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Small Does Not Mean Invisible!

Running a business on the net these days can be like looking up into a clear night sky; it can leave you feeling very small and insignificant.

I am a one-person operation, and I also offer personal service. It has taken some time for me to acquire clients, but I feel that my business is a smashing success!

Why?

First of all, there is nothing more fulfilling than having a client thank you for something; whether it be something you did for them or something you said.

Secondly, it is wonderful to get to know your clients. My sessions are usually conducted via chat, which leaves lots of room for conversation. I get to know my client as a person, as well as getting to know their online businesses.

It also makes staying in touch much easier. I can email my clients and feel comfortable doing so. Instead of feeling like an inbox intrusion, I am able to share links and resources which I feel are relevant to their particular type of business. And you know what? My clients do the same for me!

Running a small business on a tight budget does mean waiting longer for the 'big bucks' and working harder. But, I have found the principle to be same on the net as it is in 'real' life: if you are willing to work hard at your business, you WILL reap the benefits....eventually! What goes around comes around. The trick is to build a solid, honest and positive foundation.

So, the next time you are feeling down in the dumps about your business, remember: you are only as insignificant as you think you are!

Elizabeth Piotrowski

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Powerful ad copy is the key to producing the visits and sales you want. Drop by http://www.strategyadservice.com for low-cost, effective solutions!

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Target Practice And The Internet Entrepreneur

Internet marketing, a lot of the time really is hit and miss. Always keep in mind that when you promote your site you are, in effect trying to get the word out to the whole world. Not an easy task! How can there NOT be variables when you are advertising to billions? It isn't always where you advertise that makes the difference; it's HOW.

First and foremost, it is SO important to have effective ad copy. Without it, you truly are wasting your time and money. Along with effective ads, it's imperative that you have variety! Don't advertise all over the place with the same ad. The surfer of today seems to get bored very quickly, so it's important to pique their curiosity as often as possible.

Rotate your ads - this means, that if you post to ffa.net with Ad A on Monday, you will post to that site with Ad B on Tuesday. And track your ads so you know which ones are getting the most clicks. Once you know this, you can scratch the less-effective ads off your list, and write new and improved versions.

The time of day you submit can also make a difference. You have to test/track this as well. Try different times of the day, different days of the week, and different ads on each site. See how your ads do when you advertise once a week, twice a week or every day. It's a lot of work!

I have found ffas to be quite effective. Now, before you say "UGH!" let me tell you - ffas aren't the only advertising method that generate mounds of email! If you don't like the idea of submitting to individual ffa pages, try a database submitter, like worldsubmitter.com or mymegasubmitter.com. Your ad can be on thousands of sites in minutes. And don't forget to set up a 'junk' email account BEFORE you post to the ffas, or you will be in trouble! Акция Поддоны из древесины естественной влажности и европоддоны.

Next are the safelists. I submit to under 40 safelists daily, but receive over 1000 emails in each of my 7 mailboxes every 2 days! The point is, whether you use ffas or safelists, you cannot escape a full inbox :)

Safelist examples are adtactics.com and mbpsafelist.com, and they get pretty good results if your headline is effective. If you can, try a sponsor ad (your ad at the top of every email sent to the safelist) - incredible results, but only for the first 3 or 4 days - I noticed a loss of interest shortly thereafter.

The list goes on and on - start page programs, banner exchanges, reciprocal links, classified ads, ezine advertising - try all of the above. Find the mix that works best for you. And, when it stops working, either drop it entirely or mix differently. Eventually you will find a winning combination.

Elizabeth Piotrowski

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Powerful ad copy is the key to producing the visits and sales you want. Drop by http://www.strategyadservice.com for low-cost, effective solutions!

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What Is 'Free' Really Worth To Your Business?

Everything!

Let me explain - most of us started our own businesses for one reason - to make money! Of course, money is a good thing, but sometimes we are so focused on it that we forget there can be value in other means of exchange.

I am talking about service exchanges, barter and the like. Offering your service in exchange for another can have a profound effect on your business, as well as increase your credibility.

How?

Here's a scenario:

A visitor comes to your site, is interested in your service and contacts you with their enquiry. They tell you that they don't have a lot in their budget right now (for whatever reason), but that if you'll agree, they will give you one year's free posting at their ad site in exchange for your services.

Now, before you hit "Reply" and decline the offer, think about it - you could be throwing away literally thousands of dollars in sales by saying no!

Let's say that this person's ad site costs you $12 each time you place a 30 day 'premium' ad. That's $144 per year. Those premium members probably get listed at the top of the page in bold text. Great exposure for you! In a nutshell, they are offering you an entire year's worth of premium advertising for just a few hours' work!

So how does this increase your credibility? That's an easy one :) By being nice enough to accept their offer in lieu of money, you have not only relieved their financial stress - you have shown them you've got heart. And believe it or not, there are still people out there who appreciate that!

Individual results will vary, but:

- this person may contact you in the future and be able to pay you with money, maybe even more than you expected (in appreciation for your past understanding);

- they may propose another service exchange, offering you something with a greater dollar value (or benefit to your business) than before;

- they may highly recommend you to their colleagues, which can generate more business for you (and even if it doesn't right away, it's traditional 'word-of-mouth' advertising which is very powerful).

My experiences with this kind of exchange have been very positive; I've received pro safelist memberships, ad postings, top banner spots and branded ebooks for free (to name a few).

Obviously, there is an element of risk associated with this type of payment - so keep your eyes and ears open, do a little research and most importantly, do the math - if you don't think their offer is equal to the dollar amount of work you will be doing for them, then you will either have to do a little more haggling or respectfully decline their proposal.

Remember the old adage "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"? It still rings true - especially if you can reach your customer on the most important (and responsive) of levels - their heart!

Elizabeth Piotrowski

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Powerful ad copy is the key to producing the visits and sales you want. Drop by http://www.strategyadservice.com for low-cost, effective solutions!

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The (Not So) Shocking Truth About Getting A High Search Engine Ranking

I have seen my site hit #3 at Google, and some of my fellow entrepreneurs are wondering how I did it. Well, it's no big secret, and it won't cost you anything but your time! Here's the scoop in 5 steps:

1. I searched online for information about the title and description tags to get a better idea of what they should say. http://www.selfpromotion.com is a great site for this kind of information. It's all about search engine positioning, and it's free to sign up. However, your account only stays active for 4 weeks, after which the webmaster asks that you donate money to his site to keep your account active. Download The Black Keys music

2. I used Overture's free keyword tool at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. Just enter keywords that are relevant to your site, and Overture will generate the most popular search terms that people are using. I picked the most popular terms (making sure they were relevant), and made a list of keywords for each page of my site in Notepad.

3. Next, I visited http://www.scrubtheweb.com/abs/meta-check.html. This handy tool will check your meta tags and tell you if there are too many characters in your title, keyword and description. The above site is just one of many meta tag analyzers available on the net, so beware - every analyzer says something different when it comes to how many characters your meta tags should have. My advice? Pick one and stick with it, at least for a while. Otherwise, you will just get frustrated. online filme anschauen, in den genres.

4. As soon as I uploaded my pages with their new meta tags, I resubmitted to the search engines using (the former) World Submitter - http://www.worldwidepromoter.com/?strategy. Note: there are some search engines that require you to submit your site manually in order to get listed. Selfpromotion.com has great information and articles about how to properly submit to these engines. I wouldn't suggest submitting to the search engines more than once or twice per month, unless you want to run the risk of being accused of spamming them.

5. If I see the opportunity to add my link on a relevant site, I go for it. The more links your site has to other sites, the higher you will rank in the search engines. However, you will want to avoid linking with sites that are your direct competition.

You may just find that selfpromotion.com is the only place you need to go for information about search engine positioning. I did quite a bit of research and found several sites with great information, so I just tried to combine them all. Am I a glutton for punishment? Probably ;) But even though it took hours to redo all of my meta tags from scratch, it was well worth it to see my site in Google's Top 10!