words, an SEO

writing company she founded in 2008. In 2007, she started earning $100

250+/day writing SEO content in less than three weeks. In 2009, she

developed an SEO copywriting course that teaches aspiring freelancers the skills

they need to do the same, right from the comfort of home. You can take the class

online or in person in Jamaica!

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http://www.seowritingjobs.com/seo-copywriting-training/

Thank You NoteWe are thankful to all these phenomenal bloggers for making this project

possible. We are thankful to all these phenomenal entrepreneurs and experts

for making this project possible. Kudos to all of them for contributing such

insightful and practical articles. For more insights and tips on how to become a

successful entrepreneur, visit these blogs and we assure you that you will not

be disappointed.

Kenneth Vogt: http://www.veraclaritas.com/

Jennifer Brown Banks: http://penandprosper.blogspot.com/

Gary Korisko: http://rebootauthentic.com/

Yuwanda Black: http://inkwelleditorial.com/

Brankica Underwood: http://brankicaunderwood.com/

Lucy Godwin: http://www.xero.com/

John Shea: http://johnshea.net/

Andrew Rondeau: http://www.webuildyourblog.com/

Rob Toledo: http://www.stentontoledo.com/

Ryan Barton: http://www.thesmartmarketingblog.com/

Our special thanks to S tock.xchng and Flickr for being excellent image resources for this Ebook.

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http://www.flickr.com/

http://www.sxc.hu/

http://www.sxc.hu/



http://www.webuildyourblog.com/





http://rebootauthentic.com/



Thank You for downloading this eBook.

Hope you liked it!

Connect with Ejunkie:

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