Elements of Decision Making in a Home Based Online Business 3

Information You Need To Make Decisions

There is no disputing the fact that to make decisions, you need information. Without information, you are guessing in a vacuum. If you guess instead of decide, you are reducing your chances of success with your business.

Company Decision Making

A large company will probably have, or at least should have, quite sophisticated management information systems. The systems will be computerized, bringing information from all the key areas of the business. The management team will have a process for reviewing and monitoring that information, through the circulation of summary reports, meetings (regular and ad hoc), and other means of communication.

Those same sources of management information will be used as a basis for important decision making. Past sales reports; cost reports for different products, manufacturing processes, and cost centers; market intelligence; material cost reports; supplier reliability reports. Depending on what type of decision is being made, some or all of these, plus more, may be taken into account.

There is no doubt that such information should be crucial to making key decisions in that business. However, some companies fall into the trap of allowing the information system to become an internal industry in itself, with no checks and balances. If a company becomes complacent, if the whole process becomes routine and habitual, then the value of those systems dissipates. It turns the information systems themselves into a bottomless pit for management time, bringing no valuable return.

Let me illustrate. In the early 1990s, there was an internationally known British company, which, like most companies, had a budget setting process each year. That was an important time for decisions; absolutely critical in one of the most competitive markets in the world. That particular company was near the top of the tree, if not at the top. It had won a reputation for modernization, innovation, and efficiency, in an industry bogged down by state intervention across the world.

The whole budget setting process went on for many months before the start of the financial year. Every manager of every department was geared up for it, and it had become a highlight of management activity. So how did they go about deciding the next year's budget for each department?

Across the board, in each department, their starting point was the current year's budget. Each manager would add a bit here and there for anything new they needed to spend money on. We're talking many millions of pounds here. Then the Finance Director and Chief Executive, as they went through their budget setting meetings, would get individual managers to knock off a bit to make the cost base look better. So, they would end up with a budget very much like the last, regardless of whether the last budget was nonsense.

One year the Chief Executive decided the whole system was flawed. He threw out the system of top down budgeting, and forced every department to start from zero. They now had to justify every penny they spent to get their budget for the year. Out went the complacency and blind acceptance of what had been happening in the past. From then on, the management were forced to justify what they were going to spend. Each item of expenditure became a decision, rather than a habit. Habits continue unless you decide to stop them. Fewer habits and better decisions ultimately means higher profitability.

I can say with confidence that such examples of poor use of management information systems is common. Often, too, users of those systems come to accept them as gospel truth, when in reality there may be errors in the figures or they may include a lot of estimates. They may, on the face of it, appear to be sophisticated, but under the surface they are often not.

Applying Company Lessons to Your Own Business

So, why have I spent so long writing about large companies when you are probably just a one man band?

First and foremost, you will have an advantage over many others if you are fully conscious of the fact that you are making business decisions. I have given the illustration because you are more likely to remember that than a whole load of theory. It is a hook for your memory, which I hope may aid you in remembering as you go through your business life:

I need to make decisions based on good, accurate information, and not let my decision making becoming a habit that skirts the truth.

It is amazing how differently you may view a situation given hard facts, rather than just your memory and perception, mixed in with emotion and mood. That is a simple decision, and one we were able to make because of a simple part of a very basic information system a record of time spent on each client.

It is not possible, in a short article, to give a comprehensive list of all the records you should keep, and how you should use them, to aid your decision making. Whatever you do, do not become over enamored with any systems you set up to get the information you need. You need accuracy and relevancy; you need only the information necessary for the decisions you are likely to need to make.

In your business, you know your cost base, markets, clients, customers, suppliers and the way they interact within your business. Think for a while what type of decisions you are going to need to make, and then ensure you will always have up to date and accurate information in order to make those decisions. Here are a few closing tips:

a) Much of the information you will need will be of a financial nature. When you set up your accounts for statutory purposes, use a software package, like Quick books, that allows you to break down figures into cost categories, products, markets etc. For example, if you have a bill from an advertising medium you have used for more than one product, ensure you can input not just the total (for statutory purposes) but can then allocate the costs to each product A, B and C etc. That will give you a lot of information that can be summarized quickly for decision making. Similarly with sales income or commissions. A cheque from Clickbank may include several products; ensure you break it down.

b) Try to master the use of spreadsheets. They can be used for simulations or what if scenarios in decision making, and once set up can be very powerful assistants.

c) If you do use spreadsheets, ensure they are 100% right before using them for decision making. Complex spreadsheets in particular can harbor mistakes in formula that have not been immediately evident. If information is not accurate, it is dangerous or worthless, usually both.

d) If you are spreading your time between separate sources of income, try to keep a rough record of time spent on each. As a sole proprietor with no staff, time can be particularly critical; you only have a limited time each day to work, you want to make the most of it.

e) Try to set aside some quiet time when there is a need to make a significant decision of any sort. Think first about the information you need to make a good decision, and only when all that is in place should you decide. That will help neutralize moods and emotions that may distort your decisions.

f) If you have a decision to make, and find you do not have the necessary information from your records, ask yourself if you need to alter your own record keeping for future decisions.

What I have aimed to do with this series of articles is to increase your awareness of the need to separate business from personal decision making. In your own business they do overlap, but you will make better decisions if you not only separate them, but treat them differently also.

I have also tried to encourage you to be aware of the need to gather relevant information that you may require in the future for making decisions. Often, being prepared right at the beginning will make things a lot better for you later on.

As your business grows, you may need to think about some of the more sophisticated and statistical decision making tools and techniques. I will not go into those here, just ask you to remember the lesson from the British company I mentioned earlier. Bigger is not always better. Accuracy and relevancy are always better.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Using A Free Blogging Web Site.

For first time bloggers, a free blogging web site is a great way to get started in the blogosphere. Popular blogging web sites like blogger and eponym allow users to set up and host a blog without paying any fees at all. This encourages people to start blogging, because the fact that one of these sites can provide you with all of the tools that you need to get your blog up and running without spending any money means that you have nothing to lose by starting a blog. The fact that it is so easy to find a way to blog for free is one of the reasons why so many people who have never had any other kind of web presence before find themselves drawn to blogging.

By signing up with a free blogging web site, you may find it easier to get listed in search engines that you would if you were starting your own blog from scratch. For example, google runs the free blog hosting site blogspot and crawls its pages very often looking for updates, so if you have your site hosted by blogspot you are almost guaranteed to be listed on google's blog search engine. This easy access to search engines can take some of the work out of promoting your blog, and can help you gain a following with a minimum of marketing effort. If your blog attracts a large readership, you may want to consider moving your site. Many people feel that being hosted by a free blogging web site gives a blog a kind of amateur flavor that is fine for a new member of the blogosphere, but is not appropriate for a high-profile blog.

Having your own domain can help you make your blog feel professional, and finding a company that will host your domain is not difficult or expensive. Once your blog takes off, you will probably be able to sell enough advertising space to be able to afford to buy a domain and pay for a hosting package, and still have money left over. However, it does not make sense in most cases to invest in these glossy luxuries before you have a sizable readership. Starting your blog on a free blogging web site is a great way to build a following before you spend any money on your blog. If and when your blog becomes popular and you are ready to take the next step and purchase your own domain, your readers will follow you to your new home. The fact that it is possible to use a free blog host like blogspost, blogger, or eponym as a kind of incubator for your blog is great news for bloggers everywhere.

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

The Blog Factor: Everything you need to know to start blogging - today!

So what is this "blog factor"? Well, what a few thought was a novel idea some years ago has now morphed into something no one expected. There are currently nine million blogs out there with 40,000 new ones being added everyday. Some are informative and some are just downright a waste of your time. And while we hear a lot about blogging these days, what is blogging *really*? Blogging in its simplest term is like an online journal but much, much more powerful. Blogs (short for Web log) is a place where surfers can get up to the minute information on a topic or voyeur into someone's life. Some blogs are nothing more than a daily glimpse into someone's life, while others are so sophisticated, it's hard to tell them apart from an online news service.

Why Blogs Matter

Google, the #1 search engine on the net, loves blogs. So much so that if you do it right Google will spider the heck out of your site. What does it mean to "spider"? Well spidering is when Google, or the like, searches your site’s content to establish ranking, and the more content you have (i.e. fresh content) the more Google will do its magic and push your site up the search engine. Another reason blogs matter is that they are interactive and, if you blog on your book’s topic, it will help to further your expert status on a particular issue. When we plan "Virtual Tours" for our authors, we include as many blogs as we can into a tour. Why? Because if you can get into a good blog that's seeing a lot of traffic, you can really start to gain some exposure for your book.

What Would You Talk About?

This is the question we get asked most often. "If I start a blog, what on earth would I talk about?" Well if your book is non-fiction it's pretty easy to figure out what your topic would be, but if your book is fiction it could get a bit tricky - but not impossible. It could be the character's diary or adventures and stories - a glimpse into the life of a main character. This would give the reader (and fans of this character) a reason to return to the blog for an update on this ongoing adventure or story.

Some blogs might be controversial but that's okay, you want to create your own "voice," your own take on a certain issue and if that opinion is controversial, all the better for exposure and for getting people to interact on your blog. Getting readers to respond to your posts is a great way to gain interest and momentum for your blog and (more importantly) getting people to talk about it will grow your blog like nothing else!


How to Start a Blog

Starting a blog is super easy. All you have to do is register at a blog site (like http://www.blogger.com) and get started. It's that easy. The blog service will link to your site; you'll need to ask your Webmaster to add a button to your home page so people can find your blog.

How to Blog Effectively

The best bloggers know that the more you add to your blog, the more traffic you'll drive there. Some bloggers I know post daily, sometimes even multiple times a day while others post weekly. How much you post will probably depend on how much time you have to dedicate to this. The challenge will be that if you want to keep driving people to your blog, you'll want fresh content. This doesn't mean you have to create this all yourself, in fact you can invite people onto your blog and interview them, or you can just post a one paragraph "thought" on your topic. It doesn't have to be complicated or long, it just has to be fresh. Also be innovative, as we discussed earlier, be different with your blog, have fun with it. It might seem complicated at first but once you get the hang of it, you'll quickly become a blog expert!

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Elements of Decision Making in a Home Based Online Business 2

Areas of Decision Making

When you have your own business, each decision that you make may have an impact on the business's profitability. If you were previously an employee, and not involved in your employer's decision making processes, then this may all be new to you.

It is important that you make the transition with an acute sense of awareness of:

1. how and why you normally make decisions, and have made decisions in the past;

2. why making your decisions in your own business can and should be different to your decisions in your personal life;

3. the need to separate, in your own mind, business as opposed to personal decisions;

4. the benefits of sharpening your business decision making; and,

5. the dangers of allowing your business decisions to just go with the flow as they probably do in your personal life.

Often, people make decisions without even being aware of it, and then carry that practice into their first business. Being more aware of the mere existence of particular decisions will set you apart from many other small business owners, and that can only be good for competitiveness and profitability. Once you are aware, then and only then can you go into the next stages of a decision making process:

a) pinpointing the need to take a particular action;

b) gathering sufficient information to assess options open to you in taking, or not taking, that action;

c) assessing the risks and uncertainties of a decision;

d) reviewing, with a clear and open mind, all the relevant information, and consciously coming to a decision;

e) setting up a means and plan to monitor the outcome of that decision.

f) setting up a means and plan to monitor the success of the decision making process itself.

The corporate world is littered with examples of large companies who have got into serious financial problems due to bad decision making. This particularly occurs where there is investment in new products, markets or machinery. The fault can lie not just with the idea and the decision, but the decision making process itself.

Hurried decisions, insufficient information, biased assessment, lack of complete investment appraisal, ignorance and over optimism can all play their part in bringing a company to its knees. Such failures can and do happen even with a company staffed by professionals in all the necessary areas of expertise.

You, probably, are not able to employ experts and professionals to assist you in your decision making. However, you have other things in your favour, the most obvious of which is incentive. Each decision you make affects your business and your income. So long as you are aware that a decision is needed, it is then within your control to ensure that the decision you make is, more likely than not, going to be a good decision.

Before you even start your business, you have some very big decisions to make, such as should I have my own business at all?, or what sort of business should I have? Now, having taking that major decision to get started, you want to get the best out of the business, and that means making the best decisions for the circumstances that prevail.

Decisions in every part of your business are important, but the following can be amongst the most critical:

i. Investment in equipment, or other capital investment of a material nature.

ii. Investment in software.

iii. If and when to pack up the day job.

iv. Outsourcing part/s of your workload.

v. Setting priorities for budgeting finances.

vi. Withdrawal or reinvestment of profits.

vii. Product lines to sell.

viii. Product lines to withdraw.

ix. What types of marketing to use.

There are, of course, many more. You will be aware of the most important decision making areas in your own business. You would then be well advised to focus on those areas, and condition yourself to giving very careful and conscious thought whenever a significant decision is due.

A business decision should not be spontaneous and made in a vacuum. It should be fed by a network of information flows, and that is something that is best prepared in advance. This decision making infrastructure will be discussed in the next issue.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Elements of Decision Making in a Home Based Online Business

Why is Decision Making Important?

This is the first in a series of short articles on decision making, as it may affect the progress, or otherwise, of your home based online business. The main purpose of the articles is to get you thinking, more than you might have done, about decisions that affect your business. It is not possible in short articles to cover what is really an endless subject, but I hope by the end of the series you will be more conscious of the decisions you make which may affect:

1.The profitability of your online business.

2.The scope for expansion.

3.Your efficiency.

4.The productive use of your time.

5.Your family.

6.Your enjoyment of working online.

plus many other aspects of working at home online, in your own business.

Why is decision making important? You only need to consider that for a moment to realize: that it is a dumb question. From the moment you wake, you are passing through a series of tens of thousands of little decisions. You are not very aware of most of them, they are routine, semi or sub-conscious decisions. Any one of those little decisions could have a major influence on the future path of your life.

For example, you are in a hurry and decide to cross the road at a certain point. A car comes hurtling around the corner, and knocks you into the air. Thankfully you are still alive after you land, but are taken to hospital and are there for a couple of weeks, at one point in Intensive Care. You are employed, but your employer is not sympathetic, will not pay you, and for a few days you lie there worrying about losing your job. You have no insurance, so how will you pay the bills?

Was crossing the road at that point, at that time, a bad decision? On the face of it, yes, it was stupid to say the least. But what if, in the two weeks in hospital, you fall in love with a nurse? Later, you marry and have several wonderful children? Was that still a bad decision, crossing the road then and there?

Not only did you meet your future spouse, the person in the next bed turned out to have some good business ideas they wanted to put into practice. You got chatting about them as your condition started to improve. The two of you found you saw eye to eye on lots of things, and it was clear that you would both benefit from the synergy of working together on a business project. The other person had the ideas and money in place, but needed you as a partner to take it forward. When you were both fit and well again, he subsidized you while the business was set up. It prospered, and within months you were earning 4 times your previous income. Was that still a bad decision, crossing the road then and there?

That is fiction, but is it unrealistic fiction? No. There are probably many thousands of very similar stories. And there are countless millions of true stories about seemingly little decisions that have altered the course of people's lives.

What I have been referring to are almost random events. I say almost because the decision to cross the road was not random. An adult crossing the road like that had sufficient information to make a correct decision. They did not make use of their knowledge and information. As decision making goes, it was a bad decision, regardless of what random events followed.

Making decisions in your every day business needs to be more focused, more scientific, and much more aware, than you may have been used to in your life as an employee. Most of us have, at some stage, passed through a zombie like existence of repetition, working for a company or other organization. It may even be that you have had little scope to make decisions other than when and where to cross the road, what to eat for dinner, what to watch on tv, and what to wear today. Now, though, with your own online business, there is massive scope for making key decisions, every day. How you do that will have a serious impact on the future of your business.

I believe that just by being more conscious of your decisions, your business will benefit, and so will you. Relying on the business equivalent of crossing the road at the wrong time, meeting the love of your life and your perfect business partner, is not an option if your are serious about your business. You cannot rely on random events, although undoubtedly some random events will affect you in the future. Business is often a percentage game, and you want to make decisions that tilt the odds in your favour.

Decision making in business is about bringing together as much relevant information as possible, in a structured and understandable way, and consciously reviewing that information before arriving at a decision. It is about assessing possible outcomes, probabilities, future trends, past experiences and all other relevant factors. Ignoring those factors may not put you in hospital, but would harm your business.

I will cover elements of business decision making in future articles. In the mean time, if you are in search of a new loved one and business partner, please do not step out in front of a car. Your local hospital may not be the place where they are currently waiting for you.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Managing Your Home Based Online Business 2

In the first part of this series of articles, on managing your online business at home, I explained about the many management responsibilities and functions you have rolled into one if you have your own sole proprietor business, with no staff. Your management task is perhaps the most difficult of all. You have to manage yourself, in all those different areas of your business such as finance, marketing, purchasing and computing.

I believe that if you think of your new home business as having different areas of management for you to concentrate on, you are more likely to succeed long term. If you can adopt some of the techniques of good management, you will end up with a more sound business that will stand the test of time. You will be a better decision maker, and it is decisions that dictate the progress or downfall of any business. Decision making needs to be unemotional and as scientific as possible, but as much as anything needs to be based on common sense. Good management is often a matter of common sense, and that is why I believe you, whatever your background, can run a successful business limited only by your ambitions.

The other virtue you will need in abundance is patience, and this an area where you definitely need to manage yourself. Impatience brings emotion into your decision making. It also brings self criticism, or criticism of others, when none is either deserved or necessary. Patience, realism and common sense combined will contribute greatly to making you a good business manager. With those three attributes, you will be well placed to learn the skills of management in the context of your own small business. You will be able to learn how the different functions of a business relate to each other and interact.

That is not easy, but over time, if you apply yourself, it will all fall into place. This is where patience is vital. Your age or background do not necessarily matter. I know that in my late 20s I did not really understand business and how it all fitted together. At 30, I knew I needed some sort of professional qualification, and I decided on management accountancy.

You, of course, have no need to study or be an expert in all things. But it does help to at least be aware that some of these virtues are, in their own way, critical to your success. If you are taking a long term view of things, which you should be if you are serious about having your own home business, you have plenty of time to learn about those subjects that are most critical for your business:

Finance

Whatever your business, this is a very critical function for you to understand and manage, so when it comes to learning all you can, financial management is a priority. Much of this is again common sense, and realism, and there are many tools around to help you keep good financial records. But as I mentioned before, it is decisions that dictate the progress or downfall of any business. All decisions you make will have a financial impact on your business. However, good financial records alone will not bring the reward of better decision making. If you want to maximize the profits of your home business, you may find it helps to have other, non-financial records to aid your decisions. I will discuss this more in part 3 of this series of articles.

Marketing

Marketing is what I love most about business, and it is equally important to finance in all free enterprises. With an online business, the marketing side is an ever moving area of expertise. Offline, marketing has long since stabilised. Online, it has not stabilised at all; it is still developing and evolving. You need to be aware of what's happening in the world of internet marketing, what has happened, and what is likely to happen. Always remember, though, there will always be a financial impact of your marketing decisions. You are obviously prepared to take risks, as you have started or are starting an online business at home. As the manager of your business you will need to balance the financial and marketing conflicts as they arise. You have to strike the right balance. If the finance director in you is too risk averse, you may stifle the growth of your business. If the marketing director in you is too cavalier, and unrealistic about sales prospects, you may ruin your business in one or two rash decisions. More on this in part 4.

Computing

If you are working online full time, or even part time, you will always need to be looking out for developments in the arenas of software and the internet itself, and maybe at times hardware. You may come across software that either improves your efficiency, makes life much easier or takes you into a new and better way of working. This is another area where knowledge is power. You need to be competitive, and sometimes you will come across new software that will make you more competitive. Try to keep abreast of things in the software marketplace, as it affects your business.

Time Management

While not a function like finance or marketing, when you work at home alone you will find that time management becomes key to your success and enjoyment of working from home. It is a subject you should always be aware of and make conscious decisions about. I will write more on this topic in part 5.

The above are just the key areas where you need to view your business from a management viewpoint, and the list of course is not exhaustive. However, pay attention to these from a manager's perspective, and you should benefit in the long run. You will take the leap from being employee to boss, even if you are the only one you can be boss to.

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Managing Your Home Based Online Business - 1

Working at home in their own business is something millions of people strive for and dream of, but most in the Western world never actually get around to doing it. For those who do achieve it, how do they adapt if they have changed, for example, from an office environment, where they were employed, had a strict routine imposed on them, and were told what to do all the time by those above them in the company?

How do you manage working alone from home? Now, that is not "manage" in the "how do you get by?" sense. It is manage in the manager/staff sense. You work at home alone, you are the boss of your home based business. So who or what is there to "manage"?

The profitability of any business, sole proprietor or multinational, depends on the successful management of a number of omnipresent departments: marketing, finance, human resources, computing, purchasing, and, if appropriate, research and development, and production.

If you are working at home, alone, online, you have all those management responsibilities and functions rolled into one. Your management task is perhaps the most difficult of all. You have to manage yourself. If you have never thought about it like that, then I suggest you consider it for a while. To run a successful business, you need to have a grasp of all the elements of that business, and how they interlink. That is as true with a home based online business as it is with a large corporation. Managing all those different elements of the business, I think you will find, is not as easy as it may sound. Managing yourself is definitely not as easy as it may sound.

Working at home for many can mean an escape from the managers above them who may have made their lives a misery, or at least less satisfying, for all of their previous career. But does working at home mean an escape from management altogether? No, it does not. At least, if you want a more profitable home based business, then management will be every bit as important as before. In fact, more important.

Why more important? Now it is your business. If you had shares in a company, would you not want good management to increase profits and thus your dividend and capital? Of course you would. You are not earning profits for others, unless you have family responsibilities. Okay, you will pay taxes, but that's not your biggest concern when you get started. You just want to get started and make some profits.

Having achieved your dream of a home online business, you want it to succeed. You will have an online business that will belong to you. You are the boss, and the expert on all aspects of running the business. You have your freedom at last, now you need to manage your new business in a way that will ensure it grows and prospers.

With you as manager and staff, these things will all be so easy.........won't they? Maybe not. Having your own business, especially based at home and alone, is not necessarily as straight forward as you may have thought. Just ask yourself for now, if you were a manager before, were you a good manager? As a subordinate, were you a good member of staff, someone your bosses respected and could rely on? Ask yourself. Be honest and ask some of your former co-workers, who should be honest too. Listen to any conflicts. You will have to deal with those conflicts as manager and staff.

Really? Yes, really! You have to deal with yourself. You are the boss and the staff. The best staff are those who follow instructions, work hard in their allotted time, work efficiently in what they are doing, and apply all the knowledge and training they have. They are also going to flourish by coming forward with good ideas and having them listened to.

The best managers give clear instructions and communicate their expectations of their staff. They also explain why certain things are done and paint the broader picture to enlighten their staff about what their role means. They also know when to listen to the ideas of others, including staff, and when to buy in expertise. Are you able to fulfil both roles?

By being aware of the need to manage the finance, marketing, purchasing and the other departments of your online business, you are part of the way to managing your business more effectively. If you can learn to compartmentalise, in your own mind, those same departments then you will be taking another step along the same road. If you can devote time to learning more about those departments, becoming an expert in each, and also learn what you can about management, then you will be a powerful manager of your online business.

Who will benefit from that? You, and those you support and care for. Does that not make the effort worth it?

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

The Birth of a Successful Internet Business: Part Ten of Ten -- Your Internet Marketing Strategy

Developing and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an essential part of your Internet success.

Your plan must include both short-term and long-term strategies in order to succeed.

Short-term marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary boost in traffic. Although these techniques are very important to your overall plan, they are only a temporary traffic source and must not be solely relied on.

Short-term marketing strategies include:

¢ Purchasing advertising

¢ Bulletin Boards

¢ Search Engines

Long-term marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream of targeted traffic over time. These strategies will continue to produce results even years down the road.

Long-term marketing strategies include:

¢ Opt-in Lists

¢ Freebies

¢ Content

By creating and implementing a balanced marketing strategy, using both short-term and long-term strategies, you will drive a steady stream of targeted traffic to your website.

Creating a successful Internet presence involves much more than designing a great website or having the "perfect" product. Listing your website with the Search Engines is your first step, however, you must not solely rely on the Search Engines to bring you traffic. You must develop a complete promotional strategy and work it every day.

-> Search Engines:

A significant amount of website traffic originates from the major Search Engines. Most Internet users will go to a Search Engine, type in a keyword phrase and look through the top 10 - 20 results. Most of the time, they'll find what they're looking for in the first 10 results. The percentage of click throughs is even smaller. Listing near the top and grabbing the attention of your target audience is the top priority.

Your first step will be to optimize your web pages to the best of your ability. Visit http://www.searchenginewatch.com for a complete overview of the Search Engines and optimization.

-> Opt-in List

As soon as your website is up and running, you should immediately begin building an opt-in list. An opt-in list is a list or database containing email addresses of individuals who have chosen to receive your email messages. Your messages may be web site updates, product updates or an ezine. They provide you with a direct line of communication with potential customers and enable you to promote your products or services. For further information, visit the following web address: http://www.web-source.net/ezine_basics.htm

-> Organizing Your Strategies

A good way to organize your promotions is to set up a web page, for your personal use, which will contain your complete strategy. This page should be stored on your hard drive and not uploaded to your server. Your page should contain four sections:

¢ Daily Promotions

¢ Weekly Promotions

¢ Monthly Promotions

¢ Miscellaneous Promotions

Each of these four sections should contain the appropriate information for each of your promotional resources such as website name, user ID, password (if applicable) and hyperlinked web addresses for each website you plan to use for your promotions. This will enable you to open your web page each day and visit the sites you have listed.

-> Daily Promotions

Link Exchanges:

Exchange links with websites similar to yours, but not in competition.

Discussion Boards:

Visit some popular discussion boards and share your expertise. Although you may not advertise on discussion boards, you can include your signature file with your post.

Visit the following web address for a complete listing of some of the top discussion boards: http://www.web-source.net/web/Discussion_Forums/

-> Weekly Promotions

Your weekly promotions should consist of placing a paid ezine advertisement and/or arranging ad swaps with fellow publishers.

Visit the following web address for a complete listing of hundreds of publishers and contact information for advertising. http://www.web-source.net

To organize your ad placements and swaps, place the publication names, publisher names, ad dates and hyperlinked web addresses within your weekly promotion list.

-> Monthly Promotions

Your monthly promotions should include writing an article in the area of your expertise and promotional exchanges.

To organize your monthly promotions, place the names and hyperlinked web addresses for each of your promotional resources within your monthly promotions section.

Writing Articles:

Writing articles that may be freely published with your bylines is one of the best promotional methods online. Your article may be published in hundreds of ezines, on websites or even in magazines.

Visit the following web address for further information: http://www.web-source.net/write.htm

Promotional Exchanges:

Cross promoting is a powerful technique used by many Internet marketers to increase the exposure of their products, services or publications. You simply decide what type of promotional exchange you would be interested in and contact fellow marketers to discuss an exchange.

The most effective technique used in cross promotions is recommendations. By providing each other with a personal recommendation you can increase your response rates tremendously.

Here are some popular cross promoting techniques you can use to boost your business:

¢ Ezine Ad Swaps

¢ Subscription Exchanges

¢ Ezine Column Swaps

¢ Byline Exchanges

¢ Signature Exchanges

¢ Ebook Exchanges

¢ Private Web Rings

¢ Ride Alongs

¢ Upsells

¢ Free Bonuses

¢ Forum and List Moderation

-> Miscellaneous Promotions

Promoting your website offline is an often overlooked way to increase your traffic. Your web address should appear on all of the following:

¢ Business cards

¢ Letterhead

¢ Envelopes

¢ Receipts

¢ Invoices

¢ Sales letters

¢ Brochures

¢ Flyers

¢ Post cards

¢ Fax documents

¢ T-shirts

¢ Pens

¢ Pencils

¢ Mouse Pads

¢ Phone book listing

¢ Voice mail message

¢ Newspaper/magazine ads

¢ Vehicle

Below, are several resources to assist you:

IDit Plates - Put your web address on your vehicle. http://www.iditplates.net

Magnetic Signs - Full size magnetic signs for your vehicle.

http://www.magneticsigns.com

Visit iPrint for all of your printing needs. http://www.iprint.com

Place ads in newspapers, magazines, on the radio, or on TV. Visit the following websites for a complete list of resources to assist you:

Gebbie Press http://www.gebbieinc.com/

NewsDirectory Newspapers http://www.newsdirectory.com

Newspapers Online http://www.newspapers.com/

For even more promotional products, PromoCity can add your logo to any one of over 500,000 items. http://www.promocity.com

Press Releases:

CanadaOne provides a free interactive press release builder. http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html

Gebbie Press provides over 10,000 links to print and electronic media on the Internet. http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html

Dr. Kevin Nunley will write your press release and send it to 5,000 media contacts. http://www.drnunley.com

Automated Press Releases will enable you to send your press release to over 10,000 media. You write your press release or they'll write it for you. http://www.automatedpr.com

Once you've created your promotional web page, open it within your browser and add it to your favorite places or bookmark it for easy daily access. Set up a specific day for your weekly and monthly promotions and perform your miscellaneous promotions as needed.

Although these promotional strategies are far from complete, they provide you with a basic overview to get you started.

Once you've implemented your promotional strategy and continuously work it each day, you'll be amazed with the results of your efforts. Consistency will be the key to driving massive traffic to your site.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

The Birth of a Successful Internet Business: Part Nine of Ten -- Developing Your Credibility

An important part of building a successful Internet business, is developing your credibility.

Although the Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for all of us, it has also created a breeding ground for scam artists. Internet users are very reluctant to order online and share their personal information. For this reason, you must take every opportunity to build your credibility.

-> Domain Name

The first step in establishing a credible Internet business, is to invest in a domain name. This will instantly convey to your visitors that you take your business very seriously.

Websites hosted on free servers are not taken seriously and will suffer a serious loss of business. Your visitors may feel that if you don't have your own domain, you may not be a credible company. They'll simply take their business elsewhere.

-> Contact Information

It is very important that you provide your visitors with your complete contact information. This information should include your "real" postal address and not a Post Office box number. A business that hides behind a PO box loses credibility. It's perfectly acceptable to use a PO box as long as you also include your postal address.

A great way to display your information is to create an "About" page. Your "About" page should include all of the following:

¢ A personal or professional biography

¢ A photograph of yourself

¢ A complete description of you and/or your company

¢ Your website and/or company objectives

¢ Your name, address, phone number and email address

An "About" page is a very important part of building your credibility -- especially if you're selling a product or service. You must do everything in your power to put your potential customers' mind at ease.

-> Privacy Statement

A credible business should let their visitors know exactly what their policies are in regard to the personal information they collect.

A great way to disclose your policies is to create a "Privacy" page. Your "Privacy" page should include all of the following that apply:

¢ How do you plan on using your visitors' information?

¢ Is your visitors' information sold or shared with a third party?

¢ Why do you collect your visitors' email address and how will it be used?

¢ Why do you track your visitors' IP address?

¢ Let your visitors know that you're not responsible for the privacy issues of any outside websites you may be linking to.

¢ Do you run contests and what do you do with the information?

¢ Do you have a discussion forum or message board? Let your visitors know that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and caution should be taken.

¢ Do you have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under your control? If so, let your visitors know.

¢ Let your visitors know how they can opt out of your mailing lists.

¢ Provide your visitors with your contact information, should they have any questions in regard to your privacy policies.

-> Testimonials

A great way to convey your credibility to your potential customers is to display customer testimonials. Your testimonials should include your customers' name and web address. In addition, try to avoid using testimonials that you have to ask for. For example, instead of using a testimonial like this:

"John is a great web designer and I have been very happy with his services."

Display unsolicited testimonials like this:

"John, your web design services are absolutely fantastic! My sales increased 200% the first day! Thank you so much for providing such an exceptional service."

Can you see the difference? The second testimonial is much more believable and will have a much greater impact on your potential customers.

Make sure you always ask permission to use your customers' words prior to displaying their testimonial.

You can find a nice script that will rotate your testimonials each day here:http://willmaster.com/master/dailycontent/index.shtml

-> Money Back Guarantee

In order to put your potential customers' mind at ease, you must completely remove their risk. Provide them with a solid, no risk, money back guarantee. This will not only build your credibility and put their mind at ease, but it will also build their confidence in you and your product. In addition, you must honor ALL refund requests in a timely manner with complete professionalism.

No matter what you're selling or how great your product is, you will receive refund requests. It's just a part of doing business. Don't take it personally or try to argue the point with your customers -- simply give them a refund. You may be surprised to learn that the customers who ask for a refund may purchase other products from you in the future.

-> Feedback

Many times, your potential customers will have questions in regard to your products and services. To further build your credibility, provide your potential customers with an easy way to contact you. Create a page on your website called "feedback." Place a form on this page to enable your visitors to contact you.

It is very important that you answer any questions you may receive as quickly as possible. Your personal response to your potential customers can literally determine whether or not you're going to make a sale.

A feedback form will also enable you to gather testimonials and receive suggestions to assist you in improving your website, products or services.

-> Secure Server

If you're processing your customers' orders online, you must place your order form on a secure server. This will protect your customers' personal information, while at the same time, provides them with added confidence in placing an order with you. In addition, make sure you let your visitors know that their information will be processed on a secure server.

-> Share Your Expertise

Another great way to develop your credibility is to share your expertise. You can do this in a number of ways including:

¢ Writing Articles

¢ Providing Free Tutorials

¢ Offering Free Courses

¢ Writing Reports

¢ Distributing Free Ebooks

¢ Publishing an Ezine

Sharing your expertise will enable you to promote yourself as an expert in your field. Not only will it assist your potential customers, but it will also develop your credibility.

By taking the time to build your credibility with your potential customers, you will increase your Internet sales considerably.

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info